Question about consistent performance

[BrentM]

I finally had a chance to do a bit of tuning Sunday, but the wind is still being a pain. I was able to get .25MOA at 200 with Berger VLDs. I have been seeing .5ish MOA at .075 off the lands but the groups were not consistent with flyers here and there. I put a turn in a my seating die and it wound up seating the bullet .105 off the lands. Shot 2 rounds and they were touching each other. I loaded up 3 more and all the sudden the wind died so I put them down range quickly.

I ran out of time to tune any more and the wind was not good for tuning anyway. I shot 4 at a rock at 460 yards for confirmation and Ami, my spotter, said they were tight. Good enough, let's go play on the quads. While out playing, I had 9 rounds with me, we found at a rock at 1200. I suck at reading the wind so my first two shots were not kills. Now that I had some DOPE the next 3 were kills and grouped 1 MOA. Wind was gusty and a pain to read. Ami put 2 down range and 1 was dead on, 1 miss. My 68 year old mom wanted to shoot but not 1200. Put her on a rock at 470 and she was dead on, 2 rounds within 3".

So, at this point, would you all call it good, or would you play with seating depth etc still and confirm for consistency? If ammo supplies were readily available I would personally play a bit more. Also, is 200 yards and .25MOA good or should I be shooting these Bergers at longer range for groups?

6.5-284, 140 berger vld, 24" 1-8. Lapau brass. 2970 fps. 56.5 retumbo, Fed. 210M. .105 off lands or 2.477 OAL.

 

[BrentM]

I guess this post or the way in which it is presented is not popular. If any one has advise please share. Not real sure where to go from here.

 

[Greyfox]

Brent, I think your load looks to be in pretty good shape. As you know, I have done quite a bit of shooting with a similar load in 6.5x284 with two rifles. I have found that consistent 200 yard groups, and velocity confirmation at 1000 yards using drops, and I am good to go. If my groups are .5MOA, I'm done. Unless there is a change in my load, or rifle, I'll just check my zero periodically.

 

[BrentM]

OK, well, I keep chasing flyers and it was/is driving me nuts. Not a called flyer either, one of those that makes you just think WTH just caused that. I might be too anal about it though. This LR stuff is new to me and I want to do it as right as possible with my limited means and experience. With ammo etc being so hard to find, mistakes are costly. I am just a student ya know. gun)

 

[Greyfox]

Brent, didn't mean to come off sounding critical, sorry, it must be old age setting in. My wife keeps reminding me of this. I think chasing flyers can be tricky business. Sometimes it's the rifle/load, usually, in my case, it's me or conditions. Occasional flyers, in my view are a fact of life. I also believe that only a low percentage of flyers can be called, especially if the flyer is the result of a bad trigger squeeze which for me is the usual cause for my flyers. It's very easy for any of us to get too anal. IMO.

 

[royinidaho]

When I get 0.5 MOA @ 200 I have already done enough load development to focus on the load that produced this group.

This group would have been shot from my most solid and steady position which is prone off bipod and good rear support.

Several more sessions with this load takes place from the same position to confirm repeatability.

From that point on all shooting is done in the field where any inconsistency is expected to come from, varying field shooting position, wind, me and whatever else.

If inconsistency raises it's ugly head it's back to the home range and at least 3 good solid prone 200 yd shots. Have done this over a long period of time. Any inconsistencies have ever been attributed to the rifle.

Shooting at rocks is fruitful as long as the target rocks are MOA or less in size.