For those of you who have this rifle I am posting this as a trouble shooting guide on a particular issue a friend and I came across while sighting it in this year.
We were set up for 200 yards and fired a 3 round group noting where the first round hit. The rounds were all over the place and equated to a 4 MOA group. Now I know my buddy is not as good a shot as me but he is much better than that, so I took over and shrunk them to about 2.75 MOA, still not good enough for this gun.
The set up is a 300 WSM with two piece Warne rings, VX-3, 10X variable with BC retical, shooting Fed Power Shok 180 gr.
I run some of my hand loads in it and it spreads out further ....WTF these are sub MOA from my gun. I know they are sized for my chamber but they should still shoot good. So I run some Winchester super dupers through it and now it's kinda showing a pattern of bouncing back and forth about 10-12 inches at 200yrds. SOMETHINGS LOOSE! Check the scope and nothing. Removed and re torque everything to 22 inch lbs as requested be Leupold. Back to the range and Fed Power Shoks. NOPE! WTF WTF......I am not a gun expert but I have played one on TV....all kidding aside I have worked on, played with and built several guns ...still not an expert but...come on! OK at this time we (ME) are loosing our cool so its time to step back and start with the basics...from the bottom up. Check for barrel clearance, not perfect so we decide to take some off with the dremmel and remove the receiver screws ....DING DING DING what's this .. the front bolt/screw is moving...CRAP! yes I know ... this should have been one of the first things I checked.
The next thing I notice is that the T3 has a lug separate from the receiver... did not know that! I am use to my Remington's. SO ....I go in and clean up the stock and put the rifle back together and tighten everything down to spec with some Blue Loc Tight.
Back to the 200 line and proceed to put the next 12 shots of mixed ammo into 1.75MOA group.
Lesson: CLAM DOWN! And check everything by the book! I would have saved about 25 rounds and a sore shoulder.
I hope this helps some T3 owners with problems. The torque on this bolt/screw is critical for a T3 to shoot accurately.
We were set up for 200 yards and fired a 3 round group noting where the first round hit. The rounds were all over the place and equated to a 4 MOA group. Now I know my buddy is not as good a shot as me but he is much better than that, so I took over and shrunk them to about 2.75 MOA, still not good enough for this gun.
The set up is a 300 WSM with two piece Warne rings, VX-3, 10X variable with BC retical, shooting Fed Power Shok 180 gr.
I run some of my hand loads in it and it spreads out further ....WTF these are sub MOA from my gun. I know they are sized for my chamber but they should still shoot good. So I run some Winchester super dupers through it and now it's kinda showing a pattern of bouncing back and forth about 10-12 inches at 200yrds. SOMETHINGS LOOSE! Check the scope and nothing. Removed and re torque everything to 22 inch lbs as requested be Leupold. Back to the range and Fed Power Shoks. NOPE! WTF WTF......I am not a gun expert but I have played one on TV....all kidding aside I have worked on, played with and built several guns ...still not an expert but...come on! OK at this time we (ME) are loosing our cool so its time to step back and start with the basics...from the bottom up. Check for barrel clearance, not perfect so we decide to take some off with the dremmel and remove the receiver screws ....DING DING DING what's this .. the front bolt/screw is moving...CRAP! yes I know ... this should have been one of the first things I checked.
The next thing I notice is that the T3 has a lug separate from the receiver... did not know that! I am use to my Remington's. SO ....I go in and clean up the stock and put the rifle back together and tighten everything down to spec with some Blue Loc Tight.
Back to the 200 line and proceed to put the next 12 shots of mixed ammo into 1.75MOA group.
Lesson: CLAM DOWN! And check everything by the book! I would have saved about 25 rounds and a sore shoulder.
I hope this helps some T3 owners with problems. The torque on this bolt/screw is critical for a T3 to shoot accurately.
