300wsm Ridgeline won’t group at 200

[TuckTruck]

Hey everybody,
So I’ll start with my issue. My rifle shoots okay 3 shot groups at 100yds, around 1 moa. Then when I move to 200 yds, the shot groups open up to 2-3moa (1” at 100, 4-6” at 200).

Here’s my setup.
CA Ridgeline in 300wsm.
Zeiss conquest v4 with turret.
Zeiss rings
Nightforce rail bedded to action
Harris bipod
I’m shooting off of a solid bench with a rear bag.

With Federal terminal ascent 200gr my groups at 100yds are 1.25” and at 200 yds they are 6”.

With Norma bondstrike 180gr, at 100yds the group is .9”. At 200yds it is 4”.

The groups at 200 don’t have a consistent error. One shot could go high left, the other could go high right, one will be perfect, for example.

I’ve checked the torque of the rings, and action. The parallax of the scope seems to adjust properly. Scope cant doesn’t appear to be the issue. There is no contact from the stock to the barrel. I can shoot my 300prc directly after shooting the wsm and have .5 moa groups consistently out to 300 yds, so I don’t think it’s the loose wingnut behind the rifle. I’m at a loss and running out of ideas and hoping one of you might have the magic answer.

Thanks guys!

 

[tom338]

It doesn't like either one of your choices of ammo would be my thoughts. Just because you choose the ammo does not mean that particular barrel likes it

 

[Macintosh]

Is this consistent, or based on 1 group with each ammo? Ie can you reproduce this consistently? Have you ever shot a larger group to see what the cone with that ammo actually is?
I dont think ammo is likely to be the issue, dispersion doesnt balloon to that degree between 100 and 200 yards any time Ive ever seen. Based on that I think it has to be either that the dispersion will become linear if you used larger group-sizes to better show the true cone of the rifle, or something visual is causing it such as parallax error or mirage or just plain inability to be as precise aiming.

 

[TuckTruck]

Update:
I retorqued the scope rings (they were still tight). Checked my brake, it was tight. Shot prone as solid as I could get, and still no change. I was able to borrow some federal trophy copper from a buddy, same. He also had some hand loaded hornady sst, same grouping issue. I tore my ammo locker apart and was able to find some precision hunter eldx rounds. I shot two, three round groups that were sub moa at 200. It all turned out to be an ammo issue. The gun is just super picky I guess. I still find it odd that they grouped ok at 100 and went wide open at 200. And yes, I know, I need to be hand loading my ammo, I’m still just collecting all of the tools.
Thanks for the replies.

 

[Thinkingman]

Have someone else shoot the rifle at 200.
Eliminate another variable.

 

[davsco]

are you shooting 100 first, then 200 - perhaps the barrel is warming up too much?

what is your scope magnification range, maybe it's not enough to be precise at 200? prob not, just throwing out some possible causes.

what's your range like, maybe protected out at 100 but open to more wind outside that?

if you're dialing at 200 maybe try just holding over, perhaps some crosshair/reticle thing going on?

 

[SloppyJ]

Sounds like my M70 30-06. She's just super picky. It will get rebarreled soon. In the meantime I found a pretty consistent 1 moa load it likes. If I was stuck with factory ammo I would have been forced to sell it a while ago.

Try to finish gathering your reloading supplies. You will learn a ton. This gun is one of the reasons I started.

 

[BCsteve]

My Tikka T3X in 6.5x55 was similar. Over a year I burned through so much powder and bullet combinations, different scopes and the best it would do was an inconsistent 2moa at 100 yard. Finally got fed up of wasting components and ordered an IBI barrel. While waiting for the barrel, against by better judgment, I picked up some 143 eldx and loaded a few. It now shoots consistently way under 1" at 100 yds with the eldx. The new barrel might have to sit for awhile while I burn some eldx.

 

[Harvey_NW]

I still find it odd that they grouped ok at 100 and went wide open at 200.

Small sample size variability.

 

[madcalfe]

give the barrel a good cleaning now that you've shot a bunch of different bullet/powder combos.
I have a custom 300wsm that shoots .25-.50 moa all day with my handloads and then I switched to a different powder to try (went from H4350 to Superformance) to see if I could gain some fps. it grouped great for about 15 rounds and then went to shit. even my handloads with H4350 that I know shot good were grouping horribly at 100yards. sprayed some wipe out in the barrel and let it sit over night and then ran some patches through it the next day and right back to shooting .25-.50 moa with my handload with H4350.

 

[ridensnow23]

1.25 inch groups don't become 6 inch group at 200 unless you are shooting in gale force winds. Either your 100 yard group was an outlier, or you are doing something different at 200. Group size should be repeatable and linear dispersion at distance in a no wind condition

 

[Chris_in_Idaho]

Could it be a parallax issue at 200?

 

[ResearchinStuff]

More shots per group, minimum 10. Also, zeiss rings have been implicated in zero shifts, that could be contributing

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