Inaccuracies in shooting style? HELP please

[shooters]

Need some opinions from experts in shooting and bench shooting. I currently have a Savage 6.5-284 that Im working with. Gun shoots 1" MOA all day if I do my part. Here is my setup, but not sure its needed. It may help in answering my questions.

Savage Model 116 Weather Warrior
Zeiss 5-20-50 HD5

140g Berger VLDs
56g MagPro Powder
Lapua Brass @ 2.160
Loaded @ 3.190


Both sling studs removed from rifle. When sighting in the rifle and bench shooting, Im shooting off a Caldwell Rock Solid front rest and a Caldwell rear bag. Here is kind of where my questions start in shooting inconsistencies.

At 100 yards, the gun holds a 4 shot group about 1.65" high.
At 200 yards, its center right where Im aiming and under a 2" group.
These are both shooting off the Caldwell front and rear rest. Zero side to side pressure or downward pressure on the stock or barrel. I do not hold the rifle with my left hand. Just let the gun recoil as needed. Have same trigger pressure/pull as well.

Now, I literally remove the Caldwell rest, and put the gun on my Kuiu pack just as I would out in the field in a hunting situation. The gun will still hold the 1" group at 100 yards, but now instead of being 1.65" high at 100, its right center of where Im aiming. So basically dead on at 100. At 200 yards, its about 3.5" low. Now, I obviously sight my rifle in off my bag, the same way I will use it in the field. Are these numbers right, or should they be the same whether Im shooting off the Caldwell or using my bag? Sorry for the long post, just didnt want to miss any info. Thanks!

 

[WildRose]

Need some opinions from experts in shooting and bench shooting. I currently have a Savage 6.5-284 that Im working with. Gun shoots 1" MOA all day if I do my part. Here is my setup, but not sure its needed. It may help in answering my questions.

Savage Model 116 Weather Warrior
Zeiss 5-20-50 HD5

140g Berger VLDs
56g MagPro Powder
Lapua Brass @ 2.160
Loaded @ 3.190


Both sling studs removed from rifle. When sighting in the rifle and bench shooting, Im shooting off a Caldwell Rock Solid front rest and a Caldwell rear bag. Here is kind of where my questions start in shooting inconsistencies.

At 100 yards, the gun holds a 4 shot group about 1.65" high.
At 200 yards, its center right where Im aiming and under a 2" group.
These are both shooting off the Caldwell front and rear rest. Zero side to side pressure or downward pressure on the stock or barrel. I do not hold the rifle with my left hand. Just let the gun recoil as needed. Have same trigger pressure/pull as well.

Now, I literally remove the Caldwell rest, and put the gun on my Kuiu pack just as I would out in the field in a hunting situation. The gun will still hold the 1" group at 100 yards, but now instead of being 1.65" high at 100, its right center of where Im aiming. So basically dead on at 100. At 200 yards, its about 3.5" low. Now, I obviously sight my rifle in off my bag, the same way I will use it in the field. Are these numbers right, or should they be the same whether Im shooting off the Caldwell or using my bag? Sorry for the long post, just didnt want to miss any info. Thanks!

My first thought is that your trigger is too stiff.

Second, you are not getting a consistent cheek weld and eye/sight alignment.

Next check your parallax adjustment and be sure you are parallax free.

 

[shooters]

My first thought is that your trigger is too stiff.

Second, you are not getting a consistent cheek weld and eye/sight alignment.

Next check your parallax adjustment and be sure you are parallax free.

I see your point but if I was not getting consistency then wouldn't I have inconsistent groups? The trigger has no creep and is set right at 2 pounds. I do try to keep cheek Weld and site alignment the same, but maybe I'm not. I will take into consideration your opinion and try again tomorrow. Thank you

 

[WildRose]

I see your point but if I was not getting consistency then wouldn't I have inconsistent groups?

The way I read it you are consistent with your errors. If you are doing the wrong thing consistently you get similar errors consistently.

The trigger has no creep and is set right at 2 pounds

Try bringing it to 1lbs or even a bit lighter if you can do so safely.

I do try to keep cheek Weld and site alignment the same, but maybe I'm not. I will take into consideration your opinion and try again tomorrow. Thank you

When you change your rest you are changing how you mount the rifle. It does't take much of a shift to change your POI quite a bit.

Set your rig up like you are shooting and have someone balance a quarter at the end of your muzzle and dry fire it ten times.

If it falls off it's your trigger squeeze that's getting you.

If you have an over travel adjustment open it up all the way so you have a long free fall when the trigger breaks before your finger then meets resistance.

I'm assuming you have already torqued everything from your scope to the mounts to the action/trigger guard screws to spec to ensure everything is right. If you haven't start there.

 

[shooters]

Awesome info. Thanks a ton. I will try all tomorrow as we'll. as far as the scope, it's been re torqued as we'll. as far as the trigger, it's all my gun smith said he could get from the factory trigger. Thanks

 

[Bullet bumper]

I think also you may be holding too light for that gun on the Caldwell rest and getting a higher POI from barrel jump than would otherwise be the case . When you move to the softer less supportive rest the POI drops somewhat .
Changing support systems will give POI changes no matter what but I think you can reduce that difference .

 

[Korhil78]

It's likely a combination of things. The bag being less supportive can cause a lot of the POI change. You may be doing a lot of things to affect it as well when you go from one shooting platform to the other. I would imagine that you may even hold the gun differently when shooting from the Caldwell rest than you do with just the bag.

A lot of people will shoot from a rest and get a good trigger pull because the gun is locked in and solid. So the reticle isn't moving that much on target and the shooter will get a good trigger squeeze thus making an accurate shot. But when they move to a less supportive shooting platform sucj as your bag, the reticle will move around a lot more on the target because you are not stable. This will cause people to try to "slap" the trigger when they think the reticle is over the bullseye when they should not worry about the reticle moving around and just squeeze the trigger good and smooth like they did before when the rifle was on the solid rest. If you are right handed, slapping the trigger will usually cause the shot to go low and to the left. And people will get to where they will do it so consistently that it will actually look like you are shooting an ok group but it's low and to the left of where you were aiming for.