Caribou Gear

Never been so frustrated shooting before

huntin24/7

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So I spent every chance I could this summer shooting my new rem 700 AWR topped with a leupold vx3 4.5-14 after Remington spent a month fixing It’s from the factory broken extractor. I eventually developed a load that’s consistently 3/4” or less at 100 and less than 2” at 200 yds. Today with the cool weather and light wind, I started shooting it from 300-500 yds. With a solid steady rest and every shot squeezed off just right, my groups started expanding more than they should, became inconsistent(except they did seem to start pushing to the right as I got out further. I’m not pretending to be a sniper, but I do shoot a rifle well and have good trigger control. I’m at a loss and frustrated. I went home and cleaned the barrel since it had been a while but that didn’t seem to matter. Shooting 168 Berger’s in 7mm. Any ideas? I’ve been shooting a rifle for a long time and can’t figure out what the hell is going on.
 
How long did you let the rifle sit between shots?

Any chance it could be a scope/mount issue?
 
What were you shooting off?
Did you adjust parallax?
Scope level? Rifle canted?
How was mirage? Wind consistent or changing?
There are a number of other factors that could have affected your groups also.
 
I let the barrel cool pretty good. Only shot one or 2 shots at a time and then about a 5 minute break. Thought about the scope mount setup but it’s been shooting so well at 200 or less. I guess it’s possible though.
 
What were you shooting off?
Did you adjust parallax?
Scope level? Rifle canted?
How was mirage? Wind consistent or changing?
There are a number of other factors that could have affected your groups also.
There was some mirage going today, more than I expected for 60 degrees out. Shooting with the gun rested on a Caldwell bag and sandbag under the stock. I’m not sure I adjusted parallax every time I shot now that you mention. The side to side was definitely the biggest issues as far as consistency. Up and down wasn’t too bad. I don’t have a scope level on it.
 
Winds were pretty light but I guess it’s possible. At what distance would a person start noticing a difference if the rifle is canted some? I don’t have a scope level.
 
You can get some spin drift to the right when you start getting out to 4-500 yards. Combined with wind moving from 5-10mph left to right it and it’s not constant you can get horizontal stringing.
 
Left and right could be wind,parallax,mirage and canted rifle as well as a number of other things .
I would load up some more and go shoot a 5 shot group at 300,400,500 another day and retest. Pay attention to your parallax and try to setup the same each time on your bags. Watch your front sling stud so it doesn’t contact your front bag upon recoil. You could unscrew it for the time being also. Or use a bipod/rear bag setup.
Be sure to use a big enough target also. Something that helps you establish a good POA every time.
 
Let someone else shoot it. mtmuley
I thought about that. Maybe I’ll see if a guy I know that’s a really good shot will try that. He told me a technique to shoot at 100 yards to make sure the scope is tracking too. Maybe the mirage jacked me up some. Who knows.
 
As mentioned already, at 300 yards and further, wind, paralax, cant all have a greater effect.
Paralax is usually set at distance before your first shot & you shouldn't have any really noticable effect through your shooting at that given range.

Scope levels are relatively cheap. Relatively..

Another issue may be your cartridge. Rather your powder/primer combo.
Did you run your loads through a chrono?
If Extreme Spread & Standard Deviation are high, it may shoot well at 100 or even 200, but not so great at 500.
 
Here are two range cards showing a 100 yr zero and 200 yd zero and assuming a 2950fps m/v on the Berger classic hunter 168gr .284. Spin drift at 500 yards is 1.18" if 100 yard zero. Alignment or cant is the biggest problem shooters face at distance aside weather/wind. Can't, just like wind is exponential and the further your target, the greater the difference in point of impact. Another is the fact that MANY scopes are not mounted with the reticle absolutely level to the action - this leaves a shooter in big trouble while attempting to utilize a ballistic reticle or hold over. Spin drift will take you an inch or so away at 500, the rest is something else (and I assumed a 1:9 Bbl Right twist). I'm with the guys above- shoot another day in different conditions (near perfect as possible) and have another known shooter give it a whirl. Its funny (not really) how we feel like we hold something level or perpendicular to the ground, but if we saw a photograph of ourselves doing that we see how our position fools our eyes into "feeling" level at times. I used to have this problem on a longer rifle that I use and I finally added a level indicator and find myself getting into position (prone) then looking at the bubble and having disbelief that im not dead level - just happens.Screenshot_20200917-112946_Applied Ballistics.jpgScreenshot_20200917-112649_Applied Ballistics.jpgScreenshot_20200917-112946_Applied Ballistics.jpgScreenshot_20200917-112946_Applied Ballistics.jpgScreenshot_20200917-112649_Applied Ballistics.jpg
 
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