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Old 05-26-2018, 11:46 AM   #1
Ron S
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Truckee, CA
Posts: 4,924
I think under banded guns shoot high.

Well at least a couple of mine do. My most used gun in NorCal is a basic RA 70 with a 7 mm, single flopper shaft. When I used it with a 3/4" band it shot great, but when I switched to a single 5/8" band, even cut pretty short, I kept shooting over fish. Shot fine with the same band and a thinner shaft, but that darn 7mm shaft shot high. Thought it was just me.

Same with my RA 90. With two 9/16" bands it shot fine, but when I dropped one band for close shots, it shot high. Again thought it was just me.

I recently got my 44" Riffe midhandle back from Phil Herranen. He did some absolutely amazing work on that gun! Replaced the stock grip with an AR 15 handle, which he moved back a bit, installed some small wing/band elevators, added mass, and then finished it with a blue water camo paint and epoxy finish. Now with two small id 9/16" bands and a 9/32" single flopper shaft, it's a sniper rifle, even shot one handed.

Anyway, I found a spot at the local lake where I could do some controlled target shooting. Made a target out of a square of thinsulite foam pad and hauled the guns into the water. I replaced the single 5/8" band on the RA with two tight 9/16" bands. I found that with both bands pulled, the 70 was dead on to the very end of a single wrap. With only one band, it shot way high.

The 44" midhandle too was dead on with two bands, but with only one, it shot about 4" high at the end of a single wrap.

I tried these combinations over and over, and got the same results. I'm confident that the shooting high wasn't operator error, (as most of my shooting issues are. ).

Not sure why, but I now believe that while overpowering a gun causes accuracy issues, so does underpowering one, at least with the little guns I shoot.

For what it's worth.

Ron.
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