Thread: Dumb question about shooting

Alright, this has been a bit of a head scratcher for me.

Have a Bergara B14 18inch in 308, always been comfortable shooting out to 450yd, using the basic Belmont 150gr SP. I have switched ammo to the Sako 150gr SP Gamehead. Also upgraded scope(and had a massive muck around with GC that we won't go in to right now).

Have been able to sight and group sub moa at 100yds, moa at 200yds, and hitting a 12x12" gong at 300yds 4/5 times. But for the life of me(and the cost of ammo) I haven't been able to hit the 400yd gong. I've sent 30 rounds over 2 sittings in good weather and have not been able to. Spotter reckon the we're going all around it.

Having come from using cheap ammo, getting moa to sub moa hits at 400yds, to not being able to find the target once with "excellent ammo", has destroyed my confidence.

Can't get hold of more Belmont due to the shortages, but at this stage I would in a heart beat.

Anyone heard of this stuff tumbling at range?

Any suggestions or insights would be appreciated.

Get all the copper/ carbon out of your barrel first

Try again

Had the same with 7-08 last year, as said above, clean the barrel, and clean it again

If its a carbon ring, usually just forward of the chamber, then it will take some work to clean it out. But it sounds like your rifle likes a different ammo. Try some Federal Blue box or some other easily obtainable ammo. If that does the same, then maybe try to get some reloads made up to duplicate the Belmont ammo.
An issue I sometimes have is canting the rifle, and once you start get out a ways with a decent amount of drop it becomes very apparent.

If you are "going all around" the target at increased range, go back to paper and shoot a decent group at each range. Assess each group at each range for patterns of impact - looking to isolate mechanical error, shooter error and plain piss poor shot error... You by the law of averages should be able to land at least one or two on the gong especially if the only change is ammo - but the next issue is you've reported multiple changes at the same time in terms of scope, ammo and probably something else will come to light if you think hard enough about it as a change. Multiple changes make it a lot harder to work out what is causing your issue as you also now need to work out which change has lead up to what is causing your issue and you now have a two or three step faultfinding mission. On the plus side if you haven't changed it's not likely to be you as the operator, so put aside all confidence and ability questions and instead start thinking logically and also document everything...

^^^this

If you can put old scope back on to make sure you haven't got a doggy scope I had that happen before with a new scope & when it got sent back it come back that the cross hairs where moving round they replaced scope & all good after that.

Originally Posted by 7mmsaum

Get all the copper/ carbon out of your barrel first

Try again

Thought this might be the case, and have had a couple of 3odd hour cleaning sessions and the barrel still looks rough as guts, but upon googling this, it sounds fairly common in Bergaras and they still shoot a treat.

Had to recant scope, so will see if that works. This ties in to the GC issues.

Which for more clarification involved a moving zero, a faulty rail, a damaged rifle, 3 remounts, and unkept promises.

Originally Posted by No.3

If you are "going all around" the target at increased range, go back to paper and shoot a decent group at each range. Assess each group at each range for patterns of impact - looking to isolate mechanical error, shooter error and plain piss poor shot error... You by the law of averages should be able to land at least one or two on the gong especially if the only change is ammo - but the next issue is you've reported multiple changes at the same time in terms of scope, ammo and probably something else will come to light if you think hard enough about it as a change. Multiple changes make it a lot harder to work out what is causing your issue as you also now need to work out which change has lead up to what is causing your issue and you now have a two or three step faultfinding mission. On the plus side if you haven't changed it's not likely to be you as the operator, so put aside all confidence and ability questions and instead start thinking logically and also document everything...

Scope update was a muck around as above. I have recanted it now and will take another look, but my local range(Kaitoke) only goes to 200yds, so have very limited ability to get out to distance.

Went from a Bushnell Elite 6500 2.5-16x42 on Talley to a Swarovski Z3 4-12x50bt on a leupold rail and PRW rings.

Will try to get hold of some more Belmont from someone to see if I can at least rule that out. Probably the most effective way to check with the limited time i have available.

Originally Posted by Rocco

Had to recant scope, so will see if that works. This ties in to the GC issues.

Which for more clarification involved a moving zero, a faulty rail, a damaged rifle, 3 remounts, and unkept promises.

Is that the deluxe service option

Use enough paper

Federal blue box shoots awesome out of my Bergara , give it a try.

Use a bigger bit of paper. Your spotter might not actually be competent.

All of the above but if you havnt got a good bubble level you are peeing into the wind.

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