Browning BAR 7 mag impact shift

[Frost]

I have an aquaintence who is having a problem with a late model BAR chambered in 7 mag.
It has a Schmidt and Bender scope and the point of impact is shifting on the second shot.
From what he tells me the first shot is right where he wants it.
The second shot is about six inches low.
After the gun completely cools the point of impact returns to where it should be.

He is an older very experienced hunter not a kid blaming the equipment.

Opinions?

 

[armedpig]

A warm barrel can affect the point of impact, which is what it sounds like from your description.

 

[fordnut]

I don't know much about long guns, but, has the barrel been bedded? Almost sounds like the barrel is moving in the stock. It doesn't take much to throw you off 5 inches in 100 yrds.

Just a guess...

Steve

 

[Frost]

What it sounded like to me was firing a shot heated the barrel enough to "change" the barrel enough to move the point of impact.
I would not have expected this from a Browning which is why I asked.

 

[Midnight Raver]

As much as Brownings have such a legendary reputation, I am not so impressed by their civilian firearms. The only personal experience I have had with them was at a Turkey shoot. For skeet shooting we were supposed to use a Browning automatic shotgun. It fired only once for the first contestant and then went kaput. While they worked on it, another one was brought out to use. An identical model, this one would not even fire at all. The odds of both malfunctioning at the same time astounded me. Someone else got out a Remington autoloader that functioned just fine. Those Brownings never did come back on line that day. Just goes to show you that something that looks nice and clean and shiny isn't guaranteed to go bang when you need it to.

Hope your friend can sort out this problem.

 

[thebrasilian]

Are you sure that the scope is holding properly?
Rings are tight? Old scope?....

 

[armedpig]

I would not think it would return to zero if the rings were out of whack, I think that would cause it to be all over the place.

 

[Frost]

He is adamant that once it completely cools it does return to zero.

 

[armedpig]

If the change in point of impact is consistant as more and more shots are fired before he lets it cool, it is the barrel heating up and pushing against the stock and receiver. Time between shots could also affect this, (rapid versus slow fire). He could possibly help get more consistant groups by modifying the stock to float the barrel.

 

[thebrasilian]

Unless you have a cheap aftermarket barrel (like chinese) you shouldn't be seeing that much drop from the heat of a single bullet.