Dam Flyers

pyscodog

Active member
Working loads for my Beretta 270 Win. Everything I have tried is 130 grain. Seems I always get a flyer. Sometimes its the first shot, sometimes the third. (I generally shoot 3 shot groups as the barrel gets hot really fast.) The part that bothers me is its not consistent. Sometimes its high left or low left. It puts two of the three side by side but One will go out of the group. I'm hoping its not me but won't rule it out. I'm wondering if the rifle just doesn't care for the 130 grain weight bullet. Maybe go to 140's?? I haven't tried them yet. I'm not going to miss what I'm shooting at but that dam flyer is driving me nuts.
 
One thing I've done chasing flyers is pull that case out of the rotation and just run those that didn't produce flyers. You've just eliminated any problem with the brass. I'd shoot a couple of 5 shot groups and let the barrel cool between shots. With a five shot group if you have more than two together the bullet is usually fine. When a bullet isn't going to work you usually get a shotgun pattern. Check your base screws not just the tightness of the rings, make sure the front ones are actually tightening the base and not bottoming out on the barrel shank, also your action screws.. Be sure your placing the forend on the rest the same every time especially if the forend isn't floated..
 
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Being in-between tight velocity nodes/point of impact shifts will cause fliers as the temperature fluctuates from your developed load. Unfortunately this can be a never ending tail chase.

I also think that brass is the culprit on some occasions. It should not be 33.333% of the time though considering you are shooting 3 shot groups.

If so.... Then a new brand of brass ensues and so does new load development and the tail chase continues.

What a hobby this is......

I feel your pain.
 
Unless your firearm is locked into some device or you are an experienced rifle competitor with close to a master ranking - there's also the possibility of mishandling the firearm, such as different cheek pressure, maybe not having all the parallax out etc - doesn't take much to open up what could be a nice 100 yard group off the bench.

Your scope's X-hair thickness might come into play. I work up loads with a 32X scope, some times a 36X with benchrest reticle - which is so [beeep] thin you have a very difficult time seeing the X-hair - holding on foliage the reticle disappears - That X-hair is moving all around that "bullseye" - sure, might only be 1/4" but still, there is a slight error and if your reticle is larger, that's a larger error that corresponds to your target group.

Sometimes you just have to settle for "good enough for gov't work" type groups.
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Shooting a 3 shot cloverleaf consistently at 100 yards with a stock/slightly modified "hunting" rifle is not all that common, so I think you're doing just fine but maybe, just maybe you might be a "perfectionist" with a type A personality and you'll go financially broke trying to eliminate "flyers".
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I agree w the above recommendations, and would start with the action, scope base and rings screws. Is the bbl free floated? Maybe try another scope? Also, try moving the front rest to just in front of the front action screw/rear of forearm. Sometimes that helps with sporter forearms. Let us know what happens.....we all can learn.
 
Originally Posted By: ackleymanChange of powder or brand of primer often cures this.

Keith-I've tried a few different powders and bullets. All 130 grain stuff. I'm going to try different seating depths tomorrow if its not raining. My groups are livable (kinda) for a hunting rifle but IMO they just need to be tighter. We've talked before, you know me, I get a little anal about my rifles. LOL Its got all the right parts, just needs to tighten up a little.

FYI- my rifle is a Beretta Mato. Kind of a scarce rifle. I'd like to find a good accurate load for it. I was told it was unfired when I got it. Maybe its just not broken in yet.
 
I've started doing ladder tests .010" off of the lands to clean up headaches like this. Drop down a grain or maybe more and load one in .2 grain increments back up to whatever load you were shooting. Shoot one and mark it #1 etc. The walk down to the target will every time will allow your barrel to cool in between shots. You might find you are right on the edge of a node.
I used to load four or five of everything I hoped might work with all the different bullets I would shoot. This amounts to a lot of good shooting practice but eats up a lot of bullets, powder and barrel life. My next move would be to just seating depth.
My bhw 22 Nosler would only shoot 53 vmax but it shot them great until all of a sudden it started vertical stringing a bit. I tried everything and nothing worked until I seated the the bullet out to 2.280 from 2.260 and Shazam problem solved. Not sure why this changed because I hadn't put 100 rounds down the barrel. I probably ran another 100 plus through it trying to figure it out.
I've also found that shooting on sandbags for the likes is much more forgiving then on a rigid rest such as my lead sled solo.
 
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I was force fed the 130’s in a 270 for years. Experienced much of what you describe and just settled for good and not great. It never caused me any issue, but it just bugged me. The 270 went down the road and a 25-06 replaced it. Found a load and it shot great out to 500 on a good consistent base.

A few nickels in my pocket, cabelas had a sale on their exclusive in a 270. I wanted to test drive a 6.5-06 and that was a good platform to work with. The rifle sat unfired for several years. A hunting buddy came up with some various 150’s. A winter weekend with cabin fever I came up with a plan. Had a pound of R26 and book data looked interesting. Loads were put together and shot, winter, spring and summer. Shot great across the board in all temps. Velocity is up there. It thinks it is a 7 mag now. Rifle has under 100 rounds through it. Probably the best shooting rack grade rifle I have or had.
 
I talked to my smith this morning at the club. He says a guy doesn't need anything bigger than a 130 grain bullet in a 270. (His opinion) While that may very well be true, all barrels aren't created equal. My 7mm08 doesn't like light bullets but it loves a 139 grain. I just wonder if maybe going a little heavier bullet might calm it down. Seating depth didn't make a great difference today with the 130 GameKings but with the lead tip getting a constant OAL was hard. I have to use a make shift ogive gauge just to measure. That and RCBS dies was kinda sketchy. Lucky for me, where I hunt there aren't any extremely long shots and I have minute of deer with no problem. Groups are generally 1"-1 1/4" at 100yds. Sometimes a little bigger. The barrel is pretty small diameter, almost a mountain rifle contour and after two shots its pretty warm, after three its hot. IMR 4831 and IMR 4350 are the powders I have used with a CCI LR primer.
 
"FYI- my rifle is a Beretta Mato. Kind of a scarce rifle. I'd like to find a good accurate load for it. I was told it was unfired when I got it. Maybe its just not broken in yet."

My guess is that you've already figured it out. "not broken in yet". I bet it settles in with a couple hundred rounds (or less) through it.
 
Originally Posted By: K22RL 26 and a hand towel under the forearm will make quite a positive difference.

Usually I shoot off a Wichita rest but today I used my Bull bag. It cradles the rifle pretty well. I don't have any Rel 26. I've been tempted to buy some several times and never do. No good reason why either. I just haven't. I may buy some this week end as I kinda need to make a run to the LGS anyway.
 
I have been using a proven 20x scope with a .25 moa dot for load development. For load work I find a powder load that has very little vertical dispersion, hunting loads(leadcore,non vld bullets) start seating tests 0.010 off lands and jump 0.005-0.010 increments until I find best group and then fine tune. Custom barrels I go 0.003 increments.
 
Vertical is what I'm getting with everything I have shot including two different factory loads just to see if maybe its just my handloads. I got the same results with them. I bought some 140 Accubonds today to try. Maybe it just might like a little heavier bullet.
 
With this rifle I only shoot three shot groups, then let it cool. Generally I load three then bump it half a grain until I reach book max changing nothing but the charge weight. Accuracy is good enough to hunt with for sure but not the groups I would like to see. It is a hunting rifle, not a bench gun but anything over an inch drives me nuts.
 
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