Shooting Accuracy

[DamnRinella]

Concerned more with hunting and you have great points. Most ranges in FL make it difficult to not use the bench per rules. I need to do more sitting and leaning against tree. My guess is my Harris bipod is worthless with grass etc, so may remove for hunt and just use and practice on pack.

 

[deerkiller]

Concerned more with hunting and you have great points. Most ranges in FL make it difficult to not use the bench per rules. I need to do more sitting and leaning against tree. My guess is my Harris bipod is worthless with grass etc, so may remove for hunt and just use and practice on pack.

shooting sticks from kneeling position are a good practice move too, gets you above the grass usually but not standing, creating such a silhouette

 

[Rambler]

Here we go....



Properly built rifles do not have “poi shifting” no matter how thin a barrel is, and no matter hot it gets. That is a myth. Uless the rifle needs work (not properly stress relieved barrel, bad bedding) when you see groups “shift”, get larger, etc., what you are seeing is the true grouping capability of the gun. Nothing more.

5 shots isn’t a group either. Grouping is for a probability matrix. Rifles shoot in a cone, they do not shoot in a “hole”. That cone’s size tells one what size target the gun is mechanically capable of hitting, and whether the cone is centered on point of aim (zeroed). That’s it. 3 shot groups were invented to make people feel better- literally. Writers started doing 5 shot groups instead of 10 round groups decades ago when reviewing rifles to make them look better. Same from 5 round groups to 3 round groups. It has nothing to do with reality.

Take your “.65 MOA” rifle, lock it in a vice in an indoor tunnel and fire 100 rounds. It will not be a .65 MOA rifle. If it “averages” .65 MOA, then some rounds are far worse. Those are the rounds you want to know about if hitting matters. I do not care where my best rounds go, I need to know where the worst ones will go.

Statistically your .65 MOA average rifle can only on demand hit a 1.5-1.7 MOA target.



This matters for several reasons. One- 10 round groups show the true cone, and consequently the target size that the rifle will mechanically hit. Two- it shows if there is a mechanical problem with the rifle that needs addressed. Three- it allows a true zero. Fourth- when newer shooters hear “sub MOA all day long” they are being lied to, and can be confused like the OP was.

Absolutely spot on and well said as usual, Form...

 

[robtattoo]

Concerned more with hunting and you have great points. Most ranges in FL make it difficult to not use the bench per rules. I need to do more sitting and leaning against tree. My guess is my Harris bipod is worthless with grass etc, so may remove for hunt and just use and practice on pack.

Where in Florida are you?
If you're close enough, the flood plains & gass flats of Starvation Slough, on the Kissimmee river will give you several thousand yards of flat, open, public land that you can shoot to your heart's content.
Obviously you'll have to take a target stand, of some form, but there's literally nobody there (outside of hog dog season)
It's maybe a ½ mile hike from the parking lot to the grass, but if you're limited.....It's an option!

 

[Rich M]

I'm not gonna read this whole thing, just throwing in 2 cents.

Most guns will shoot inside an inch with the correct ammo, cool barrel, decent trigger, and a solid rest. Many folks use a sled type gun rest when working up loads and going to the tightest groups they can. Many guys can also do that stuff without a formal sled-type rest.

Ammo makes a difference. Blue Box Federal ammo shoots very well out of my guns - my reloads shoot better but for a cheap box of ammo, hard to beat.

You can practice shooing with a .22 and save some $$$. This is long haul king of conditioning - you said you were new to guns - a lot of us have been shooting since we were kids and lots of us started with .22s.

You can practice with a snap cap or fired brass w spent primer still in there - dry fire the gun. You are trying to get used to the trigger pull.

A target without a prominent bullz eye can also help your shooting. Target panic is when you are holding tight and then just hit the trigger cause the sight picture looks perfect - happens more than folks will admit.

Bipod and fist works fine. A bean bag works too, rolled socks, towel, whatever. It is how I do it. You aren't gonna shoot much better that like that or prone with the bipod

It is all about how steady you are, the trigger (some guns have crisp triggers others are long and scratchy/jerky), how you pull the trigger (finger tip vs finger joint), and breathing (inhale up, exhale down, then you only get the heartbeat wiggle). I don't know what you are doing with your elbow - gun is supported by bipod in front, fist in back, your shoulder, your trigger hand, and if you are anchoring your elbow on a bench or table, you should be shooting as good as the ammo physically can.

Physical conditioning can make a diff in being steady. Push-ups for a couple of weeks can make a diff in your shooting - less wiggles.

A hot gun will make your groups get larger too. Especially if barrel isn't bedded or floated. You have expansion of the bore size and the barrel - simple physics at work. Someone had posted about shooting 10+ rounds and moving that grouping to center for having the gun sighted - that's an extreme but he's probably military and life depends on the shooting. We do sight with groups, whether it be 3 or 5 or x. I've seen some guys at the range burn thru 2 boxes trying to sight 1 shot at a time.

When a gun is fired the bullet "jumps" into the forcing cone and rifling. If it happens exactly the same each time the ammo will be very accurate. If the bullet is too long or too short, it hits the rifling diff and is resultingly off at 100 and then exponentially more at further ranges.

I'm shooting core lokts right now as part of my target practice routine before going on a hunt - not super happy with em, they shoot between .75 and 1.5 at 100 and 3-4 inches at 225. I got the remingtons at a discount to have the brass to reload after practice sessions but not happy with the performance of their shooting - I can't tell if I'm doing anything wrong with a 4 inch group at 225. So switched over to reloads and shooting 2 inch groups at 225, trying to tighten those up. Just begin picky. The core lokts will kill anything I'm hunting out to about 300 yards, just not with that thread the needle kind of accuracy but definitely "minute of deer".

Best wishes to your shooting and the upcoming hunting season.

 

[2AMedic]

Not sure if anyone mentioned it but I highly suggest Ryan Cleckner’s book Guide to Long Range Shooting to all new shooters. He’s great at explaining things with easy to understand wording. He’s really big on consistent = accurate. It’s not how “accurate” you can make you rifle with different modifications but how consistent can you make your rifle with trigger time and experience.