jaguar306 Posted June 1, 2012 Report Share Posted June 1, 2012 Have my first .17 Hmr a CZ452 American with 16" barrel. Adenbourne Field Sports in Witney are closing down so I got a good deal and great service as I have come to expect from Bruce and Craig. Bruce fitted the Rimfire magic trigger kit which is excellent and only charged me for the parts. I have a SAK Sound Moderator and a 6 - 24 x 50 Nikko Sterling IR scope with Px Adj and also have a bipod. Initial zeroing started well at a measured 50m on the bipod and got on target and put two rounds in the centre. However then the the next three shots (all touching) went high ? Anyway I struggled to group which surprised me so cleaned the barrel with a boresnake and thought I would try my luck at about 90m. The spread was bad and again seemed to climb up the target. Anyway I lost the light and had to pack it in. When I got back home I went on the net and found comments referring to the barrel touching the stock and not free floating causing accuracy issues. I tried the piece of paper between barrel and stock and it did indeed not pass this test. So full of trepidation I set about sorting it with a dowel and sandpaper until the barrel no longer fouled the fore-stock and then I varnished the bare wood. I am thinking that maybe as the barrel was heating and expanding it was being forced up a fraction by contact with the stock. I hope so and I shall venture out again and attempt to re-zero tomorrow. Fingers crossed. I wonder if the bipod can have any effect as I know it always did on my air rifles but then again the hmr does not recoil. Any thoughts? John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swiss.tony Posted June 1, 2012 Report Share Posted June 1, 2012 try different bullets ,check scope mounts and screws try with mod off could be catching just a few things to check before you start grinding stock down lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pat g Posted June 1, 2012 Report Share Posted June 1, 2012 Hi John, You have indeed done the correct thing by free floating the barrel. I have the CZ but its the Varmint with the heavy 16" barrel. There could of course be other reasons why you could not get the rifle to group. i.e have you checked the stock screws are tightened, are the scope mounts secure, are the rounds clipping the moderator etc. But TBH i think you will notice an improvement when you next try to zero. Its more than likely the problem was that the barrel was touching the stock . The bipod could be the problem. Try and use the best bipod you can afford. I personally like Harris as do many other shooters but failing that the Edgar Bros pods are quite good as well. I own one of them and they compare feasibly to Harris. I'm sure you will have sorted the original problem though. Good luck ATB, Pat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaguar306 Posted June 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2012 Hi Guys and thanks for the tips. Yes I did check all the obvious like stock screws and scope mounts and they were solid. No sign of bullet strike on the S/Mod but imagine I would have to try shooting without it to see any difference. My Bipod is not a super duper Harris but why would that make so much difference ?I appreciate you all bothering to reply ATB John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frenchieboy Posted June 2, 2012 Report Share Posted June 2, 2012 Hi Guys and thanks for the tips. Yes I did check all the obvious like stock screws and scope mounts and they were solid. No sign of bullet strike on the S/Mod but imagine I would have to try shooting without it to see any difference. My Bipod is not a super duper Harris but why would that make so much difference ?I appreciate you all bothering to reply ATB John To answer your question is fairly simple John. If your bipod is "not quite as solidly built" as a Harris (Or similar) you could find that with that and the way that you grip your rifle while on the bipod to get a steady aim you are forcing the forend to touch the barrel. This could however have been cured when you free floated the barel. If not then you might try shooting off a rest instead of the bipod (if the problem continues) and see if there is a difference/improvement - If so then you could reasonably blame the bipod. Just out of interest John how do you hold your rifle when shooting off the bipod? - You might find that following the tip given on this video could well help your accuracy when shooting off the bipod, well worth a try: You have however done the right thing initailly by making sure that the barrel is free floating as that will almost certainly make a marked difference. Let us know how things go mate! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_b_wales Posted June 2, 2012 Report Share Posted June 2, 2012 Don't fit the bipod too tight to the stock. I did this once, and found that the barrel was'nt floating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shropshire_Lad Posted June 2, 2012 Report Share Posted June 2, 2012 I had the same problem with my 452 American shooting off sticks, I guess leaning on them a bit too heavy was pushing the forend up onto the barrel. I could get a paper through but once on the sticks the gap closed to nothing. Can only push the shot up. I went for the big gap method, never had to rezero since atvb Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaguar306 Posted June 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2012 Well it seems to have done the trick okay and ended up with 10 out of 10 in the Bull at 50m. I will re-check the bipod and do the barrel to stock paper test with it fitted. Found that the more rounds I fired the better the gun shot so maybe the barrel needed some rounds through it? Only ever fired well used weapons in the military and never brand new ones so never experienced this before. Thanks everyone for your advice. ATB John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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