Question about Sighting In & Grouping

[Montana73]

I like to hear from you seasoned LRH's on best procedure to go about sighting in your hunting rifle and then doing some shooting various loads for groups. For example, how many shots to group effectively e.g. 3 or 5 shots. How many minutes between shots to cool the barrel down? Is a lead sled required or will solid barrel rest and a bag underneath the stock good enough? Any other tidbits would be appreciated.

 

[Tangent]

Everybody has their own voodoo for barrel break-in so I won't go there.

For initial sight in, I bore sight at 100 yards. Shoot 3 (ish) then adjust to center. Shoot a minimum of 5 to confirm, but prefer a (2) or (3) 5 shot groups to be certain. During this time I'm chrono'ing to get a rough median velocity. From here, I determine initial "try" dope. Then shoot to 600 or 700 to calibrate velocity. Then shoot out to 1,400 to fine tune BC. From there I bounce between occasional paper groups and lots of positional shooting.

When shooting groups I don't let the barrel cool during the group, I just shoot.

Definitely no lead sled. Sight in and shoot groups how you intend to use the rifle. If it's a bench gun, shoot from a bench. If it's a field gun, shoot from prone. Use same front & rear rests that you would for the rifle's intended use. For me that means bipod & rear bag.