17-222 accuracy

[jacob.elliott]

My grandpa gave me a 17-222 with an Enfield action and a 20 inch barrel. He says he used to be able to shoot close to 1 inch groups with it (25 years ago). Now it walks all over the paper at 50 yards. It got a bedding job when he had it built. I have put a new scope on it, worked loads until i was blue in the face, working up in .2 grain increments even, and cleaned the barrel with hoppe's copper solvent thinking it might be copper fouled. He says the loads the gunsmith that built it gave him were well over 4000 fps but that he couldn't have shot it enough to be 'burnt out'. Does anyone know anything else i might try before having a smith check it. or should that be were i should have gone before now.

p.s. i have worked loads with both 20 and 25 grain hornady hp and vmax

 

[rcmodel]

If all that has changed is a "new scope" I might start looking there for a problem.

The other thing is, and I'm not trying to get smart with you:

Can you shoot 1" groups with other high-power rifles?

rc

 

[jacob.elliott]

no offense taken. that was my first thought but i can put 5 shots from my savage 22-250 into 1 inch. so do you think that there may be a problem with the new scope? it is a bsa.

 

[rcmodel]

BSA!

That right there is what we call A Clue!

I have ran into several of them that would not hold zero, or would not zero in the first place, unless you banged the butt-plate on the ground after every adjustment to jar the reticle into moving.

Your light recoiling .17 maybe hasn't got enough kick to settle the reticle in one place after you adjust a dial.

What happened to the scope that used to be on it that shot 1" groups?
Can you put it back on and try it?

rc

 

[jacob.elliott]

yes i still have it. it is an old weaver that is i dont know how old. it was doing the same thing. i will borrow one from another of my guns that will hold zero and see if that helps. i also have a 17 HMR with the bsa sweet 17 scope, it seems to hold pretty good but have you heard of any problems with that scope??

 

[rcmodel]

My first BSA experiance was with an older one I put on a 30-06.

First, the plastic dial caps crumbled and broke, and then the front lens fell out on the bench.

Then last year, I went through three new BSA air-rifle scopes trying to get one that would zero & hold zero.
Finally gave up returning them and bought a Bushnell.
Problem solved.

My thought is, you may get a good one, or not.
It's a crap shoot!

But with todays ammo prices, you can shoot up the price of a good quality scope trying to find out if it is a good one, or not.

I certainly will never buy another one.

rc

 

[jacob.elliott]

thanks rc
i will do some more trial and error and see how it turns out

 

[jim147]

If both scopes are shooting the same, and you've checked the bases, you might take a close look at the muzzle to make sure it doesn't have a ding in it.

I'm not a fan of BSA scopes myself.