# "Horizontal Stringing"



## derekp1999 (Nov 17, 2011)

My friend shot this grouping at 200 yards with his 300 Win Mag (Browning BAR), topped with a Swaro scope, and 180gr Nosler Accubond handloads. The gun has the BOSS system on it which has not impressed me much. For size reference, the diamond is 7" across so from dead center to the corner is 3.5".

I loaded the ammunition, hand weighed each charge, and feel like the load is pretty darn uniform. The total spread is only about an inch and a half from top to bottom but the side to side spread is about 7". Off sandbags I have no doubt that he should be getting better results.

I'm trying to decide if I place blame the gun (BOSS system) or the shooter... and right now I'm leaning towards the shooter. Flinching... or maybe pushing into it with his shoulder anticipating the recoil?


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

In my guns horizontal stringing is usually due to a contact point somewhere between barrel and stock. I am not super familiar with BAR's... it doesn't have a single full length stock right?

Could be the shooter though... people get flinchy with magnum calibers.

-DallanC


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

Shooter.
Crosswind?


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## Billy Mumphrey (Sep 5, 2012)

Was the target running?


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## derekp1999 (Nov 17, 2011)

GaryFish said:


> Crosswind?


Only slight crosswind... didn't affect my own .30-06 groups which were shot simultaneously.

Dallan, the BAR looks like this (picture attached). It has the BOSS with recoil supression and the felt recoil is less than a 150gr bullet from a .30-06. I found the recoil to be really quite mild compared to the 180gr bullets I was shooting simultaneously with my .30-06.

Billy, yes it was... and although we are discouraged that the shots weren't perfectly placed we were both pleased to take home our limit of paper targets that day. They are currently in the dehydrator, hoping to have some target jerky soon.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Google "browning bar horizontal stringing" shows alot of hits and discussion.


-DallanC


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

derekp1999 said:


> My friend shot this grouping at 200 yards with his 300 Win Mag (Browning BAR), topped with a Swaro scope, and 180gr Nosler Accubond handloads. The gun has the BOSS system on it which has not impressed me much. For size reference, the diamond is 7" across so from dead center to the corner is 3.5".
> 
> I loaded the ammunition, hand weighed each charge, and feel like the load is pretty darn uniform. The total spread is only about an inch and a half from top to bottom but the side to side spread is about 7". Off sandbags I have no doubt that he should be getting better results.
> 
> I'm trying to decide if I place blame the gun (BOSS system) or the shooter... and right now I'm leaning towards the shooter. Flinching... or maybe pushing into it with his shoulder anticipating the recoil?


Have your friend shoot a 5 shot group then you take the rifle and shoot a 5 shot group. That will explain a lot right there.


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## Dunkem (May 8, 2012)

Derek that jerky should have lots of fiber


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## derekp1999 (Nov 17, 2011)

LostLouisianian said:


> Have your friend shoot a 5 shot group then you take the rifle and shoot a 5 shot group. That will explain a lot right there.


I took 4 shots at 100 yards. The first two were touching, the third and fourth were also touching but 3" to the right of the first two shots.
Dallen, I will Google & check out some of that discussion. I've read a few forums just getting some information on the BOSS system... and I definitely get mixed reviews with that!


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

Other than wind and flinching, I'm lost. Be sure to post what you find.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

LostLouisianian said:


> Have your friend shoot a 5 shot group then you take the rifle and shoot a 5 shot group. That will explain a lot right there.


That there is like swapping sides of the boat when fishing, when the guy catching all the fish now starts catching them on what was your side of the boat... lol.

It would be funny if the 2nd shooter got a vertical string... :mrgreen:

-DallanC


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

DallanC said:


> That there is like swapping sides of the boat when fishing, when the guy catching all the fish now starts catching them on what was your side of the boat... lol.
> 
> It would be funny if the 2nd shooter got a vertical string... :mrgreen:
> 
> -DallanC


That's when I kick the fishing partner overboard... ;-)


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## Loke (Sep 7, 2007)

The BOSS does not automatically make your gun shoot sub MOA groups. You need to adjust it to tune your barrel to your load. Tune the load at 100 yards (you don't need to walk as far to check your groups), then shoot it at longer ranges. After all of that work you might find that that particular gun doesn't like that particular load. It could also be a pressure point in the fore end. Or poor technique on the bench. The rifle should be placed on the rest the same way for every shot. Random placement makes random groups.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

I'm guessing he is in consistant in rifle hold. Meaning he is allowing the rifle to slip somewhere and it's pushing the bullet. 

I would think flinching wouldn't be so uniform in the vertical direction.


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

Aha, just thought something. I had similar thing happen with a gun of mine. I had forgotten to torque my scope bases down one time and I had some bad horizontal stringing. I'm guessing the scope base would jump at each shot and settle at a different place each time. Each time I would shoot, my scope was pointing at a different direction. I wonder if that might be it.
Another thing, is your stock touching the side of your barrel?


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## AF CYN (Mar 19, 2009)

I agree with Loke. The BOSS needs to be tuned. My favorite gun has a BOSS. I wish it didn't. They are a pain to tune. 

AF


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## Cooky (Apr 25, 2011)

Try a scope you know is okay. The horizontal adjustment mechanism may be worn or broken and moving around when you shoot. I had one moving on the vertical plane once, I messed with everything else for half a summer before I thought to try a different scope.


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## derekp1999 (Nov 17, 2011)

Thanks for all the input guys, you've given me a handfull of things to check out on the setup. Unfortunately, both my budy and his gun have returned home to NM so it will be a while before I'm able to physically get my hands on it to check some of these things out. I'll pass along the pointers though and have him make sure everything on the setup is secure. Maybe I can talk him into bringing that gun with him when he comes up for the 4th of July.

We never did tweak the BOSS... which ironically was the whole reason we went and was an error on our part. We've both watched the YouTube video with Doug Miller on Browning's website a number of times & he's committed to go through that exact process that they depict at the range he goes to down there. I made him up 50 fresh rounds to take with him expressly for that purpose. There are a handful of things that I don't like about the BOSS and how they describe getting it tuned. 

I'm glad it's not my gun and I dare say that no gun of mine will ever have the BOSS on it.

He also had problems with it jamming up on him while at the range & the action not closing completely. So in his mind the gun already has a couple strikes against it. I believe his plan is to give it one more go at the range down there and if he experiences any problems with bullet feeding or jamming and still is struggling with accuracy he will be selling the gun & looking for a bolt action. His original thought when buying the semi-auto was that it'd be good to have a quick follow up shot or two, but he's since realized that he'd rather have one accurate shot the first time than a bunch of quick follow ups that he'd need!

I'm hopeful that we'll get this figured out though before he resorts to selling it, it really is a beautiful gun... but life is too short to spend too much time with an inaccurate gun!


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