help on shooting range outcomes

[j.trevor123]

OKay guys i have a question that has been bothering me. I have a rem md 400 adl .270 and it is right out of the box. I have had it for a few yrs so it should be broken in. Everyonce in a while i can shoot good groups. WEll most oh the times they r decent but have most of the shots arent consistent. I mean they r kill shots at 100 yrds but not good enough that i would feel confident at even 200 yrds. I have tried about 4 diff loads and all the same. I know im a good shot but only shoot freehand sitting proped off of a bench. Is this inconsistence accuracy just because i need to glass bed my stock, trigger job, etc???

[Buckfever]

I have learned that accuracy is usually a few little things.  Crisp trigger, decent scope, barrel not touching anything or properly bedded and the right ammunition.  But first make sure the gun is really, really clean, get the copper out.  After these issues it's time for the gunsmith.  Clean barrel first very well and let the barrel cool 3-5 minutes between shots!!

Buckfever

[Val]

You need to shoot your rifle from a good stable bench rest to be sure the rifle/scope are not your problem.

[lilabner]

Troubleshooting a rifle is like troubleshooting a car. You start with the easy, simple things and progress to the more complicated fixes if the easy ones don't work. Check the guard screws on the rifle to be sure they aren't loose. If you have a scope, check to be sure the mount screws and ring screws are tight. Take a business card and slide it between the stock and barrel from the fore end back. You should be able to slide it freely until you get pretty close to the receiver. If it hangs up, the stock should be relieved by removing wood. Take a Q-tip and run it around the muzzle to see if it hangs up and strands of cotton come loose. That would indicate the muzzle needs to be recrowned. Make sure the bore is clean - deposits in the rifling, either powder residue or copper, can mess up accuracy. If everything is OK, check out the ammo next. Jack O'Connor, a noted gun writer, once bought an expensive varmint rifle that wouldn't shoot better than 2-3 inches at 100 yards with factory ammo. He worked up some handloads for the rifle and it then shot into a half inch. Some guns are picky. If none of this works, I'd give up and have a gunsmith check out the rifle.

[jvs]

A few more years experience at the bench wouldn't hurt anything either.

[Graybeard]

I know im a good shot but only shoot freehand sitting proped off of a bench. Is this inconsistence accuracy just because i need to glass bed my stock, trigger job, etc???

Are you now??? Maybe I'm misunderstanding your shooting postition. I'm picturing it as you sitting at a bench, elbows resting on bench with nothing under the fore end or butt of rifle. Right? If so, that's the whole problem rat there. No one can shoot really good consistent groups that way. Most any rifle is gonna shoot better than the shooter under such conditions.

In 45+ years of doing this I've found that a gun that shoots good some times and bad at other times using same loads is almost always the shooter.

Bet some bags. Rest that fore end on them and the butt too. Get ROCK SOLID and shoot some groups. They you'll know what the rifle and not the shooter is doing. That is of course assuming the trigger is decent and the shooter isn't flinching.

Right now unless I'm misunderstanding your shooting position you've only found out how you shoot not how the rifle shoots.