Rifle Stopped Grouping - Any Ideas?

[RNE228]

I was fortunate during a recent scope and base swap to have access to Wiha adjustable torque drivers at work that I could borrow over the weekend. Most people don't have those tools, myself included.

My guess is that most people do not know what they are tightening the scope base, rings, bedding screws to.

If you have the Ruger rings there is no need to remove them to tighten everything.

Tighten the bedding screws. In this order. 1st the angled one to 50-70 INCH lbs. Then the rear trigger guard to 30-50 INCH lbs Last the front trigger guard to 30-50 INCH lbs.

[JTBHunter]

If you have the Ruger rings there is no need to remove them to tighten everything.
Use Wipe-Out on the barrel and follow with the sweets 7.62 to get it clean. YES 150 rounds can cause you problems.
Tighten the bedding screws. In this order. 1st the angled one to 50-70 INCH lbs. Then the rear trigger guard to 30-50 INCH lbs Last the front trigger guard to 30-50 INCH lbs.

Then run a business card along the barrel and see if it is touching along the barrel. The very front will probably have a build up pad. I remove it and free float the barrel.
Last take a heavy piece of fishing line and loop under the bolt handle. Hold the handle down hard and slide the string up the handle. If it stops before getting to the top remove whatever material you need to so it clears. Then on wood stocks be sure to seal the wood where you removed any material. Also a good idea to seal the mag, barrel channel and trigger area as needed

It is possible but unlikely the scope is the problem. If so Leupold will take care of it.

If you were near me you could take the scope off one of my M77 and test it. I actually have a couple of spare Leupolds in M77 rings. I could also go over your rifle with you.

I stay on top of cleaning and i had read that the Sweets 7.62 could help with the copper fouling. It didnt. However, after further inspection, i did notice that the barrel is right up against the composite stock. A business card will not slide between them. i cant confirm weather this is the way it came or not. My plan is to grind enough of the stock to allow the barrel to free float. After that ill tighten the bedding screws as you mentioned.

[sigstroker]

A business card is pretty thick. Try a dollar.

[ar15barrels]

A business card is pretty thick.
Try a dollar.

A dollar bill is to check if there is absolute contact.
A business card is barely enough to see if there is sufficient clearance.
Ideally, you would have enough room for two business cards to be sure the barrel won't contact the stock while the bullet is moving down the barrel.

A stock that will just barely pass a dollar bill is absolutely having the barrel vibrate against the stock for each shot.

[NorCalTodd]

As others have said, pull the scope, rings, base, then re-torque the action screws and everything else as you put it back together. I had a similar experience with my competition gun about five years ago. Super frustrating. Finally a buddy said, "Let's tear it down and see what we find." The front scope base screw was completely loose. Tightened it back up, torqued everything else as we re-installed it, and everything was right with the world again. Still embarrassed it took me two months and four wasted matches to figure it out, but I definitely learned that lesson.

[NapalmCheese]

I had two rifles do the same thing.

On the first rifle I went to re-torque the scope base only to find that the screw attaching the base to the receiver was cracked. I replaced the screw and the rifle shot again.

On the second rifle I noticed that it's POI seemed to change drastically (too drastically) from cold weather to warm weather in a 'weird' way. Before re-torquing the bases and rings I wanted to re-zero. As this was an older scope I went past the number of clicks that I wanted and came back down (thinking this might avoid backlash or something, I don't know, someone told me to do this with old scopes). I noticed while adjusting that I could turn the adjustment without feeling or hearing any clicks. I decided the elevation adjustment was likely stripped or faulty on this 40-50 year old non-existent brand scope. There's a new scope on the way now.

[JTROKS]

Did you find anything yet that may cause the problem? Is it wood stock or synthetic? Bedded or not?

[JTBHunter]

I really appreciate all of the input. I did find that the barrel was in fact touching the synthetic stock. I was able to grind out enough to get a business card between the stock an barrel all the way up to the chamber. After reading a few of these tips, i realized that i do remove the stock frequently to clean, but I have not been torquing the three screws to the correct lbs. I have been using a regular screwdriver actually. I have a Wheeler torque wrench on the way. Once I correct that part, ill plan a trip to the range and share the results. Again, all of the information is greatly appreciated.

[five.five-six]

Post photos of your new groups

[divingin]

I really appreciate all of the input. I did find that the barrel was in fact touching the synthetic stock.

Are you shooting off a front rest? Bipod?

Put the rifle in the configuration you normally shoot from, and put a bit more weight on the barrel. Check your barrel/stock clearance again. A barrel that floats while the rifle is held pointing skyward will sometimes not pass when in a shooting position (forearm flex.)

[Dave Hoback]

What have you been/are you planning to torque your action screws to? I have heard so many varying “torque spec” recipes, more than most any other rifle. From 95in lbs front/30in lbs rear & snug middle, 65in lbs front/30in lbs rear & snug middle & even 60in lbs front/40in lbs rear & 20in lbs middle. So many different combos!

Just wondering what you are planning? 95in lbs seems an fair much. But the front screw is an Angle Torque screw. So I guess that is the difference.

[JTBHunter]

The Ruger manual says to tighten the screws as Divernhunter specified. I am thinking that i will tighten the angled screw to about 50 in/lbs and the two others, alternately until they are at about 40 in/lbs. I wont check the scope rings unless I don't see any results from the adjustments i made to stock and "properly" tightening the screws. I have before pics so i will post them with the after pics.