Maybe I am not as bad as I think I am

Here is my last trip at the 200 yard range back in March with the 30-06. I suck I know! Now granted I am not an expert and I have only been shooting for the past 5 years with only a dozen trips or so a year to the range. But I should be better than this. MY AR with a 3X shoots about the same at this range. But I think I just discovered why I am shooting so poorly. My free float barrel is not free floating. I can not get a dollar bill between the stock and the barrel and the stock is definitely touching the barrel on both sides.

Should I just remove my stock and file it down or send it to Beretta because its a SAKO? I really dont want to send it in with hunting season around the corner.

Should I sand it down myself or should I send it to my local gunsmith and have him do it more professionally than I can?

What say you guys that are more experienced than me.

Wooden dowel wrapped in sand paper. It'll look professional.

And while the action is out of the stock, I'd bed it.

I would send it to Chad,then when you get it back you'll have a gun and ammo and ready to go hunt.

If your ar and 30-06 shoot about the same I am not sure I would say it's the gun...

Granted fully free floating usually can't hurt. But don't think it will magically solve your issues

Maybe let someone else put a few rounds down range and see what it looks like.

What kind of stock, base, rings, scope are you using? Also, what kind of ammo? There's alot that could lead to less than desirable results. The fact that the barrel isn't free floated could be contributing and might be good to open it up to eliminate that variable.

I wouldn't compare your results to your AR results. They are very different guns and some people shoot traditional rifles better, some people shoot AR's better. My grandpa can shoot lights out with a traditional rifle whereas I have a hard time now with them after shooting vertical grips.

Lots of good advice.

Skip the dowel rod. Dowel rods have parralell sides, barrels do not. Slide Emory cloth between the barrel and stock the same way you were sliding the dollar bill. You need to stock locked down in a vise, or on a bipod with your feet holding down the bipod. Saw the Emory cloth from the muzzle toward the action. Free float forearm with perfect lines to the barrel.

Sounds like a job for the gunsmith since this is an extremely nice rifle and I am afraid I will screw it up.

its a trijicon accupoint 3-9 scope

rings I am not sure

base is Sako dovetail

Ammo should not matter because of the quality of the gun but I buy the cheapest ammo on the shelf which is typically Core LOKT 150 Gr

This is the stock and barrel. You can see the little piece of bill that got stuck because there is no gap whatsoever on each side. The stock dips in at almost the same spot on both sides and dips out at almost the same place as it nears the action.

I wish I knew someone that knows how to shoot to test it for me. I am not 100% sure this is the problem but I just dont see how my groups are this bad after putting a few hundred rounds already through this gun in practice

You can mail it to me, I ain't skeered.

Ask anyone at the range to shoot it. If it's you and not the rifle, anyone at the range should be able to shoot it better than that.

Exactly 2 cents worth of observations:

I didn't notice what Sako you're shooting but not all Sako rifles are/were free floated. 75s & 85s yes, A7s no.

Green & gold box ammo is good/great as a hunting round but I would choose a lot of other ammo if shooting little groups at 200 were my goal.

Tough to tell from the photo but is that a sling point attached to the barrel? A barrel band and sling might be doing more to the harmonics of your gun than the stock contacting the barrel.

You mention only a very few range trips but talk about "hundreds" of rounds shot thru this gun...hot rifle barrels rarely group well.

I agree. That's actually pretty good for Rem Core-Loct. If you are looking for tighter groups, you need better ammo. I would send it to Chad and get him to develop a load for you.
Also agree with Kentucky. I don't think that sling band is doing you and favors.

Ammo quality absolutely makes a huge difference!!!!

Can you post a full pic of your rifle? Im not registering what that is on far right of barrel. Anything touching or hanging off the barrel will definitely impact your accuracy. Also, I would figure out what kind of rings you're running. Cheap rings and bases will cause issues. Im not a big fan of the rings that some of the Sakos come with and I replaced mine with Talleys.

Its an 85 so yes it is free float. It sounds like you guys think the barrel and stock touching is not the culprit affecting my groups. I am very surprised that you guys dont think that is the case. I thought for sure that this would affect the shots.

I have shot plenty of 168GR Remington Hog Hammer w/Barnes TSX with basically the same results. Which is what I hunt with and I practice with core loct

12 trips and 20-30 shots per trip. I definitely try to shoot 4 or 5 then switch rifles to let it cool down

I would think that since the barrel band is stock from the factory the rifle was engineered to allow for this band to perform without affecting the guns shootability

Ask anyone at the range to shoot it. If it's you and not the rifle, anyone at the range should be able to shoot it better than that. [/quote]

Not at my range. Most people can barley hit the target. LOL

I'm no expert, but I'm going to say part of the problem is probably shooting mechanics and variability from shot to shot on your part. I'd read all I could about good shooting mechanics and spend a day at the range with your AR practicing. Make sure you use sandbags and support the rear of the rifle stock with a small sandbag or sock filled with rice.

Take some time after each shot to replay and review what worked and what didn't work.

What model Sako 85 is it? Is it one of the bear models like this one? This Black Bear is the only polymer stocked, fluted barrel, with barrel band I could find on their site:

http://www.sako.fi/rifles/sako-85/85-black-bear

Most accurate rifles do not have barrel bands. I would bet the Sako bear models are not really geared towards super accuracy but more so toward fast target aquistion. Most Sakos do not have barrel bands.

Shooter or Rifle.
Put it in a sled or have someone else fire it first, or both.
Shooting with refined accuracy 200 yards with an 3006 well its not quite as easy as some may think.

Ammo quality doesn't matter....??
3x9 scope at 200 yards...

Sako does guarantee sub MOA rifles if I do remember right. Also attacking it to file down stuff based on a hunch, Eh not the method I would suggest.

If it is the rifle take to the Arms Room in Dickinson and have the smith check it out. I had a rifle that was all over bedded there and a new scope mounted, very reasonable, took 6 days and helped lots. The rest was All me.

Have fun at the range!!