Sako predicament

[Old Moss]

Hello Gents & Ladies.  I ran into an interesting problem the other day .  A few years ago I picked up a Sako S491, sporter, wood stock 222rem, Great little rifle.  was shooting just over 1" with most factory ammo.  OK but I new the 222 could do better.  So I glass bedded the action (a feat in itself if you have ever seen bedded a Sako action).  The factory likes to build in a pressure point in the forearm to give better accuracy so they say.  I prefer starting with a freefloat barrel first and going from there.  So I free floated the barrel.  Well when I went to re-mount the scope and boresight.  I could not get enough out of the elevation adjustment to bring the point of impact up to zero at 100yds it would have been shoot about 20 inches low.  

After a bit of thinking and then figuring out that the factory put one heck of a pressure point under that forearm :eek:.  The barrel was being pushed up quiet a bit.  Took 3 layers of coke can shims to bring the scope back to a reasonable zero starting point.  I figure when I get to shoot it I'll have a real shooter here.  Thought someone else could benefit from my experiance Thanks Old Moss.  

[longwinters]

My 308 was manufactured in 1997.  It too has the pressure points.  But will shoot MOA.  However any of the newer Sako rifles that I have owned (still do own one in 280) as well as several that my buddy has owned have free floated barrels.  I had thought about sanding the pressure points out on the 308 but now after reading your post, I may rethink that.

Long

[gunnut69]

How much did you have to sand out of that barrel channel to get it to free float the barrel? That much change of impact of the target would require a bunch of motion from the barrel???  I can't but think there must be some other cause.  Did you free float the barrel before glass bedding the action? Is the barrel square to the action, barrel bent?  That's a lot of zero change...

[Old Moss]

 Well it had two raised areas two inches from the forearm tip on each side about 1/8" high and about 2" long so I had to remove a couple of 1/8' sections.  I'll be able to brief you all a lot more after I take it out and shoot it.

Lonwinters: It was a close 1" MOA but I think a Sako in 222rem escpecially is a less than MOA weapon.  I want under MOA groups.  Will see.  Let you all know after this weekend.  Thanks Old Moss  

[JohnClif]

That doesn't sound good.

If you HAVE to have foreend pressure that will move your barrel enough to get 20 MOA change in your point of impact, then your gun is probably (I'd say DEFINITELY but I hate absolutes and your gun might be the one gun in a million that is the exception to the rule) going to have big problems with a changing zero. As the humidity changes with the seasons (and the weather), your stock will swell or shrink slightly, and thus the barrel will be moved slightly.

Did you take your scope off? Is it possible you misaligned the scope putting it back on? Check your rings, and check your scope to be sure nothing is broken. Can you get the gun to boresight (align the crosshairs with the centerline of the bore by centering the bore on a target at 100 yards and then moving the crosshairs to be centered on the same target)? Could the crown be damaged? Is the barrel bent?

It's hard for me to believe that, with a properly set-up rifle (barrel is square to receiver and not bent) and sighting system (scope isn't bent, rings and bases are as spec'd by the factory) you'd be unable to zero your gun at 100 yards and still have plenty of adjustment left in your scope. There's got to be something else wrong and bending your barrel isn't the solution.

I think you really need to check your rifle over, to the point of perhaps letting a qualified gunsmith examine it.