Group pattern?

[skyfish]

Thought I would post some pics of my two 10 shot groups with the Grendel today. See if it is my technique. I was really there to work my bolt gun, and shot the Grendel for cool down times. But, both groups were ten shot groups, not real slow. But the first shot of both groups was one of two high ones, can't remember the other high shot. Just thought it was unusual to have two groups so similar.

On the second group I lost concentration as I was thinking of the two high shots on both groups. My bad habits came out. It was 100gr Berger over 29.3gr of X-Terminator, CCI SRM. A good varmint load. 18" AA barrel gives 2660-2680fps with no signs of pressure.

I was shooting off bipod and rear bag. Fairly fast as well, I'll take blame for horizontal stringing, butt those two high on each group?

Next one, started looking and thinking of two high ones and trailed off left...

[Drifter]

Bipod on hard service with change in firmness of hold on rifle and / or manner in which bipod is "loaded" can result in a vertical POI shift.

[ChellieWiles]

the hocus pocus takes you out of focus. when you think about something, eating, driving, hiking...you do it. if you think about a pulling a shot, then you will probably pull that shot. start thinking only of hitting that bullseye and how you need to adjust to hit it if you happen to miss. never, under any circumstance, begin to think that you are going to miss because if you do, then you probably will.

[ricsmall]

+1 on CWiles advice

[LR1955]

I was shooting off bipod and rear bag. Fairly fast as well, I'll take blame for horizontal stringing, butt those two high on each group?

SF

That is where you had the barrel pointed when you fired the shot?

You only shot two groups.

LR1955

[stokesrj]

It looks to me that you have some great potential there. There are at least two issues going on which keep you from achieving a tight round pattern. Probably inconsistent cheek pressure is one of them, possibly as has been pointed out previously the bipod loading could be the reason for the vertical.
I would suggest that you ditch the bipod and set up a bag system so that the gun is naturally pointing at the center of the target and pay special attention to calling your shots and keeping your eyes open though the whole recoil cycle and noting the direction of recoil. If it is not straight up, then that is what is causing your horizontal group. You have to obtain a natural point of aim centered on the target or the shots will go towards your natural point of aim away from the center of your target.
I suspect your vertical will go away or be reduced by just switching to sand bags.
Bob

[skyfish]

Thanks, the bipod was new. First time using it, off a table. Will try some bags again. This is also the only AR I shoot with the Magpul UBR stock, may go to the ACS as I like that on the 223. Will try again and see if it works out better. It always amazes me how different an AR can be to a more tradition bolt action rifle.

My rifle:



That's my Creedmoor in the background, I need to work on the AR more so I can shoot like the Creedmoor. Here's my favorite load in the Creedmoor, next is to dial it out to 600yards, limit of my range(pun intended). (its a new rifle for me).

[LRRPF52]

Your guns obviously can't shoot, so there's really no hope for you at all. Please send your rifles to me and I'll make sure they have a proper burial. I won't even charge you a handling fee, as I feel so sorry for you, I'll waive my normal rates.

P.S.: Optics are probably part of the overall problem, so that will be fine if you just leave them attached before shipping. I'll dispose of them properly as well.

[JASmith]

Beware of Rocky Mountain Snake Oil...!!!

[Azprc]

Nice.

[noone]

ChellieWiles hit most of the important points.

1. Put something like a sleeping pad between your bi-pod and the bench
2. Concentration only on shooting will help avoid lapses that make you pull shots
3. Rather than shooting groups, put up little dots, and shoot only one round at a time at the little dots. That way, each shot
is a separate effort to get as close to center as possible, and you get out of the group mindset.
4. Black and white targets seem to help as some scopes (notably Leupold) have difficulty resolving edges of red/orange
targets, and so the edges appear sort of fuzzy, or ill defined. This is with the factory lenses on a Mk4 scope, so I
imagine there are some filters that can solve this issue. When I stopped using orange dots, my group size shrank.
5. Admit it when you are having a bad day, and save the ammo, and frustration. We all have an occasional bad day, and if
you continue shooting, it will frustrate you, and waste good ammo. Most men HATE to admit having a bad day.
6. Don't forget about wind. Even at 100 yards a gust of wind can turn a great group into a group with flyers. Usually you
can see this when you get mysterious stringing. Everyone knows about wind from 3 or 9 o'clock...but wind from 12 or
6 o'clock can change point of impact too.
7. Remember about rifle barrels heating up. My M40A1 McMillan built 300 Win mag is incredibly accurate, but after 12-14
rounds, my shots at 600 yards begin to rise. This is because the lower part of the barrel is insulated by the stock and
doesn't bleed off heat as fast as the exposed top part. This causes unequal expansion of the barrel...the bottom has
more heat, so it expands more, and that bends the barrel upwards just enough to require one or two clicks down.

The big one though is ChellieWiles thought about self fulfilling prophecy. It is very real. If you believe it will happen, you make it happen. If you worry about it, you make it happen. If you think about it, you aren't concentrating enough on the shot you are about to make, and therefore blow the shot.