help please 7mm rem mag

[sambar1]

i recently starting to shoot at bit longer ranges, i got some 168vlds for my tikka t3 hunter varied seating depths until i found a nice load first group was 3 shots into .5 @100yd loaded a few more up put 2 into .3 adjusted scope then put 2 into same hole. so for a sporter weight rifle im quiet happy. my problem is i went back to 300yds and my group is about 7" i know im capable of better as i shot a 2.2" group with my 243 on the same target 2minutes before shooting the 7mm, im pretty sure i dont flinch as recoil desent worry me much.
my loads are 65gr re22 oal 3.316" which puts me 0.163" off the lands its a fair way but seems to work at 100yd i tried a couple of extra short loads just to see if they would shoot well and fit in my magzine and it seemed to work.

would this extra jump cause any inaccuracies out further or is it more a stablisation issue, any other theories or things i need to try?

[ken snyder]

Run over your 100 yd targets with a lawn mower. Friends don't let friends use 100yds to evaluate anything. Not too many drag racing funny cars are evaluated on a Nascar track! Work solely on your 300yd target and many will stretch that out to 500yds minimum. Light weight barrels are a problem all to themselves. They are very good for hunting but extremely poor for shooting, If enough time is given for the heat to soak up the barrel then poor performance can almost be guaranteed while in an actual hunting conditions shots are few and very close together time wise. 1 shot should be all that is necessary to sight the scope in, dont readjust. Then shoot enough cold groups to actually have enough information to determine what the final scope adjustment should actully be.. The wind is another story but you will soon find yourself throwing rocks at a 100yd target when you see one

[rscott5028]

If you consistently shoot .5" at 100yds with those bullets, you should be able to get close to 1.5" at 300yds.

There are several reasons why this doesn't always occur.

Your barrel might've heated up and/or is getting fouled which would affect accuracy.

If you changed shooting positions, rests, bipod, bench/prone, etc... then something could creep into your technique that would degrade accuracy.

Next, you may need to verify that your parallax is set correctly. If you bag up your rifle good and solid on the target and it remains steady yet the crosshairs appear to move when you move your eye from side to side and up/down, then the parallax is not correct and any variation in cheek weld will cause your groups to open up.

The greater the magnification, the bigger the problem with parallax becomes. There are lots of threads here about adjusting your scope.

Any wind at any distance will move your bullet around. This is increasingly true at longer distances and is very tricky for shooting groups if the wind is shifting.

Additionally, variation in muzzle velocity may not have a noticeable affect at short range. However, it will have an increasing significance at longer ranges.

Hope this helps.
-- richard

[moombaskier]

Originally Posted by rscott5028

If you consistently shoot .5" at 100yds with those bullets, you should be able to get close to 1.5" at 300yds.

There are several reasons why this doesn't always occur.

Your barrel might've heated up and/or is getting fouled which would affect accuracy.

If you changed shooting positions, rests, bipod, bench/prone, etc... then something could creep into your technique that would degrade accuracy.

Next, you may need to verify that your parallax is set correctly. If you bag up your rifle good and solid on the target and it remains steady yet the crosshairs appear to move when you move your eye from side to side and up/down, then the parallax is not correct and any variation in cheek weld will cause your groups to open up.

The greater the magnification, the bigger the problem with parallax becomes. There are lots of threads here about adjusting your scope.

Any wind at any distance will move your bullet around. This is increasingly true at longer distances and is very tricky for shooting groups if the wind is shifting.

Additionally, variation in muzzle velocity may not have a noticeable affect at short range. However, it will have an increasing significance at longer ranges.

Hope this helps.
-- richard

Very sound advice! Especially the parallax.