sgt 0311":39wa4ubu said:
I cannot get my MKII compact in 7MM08 to group at 100 yds. Can anyone offer a solution? I was on a USMC rifle team so I do know how to shoot. The rifle has Zeiss scope and I am shooting off a sandbagged bench using 139 gr SSt and 33 gr Varget. This situation is making me crazy
I agree with what has been said above with respect to making sure the rifle is nice and properly tight; those are some solid recommendations. But allow me to go after the problem from 2 more angles.
Ammo.
First off, ignore the calls to drop the SST, it's a fine bullet. But if I were you, I would do is review the load. The Hodgdon website show the range of a load of Varget (a fine powder, BTW, my favorite,) to be from 40.5 to 43.5 grains. So your 33 grain load is woefully inadequate. I would go for a complete load development using proper loads.
Now each bullet has multiple accuracy nodes and you need to find one or more for this bullet. I would start at 40.5 and go up in .5 grain increments to 43.5, shooting a 3 shot group (this is ahunting rifle, not a match rifle) as best you can and see if you can find an accuracy node.
If you cannot find one, do try another bullet, maybe a 130gr Sierra SMK or some other bullet fitting your requirements (hunting or paper punching.)
Also, you have not told us how long you have been a handloader, maybe you just suck at it and need more experience. Certainly the choice of load does not make me comfortable. In that case, I would buy a box f premium ammo in 7mm-08 and see what the results are. Lots of people think they can just roll their own bullets and they are better than factory ammo, it does not work that way.
Scope/mount.
If the rifle is tight (and you have really cleaned it well,) and factory ammo won't shoot, maybe there is something wrong with the scope. Check the mounts, make sure they are nice than tight and maybe even try the scope on another rifle known to be accurate. Or use another scope that is known good and put it on this rifle and check.
If after all this, nothing works, then maybe the barrel is just lousy.