[Txhillbilly]

Originally Posted by huntersmurf

I've tried a number of things including letting other people shoot this rifle. The group size has increased to 2-3'' range which is not acceptable in itself but location of the groups bothers me even more. Sometimes it's to the right,left or high. I'm wondering if the barrel is changing what it likes now that I'm getting more rounds downrange. I've not had this happen before,so could that be a possibility?

Sako builds a high quality rifle,and with the number of rounds you say have been shot out of it,the barrel would be the last thing that I would suspect being bad. Unless the rifle has been dropped and the barrel was damaged,I would say your troubles are with the stock,receiver bolts,scope bases or the rings.
Check to see if your barrel is free floating in the stock first,if it is,then check the torque settings of the action screws. If all is well,take the scope & rings off and check the base screws,rings.

If everything checks out ok,shoot the gun without the muzzlebrake and see if the problem goes away. Whoever installed the muzzlebrake could have screwed up the barrel if it isn't true to the muzzle of the barrel.

[cpttango30]

What do you clean with? I doubt copper fouling but you never know. Some barrels will get copper fouled to the point of group size increase in a short amount of time.

I am going to say it is the muzzle break though. I would do every possible thing YOU can do before taking it back even taking the break off and shooting it.

[huntersmurf]

Thanks yall!! I'm going to try everything and see, I'll keep you posted.

[Silvertip 44]

If all else looks good, I would turn my concentration to the scope. There could always be a problem with the internals of the scope.
I had the same problem with groups getting bigger and wandering from place to place on the target. Turned out to be the scope itself, I'd try another one that I know is good.

[willshoum]

If It was me be hind the gun I'd remove the scope and fire a few rounds with the iron sights at 40 to 50 yrds. That is if you can hit the bulls eye with out the scope. this will give you an idea if it is the scope or not. If you have fired to the extent that the barrel is hot this could also add to the problem. The biggest problem I find these days is the cost of ammo and it's availabilty. Hope you find the problem. Wills in da swamp in La. One Shot One Kill.........