Henry Acu-Bolt - Strange Results

[TMan]

I bore-sighted the Henry last night and took it to the range this morning. I was shooting Wolf Match Extra ammo, which I'd had good results with perviously when shooting the Ruger 77/22.

The trigger on the Acu-Bolt is a bit on the creepy side, but not terribly annoying. The fact that operating the bolt doesn't cock the rifle, and that you gave to pull back on the cocking lever each time was a constant reminder that I'm not too bright.

The first 10 shots were all over the place. Since I couldn't get a group, there was no point in trying to adjust the sights. Let me see if I can describe the target.
A ---- B
--- E ---
C ---- D

I had small Shoot-N-C targets at areas C, E, and B. I was aiming at area E and most rounds were around B and D. After 10 rounds, I was shaking my head, and the range officer was looking at my target and said: "Something must be wrong".

I then aimed at target C, and hit just a little low. The next 10 shots were all touching in area C and just a little low. I adjusted the scope and the next 5 rounds were in the center of the target at C. I then moved to the target at B, and I was shooting all over the place again. The same thing happened with the target at E.

Incidentally, I'm sitting down while shooting and the gun is supported on sandbags. I had 5 rounds remaining, and I went back to the target at C, and shot right into the middle of the target.

I'm stumped. Why it would shoot so well in that lower left target is beyond me. I'm wondering if it has something to do with the way that I'm looking through the scope? I've seen with some cheap scopes that if you move your head around, the cross-hairs move around on the target. The scope that was supplied with the Henry didn't exhibit that at all. I tried moving my head around, but the cross-hairs stayed in the middle of the target.

Has anyone experienced anything like this, or have any ideas?

[TMan]

Well it just keeps getting weirder. Today I took the gun to the range, aimed at A and hit E. Shot was quite a bit to the right even in area E. My next 4 shots were all over the target - about a 12" group.

A fellow RO said: "Something must be wrong, let me try it." His results were comparable to mine. I was shooting the Wolf Match Extra ammo that I had such good results in my Ruger 77/22 with. He switched to the Remington Gold Bullet and shot a 1-1/2" group, but a couple inches to the right on the target. He then switched to the Wolf Match Target and shot a 1/2" group right in the bullseye.

[MLB]

Do you have another scope to try out on it? Sounds to me like something is loose inside and moving around with the recoil.

Either that, or you have your bifocals on upside down. ;D

[TMan]

Hey, how old do you think I am? I don't wear bi-focals. I wish I did - I used to when I was younger. What I have now is progressive lenses. It was either that or tri-focals.

Bill, the guy that was shooting it Friday, said that he could see some amount of parallax, which with my crappy eye-sight, I didn't notice. That might account for it shooting better when I had the rifle pointing down to the left i.e. I may have been moving my eye to scope relationship when looking straight forward or to the right.

However, the results on Friday clearly pointed to an ammo problem. I now have about half-a-dozen different types of 22 ammo to try in it and will see what it does.

Bi-focals indeed!!! ;D

[MLB]

Hmmph, if it does turn out to be the ammo, it doesn't speak well for Wolf Match Extra. Imagine that, problems with Wolf Ammo. ;D

(I'm still betting on the scope though, keep tuned...)

["DoubleAction"]

TMan; I might have missed it; What was the distance to the target from where you were firing?

[TMan]

Initially it was at 50 yards, but then we moved it in to 25 yards so we could see better. The guy helping me is also a senior citizen.

MLB, this isn't real Wolf ammo. It is some stuff that is produced in Germany that they are packaging under their label.

Speaking of ammo: I finally got enough nerve to shoot the MN Carbine today using Brown Bear ammo. It was fantastic. After I pounded on the front sights for awhile to get it to shoot in the center, I put up a new target and shot my last 5 rounds. There were only two holes in the target. They said I was a "show-off".