10-22 take down not grouping cold

[5X5]

10-22 take down, about 900 rounds so far - ran a box of Remington Gold bulk junk (very dirty), cleaned after this, 100 CCI Mini Mags, Federal Target grade wouldn't cycle after several mags, and 200 rounds of CCI Blazer ran OK. I'm using a 3X9 scope with Leupold QRW rings at fifty yards, with KIDD trigger kit.

So, reassembly and scope on/off doesn't change anything much, but if I shoot cold, or let the gun sit for 10 or more minutes it seems to lose it's grouping. Shooting five rounds or so and the groups tighten up again, but I rarely get groups tighter than 1 1/2 or 2 inches. Anyone know what would cause this cold/warm group variance? Cold groups get pretty wild at 4 to 5 inches. This seems to be quite repeatable, and that's not going to put dinner on the table. I'm pretty disappointed, but haven't heard of any other complaints. Suggestions please.

 

[Iowa Fox]

How tight do you have the take up ring. Do not over tighten it.

 

[Kevin]

Huh. I'm not sure. I've often thought when the barrel is cold it should group better. At least this is my experience. I've often noticed as the barrel heats up the group gets. Bigger.

I dont have a take down though either. I bet someone with some more knowledge will be along pretty soon.

 

[5X5]

Well, I had it at two clicks over assembled finger tight, then three or four clicks didn't seem too stiff, and that's what I was shooting last. Now I've backed off to snug with no apparent barrel wobble = three clicks over finger tight. So, I'll see what happens. Yes, my other guns (mostly 223) shoot best cold (CZ .22 doesn't seem to matter), and then things get worse with hot barrel. So this is puzzling.

Anyway, I found that the Weaver Multi Slot base is still loose. What a pain. The screws that came with my base (for 10-22) just aren't long enough to engage all the threads in the receiver, and I've snugged them down two or three times so far - now I found the screws feel tight and the front of the rail has a spring effect going on with a gap, so I'm headed to the shop tomorrow for longer screws, and I'll fit them myself. Once I get the dang rail nailed down I'll see what happens.

 

[5X5]

New rail screws seems to have cleared it up. Strange kind of problem. I just cut them all by hand with help from local smith and wrenched them on tighter with blue threadlock. The ones Weaver supplied just didn't engage enough threads to feel comfortable IMO. It still seems to like shooting hot, but stays on target cold now. Looking forward to more shooting.