Recoil Question

Range Report: Ridiculous

Here are some details about what I have and how it did not perform this morning on the fourth attempt to zero it.
H&R #72212 model SB1-T92, Ultra slug hunter, 24 inch barrel, thumbhole laminated stock.
Factory scope base is secure.
Leupold rings are secure.
Scope is a Leupold 2-7x33 muzzleloader/shotgun scope. VX-1 or VX-2 something like that (it has been removed and sent out to Leupold for eval).
Here are a bunch of numbers if you guys would like to sketch this out to visualize what I did this morning.
I'm shooting Federal 3 inch Barnes expander sabots, 20ga, but have shot Remingtons and Hornady with similar tail chasing results.
My cardboard is 27 inches square. I aim on center at 80 yards. Hole #1 is 5 inches left and 2 inches low. I adjust the scope 5 inches right and 5 inches up because I want to be 3 inches high at 80 yards. Shot #2 has no hole at all on the cardboard. You'd think there would be a second hole somewhere close to where I adjusted but not true. I carry the target closer back to 40 yards and fire shot #3. It's now 2 inches right and 3 inches high. I adjust the scope 2 inches left and fire #4. It's now 3 inches lower even with the bull for elevation, but 11 inches to the right. I gave up and packed it in after 4 shots.
I put a Nikon BDC muzzleloader / shotgun scope on it and will try again.
 

idek

New member
Just curious, do you always try to adjust the scope after every shot? I'm not sure how your previous shooting sessions went, and I don't want to assume anything, but if you're adjusting the scope constantly, you may have a hard time determining whether the gun is the problem, the scope is the problem, recoil is the problem, or anything else.
 
Member idek posts a valid curiosity. And that is what my numbers were intended to be used for. A flinch, a scope, a gun problem: how do those variables result in the numbers I posted?
I can see a flinch or something else causing a poor group or maybe a flyer. But to have shot 2# totally off the cardboard and shot #4 to be 11 inches right?
If a scope can't hold zero, would it be off as much as that?
If there is any fault whatsoever in the gun itself, what could it be? Seems like I'd have to see something cracked or broken someplace.
 
Scope

Whatever it might be, I just don't know quite yet. The scope has been sent back for eval and I have installed a replacement. Weather was not good for the range today. I have a Nikon BDC SlugHunter scope mounted on a Remington 870 SuperSlug and that combo is spot on. It's quite an awsome long range capable 12 ga deer gun. I pulled the Leupold and installed a similar Nikon Omega scope on the single shot H&R 20ga and hope to test it Wednesday.
 
H&R Update

The new Nikon was not the answer. Results were the same: random holes at varying amounts away from center. I let a deer hunter try it and he had the same arbitrary results. I let a designated marksman from the Sheriff Dept try it. This guy has Army sniper training- same results. Assorted errors of random amounts in different directions from center.
After way too much time dinking around with this crud gun: two sets of rings, two scopes, five brands of premium ammo, I gave up.
Will send it back to the factory for eval. No matter what happens, I'm done with it. Time to move on to another.
I did buy the Savage model 220 bolt action to replace it and am looking forward to see how it works. Good quality Leupold bases and a Leupold Ultimate Slam 3-9x40 scope.
I'll set up multiple targets to compare where the holes are for 3 or 4 or 5 brands of sabot ammo. Identify the best grouping brand and zero it for that.
Might not even sleep tonight keeping me awake thinking about how well this shotgun does or does not lay those puppies in there.
I could never ID a particular brand with the H&R. It shot all over the paper no matter what I loaded.
 

stegmaier

New member
Recoil question

Fill the hole in the stock with lead, and add a limbsaver pad, I did it with a Ruger #3 in 45/70 ,it used to beat the heck out of me, now it just kind of bounces off my shoulder, It really tamed it down..................stegmaier
 

oneounceload

Moderator
Just like handguns and rifles, each gun has a tendency to prefer one brand or type over others. Try as many as you can to see which one your gun likes best
 
In this particular case something not quite yet known must be out of whack.
Bore?
Rifling?
I don't know yet.
The gun failed to prefer anything I tried, Multiple shooters, multiple brands, random results.
I've already said this: loading those same brands into the new Savage model 220 fitted with a Leupold Ultimate Slam scope and it's simply not possible to miss. This baby will shoot anything I load. My particular present H&R break action single failed to shoot the same rounds. I never has had poor results with other older models of NEF / H&R singles. Totally unexpected.
This Savage 220 as I have it configured, and as I have it loaded, is one sweet shooter.
 
The H&R break action 20ga single shot did go back to the factory. They mounted a scope and shot a 2 inch group using Remington Buck Hammers.
Does no good for me. The Buck Hammer is a fine full caliber one ounce lead slug. Zero the scope 2 inches high at 50 yards and you have a fine deer gun with point blank range to 100 yards.
That's my problem: I already have and am not looking for another 100 yard deer gun. I want to shoot the sub caliber sabots and I want more than 100 yards. The Savage model 220 I already know gives me that because I've been there and done that. The Savage bolt action 20 ga gives me every bit of what I never got from the H&R.
So I bought a shotgun expecting to work like I wanted but it was not true. Now I have a very nice and very good 100 yard deer gun to sell or give away. So far I have had no offers even with a really good discount. I might find somebody that has little money that wants a nice 100 yard deer gun and give it to them.
 
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