Cold bore question

[Black-N-Red]

Broke out the .17 hornet & was shooting it yesterday. First shot was off about 2” to the right. Shot again, off about 1” to the right. It took 3 shots to get it dead on. I didn’t adjust the scope just shot it. Got it out today, same thing. First shot off about 2”, then shot after shot it moved over. After about 5 rounds it was stacking them almost top of each other. Is there any thing one can do to fix this? If I adjusted the scope for the first shot to be on then after that the rest would be off.

[McClain]

Is it a light barrel? Beaded action, free float barrel? Are you starting off with clean or fouled barrel. Knowing those might help determine next step. May just have to note cold bore poi and compensate. It is not unusual for most rifles to have some shift with cold bore but 2” is excessive.

[Black-N-Red]

Is it a light barrel? Beaded action, free float barrel? Are you starting off with clean or fouled barrel. Knowing those might help determine next step. May just have to note cold bore poi and compensate. It is not unusual for most rifles to have some shift with cold bore but 2” is excessive.

It’s a heavy barrel, clean free floating barrel, no bedding.

[McClain]

A proper action (no stress) bedding job may help. May also try not cleaning the barrel each time. See what it does with a fouled bore.

[Zen Archery]

Box or hand loads?
Smaller calibers can be persnickety.
Depending on application you may want to zero for cold bore. Let it rest and try it again.
Shooter log book will generally keep your shots in check.
Clean cold bore zero can really be a bugger. But again if you keep a shooters log you’ll know.

[ahlongslide]

A cleaned and oiled barrel has a huge effect on POI shifts for most rifles.

If it really is just the cold bore I would just aim 2” off for the first shot and an 1” for the second. Lol

[westtexducks]

I would leave the bore fouled up after a shooting session come back next day and see what it does. Most of my rifles shoot like hell the first 5-10 rounds after a good scrubbing and then tighten up once it is fouled up again.

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[Raypo]

I would leave the bore fouled up after a shooting session come back next day and see what it does. Most of my rifles shoot like hell the first 5-10 rounds after a good scrubbing and then tighten up once it is fouled up again.

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X2...

[Black-N-Red]

I would leave the bore fouled up after a shooting session come back next day and see what it does. Most of my rifles shoot like hell the first 5-10 rounds after a good scrubbing and then tighten up once it is fouled up again.

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Thanks I’m gonna give this a try.

[ON THE EDGE]

I chased a brand new rifle around for quite a bit once. Didn’t know anything about cold bore or beak in. Spoke with a buddy and finally shot it cold, adjusted scope, scrubbed, let it sit for 5 minutes and shot again. Ran a patch and left majority of the foul and shot after another 3-5 min. 3 shots and she stacks em every time now. Use the same technique at the start of each season to check her.

She was walking 3-5” while hot. 300 win mag on a fluted barrel. My inexperience dang near drove me crazy