It can. Take the monopod, rail, and sling stud completely off the rifle and re-shoot.agingcowboy said:
Good stuff, lots of ideas here that I'll give a try. I did take the rings off the bases and checked the bases as well. I didn't remove the rings from the scope, just made sure they were each torqued properly.
It's been a couple of years, but I did add a monopod that attaches to a short rail that connects to the rear sling stud. Hadn't consider this, but could that somehow screw with precision?
Also, try dry firing the rifle to see how it behaves. My 300 WM is light and has a fairly a slippery stock, so when I dry fire with front bags I noticed that it jumped around like mad. I have to hold the fore end between my left index and thumb, while using my other three fingers to pull it into the front bag. It makes a difference between a 2.5" gun when shot free recoil, and this sub-MOA.
Dry fire it with the monopod on, and with it off. See how much the scope's reticle moves around.