my new allentown rifle .40

[long rifle]

Ok,got this nice new rifle i had built all winter long,,for me!Rayl barrel .40 caliber ,3/4 wide 42 inch,long and laen,,perfect squirrel rifle,,,BUT!!! after thisbeing the worst rifle i had ever built,,everything,went wrong from drills breaking off to something being crooked ,to whatever!it was finished!now today,,what could go wrong this morning,sunny day,,,oh yes,,the septic backe-up and that cost me 250.00 to have it pumped and fixed!!but,,its now afternoon everything is fixed,,time to,SHOOT the NewRifle!! off to the cabin!! set up,,shoot,,WHY!! ,Why! its shoots,high to the righrt, all the @!*% time! the rear sight sets off this rifle like a bad saddled mule,to the left,hanging out in the air,,to get it to come close,! filing the front sight,,,did nothing ,,much,except made me madder,,at the bull shot,still high to the right,NOW,,,I need some insight,beacuse Iam overlooking this,,beacuse its made me so mad,,,so ,,what???the patch is 10 thou,same as used in all my rifles from my .62 to the now new .40this is the only one giving a problem,Ed said his barrels were checked for straightness and i did when come out of pakage,,too,,so,anyone,,????hep!!!!!!!

[smylee grouch]

New gun, shooting off a steady and solid rest I hope. Placing your gun too farback from muzzle on the sand bags forenstance might be throwing your shots high and if using sand bags make sure there is as much sand on each side of resting point as the gun will want to recoil away from the most solid side thus throwing your gun off windage wise too. Not saying that is the problem but something to try .   Smylee

[SCLoyalist]

,Why! its shoots,high to the righrt, all the @!*% time! the rear sight sets off this rifle like a bad saddled mule,to the left,hanging out in the air,,to get it to come close,! filing the front sight,,,did nothing ,,much,except made me madder,,at the bull shot,still high to the right

Filing the front sight would make it shoot higher rather than lower.  As to the windage issue, I had a new rifle that required the sights to be hanging off opposite sides of the top flat, and all we could figure out was that the barrel may have rolled off the bench sometime during assembly, or in some way got bent.  The two solutions suggested were bending the barrel (which I felt was beyond my skill level) or replacing the barrel.   The builder agreed to the barrel replacement.   You might try rechecking the barrel's straightness now to see if you can detect any problems introduced in building.    Also, check both front and rear sights for being snug in their dovetails.  And get someone else to shoot the gun to make sure they get the same results as you are getting . 

Just how far high and right are you hitting at 25 and/or 50 yds?   For a sight to be that far off to the left on that barrel, sounds like you're trying to correct something on the order of a 4" error at 25 yards, which is huge!    I'd take a deep breath and start all over.   Put the sights back center of the flat.   For a .40, a load around 40 grains of 3F, a .390 or .395 roundball, and a 10 of 15 thousandths patch ought to be a reasonable load (maybe not the optimum load, but somewhere in the ballpark).   

Good luck.   SCL

[bob in the woods]

My money says that the barrel has a slight "wow" in it. 3/4 in barrel and 40cal ....it doesn't take much to bend them . Did you slot your tenons /pin holes to allow for wood movement ?   If you bench the gun and it shoots that far off, bending/straightening the barrel to shoot where you want, is no big deal.

[Don Getz]

That is one reason I never made 3/4" barrels.   Too small, almost toy like.   Also very easy to bend.  I would think that the
outside dimension at the lock would be no more than 1 1/4".    While the thought of making one of these dainty little things may sound good, you are now experiencing the problems associated with something this small.........Don

[bob in the woods]

Exactly !   I had a 3/4 in .36 cal that I had to bend straight .  Over 36 or 42 in length, it doesn't take much to  bend slightly.

[mjm46@bellsouth.net]

This may not be your problem but worth a check. I have a rifle that the top of the rear sight was not parallel to the top flat of the barrel. It was a little high on the right not noticibly had to check it with calipers to find it. That little slant was enough to throw the ball about 2" left at 25 yards, due to cocking the hold on the rifle. After I figured it out and fixing it she's dead on now.

[pathfinder]

Good catch Micah! Just checked a gun I had to bend the barrel in,and guess what,Right side is @ .075 higher than the left! I'll file it flat and bench it this afternoon and see what happens.

[Roger Fisher]

Bend the beastie straight.. Let us know how it goes.

[Standing Bear]

Never had the skills, tools or patience to build a rifle myself.  BUT I do recall that bore run out in relation to the flats was conqured by always having the flat of the barrel with makers name oriented either on top or bottom.  Some barrels were bored then the flats milled parallel to the bore eliminating run out and yours may be thus.

If a barrel has run out and is not breeched for ityou cannot get windage and sights regulated thru 25, 50, 75, and 100 yards.  Imagine a Large X  barrel is pointing down one leg and sights looking down the other.  Elevation can be adjusted for.

Seems a 3/4" forty cal would have a little more meat than a 13/16 forty-five.

TC

[smallpatch]

First, work up a proper load.  Get it shooting one hole groups, SOMEWHERE!  I don't know of any custom barrels that will shoot with a .010 patch.  You're probably blowing them apart.

Once you get it grouping, then work on moving your group to POA.
Don said it well..... these extra light weight barrels can be a problem.  Make sure the underlugs are slotted to allow for expansion and contraction.

Bending that barrel may be the only proper way to get it where you want it.

Hope this helps.

[Long Ears]

That's what makes building these things interesting. Like smallpatch said get a solid rest and get a load that will group everytime somewhere on the target before bending. It sounds like you may want to walk away from it for a week or two to cool down. This is suppost to be fun and rewarding. Bob

[long rifle]

ok! everyone that helped me,with this .40 caliober thing,,,took the barrel out back to where used to work a huge machine shop they can checked most anything! This was a easy check and it check purrrr-fect!! flat all side we did,,,why not were there,,everything was good.NOW! what da heck i says on the way back,,,started with the sights,first thing did notice in my excitment,,yesterday,,, was trying to drift the front,, in cooperation with the rear,and,,this sight was a early wide sight,wich hung over the barrle falt so with a smooth grinf stone and now,,a bit of more ,,gonna-fix-this,i mase a new smaller one form the  new wide one that fit the barrel then drifted the front a bit and,,at twenty yards rested front and back so was good a solid aimed at a knot on a fence post off my horse corral,,BAM! almost dead center but! a bit to the LEFT! wich tells me now its not,,a problem shooting the heck off to the right now,if it was a squirrels head it would been in! I was considering the bend-da-barrel-thing,wich long ago,,done it,everyone laughed,YOU can do that!!but i did and ,,it did work,,,,so just wat i did need from all you fine boys was some insight,,,into this,,,,thans againI sure I will be stuck sometime again soon,,mickey!!