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Patriot Accuarcy

Braeden Clark

Copper BB
Hello all. I own a Patriot .308. I put a Boyd's stock on it and also I put Boyd's metal mag insert. I bought all of this after the gun did not shoot great. Well after all this, it still wasn't shoot amazing. Today, I took it to a gunsmith and had him look it over. He saw that the crown of the barrel was messed up and needed fixed. He is also going to pillar bed it and bed the stock. With all this added up, the boyds stock, metal mag insert, pillars and bedding, and recrowned barrel, how accurate can I expect this gun to be? I'm am WAY to deep into this gun to have it shoot poorly
 
I don’t own a Mossberg rifle but I’ve followed them since introduction. I may pick up a MVP at some point. From all the YouTube videos I’ve seen the accuracy is good. Proof is in the pudding. From your post I assume you purchased the gun used and you’re spending a lot of money to make the rifle better.
Hopefully you have a good optic and a solid mounting system. Buy some good ammo and take it to the range. See how it groups at 100 yards and send some pics.
For its intended purpose (hunting, range, HD) how accurate do you need it to be?
 
A bad crown can affect the accuracy. At the same time, reprofiling the crown is not likely going to make it shoot a whole lot better. What a lot of people never think about is that the crown, if damaged, may cause the gun to have a shift in zero, but it's always going to be repeatedly the same. It won't cause the gun to just throw bullets out all over the place. At least it won't at the distances that I shoot. I don't have the luxury or ability to see what it will do at multiple hundreds of yards or further.

Yes, a bad crown can cause a zeroed gun to need to be rezeroed, but it's not going to cause shotgun like patterns. At least not in my experience with them. I have shot a lot of guns that even go back and predate WW1 that have been through battle and are dinged all to pieces that still shoot as well as one would expect them to. I assure you, none of them are factory pristine.

Bedding the stock will make the stock a little stronger and more ridgid, which may prevent contact with the barrel, creating any flex on it. Boyds stocks are pretty nice to begin with.

I'm curious though, what kind of groups are you getting now? I know that with most 308 calibers, while generally "accurate enough", are not the same small cloverleaf style groups that you can see with other calibers either. They just aren't.

So, I'm unsure whether the gun is just not working all that great, or if your expectations are maybe a little off, or you may need to shoot more and eventually shoot better, or if the ammo that you're using just doesn't get along with the barrel or a bad optic, or wind or other reasons. A lot of different things could be occurring.

And then, of course, there could be other problems with the gun itself. I'm not saying it's everything but the gun. I'm also not meaning to sound like I'm accusing you of just being a bad shot either. I don't know you from Adam. For all I know, you're the worlds best shooter and I'm not throwing blame out on anything specific because I don't like to speculate about anything.

Give more info and maybe we can give better answers.
 
I don’t own a Mossberg rifle but I’ve followed them since introduction. I may pick up a MVP at some point. From all the YouTube videos I’ve seen the accuracy is good. Proof is in the pudding. From your post I assume you purchased the gun used and you’re spending a lot of money to make the rifle better.

Hopefully you have a good optic and a solid mounting system. Buy some good ammo and take it to the range. See how it groups at 100 yards and send some pics.

For its intended purpose (hunting, range, HD) how accurate do you need it to be?
Sorry for this late response. The gun has shot pretty well for the most part, but after a few groups I start to get flyers. My gunsmith has described it as the barrel heats up and the bullets hit the imperfection on the crown differently, causing flyers. I already had the pillars for this gun so I figured that if a gunsmith has it in his possession, I might as well have him do that too. I am also purchasing a new scope for this. I have landed on a Burris Fullfield E1. This is strictly a target gun so I want it to be an absolute tack driver. And at this point I'm so deep money wise into it I could never justify selling it. Even if it requires a new barrel down the road. I hope it doesnt but can never sell the gun at this point lol. I shoulda bought a Savage.
 
A bad crown can affect the accuracy. At the same time, reprofiling the crown is not likely going to make it shoot a whole lot better. What a lot of people never think about is that the crown, if damaged, may cause the gun to have a shift in zero, but it's always going to be repeatedly the same. It won't cause the gun to just throw bullets out all over the place. At least it won't at the distances that I shoot. I don't have the luxury or ability to see what it will do at multiple hundreds of yards or further.

Yes, a bad crown can cause a zeroed gun to need to be rezeroed, but it's not going to cause shotgun like patterns. At least not in my experience with them. I have shot a lot of guns that even go back and predate WW1 that have been through battle and are dinged all to pieces that still shoot as well as one would expect them to. I assure you, none of them are factory pristine.

Bedding the stock will make the stock a little stronger and more ridgid, which may prevent contact with the barrel, creating any flex on it. Boyds stocks are pretty nice to begin with.

I'm curious though, what kind of groups are you getting now? I know that with most 308 calibers, while generally "accurate enough", are not the same small cloverleaf style groups that you can see with other calibers either. They just aren't.

So, I'm unsure whether the gun is just not working all that great, or if your expectations are maybe a little off, or you may need to shoot more and eventually shoot better, or if the ammo that you're using just doesn't get along with the barrel or a bad optic, or wind or other reasons. A lot of different things could be occurring.

And then, of course, there could be other problems with the gun itself. I'm not saying it's everything but the gun. I'm also not meaning to sound like I'm accusing you of just being a bad shot either. I don't know you from Adam. For all I know, you're the worlds best shooter and I'm not throwing blame out on anything specific because I don't like to speculate about anything.

Give more info and maybe we can give better answers.
Got a new scope, base and rings after all of the mods already done to the gun. Took it out today and the gun definitely shoots better then me. Here are two of the groups I managed with my poor ability. These were at 100 yards. 3 shot groups.
 

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I was following this because my experience with the .308 cartridge in my Ruger has been similar. It’s a powerful rifle but I cannot keep the same fine groups I’m getting out of my .223 Savage mark 12.

I could say the same thing about my .45/70 govt.

A very very powerful rifle, but not shooting as good a group as the .308

Never could, Never will. The basic ballistics just make it a totally different animal.

So if I had to make a tight group at 200 yards, versus knocking down a charging animal at 50, I would just pick the correct gun. If I had to shoot at soldiers, the .223 would be a solid choice. If I had to shoot at a truck I’ll be picking the .308

Since the truck is a much bigger target, pinpoint accuracy is less of a problem.
 
Since the truck is a much bigger target, pinpoint accuracy is less of a problem.

Not to go OT too much, but as an auto mechanic and instructor, I've thought about the best way to disable a non-armored vehicle using a projectile. For educational purposes while doing research for my new novel on the Boogapocalypse, you know? :D

Would it be possible to hit near an air bag sensor and get the airbag to go off? That would be like punching the driver in the face if he wasn't prepared. But I think more than one sensor has to be affected by shock simultaneously...

Or what about a one-shot vehicle disable? If you knew where the engine/trans control module was, that could be a 1s1k. Or maybe the battery or throttle body? Sure, you could load the radiator with lead, but that will take a few minutes for the engine to overheat and seize. Or shoot out the tires but that could take a while for them to become unusable for traction. I'm just thinking non-lethal methods to stopping a pursuing vehicle with .308... Options change if you go much bigger or much smaller. :)
 
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