trouble sighting in

[curt songer]

i all .well i just had a afternoon of shooting with my new 54 rifle .and to say the least im disappointed.the rifle groups well .around a 1 inch at 50yds.cant complain there but i had to move the rear sight all the way to the left and the front sight all the way to the right to zero it in .i have never had a gun do this and i've been shooting for 30 years .has this happened to any of the rest of you and if so could you tell me why? if you look at the barrel with the sights like that it looks like crap . thanks for the answers in advance
ymhs and friend curt

 

[walruskid1]

check the barrel and see if the bore is centered. i have had rifles that were bored off-center. its o.k. if its off on the up-down axis, sucks if its off side-to-side. you said its new, take it back.

 

[curt songer]

yes it is new .i quess i should have added this in my eariler post i have had it almost a year and a half but just got around to shooting it today .so taking it back is out im sure .even if i wanted to the maker of it has been in some trouble with other custmors and im not sure if he is even in business anymore.(naggansent armes built it ) so it looks as if im stick with it .have any of you bent a rifle gun to get it to shoot center before ?
ymhs and friend curt

 

[LRB]

Bending would be a viable answer, and is not that hard to do, however, the barrel should have the makers name on it, underneath. I would suspect it is a Colrain barrel, as that is by far the most common used by semi-custom gun makers. Bending is best done with supports on each end, and pressure via large C clamp, screw press, or similar devise towards the mid section. Take it a little at a time. Most often you have to over bend a tad to get where you want to be, as the barrel will "spring" back some. I use a large C clamp and sections of 4x4 to do this.

 

[Birddog6]

First thing I would do it make sure the crown of the muzzle is square with the bore & the crown is even.
Second thing I would so is take the barrel loose from the stock & carefully lower it back in & see if the stock is warped & pressuring a swamped barrel. A slight stock warp will not usually effect a straight barrel much (except real light barrels with large bores) but a swamped barrel can have deflection easier because of the thin waist. If the stock is warped bad you will need to correct that.
Third thing I would do is see if you have to pressure the barrel to get the pins to go in. I have seen that cause a deflection also.

If none of this shows a problem, then I would send the barrel back to the barrel manufacturer & have them look at it. It is possible the barrel is slightly bent & they can adjust it as I have had this done. From what you are saying it would be a very minor adjustment also. I had one a while back & it shot 1' left & 1' low at 25 yards...... You simply cannot adjust that unless you want to shoot completely hidden behind a tree !! :rotf: Be great for a sniper flintlocks rifle, huh ? :grin:

Off Center boring usually occurs when the bit is dull & it caused the drill shaft to bow as the pressure is pushing a dull bit. Usually it is a small bore this happens to because of the small shaft dia., as I have had it happen but not normal on a large bore as that is a hefty dill bit shank.

Good Luck.

Birddog6

 

[mike alexandre]

Are your sights in dove tails and are they central to start with?

 

[Packdog]

Curt,

There is hope. As Birddog6 said I would take a hard look at how that barrel is mounted and if anything is binding. Maybe not the same situation but I have had a production gun (Key mounted)that did exactly the same thing first time out. To get anywhere close to where I was aiming, I had the front sight all the way to one side and the rear all the way the other. (Gun grouped OK)
Disassembled everything to clean and check real good. Never found anything wrong but the next trip to the range I had to move everything back to center? I can only guess something was binding somehow.
PD

 

[Packdog]

Curt,
Maybe there is hope. As Birddog6 said I would take a hard look at how that barrel is mounted and if anything is binding. Maybe not the same situation but I have had a production gun (Key mounted)that did exactly the same thing first time out. To get anywhere close to where I was aiming, I had the front sight all the way to one side and the rear all the way the other. (Gun grouped OK)
Disassembled everything to clean and check real good. Never found anything wrong but the next trip to the range I had to move everything back to center? I can only guess something was binding somehow.
PD

 

[Dave K]

I have seen this,so I am not saying you are doing this. But, some folks when they sand bag their gun in, will see that they are not right on target. So instead of shifting everything, they will "torque" the gun to get it on target. Make sure the gun is just laying in the bags and that the front bag is where your hand would be if you were shooting off hand.All you want to be is the "trigger". The gun should be in perfect alignment in the shooting bags. No twisting side to side or flexing up and down.

 

[hobbles]

I know a lady that shoots very well and when she picks up a weapon to fire it,, it's 9 clicks to the left and she does fine,, I was worried bout the same thing you are and she told me ""YOUR GETTIN OLD THERE BUDDY""
I wonder if she's right,,, :hmm:

 

[hobbles]

I was thinkin,,
Ya know, I don't stand as tall or as steady as I did when I was in my 20ies,, But I thought it was on kinda the big tidal wave we just had, The earth is leanin a lil more now then it used to,,