update on son's miss in youth season

[wabi]

Gun season opens here tomorrow and since my son used the landowner's new Savage bolt action 20ga for youth season (and missed a 6pt at 80-100 yards) I decided to check the .50 cal CVA I'll be using this year.
Called the landowner and we went to the range on his farm yesterday.
I set up my target and found the .50 was still right on target.
The landowner brought along his new Savage to try some shells with Barnes Expander bullets. First we tried the 3" Winchester loads my son had used to check sight in.
Put a 6" "shoot-n-see" target at 100 yards and fired off a round. Not a mark on the target? Fired round 2, still no hit? Walked out and found it was hitting way high (8-12"). The gun is NOT shooting accurately. 8" groups at 100 yards and not something I'd hunt with!
I told the landowner I'd be getting the new Knight Rifle out of the gun cabinet and I'd be calling Savage to get authorization to return the shotgun.

Looks like my son may have been the victim of a bad gun rather than "buck fever". Next time we'll use the old beat up and ugly muzzleloader I know is accurate.

[Doe Master]

It does suck when you borrow someones firearm and don`t know if it truly is sighted in .
Everyone can miss but it is nice to know it was not your sons fault .

[vixenmaster]

X2 i concur

[SPITFIRE]

Lesson 1. Never hunt with a strange gun without trying it out first on a target

[JT of PA]

Wabi,

That must have been disheartening for your son. Great job in teaching him that one tries and tests all equipment before taking it out in the field, even when "Your sure it will work".

Hopefully the Knight will bring home a deer for your boy.

All the best to you and your son with his hunt. Sounds like your on way to making a lifelong memory.

John

[VixChix]

Well, that's a bit of consolation. Hope he scores with another gun!

[j.krug]

Well, that's a bit of consolation. Hope he scores with another gun!

Exactly. I hope he has a good ML hunt.

[spike]

I was giving some thought to buying a Savage 20 g slug gun. I had read some good reviews but Wabi's story is not encouraging. Anyone else have any experience with that shotgun ?

[FishHog]

It is very unlikely that there is a problem with the actual gun. It may not like that brand of slugs, something might be loose, etc, but for the actual gun to have an issue is very very very unlikely.

I sure wouldn't let this story be anything more than a reminder to check things out to be sure it is working well before hunting with it.

I've had guns that just hated some slugs, but were fantastic with other brands. That is why most people test with different brands.

That being said, if it is that far off, I'd check that the scope was tight if it has one, or that everything is tight on the gun itself. I don't own one of those guns, but I bet it can easily be made to shoot accurately with a little bench time.

FishHog

[wabi]

Actually we've had 2 different scopes on it (including a brand new Redfield) and tried 4 or 5 brands of ammo in it. We shot it the weekend before youth season and my son shot a sub 2" 50 yard group and put 2 shots in a 4" target at 100 yards with it (about 2" between the hits). We thought all was good.
After the miss we went back to the bench and found it was shooting way high at 100 yards that day and wouldn't group at all with the two brands of slugs the owner had along. We've tried about everything available and it will shoot fair one day and terrible the next. And this is with 3 different people doing the shooting! Yesterday I couldn't hit the 4" target dot at 100 yards with it, but I took my muzzleloader and shot a sub 2" group so I don't think it is the shooter.

[FishHog]

never meant to imply it was the shooter.
Something is loose on the gun, there is no other reasoable explanation.
Check the stock mounting screws, or an other attachements/connections. one must be allowing things to move between shots.