Thread: Trying to be a bit precise

Hi all,

Bought a new scope rings rail etc to try to stretch the legs out on my .243. Bore sighted it, got it on paper, shot a 3 shot group, taking time between shots to check target (200m).

First group was 17mm and great for elevation, though 1.5" to the right. 3 clicks left to take it to center, next group was great for windage but 1.5" high????? I double checked that I had turned the correct knob as was my first thought.

So two questions;

1,Could this be things heating up shifting the group?

2, I have not done any load development for the rifle, I just load 95gr sst at max load and F/L size. I can see there may be some gain in neck sizing, is there anything else I should be doing? Less than an inch consistently at 200m is great to me, but I read some of you guys are doing amazing things, should I push this further?

Thanks Lars

Rifle is an old t3 light stainless with greystone guns full length suppressor (think that's the correct way of describing it). Load is 35gr ar2208, no.200 primer, 95gr hornady sst. Got the load from adi website, no pressure signs. Scope is 3-18x44 strike eagle.

ADI recommended ‘max loads’ have decreased over the years, fear of litigation, I guess
I load 37gr 2208 with Hornady 87 gr HPBT’s
I don’t think shooting 2 groups gives you enough Info.
Is the barrel floated ?

I'm hoping to get out next weekend to have another shoot, I called it a day after the second group went high. Barrel is free floated, checked with a couple of layers of paper while on its bipod.

For the record, and dont all go rush out and blow your faces off then blame me, I have never found pressure at adi max load in a heap of different rifles and calibers

Originally Posted by Mauser308

That to me could easily be a shooter technique type of cause to the group shifting, and to be fair we need a lot more info than what you have provided. Changing positions on the stock between groups, changing lighting conditions, changes in weather conditions, bipod positioning, and a heap of other factors could be contributing.

If you are getting consistent group sizes of that then you don't have much to worry about but what you do need is a lot more data.

Agree with Mauser308 above. Stop faffing around between shots, just shoot your group (I assume three shots) without changing your position. Don't bother to let the barrel cool between shots just shoot taking care to keep everything the same. This will give you a good indication of what the rile can do. Also don't forget to check your zero in as near to the position that you are likely to use when shooting at game. This may give a zero that is different to your bench zero so adjustment will be needed. If you are shooting of a bipod on a bench make sure there is some padding under the bipod feet like a bit of sleeping pad. Consistent technique is the key to consistent accuracy. Practice using your field position not the bench.
Regards Grandpamac.

Great feedback do far guys, many thanks. I'm pretty sure I'm in the stone age compared to most of you, I had always been a "hunter" and not much of a shooter and haven't gone down this road before. The projectiles are exactly "two layers of green masking tape" off the lands, which fits in the mag fine. I was shooting off my Remington bipod while lying on a ute tray cover on the wet grass with my jacket rolled up under the stock, this was my attempt to take myself out of the equation as much as possible while shooting.

As far as mounting, I am no pro, but I was confident in how I did it, degreased and thread locked everything except for top half of rings (warne30mm rings leupold rail), I did not lap the rings, but I did make sure they were pushed forward onto the rail to prevent them moving under recoil and sat the scope on there before final tighten.

My next trip out to the farm I'll try a couple of things,

More data on 3 shot groups.
7-10 shot groups.

I'll hopefully come back to this thread with photos to get some help from you guys to "decode" results.

There may be some inputs on my end that may be impacting results, shoulder reconstructions have me a bit "soft"

Anything else you guys recommend?

When it comes to finding the Accuracy / Precision of your rifle and you are firing for groups . The number of shots that you should use will be based on the worst possible scenario you could expect i.e for Deer I would guess at a 3-5 shots . To fire more would be a waste as you should not end up in that place , firing 10 shots applies to target shooters as that is what they expect to fire in a string in competitions .

Originally Posted by mimms2

Fine then. 1.



... Funny, I can shoot one-shot groups all day long, at any distance. Doesn't tell me much about the rifle, though.

