Barrel Hop: Inherent to short barrels?....

W

WWWJD

New member
...or is it just me?

More often than not, when I'm shooting my 20" SPS .308, I find myself having to make significant adjustments in rifle position after each shot to get back on target. This is while shooting prone or from a bench (or over the hood of the Jeep). The rifle is heavy by most standards, and I don't see how I could improve my position behind the rifle or improve the way I'm holding it into my shoulder in a way that would improve this. Where it matters, I can't complain too much; I hit what I'm aiming at, typically with 1MOA precision. This little problem does bug the crap out of me sometimes though.

What do you guys think?
 
Read up on "natural point of aim", I think you will find your answer. The rifle does not "hop around" randomly, it recoils away from support pressure, and trying to force the rifle to stay in one place does not work. Finding the position where it returns to the same point of aim after the shot is the answer.
 
Barrel hop...that's interesting and that's exactly my problem with the real light short barreled 260 of mine. Nothing else I shoot does that, or at least to that degree. From recent bench times, I find that Scorch's answer appears to be the correct answer. Still, either the short barrel or the light weight of the rifle (or both) cause me to have to work harder or pay more attention if I want to shoot good groups. Since I'm just about to start working up loads with new powders and new bullets, I need to be able to control the hop or bounce of that rifle or all my accuracy testing will be worthless.
 
This is a natural consequence of more recoil. If it disturbs you, the answer is a heavier or longer barrelled rifle or a lower recoil cartridge. I don't know how heavy a 308 rifle would need to be to not jump somewhat but I have a couple in the 9.5-10# range with 24-26" barrels and they still move.
 
Are you shooting off a bipod?

If so, switch to bags or "pre-load" your bipod legs by pushing slightly forward can help.

The biggest thing is finding your natural point of aim like Scorch said.
 
WWWJD, Here something from on barrel hop

Long-Range Shooting Technique
1000-yard rifles are rarely shot free-recoil, unlike point-blank Benchrest (100-200 yards), where free-recoil technique (touch only the trigger and/or trigger guard, then halt recoil with your shoulder) is the norm. Two basic shooting styles are used by 1000-yard shooters. Some grab the fore-end and apply downward pressure to aid tracking and counter barrel hop during recoil. Others use just the trigger hand and shoulder to support the rifle. I use the second method, as I get excessive vertical spread when I grab the fore-end. I can't seem to hold the forend and make it work, but many shooters do it very well. With either method, doing exactly the same thing every shot is key. And now that Richard Schatz set a new 6-target 1000-yard record free-recoiling his 11-lb 6mm Dasher, we may see more shooters trying this method in the future. As I said before, the sport is evolving.

Lot of sites that deal with different different type holds from free recoil to shooting of bipods to offhand etc.

Having shot BR free recoil it's an education shooting a 30-338mag or 300Wby free recoil.
 
The only way to avoid muzzle jump is to use a small-diameter bore and a very lightweight bullet. That's why some people like the .17s.

As you go up in power you have an increase in muzzle jump. A short, lightweight barrel merely accentuates the problem.
 
Barrel jump happens because the bore is above the gun's center of mass. If you lower the bore to line up with the gun's center of mass (balance point), the gun simply recoils straight back. If the bore is below the gun's center of mass, the gun will jump down instead of up, this can be demonstrated by shooting a gun while holding it upside down.

This olympic free pistol design demonstrates the concept of lining up the bore with the center of mass.

http://www.fontaine-tir.com/media/c.../4ba8dcce2a04342c7e5b4c0bd0b2e39d/f/p/fpe.jpg
 
I have a 700LTR 308 shooting from bi pod . Having same problem, installed muzzle brake now after each shot I'm looking at my target. But the guy's on each side of you will develope a flinch.
 
I have noticed that most rifles with signifigant recoil will push you back some when you shoot, causing the muzzle to rise after the shot.
A good recoil pad can reduce this somewhat. Just my own humble observation that I came up with through my own experience with hard kicking rifles.:)
 
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