flier

[rufous]

I have a pretty good load worked up for my 300 Win Mag using the 180 Nosler Partition spitzer at 3150 fps. During load development I was getting 1" groups at 150 yards. For me this is quite good. The rifle is a sporter weight rifle with skinny stock so it does not ride the bags well. Any way the last couple times I shot this rifle and load I decided to see how it would do using my bipod and sling from the prone position. I fired 3 groups at 300 yards (total of ten shots) and got all ten in 4.3". Again for me that is quite acceptible. Then the next time out I shot prone with bipod and sling at 500 yards. First 3 shot group was 5.4" with only 2" of vertical (one shot was 5.4" right of the other two). Then I fired 3 more shots at the same spot. 2 of those were near the two close ones from the first group such that I had 4 shots in 3.5" and 5 shots in 5.4". But one of the shots in the second group was 7" lower than any of the other shots so I ended up with 6 shots in 10" at 500 yards. Not horrible by most people's standards but that low shot nags at me. The gun and load are clearly capable of 0.7 MOA. I was not aiming 7" lower when I fired. I wonder if it was a bad bullet. I asked Darryl Cassyl a few weeks ago in a private email if a non-competitive shooter/hunter could benefit by using bullets that were checked on the Vern Juenke machine. He did not think that I would profit from using such a machine but I wonder if that bullet that went 7" low would have been culled and not shot because it measured poorly on the internal concentricity comparator. What do you all think? Rufous.

 

[Darryl Cassel]

Rufous

If you weighed all your bullets, there should not be a problem. I have seen lighter and/or heavier bullets in the same NEW box of bullets.

I would suspect your Bi-pod.

Shooting off a bi-pod on a HARD surface will cause you the problems you are experiancing.

The bi-pod is fine if in soft earth but, NEVER off of a hard surface. A bi-pod will destroy a good group almost everytime if your not careful.

The Vern Junkie machine would not be needed for the shooting you are doing.

For the hard core benchrest shooter, yes it is used.

Later
DC

 

[rufous]

Thanks for the help Darryl. However, as is usually the case, it raises more questions. As mentioned I had 5 shots in about 2.75" of vertical and the 6th shot was 7" lower than the lowest of the 5. All were shot on the same surface (hard packed earth). I would tend to think that if the problem were the bipod then the 6 shots would be more evenly distributed vertically. I do not want to waste my time or money trying this Juenke machine but I know a gunsmith who will test the bullets and segregate them for 10 cents per bullet so may give it a try on a couple boxes. It supposedly reduces fliers. Are you saying that a load that shoots 0.5" groups with bullets that measure less than 5 on the Juenke machine would shoot 0.7" groups instead of 2" groups with bullets that measure 50 on the Juenke machine or what? That is something that I would really like to know- how much of a difference would it make to shoot a group with bullets measuring less than 5 versus bullets that measure 15 or 20 or whatever? Also what do you suggest I do when shooting at big game at 300 plus yards considering that I do not have a bench. Thus far I have found that I can shoot much more accurately using a bipod and getting prone than without the bipod. Do most of you shoot better with just a sling and no bipod? I appreciate any help and advice to assist in becoming a better shooter. Rufous.