Nosler reloading manuals put it this way.........or words to this effect.....fire first shot with as much accuracy as you can then 2 more quickly......to emulate what COULD be a hunting senario.....to give a usable zero....
I would be unlucky to fire 10 rounds zeroing any of my rifles after swapping scopes around....6 would be usual..3 x2 shots gets me there on a good day.... but then again the deer I shot a week ago was at 25-40 yards so a shotgun with buckshot wouldve worked.what would I know about zeroing rifle properly,Ive shot four deer at 350ish yards in last few years,the first one took me a finishing shot up close the others the single round was enough......thats with a 30 something year old rifle and my near enough reloads.
and 1 shot groups all day long DO tell you all sorts of things about the rifle........even a single 1 shot into bull of target tells you the rifle is zeroed when you squeazed the trigger....cold clean bore zeroed....

Originally Posted by Mauser308

Nah read that again. Literally pick rifle up, go to range WTF? Scope on backwards. Farken amazing.

Had one guy recently drag up a rifle and couldn't open the bolt. He'd pinned it in there with the mount screws going straight through the rear bridge onto the bolt. Rear base was loose!

not really that unusual.....scope turrets to the wrong side would be rookie mistake easy enough to do and if you werent clued up to it and moved dials in up direction,you would be moving horizontally not verticaly......you want to try tricky???? fit scope so X hairs are indeed a X....piece of piss to sight in with help of a bore sighter to make adjustments,a right bitch if you dont....and WHY you ask would you do it????? because for close range bush shooting it works VERY well....it centres your target even better than conventional placement.

Originally Posted by Larrygoat

Great feedback do far guys, many thanks. I'm pretty sure I'm in the stone age compared to most of you, I had always been a "hunter" and not much of a shooter and haven't gone down this road before. The projectiles are exactly "two layers of green masking tape" off the lands, which fits in the mag fine. I was shooting off my Remington bipod while lying on a ute tray cover on the wet grass with my jacket rolled up under the stock, this was my attempt to take myself out of the equation as much as possible while shooting.

As far as mounting, I am no pro, but I was confident in how I did it, degreased and thread locked everything except for top half of rings (warne30mm rings leupold rail), I did not lap the rings, but I did make sure they were pushed forward onto the rail to prevent them moving under recoil and sat the scope on there before final tighten.

My next trip out to the farm I'll try a couple of things,

More data on 3 shot groups.
7-10 shot groups.

I'll hopefully come back to this thread with photos to get some help from you guys to "decode" results.

There may be some inputs on my end that may be impacting results, shoulder reconstructions have me a bit "soft"

Anything else you guys recommend?

Greetings Larrygoat,
I think you are most of the way there. You are zeroing at 200 metres and form a prone rest much the same as you would use in the field. A realistic accuracy in those conditions would be about 1 MoA which you are achieving. Your 17 mm group is from good technique aided by luck. Don't expect that sort of accuracy each time. Every time you lie down to shoot some things will be different, no matter how hard you try, and the point of impact will be slightly different. If you can keep your groups in a 50 mm circle at 200 metres, centered on your aiming point, you are ready to hunt. No need to chase rainbows. The one thing I would Suggest is to adjust your scope for parallax by moving your head from side to side until the cross hairs stop moving across the target rather than using the markings. Other than that you are good to go.
Regards Grandpamac.

Doesn't take much wind to move yr groups either at 200mtrs.

Not enough data for conclusions. That could've been anything. I wouldn't worry about it.

could just be your shoulder was higher on the butt pad for the second group or you let it recoil a bit more rather than holding it as tight, Have a search on youtube for Norways clips
( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmK...bUakUotekAyxew )
and see if you can critique yourself and your chosen/default style

shoot a bit more I rekin, t3 tikkas are light and jumpy so you do need good form

I have seen the very thing you describe myself. It was the scope, something wrong inside not operator fault. When adjusting Windage the scope would half the time change the elevation a little. No big deal, I just got the windage right and played with elevation. Ended up 1/2 inch from where I wanted it which is fine.