Thread: should I have gone for a 4th shot

It is annoying. I haven't had the issue for a while. I always have substantial a loss in velocity when clean and cold, but still hit my zero.
I do not clean my barrels until they get around 100-150 shots. Velocity is stable when cold after a few thru them and as long as I can shoot my zero when cold, I am happy.

IMHO

that group is just fine for showing that you are well sighted in. 3 shots gives a basic approx estimate of the mean point of impact (mpi), which I believe will likely be somewhere within a circle enclosing the 3 shots.

It's not enough shots to estimate the group size. certainly not enough to discern any double grouping. ie cold bore vs hot group mpi. unless you have a prior estimate like half a dozen 1" groups at 200. to estimate the mpi for cold shot vs hot you need at least 3 or better 5 cold bore shots and corresponding hot shots straight after.

I discipline myself to decide how many shots I am going to put down before I start a group. sometimes I see its way out and decide a sight adjustment is in order after only 3. if the first 2 or 3 are widely spaced I takea deep breath and try extra hard to put the last 2 into the middle of it. for me, a 1.5" 5 shot group (100m) is creditable but 1.5" for 3 is a bit weak. it is tempting to stop after 3 close shots but statistically very dodgy. I would have quite a few 0.5 groups on record if I'd allowed myself but they would mean little. never stop if you've started well. its just pulling and you know it.

ps if you're using factory ammo and trying to economise then you have to accept the handicap of doing without high quality information on your gun's grouping capability and cold / hot / fouling behaviour. you can still sight in and get trajectory data from 3 shot groups.

I try not to overthink these things. We aren't shooting ants.

I just like to know that my first couple of shots are dead on and near to touching at 100 yards. There are so many variables once we get into the field it hardly bears thinking about. I control what I can, and limit my range because of what I can't.

Works for me, but I expect that the animals think it suks.

Gotta get away from the mindset of shooting a nice group to show people and instead think about what information you're looking for