So I broke the front sight off my 209-50 barrel cleaning it when it slipped out of my hands and dropped about 6 inches to the floor.
I was going to scope it anyway so it didn't bother me until this weekend.
This summer I bought a 2-7x33 Leupold and mounted it using the Warne rings and rail. I bore sighted it to make sure it was relatively square and put it back in the case until this weekend.
I went out to the range and set up 4 paper targets at 50 and 100 yrds. Our range targets are a wooden frame with cut open carboard boxes to attach your targets to them. I had 2 targets per frame one atop the other.
I loaded the gun with 245 gr powerbelts and 100 gr of 777, aimed at the lower 50yrd target and pulled the trigger. *fire smoke*. I heard the smack of the bullet hitting something. I looked through the scope... there were no holes in the paper... or the cardboard.
I thought... "Darn"
I ran a wet patch and two dry patches and reloaded. I aimed at the lower target and pulled the trigger. *Fire Smoke*. I looked at the target, and again no holes.
I walked down to the target and didn't see holes anywhere on the paper or cardboard.
I thought "Sh*t... I hope there's nothing wrong with the way I mounted it... did I bend the barrel when I broke the front sight... what in the world... maybe it's shooting low".
I went back up, cleaned the gun again and loaded. I aimed at the upper 50 yrd target and pulled the trigger. *Fire Smoke*. Looked through the scope and no holes in the target anywhere. Looked through my binoculars and no holes in the target.
I thought "Sh*t Sh*t Sh*t".
I walked back down to the target and looked very carfully. Now... the target's backing is a cut open carboard box. When I looked at the 3/8" slit where the lid flaps meet I could see slightly round indentations of two bullet "holes" about an inch from each other in the lower slit, and one indentation for the upper slit. Somehow I'd managed to perfectly split these separate lid cutouts 3 shots in a row. I was 16" down and 8" right.
Needless to say, I dialed it in and finished with 1.2" groups at 50 yrds. I took 1 shot at 100 yrds and got it in just outside the 1" bullseye and called it a day.
It had me worried to say the least.