Range Report First round flyers?

[Cfshooter]

When shooting for groups, is it normal for the first round of a different Ammo to be the lone flyer of the group? I shot a group of some Federal 62 gr and then when I switched to shoot a group of Fiocchi, the first round was an inch from the other 4. It happened again when I switched to some Gecco. I also noticed it with my 17hmr. Is this normal or is it something that I may be doing?

 

[Deleted member 10043]

It appears to be normal for you. Try shooting the first cartridge last and see if it repeats itself. I don't call 1" at 100 yards a flyer.

 

[ShtrRdy]

Seems like I've experienced this before and thought it was due to me. I'll be interested to hear what others have to say.

 

[bfglowkey]

Any time I switch ammo ( different powder) if I dont clean the barrel before the swap I allow for a 3 shot fouler string to settle the rifle in. It probably is all in my head but I seem to notice if I am doing load dev between 2 powders and the same projectile it does cause the first shot or 2 to "fly" and I always make sure I am extra diligent in my form when I swap. But again it very well could just be superstition or an old shooters tale.

 

[Cfshooter]

I thought I heard of this before and people said similar to what you do BF. I just never realized it enough until today. I am going to pay more attention to it in the future and see what happens. Normal I run a bore snake down the tube after switching, but only when testing rounds. Today I was just plinking and finding zero in some scopes.

 

[Supersubes]

I think it’s probably combo dependent.

Are you saying the first round after the ammo switch was out of the group, and the rest settled back into the group where the previous ammo had gone?

Just went through this today. Tested some Varget, which I’d never shot in this particular combo before, then switched to RL16, which is a known good load. No change.

Here’s the target. Fired left to right, top to bottom, ignore the upper left, that’s a different gun. The first two Varget loads are zeroing, and I left the sights after the upper right group. The bottom right two are RL16, with no foulers in between. I’ve noted this with h4350/RL16 a number of times. This is the first time with Varget.

 

[Cfshooter]

I think it’s probably combo dependent.

Are you saying the first round after the ammo switch was out of the group, and the rest settled back into the group where the previous ammo had gone?

Just went through this today. Tested some Varget, which I’d never shot in this particular combo before, then switched to RL16, which is a known good load. No change.

Here’s the target. Fired left to right, top to bottom, ignore the upper left, that’s a different gun. The first two Varget loads are zeroing, and I left the sights after the upper right group. The bottom right two are RL16, with no foulers in between. I’ve noted this with h4350/RL16 a number of times. This is the first time with Varget.

View attachment 7033372

Not really, I fire a 5 round group of X ammo, switch to Y ammo and the first round is 1-2” away from the next 4, then to Z ammo and first round a good bit away from the next four as well. Generally with Ammo that doesn’t group the best in the rifle though. But still the first round of each string is the loan “flyer” most every time.

 

[acudaowner]

I have seen it with my 224 going from 60gr to 88 and the same thing from 75 to 90 after a couple of shots it settles down till i switch again but i do think that since there are two people shooting my rifle and not just one it may be the shooters . I always tend to think its my fault rather than the rifle mostly cause it probably is, but I will pick a outside the target spot anymore when changing ammo like that so I can make sure its all good or I am shooting like I should be , before going back to the target or on to a new one .

 

[wigwamitus]

Whenever a bullet goes somewhere I didn't want it to go, I diagnose it as ME until proven otherwise. There have been a very few otherwises over the years. Loose scope base, loose scope mount, loose suppressor, loose bipod, loose bipod mount, loose tripod mount but ya know ? Those are all me too

But as regards the shooting me (versus the gun maintenance me) ... I think my primary first round problem is NQHY (Not Quite Here Yet). Meaning my brain is still in the house processing work issues ( I work out of my house on our cattle ranch ). Sometimes it takes a few minutes for NQHY to dissapate. Not always. A few times the first round goes right into the center of the first dot. But less times than not.

Went down to a neighbors house a couple of weeks ago to help him rezero his rifles. He was moving his optics around as he got a new gun. He has a bench (I usually shoot off RRS tripod). He was getting 5 inch groups. He was using 55gr xm193 in a 7 twist barrel. I gave him some of my 77gr. His groups went down to 4 inches. He was feeling bad so he wanted me to shoot. If I will teach others, I have to be wiling to show them how it is done. I put 6.5G(18) on the RRS and got a sub-1 inch group. I put 7.62(20) bolt gun on the tripod and got a sub-1 inch group. My third group was 18/16th. But here, since I had been out there helping him shoot for an hour, my brain was there, so no NQHY situation. Only when I "relaxed" after getting the first two acceptable groups did I screw up. You have to put EVERYTHING you have into EVERY shot. You can't go to sleep ... and still get good groups. At least I'm not at that level yet

 

[j-huskey]

It's called "harmonic settling" and has been discussed on the hide b4.