Consistent first round flier

[Thunder17]

I have a Savage model 25 having issues with first round fliers. First shot from every group will hit about the same place. Every shot after the first one goes low right and will group about MOA with shots 2-5 or however many I decide to shoot. I can let the gun set for 15 minutes, shoot another group and it does the same exact thing again. It's a 17 hornet with around 800 rounds down the pipe, it use to shoot 5 shoot groups 3/4 moa consistently. I've cleaned the barrel really good since the issues started, thinking it was just dirty but that didn't help. I've checked the rings, mounts, and stock torque. I bedded the action and that didn't help. My bore scope won't fit in the 17 cal barrel so I can't check it out.
Picture is of two groups shot about 20 minutes apart.

 

[DJ Fergus]

Factory ammo?

 

[Thunder17]

Factory ammo and reloads. At first I thought it might be the factory ammo, since after one shot the primer pockets were already loose on some of the brass and others were still tight. So I reloaded some and still getting the same results

 

[L.Sherm]

Is the barrel to clean? Some barrels shoot better dirty.
Different lot of powder, primer, brass?
Set the case aside that throws the flier.

 

[Thunder17]

It started shooting like this before I decided to clean it, I'll try putting some rounds through it and see if it helps.
It's the same lot primers, not positive if the brass is the same lot or not. The brass is from factory Hornady ammo I bought a couple years ago, I have a box of unopened ammo I'll try and then just use that brass. I did finally just get some other CFE BLK powder to try in it, I've been using Accurate 2200.

 

[DJ Fergus]

L.Sherm has a good point. Some barrels will stabilize sooner than others from an absolute bare metal clean bore. I've saw it take up to 10 shots to stabilize. Also, try making three dry fire practice shots on your target before shooting your group. I have saw rifles that for what ever reason will have more trigger pull weight and sometimes strikes the primer harder on the first fire after the rifle has sat for a while. One more question for you: after the first cold bore shot, how much warmer is the barrel than it was before you fired it? Can't tell any difference, a little warmer, or significantly warmer than before?

 

[Deleted member 115360]

If it is consistent, just know where it lands. This was a phenomena I saw a few times with our m24 rifles in the army. Some rifles had a repeatable cold bore shot that would deviate a little from where the rifle shot warm. As long as you know what it will do, you can account for it.

 

[DJ Fergus]

If you had a chronograph, I would be willing to bet that first round has a significantly different velocity that the other three in the group together. And I would bet that it's significantly faster. Now that doesn't necessarily mean that the trouble is with the ammo being not loaded consistently.

 

[Liberator]

Dry fire a few before shooting your group.

 

[DJ Fergus]

If you dry fire it before shooting your group and the problem goes away, that means one of two different things: its either shooter error or the firing pin is striking with a different amount of force on the first firing.

 

[FEENIX]

 

[DJ Fergus]

View attachment 268635

This is great! I wonder if there is one for a lefty?

 

[L.Sherm]

I use alot of AA2200 in 17 and 20 cal stuff but I think 2200 is a little slow for the hornet. I think AA1680 or the CFE Black is better suited.

 

[ShtrRdy]

It sounds to me like there is some thermal induced movement going on.

Are you able to loosen the barrel and re-torque it on.?