One hole group then 1/2”??

[dmoon]

Usually when this happens to me...It's me. Usually because I don't hold the rifle the same when I settle into it 15 minutes latter.

This is the problem. I shoot a lot too, but get sloppy on the bench even with a free recoil gun and groups open up. Something as small as usually having your thumb wrapped and then setting it up by the tang can become a .25" mistake....I agree with above, your load is made. Tighten up the rest of the issues and it sounds like you got a sweet rig!

 

[Greyfox]

Yep! The NUT behind the trigger remains the biggest factor.

While there can certainly be something going on with the OP's rifle, when I experience a similar situation, I generally try to eliminate shooting error on my part......and more often then not, this ends up being the case. While it may not be conscious to the shooter, concentration plays a huge role when shooting sub.5MOA and is perishable with repetition. Instinctive archers are very much aware of this. Shooting a rifle is no different. Sight picture, trigger squeeze, hold, position, etc. have to be exactly replicated to shoot with sub .5MOA consistently. Also, frequently overlooked, a light wind even at 100 yards can easily open a group from .25 to .5MOA. At 100 Yards, parallax has to be set perfectly, and may need checking throughout a shot string. If I see a grouping issue develop while shooting 100 yards at the bench, I"ll take a short break and switch and shoot prone at 200 yards to re-set my brain....and the rifle usually proves out fine. IMO, shooting from a bench can produce long strings of very small groups particularly when free-recoil is employed. For me, a bench makes shooting tight groups much more difficult with my "hard hold" hunting rifles due to the angular position of my body. For a hard hold with my hunters, my best groups with long strings have been achieved from a proper prone position, preferring 200 yard testing and zero setting over 100.

 

[Jmmcquirk]

I can attest to doing the same thing, I shoot a couple 6.5-284's. I would agree with all said above that it is mostly human error. I can shoot five in one and the next day should just hang it up. I once shot three shots on a 1080 yard target within three inches and couldn't hit the 925 once. It is all in your head.... for me anyways.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

I am going to use an extreme example to make my thought.

Every now and then a 1.5 moa rifle will shoot a little tiny group. The smaller the string of shots the more often this will happen. This rifle falls into the catagory of "My rifle is a ¼ moa rifle all day long, if I do my part."

Not saying the op rifle is a 1.5 moa rifle. I am saying it is probably a .5 moa rifle, which in my opinion is an exceptional rifle / load.

All these guys that claim their hunting weight factory rifles are ¼ moa rifles "all day long" should take them to the bench rest competitions and win over the much heavier purpose built rifles.

I had a customer yesterday ask me what I expected to achieve for accuracy with our custom ammo and his rifle. My realistic answer is sub moa.

Every now and then a solid 1 moa rifle (which is a good rifle) shoots .5 moa groups. Chalk it up to a great day!

Steve

 

[Chad717]

I bought this rifle second hand and assumed it was fine but after the odd groupings I took it to my gunsmith just to be sure to weed out any potential problems, it had a bad bedding job, also he bore scoped it and said it was very copper fouled. Hopefully with these things fixed it will be more consistent. I've shot groups before that were in the 1s and definitely don't expect any gun to do it every time but I definitely felt something was wrong. We'll see

 

[Rich Coyle]

While there can certainly be something going on with the OP's rifle, when I experience a similar situation, I generally try to eliminate shooting error on my part......and more often then not, this ends up being the case. While it may not be conscious to the shooter, concentration plays a huge role when shooting sub.5MOA and is perishable with repetition. Instinctive archers are very much aware of this. Shooting a rifle is no different. Sight picture, trigger squeeze, hold, position, etc. have to be exactly replicated to shoot with sub .5MOA consistently. Also, frequently overlooked, a light wind even at 100 yards can easily open a group from .25 to .5MOA. At 100 Yards, parallax has to be set perfectly, and may need checking throughout a shot string. If I see a grouping issue develop while shooting 100 yards at the bench, I"ll take a short break and switch and shoot prone at 200 yards to re-set my brain....and the rifle usually proves out fine. IMO, shooting from a bench can produce long strings of very small groups particularly when free-recoil is employed. For me, a bench makes shooting tight groups much more difficult with my "hard hold" hunting rifles due to the angular position of my body. For a hard hold with my hunters, my best groups with long strings have been achieved from a proper prone position, preferring 200 yard testing and zero setting over 100.

