Thread: Rifle Help

Fully disassemble, clean and properly reassemble the rifle. I don't know how many rifles I have fixed by doing that. Old and inaccurate rifles are almost always dirty, but often times I will find loose or missing hardware as well. Then there are the extremes where a guy in the past thought he could make it "better" and he buggered up the inside of the stock so that the action could never bed properly. Get a torque wrench and look up the specs for the mounting hardware. Also, make sure you reassemble it so that action to wood fit is correct. It could be a number of issues adding up.

The last time you fired it, did you use the same ammo?
Was the rifle cleaned properly immediately after the last firing? And how did it shoot then.

Was the rifle free floated or is it factory free floated?

Assuming the barrel is good, stock and scope tight, it is probably the free floating. Accurized 303’s and factory sniper models generally, are/were not free floated

Additionally, depending on when the rifle was made, during the war clear properly dried wood was in short supply, inferior wood used to get rifles out the door.


Look at the barrel, stock for shrinkage & tightness, switch ammo and check free floating.

4 MOA at 50yards is not great for a rifle. I have handguns that will hold an inch at 50, handheld, all day long.


“Just read up on copper fouling and cleaning it out. I do not think that thorough of a cleaning has ever been done on the rifle” ...

That’s too bad, surplus ammo is/was corrosive.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

The last time you fired it, did you use the same ammo?
Was the rifle cleaned properly immediately after the last firing? And how did it shoot then.

Was the rifle free floated or is it factory free floated?

Assuming the barrel is good, stock and scope tight, it is probably the free floating. Accurized 303’s and factory models generally, are/were not free floated

Additionally, depending on when the rifle was made, during the war clear properly dried wood was in short supply, inferior wood used to get rifles out the door.


Look at the barrel, stock for shrinkage & tightness, switch ammo and check free floating.

4 MOA at 50yards is not great for a rifle. I have handguns that will hold an inch at 50, handheld, all day long.


“Just read up on copper fouling and cleaning it out. I do not think that thorough of a cleaning has ever been done on the rifle” ...

That’s too bad, surplus ammo is/was corrosive.

Yes I used the same ammo as last time (which did NOT work). I will first try to shoot some older ammo that worked before.
I use the bore snake right after shooting it every time (at the end of the day)- likely not a thorough enough cleaning.
I have no idea if the barrel was free floated at the factory or after, but I had a gun smith re-do all wooden parts 20 some years ago

On that 30-06 with 4 MOA, it is likely the ammo. It was shooting under 1 MOA last year with different ammo.

Originally Posted by DVW

Fully disassemble, clean and properly reassemble the rifle. I don't know how many rifles I have fixed by doing that. Old and inaccurate rifles are almost always dirty, but often times I will find loose or missing hardware as well. Then there are the extremes where a guy in the past thought he could make it "better" and he buggered up the inside of the stock so that the action could never bed properly. Get a torque wrench and look up the specs for the mounting hardware. Also, make sure you reassemble it so that action to wood fit is correct. It could be a number of issues adding up.

Might do that. I dissembled it once before, but am not an expert.

Originally Posted by bouschie

May sound stupid but. Any cracks in stock? Any loose screws. Is scope tight? Is there a dollar bill space between barrel and stock? If not stock may be too tight on barrel and as barrel heats up it changes point of aim. Remove the bolt and place on sandbags and sight in target thru barrel. Now look thru scope, are they the same? Finally are your crosshairs broken. I had that happen on a shotgun. It was dead on. Then every shot was different. Under close inspection crosshairs broke in two places.

All feedback is helpful!!!
A new stock was put on by a gunsmith 20 some years ago - the original was too short for me
Checked the scope and no obvious looseness or overtightness. Plus, just switched it from another rifle that is shooting fine.
I did and can put the dollar bill between the stock and barrel.
I did remove the bolt and sighted through the barrel - it worked better than the bore sighter!