6.5X284 Grouping Question Please

[rugerdiggs]

Here is a group i shot yesterday with my custom 6.5X284 at 309yds.

The gun is a trued and blued remington 700 long action with a 26" rock creek stainless barrel that is heavy taper with .820 OD at muzzle, setting in a bobby hart laminate stock with a 1 piece 0moa rail, SWFA tactical rings, and a Vortex Viper 6.5-20X44 mildot scope. The ammo is lapua brass, 49.0 grains of H4350, CCI BR2 primers, and 140Berger VLD hunting bullets .010 off the lands. The stock is not bedded or pillared and thinking that could be the reason its going from side to side. Had a 6-8mph tail winds but was pretty consistent and was nearly straight behind me and going to target. The group measured 1.883 and im happy with it but would like to get to 1.5 or better. Would love to get to 1". Am i asking to much from what i have? Please let me know your thoughts on how i can improve this, thanks in advance.

 

[redbullitt]

Re: 6.5X284 Grouping Question Please

I'd put money on wind shifting there or shooter error/parallax.

That said, I don't see much wrong with that group. Very nice vertical on it.

Shoot some more targets. See if the groups stay similar. Do you always have that horizontal dispersion? How about closer targets, do they spread out horizontally as well?

 

[rugerdiggs]

Re: 6.5X284 Grouping Question Please

At 129yds the group is .3's but is wider than tall. I had my new chrony out when shooting the above group and the es wasnt real good, around 30fps average.

Another think i forgot to mention was this is brand new lapua brass, i didnt trim it before loading it but going to trim all of it after 1st firing, should i trim whats left of the new ones before loading them?

 

[Quigley77]

Re: 6.5X284 Grouping Question Please

I would say bedding couldn't hurt anything. Was the tail wind favoring left to right at all? I would try 1/2 grain either side of the 49.0 gr at the same distance.

 

[rugerdiggs]

Re: 6.5X284 Grouping Question Please

The tail wind was nearly perfect from my trigger to target but couldve been a slight right to left. I have tried both 48.5 and 49.5 groups. 49.5 looked real promising as well at 129yds but opened up to 2.5" at 309yds.

 

[rugerdiggs]

Re: 6.5X284 Grouping Question Please

I wasnt getting any pressure signs even with 50 grains of H4350 but group opened up to .9's at 129, but at 50.5 it was .7's with no pressure signs but didnt go any higher to see if it had another sweet spot, think i should?

 

[rugerdiggs]

Re: 6.5X284 Grouping Question Please

Got a new m40 stock coming for it with full length bedding block, will see if i can duplicate grouping atleast, in hopes to make it 1.5" or better at 300.

 

[g.ross]

Re: 6.5X284 Grouping Question Please

did you play with the seating depths my 6.5 is picky it likes .042.

 

[rugerdiggs]

Re: 6.5X284 Grouping Question Please

No i havnt yet, going to put it in the new stock and see how it does. That will be my next step though.

 

[customones]

Re: 6.5X284 Grouping Question Please

I would agree that wind shift would be likely, even though it felt to be a constant zero value it wouldn't take much of an aberration to cause a minimal shift like that.

 

[Frank]

Re: 6.5X284 Grouping Question Please

Except for the high right shot, looks like the rest were easily in 1.5 inches. An yes the L-R looks like classic unseen wind. I'd be very happy with that group.

 

[clmayfield]

Re: 6.5X284 Grouping Question Please

I have shot more groups than I care to admit. Some string horizontally, some string vertically, some string diagonally. Some make nice round groups. At 300 yards with a wind bucker like the 6.5 X 284, I think this is luck of the draw.

If you shoot a number of groups and they all string horizontally, then I would say you have a potential issue, but a single group really isn't going to tell you much. And with a barrel burner like the 6.5X284, I wouldn't go burning up the barrel trying to diagnose an issue that might not be there.

That group is plenty good. As noted above, I wouldn't rule out a slight marksmanship error on the high right flier. A little short on the trigger or slightly less air in your lungs than when you broke the other shots, and you could fly off a few tenths of an MOA.

 

[tylerw02]

Re: 6.5X284 Grouping Question Please

Have you tried jamming the Bergers? I always found they shot best jammed in my 6.5-284.

 

[rugerdiggs]

Re: 6.5X284 Grouping Question Please

Thanks for all the helpful comments.

My plan is to load up another group and leave everything the same except the stock and shot 2 or 3, three shot groups at 300+ yards and see if i can duplicate my grouping. Is a 3 shot group enough or should i be shooting a 5 shot group?

I havnt tried jamming any of the berger's yet. The reason i havnt is because i have read some on it and if for some reason you need to eject a live round you stand a good chance of pulling bullet out of the case and dumping the powder in the action and having a bullet lodged in. I dont know that to be true and dont have anybody around me that jams them, and the other concern i had was the pressure spikes, if all else fails and i want to try jamming the bullet how far should i back down the charge?

 

[Robert Gradous]

Re: 6.5X284 Grouping Question Please

Bed the Rifle.

 

[coulthard_west]

Re: 6.5X284 Grouping Question Please

http://www.6mmbr.com/verticaltips.html

 

[grayghost]

Re: 6.5X284 Grouping Question Please

At 309 yds you are still just a hair over .5 moa. Remember at 300 yds 1 moa is 3 inches. Still a very good group. Wind can play tricks on one.

 

[Wolfish365]

Re: 6.5X284 Grouping Question Please

That's a great grouping. That said, if the rifle is properly bedded then your groups shouldn't suffer from a change in stock. But, if it's caused by shooter error (misreading or over-correcting the wind is included here) the groups will stay the same. The vertical on that group shows there is nothing wrong with the accuracy of that rifle. The horizontal spread shows outside influences on bullet flight. Hope the new stock spiffies up your rig!

 

[skeetlee]

Re: 6.5X284 Grouping Question Please

With a 20 power scope your point of hold might not be as precise as it needs to be to shoot much smaller. Your cross hair thickness may be another factor. Your group shows some wind. I cant say because i wasnt there, but if you think your group is showing to much wind drift then maybe try adding a little more powder. Your rifle may be a touch out of tune? Like i say though, i wasnt there and its not practical to say from were i am sitting. Not bad though!! See if you can barrow a 36 power scope with a fine cross hair and work up a load. After you find the load stick with it!! Lee

 

[rugerdiggs]

Re: 6.5X284 Grouping Question Please

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Wolfish365</div><div class="ubbcode-body">That's a great grouping. That said, if the rifle is properly bedded then your groups shouldn't suffer from a change in stock. </div></div>

Thanks, the rifle is not bedded cause i didnt want to bed it in a stock that didnt have a full length bedding block. Was in hopes to have the new stock in today so i could have it installed, torqued, and ready to shoot when work allowed but may be a week to ten days now but thats life i guess.

I dont have access to any 36X scopes but will be asking a few friends if they have one in there shops i can barrow for a day or 2.

Since the stock coming has a full lenght bedding block, should it be torqued to 65in lbs?

Thanks again for everyones help, in hopes to have a 1/2" moa gun at 800-1000, with the help from you guys im about there, thanks again.

 

[9H_Cracka]

Re: 6.5X284 Grouping Question Please

Stuff the VLDs into the lands or jump them a aways. They are not known for doing well right off the lands like you have them.

 

[JByrd]

Re: 6.5X284 Grouping Question Please

wind with one high flyer. other than that looks flat as you can expect.and bedding is def not gonna hurt you any.