Range Report Is it me or the ammo/ rifle?

[D_Lamz]

Today I was shooting a local match and my hits were scattered. Targets were at 500,600,700,800, and 900 with a 1000yd cold bore shot. My hits were usually low and I remember at 800, I had to dial in almost 3 mils of wind. After the match I shot a 100yd group to check zero and it was dead on with 3 rounds in a nice hole. So what is going on?!!

edit: before I had the MRAD brake and when I had a fixed 10x scope, I was hitting steel at 100-600yds consistently.

Specs:
168gr Hornady BTHP
Hornady brass
44.5gr Varget

avg 2538 fps

Rifle: Rem 700 with factory 20in barrel but with MRAD brake
AICS
Timney
HDMR with G2 in seekins rings.

picture of the the rifle, it is not me shooting it

 

[gixxer822]

idk your experience but to me your technique behind the rifle needs work. it doesnt seem natural. the 2 finger in the trigger might be causing u to pull. i only use a wrap around grip with gas guns. if you dont think it was the elements tht pushed the round i would check cant. thts not the sole issue but it looks like its there.

 

[D_Lamz]

lol pictured is a friend of mine, I was just posting a picture of the rifle

 

[gstaylorg]

More often than not, it's the shooter rather than the rifle. However, it's not so easy to diagnose much other than two fingers on the trigger from a single side angle photo. One thing that does jump out at me regarding your setup is the load and MV. 2538 fps seems a little on the slow side for 44.5 gr of Varget and a 168 gr projectile, even though it is only a 20" pipe. I ran your projectile and MV through JBM using guessed estimates for your atmospheric conditions (65 deg, 50% hum, 800 ft elev, 30.15 in Hg, 2" sight height). At 2538 fps, JBM has your projectile going subsonic somewhere between 800 and 900 yd. That could be one factor in the issues you observed at longer ranges.

As far as windage, a 10 mph full value wind would push your round at that velocity somewhere in the neighborhood of 3.5 mil off at 1000 yd. If the wind was from the left, it would also push the round low. What was the wind velocity and what direction was the 3 mil correction? If the wind/direction was not enough to account for the 3 mil, I agree with gixxer that you might want to check for cant. It looks from the picture like your rifle might be canted right, but that might also just be from the angle of the shot. The 3 mil correction could also have been a combination of both wind and cant.

Best of luck with it, hope you get it sorted out.

 

[Doeboy]

hard to say, was shooting against a good buddy of mine, when we are not comp...against each other he would kick my but, but when the pressure was on he would be all over the place, his heart would race palms get sweaty etc. etc..

 

[jbailey]

if you drilled a perfect group at 100yds post the match, its probably you! Most rifles will outshoot us, the human. They don't have any mental farts We have all been there so don't sweat it ...

 

[D_Lamz]

I forgot to mention that the numbers for corrections in the Shooter App on my phone did not match

 

[a4308]

I would say it is you and not your setup. A couple if days ago I was shooting like crap, so I told my wife to squeeze a couple of rounds and sad to say she did a lot better than me. That was the third time she had ever shot my rifle...

 

[Joe L]

Try again without the brake at distance. Just a thought.

Also, on my similar scope, parallax adjustment is critical. I start at infinity and turn towards shooting distance. If I overshoot, I start over. I have seen my own 500m groups shrink from 12" to 3" just with a correct parallax adjustment. Perhaps experiment with that as well.

Joe

 

[17874]

2538 fps is really low for 44.5 grains of Varget pushing a 168 grain projectile. In my 20"tube 44.5 grains of Varget pushes a 168 SMK at 2709 and a 175 SMK at 2639. Might want to check again with another chronograph.