Shooting suddenly erratic. What's wrong...rifle or scope?

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jbutzi

Member
Sep 2, 2017
53
2
Wisconsin
I have a Walther Terrus .22 well broken in (2,500+ pellets) that I usually am able to shoot with consistent accuracy. Yesterday after shooting a while I noticed shots were going quite low. At first one every 5 , then three out of five or so. I set up new targets at 11 yards and saw it shoot on target then three low by about three inches then on target and then low again but only two inches, then, oddly a little high then low again. I can usually get about 3/8 inch groups so this was really bad. (not saying I was good before ;-) ) Shooting out at a target at 25 feet I saw some shots hit what looked like one foot low. Is it my scope not holding zero or the gun itself? The scope is a Leapers 3-4x44 SWAT only a few months old. Yes, I checked all the screws on the gun and mounts. Yes I cleaned the barrel. No difference.

Even more oddly, I started shooting the older Crosman Nitro Venum I have with a newer scope and that started doing the same thing also. I assume there is no direct connection but thought I would mention it.

Today I started shooting the Walther at 25 yards again and was able to consistently hit my 1" spinner. Then after thirty or more shots it started acting up again with shots going way low. I don't get it. What's going on here?
 
"jbutzi"
"FunGun"Did you change pellets? Can you weigh your pellets? I get very different results with different weights. Seems my FX guns have some very favorite weights of pellets. Just an idea.
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I was shooting the same pellets the whole time, and they work well in general.
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Do you have a chrony so you can measure your speeds? Might try that to see if it is on the gun side of the equation. If this is happening over two guns, then the common denominator might still be your pellets. Within a single tin of pellets there can be a weight distribution spread of 10% or more. Just a thought.
 
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I feel your pain. I once spent 2 hours and over 90 rounds of 338 Lapua trying to diagnose a loose ring.

This is is what I would do:

Step 1: Check all your screws. Not just in your rings, but also any screw on rails;

Step 2: Check your scopes elevation and windage adjustments. Find your zero, dial in changes, shoot around your dials and then return to zero. If it comes back to zero accurately, that is a good sign;

Step 3: Make sure your elevation isn’t overly maxed out on your scope. This can cause problems with some scopes;

Step 4: Bang your scope around a bit. Don’t go crazy but knock it around with your hand to see if you can make it shift it’s zero;

Step 5: If Step 1-4 don’t reveal any problems, pull the scope off and replace it with another scope. Shoot a couple hundred rounds and see if the problem persists. If it does, the problem is most likely in your gun and not your scope. 

Good luck and let us know how it works out. 
 
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Check your breech seal by using a tissue or powder for leaking, make sure your barrel is locking up, then check without the scope. If those test pass then pull the gun a out of the stock and look in at the spring through cocking slot to see if it is broke. Have seen this in the past on other guns. If it doesn’t look broke then pull gun apart and check piston seal. My bet is a broken spring. Hope this helps. 
 
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