It seems two of us have had the above experience. I once had a Savage Heavy Varmint .223. The worst five shot group it fired at 100 yards was .494". I took it to 200 yards for two ten shot groups. With free recoil it did .870". With me holding it more like I would on a portable bench shooting at rockchucks the group opened up to 2". Still less than MOA but definitely more realistic of my/its performance in the field.

 

[Canhunter35]

One other thought on the subject:
If .5moa group is your worst group, an es of 30-40fps will open up that group at 1k far more than tightening your group from .5moa to .3 or even .1moa.
I think your expecting a lot from the rifle. (I'm assuming it's a hunting rifle) Your load is probably good. Go shoot it at 1k. No vertical stringing then you're really good to go!

 

[Chad717]

I definitely agree with the above post, anytime I Chrony a load and the numbers aren't consistent I don't even bother fine-tuning the load, I only use the gun for shooting varmints and not big game hunting so I want it to shoot very tight groups like my other guns, if the load is off at 6 to 800 yards on a small critter there's a good chance we will completely miss it .

 

[stx]

tagging in

 

[Canhunter35]

I definitely agree with the above post, anytime I Chrony a load and the numbers aren't consistent I don't even bother fine-tuning the load, I only use the gun for shooting varmints and not big game hunting so I want it to shoot very tight groups like my other guns, if the load is off at 6 to 800 yards on a small critter there's a good chance we will completely miss it .

A chrony can lie at least the older light sensor ones. Mine has told me I have an es of 30 then when I shot at 880yds it has a vertical dispersion of 2". So beware if you're relying on it for load development

 

[Mike 338]

Well, a half inch is great shooting with a non-benchrest gun. That said, the most natural thing in the world is to do a repetitive thing differently, even though your comfortable doing it. A good example is my golf swing. The more I walked and played, the worse I got. I turned my hips more and my swing got loopy but I was warmed up and felt better doing it. Same with shooting. Is your cheek weld a "weld" or light contact? Are you laying on the stock or holding it so as not to influence it to much? Is your cheek weld knocking it into a canted position?

Who knows why we shoot better one day than another but it's a very good time to closely examine how the shooter influences the gun.

 

[LoneTraveler]

People sometimes change some little thing they don't realize when doing repetition acts.
As a police firearms instructor, We sometimes videoed a shooter with a problem. Then show the video to the officer. They themselves would sometimes became their own worst critics. It helped find the problem or problems so we could work with them to cure the problem.

A good coach, a video or even still pictures just at the shot, Will sometimes tell what is happening. Changing finger location on the trigger, Cheek weld on the stock, sliding up and down the stock. Changing thumb position on stock, Changing trigger hand position on stock. Or unknowingly gripping trigger hand just as the trigger reaches break. Holding to much air in lungs will up oxygen level and raise heart beat. Or need glasses or a change of glasses for better vision. Are little things that can make a shot move ever sow little on the target.
Sometimes just one little thing is all it takes.

 

[Snyper708]

I took it to my gunsmith just to be sure to weed out any potential problems, it had a bad bedding job, also he bore scoped it and said it was very copper fouled.

I bet he fixed those "problems" for a fee, but didn't it fire those smallest groups before it was "fixed"?

 

[Chad717]

I bet he fixed those "problems" for a fee, but didn't it fire those smallest groups before it was "fixed"?

Not what you're insinuating but he is my buddy and wouldn't call them "problems" unless they were. He has more work than he knows what to do with.