And if you’ve decided you’ll be taking longer shots, just move the crosshairs up with the elevation knob so that the shots are going about an inch and a half straight up from the dot.
Look out pasture poodles! Ben is comin’ after ya!
And if you’ve decided you’ll be taking longer shots, just move the crosshairs up with the elevation knob so that the shots are going about an inch and a half straight up from the dot.
Look out pasture poodles! Ben is comin’ after ya!
Oops. I think I told you wrong on that last part. You need to move the crosshairs so that when they are centered on the dot, the shots hit 1.5" high. Sorry for the confusion.
Well, looks from that target that the scopes are pretty durned well sighted in. Your average is dead-on target. Now, you say that it’s not the rifle, but you. I’m not sure I see the evidence for that. The fact that some shots land right on top of each other would be expected even if the gun is unable to do better than 2MOA, just by chance alone.
So what we’re gonna do here is shoot from a bench rest. First of all, get a sturdy table and chair out to your firing line.
You said you had a bipod mounted, right? If not, take a 8" scrap of 2x4, cut a V-notch in one end and nail the other end to more 2x4 to make a front rest. Pad the notch with a scrap of carpet, leather, or a few layers of sack-cloth or something.
Then you’ll need a rear rest. You can make one similar to the front rest, but less tall and with a shallower V. Ideally, though, get some scraps of grippy fabric or leather, and sew a V-shaped bag you can fill with sand. I suppose if you really wanted, you could just buy one, but where’s the fun in that?
So, now you’ve got a bench with front and rear rests on it. Unload the rifle. Then make sure it’s unloaded. Unload it again. Now rest the stock (never the barrel) across the rests, or deploy the bipod and rest the back of the stock on the rear rest. Figure out an arrangement of chair and table that makes it comfortable for you to look through the scope. Adjust the height of the bipod/ front rest until the rifle is pointed more-or-less in the right direction, but a touch high. Now, make sure the range is safe to go hot, and load up.
Your position now is (assuming you are shooting right-handed) such that you have your right hand pulling the rifle stock firmly (yet relaxedly) into your right shoulder. Use your left hand to lift up the butt of the stock until your rifle is pointed low, then squeeze the two ears on the sand-bag together. You’ll note that it is essentially impossible to raise the back of the stock by squeezing too hard. If you let up on the pressure, though, the stock will slip down, lifting the cross-hairs until they are dead on target. Now, with the rifle’s weight supported entirely by rests, and pulled in snug to your shoulder, the group you get will as good as your rifle is capable of.
If it’s still not good enough, try different brands of ammo, cleaning the bore more aggressively, waiting longer between shots so the barrel cools down again.
If you’re still not getting joy, you might need to free-float the barrel and/ or glass-bed the action. Probably worth asking a gunsmith for help on those.
But if you get one-hole groups off solid rests, then it’ll just be a question of shooting 3 or 4 thousand rounds until you get stable enough to hold the thing steady from field positions
That, and finding ways to brace against objects in the field without having a full rest. For instance, set the bipod up on a large rock, and use a clenched fist under the stock as a rear rest; by varying how tightly you clench, you can adjust the cross-hairs up and down. Or wrap a sling around your left hand and lean into a tree.