Need advice on my groups?

[RJTodd]

Sir,
Do you have a loupe, or at least a good quality magnifying glass? The smallest of imperfections on your crown can cause erratic grouping. Likewise a bore scope inspection of your throat and gas port could show some burr or other problem.

While a bore scope is a significant investment, a 10x Loupe can be had for $30 or so. Mine is a Belomo brand available on Amazon.com and I can't imagine how I got along without it, especially as my eyes age. . . .

Best of luck with your rifle.

Randy

[45C]

No sir, but I’ll definitely look into it
Seen them on Amazon.ca
Anyone in particular I should get?

Thanks

[SCJim]

First off I want to make it clear that I have never reloaded for accuracy in a gas gun, that will change in the next couple of weeks However I am a long time reloader for bolt guns and shoot mid and long range F class. One thing I have found out is that barrels, cartridges, and bullets will have a powder preference that they shine with Looking at the sticky threads at the top I notice that 95% of the listed loads used one of three types of powder. The popular powders for 123gn bullets seems to be CFE 223, 8028 XBR, and LVR. That would be the first place I would start. If a majority of the users are sticking with certain powders there is a reason. That is not saying the powder you are using will not, but it will take some tuning to find out.

Another factor is cold bore vs warm bore shots. This depends on the rifle, in some rifles it is pronounced and in others it has little if any difference. Get to know your rifle, does the first shot of a string always go up and left or down and right? If so learn to compensate for it or if this is a hunting rifle you want zero the scope for that first cold bore shot. Pick a dead calm overcast day and use a spotting scope if you need to and keep a record of POA (point of aim) and the actual POI. Does the first shot always hit at a certain place from the point of aim then climb, drop , or slide to the side or is it erratic?

Of course there are dozens of other factors involved with flyers most but not all of which are the shooters fault not the gun or ammo. Also try doing 10 round or higher groups if you are using this for target competition. Unless you consistently get 5 shots groups of appx the same size 5 shot groups are only good for rough load tunes for a long range target shooter

[45C]

[Mad Charlie]

What NF said.

I also have posted on this before where I recommended running the first shot into the berm, also the last shot, as in load 7 rounds to shoot a 5 shot group. Other options could be to only run the first or the last into the berm. Might give you some insight about when the flier is happening. The other recommendations concerning crown condition, etc. are also good.

I have also had the same issue with the "One Round Flier" where 4 shots are in the 5's or 6's, and one round opens the group to an inch. I believe it is mainly a magazine feed characteristic, so the sled technique will help determine if it is. Trying a few different mag's may also give you some more insight. For instance, in my M1A, I have two mag's out of nine that consistently give me tighter and rounder groups, I cannot explain exactly why, but they are marked.

For hunting, 1st shot, clean cold bore (or just cold bore for some of us) P.O.I, is the most important, if you can get that to be consistent, you are good to go. It is good to be able to sit in your tree stand and hold on a hogs ear hole and stand a durn good chance of putting a bullet right in it. Unless you are like DNS, he shoots 'em better when they are zipping around in three different directions at thirty miles an hour at 150 yards.