Horizontal group

[Fatboy1970]

Guys I've been reloading for about 3 years now. What boxes it mean, if anything, when a bullet walks horizontally? I felt pretty good about point of aim with a 5 shot group but they walked to the right each shot. Holes were touching but makes for a large group. Is it the load or the barrel you think?. Check hanks in advance for your input.

 

[K.E.C. Darkside]

What is your trigger set at. May be pulling your trigger???

 

[Dmagna]

Right to left is usually trigger. I set my triggers to 1 pound during development. Just makes it easier

 

[HSmithTX]

If each shot went further right than the last I would honestly be looking in the mirror, right after I verified that all the action screws are tight/torqued and scope mounts etc.

 

[Far North Hunter]

Is your barrel free floated? If your stock is touching the barrel heating can push your groups around.

 

[jraulsten]

If it's not the shooter or gun, try changing seating depth. You should find a sweet spot that will eliminate the horizontal stringing....

 

[jsthntn247]

Going further away from the lands usually tunes horizontal out.

 

[Mikecr]

Well unless you've made your ammo directional some how (like it knows right from left), then it is likely something else.
Maybe an existing stress in the gun.
This can be difficult to locate, and sometimes you can't fix it. A tube or chassis gun can put you there.

I hope you realize that temperature transitions and grouping don't go well together.
That hot grouping can print different from cold grouping, and a transition from one to the other is worst.
With some guns you may need to choose one or the other, and never between.

I've had great hot grouping guns that could not be relied on for cold bore accuracy.
And I've had horrible grouping guns that were fantastic for hunting shots.
Of course there are guns that do both, or neither, well.

All that aside, I've seen the resting & hold cause a consistent direction trend. The gun carving (from torque) into sand bags (depending on fill).
A bipod can dig in while you go, and with either you end up twisting or changing hold on the gun a little differently for each shot.
To counter, I fiddle with rests while group shooting to more or less reset each shot. Otherwise, if I have to counter a rest with my hold, that's not good.

 

[Hard rock]

Well unless you've made your ammo directional some how (like it knows right from left), then it is likely something else.
Maybe an existing stress in the gun.
This can be difficult to locate, and sometimes you can't fix it. A tube or chassis gun can put you there.

I hope you realize that temperature transitions and grouping don't go well together.
That hot grouping can print different from cold grouping, and a transition from one to the other is worst.
With some guns you may need to choose one or the other, and never between.

I've had great hot grouping guns that could not be relied on for cold bore accuracy.
And I've had horrible grouping guns that were fantastic for hunting shots.
Of course there are guns that do both, or neither, well.

All that aside, I've seen the resting & hold cause a consistent direction trend. The gun carving (from torque) into sand bags (depending on fill).
A bipod can dig in while you go, and with either you end up twisting or changing hold on the gun a little differently for each shot.
To counter, I fiddle with rests while group shooting to more or less reset each shot. Otherwise, if I have to counter a rest with my hold, that's not good.

I would check the barrel channel and make sure it is free floated , if the stock is touching on one side it will throw the bullets to the other . I would then glass bed if not bedded , this sounds like a stock issue more than any thing else . I would then experiment with seating depth , crimping etc . The trigger pull is important but you can pay extra attention too that or change that , I've shot some rifles with pretty sorry triggers with good grouping , you just have too be more aware of the trigger pull . Bottom line Stock First

 

[Mikecr]

Seating depth is no more directional than primer seating.
Does anybody here think they can make POI change right, and then more right with the next shot, and more right with the next shot -with a single seating depth change?
Think this through

 

[QuietTexan]

5 shot group but they walked to the right each shot.

Is this repeatable?

5 shots isn't very many data points to work with. If the ordering is repeatable, meaning it continually walks right, you have some kind of stress somewhere in the rifle system, or your hold is changing between shots. If the ordering isn't repeatable but the total horizontal dispersion is, then moving right could be a coincidence in a small sample and you're in a poor seating depth node.

That would be a pretty big coincidence though. I lean towards the first option of you're inducing something into the rifle or hold. Group dispersion takes a lot more data points to fully quantify, so the next step here is to simply shoot more, see what the overall group size is, and if there is any consistency to a pattern in how the bullets impact.

Assumptions I'm making is this is not mix-and-match brass, not a gritty 6# trigger, your loading skills are capable of making loads that are better than this group was, and overall system of rifle/optics has been proven to be capable of smaller, more consistent groups. Basics first.

 

[jsthntn247]

Seating depth is no more directional than primer seating.
Does anybody here think they can make POI change right, and then more right with the next shot, and more right with the next shot -with a single seating depth change?
Think this through

So you don't believe in barrel harmonics?

 

[Mikecr]

By directional, I mean same build of ammo would not print a line, having each shot based on each prior shot -due to some consistent attribute of that ammo.
It can't do that. YOU can't do that, without changing the ammo for each shot, to perform this circus trick.

 

[QuietTexan]

So you don't believe in barrel harmonics?

The point was OP specifically indicated a progression of continually moving rightward with each shot. Harmonic nodes show up as scatter, not progression.

If the OP had consistent 5" horizontal dispersion that's different from 5 shots progressing continually rightward in a progression.