6 Inch Group at 100 Yards - HELP!!!

[Ltbull01]

I agree with many here. Try to maintain as cool a barrel as you can. 3 shots, then let it cool for several minutes. Cleaning and copper-out is important. If the rifle liked the ammo before, the floating may have changed the characteristics of the barrel. Some barrels shoot well with fore-end pressure. Remove it, the group may open up. If you are handloading, you can experiment to find good loads for the barrel set up. The ammo you are using may also be a bad fit for the rifle, try something different. Premium bullets can be picky over barrels.

Last, how well do you - ahem - normally shoot? If you are flinching, try some dry shooting. First, establish a natural position by aimimg at the target, close your eyes and relax. When you open you eyes, you should ideally be on target. If not, adjust your position until you are on. Repeat. Grip well but not too tight. Breath 3 deep breaths and, on your last one, partially exhale, hold it and 'squeeze' the trigger. Hold the trigger down until you recover from teh recoil and can see the target again through the scope. This is called follow through. So, you should feel - squeeze, bang, click (of releasing the trigger). Not all triggers will click - that is only on semi-autos. You get the idea though. Recycle and repeat. Do this dry a few times and then load and fire. Fire a .22 after some big bore. If you feel yourself anticipate to the recoil, you are flinching. Good luck.

 

[josquin]

...Most of the guys in my platoon were lucky to shoot into the second ring let alone the bulls eye, but then maybe our company commander knew that as we did practice a lot of bayonet techniques....

Dare I ask what sort of groups were you gettting with the bayonet at 100 yds?

...What I do is use a bronze core brush dipped in Bore Shine...

I may be wrong, but doesn't Bore Shine attack bronze brushes, since it is designed to deal with copper fouling?

Stuart

 

[maynard]

First off I would say you are over cleaning and you could be flinching.
Take the action out of the stock and make sure the bedding is clean and dry.
It doesn't take much for oil to creep through the bedding screws on a Remington and this will make it shoot big groups.
Like everyone else has said, let the barrel cool and try different ammo. Use a rear bag along with the front rest and squeeze the trigger.
Double up on your hearing protection (plugs and muffs) may also help reduce a flinch. Dry fire, dry fire, dry fire.

 

[scott_r]

Hi Scott_R,

I use Butch's Bore Shine. What I do is use a bronze core brush dipped in Bore Shine, and I give it a stroke (back and forth) for every round I fired. I then use cotton patches soaked with Bore Shine and (using a bore guide) push it through from the receiver end. I never go the other way with a patch. I repeat the brushing followed by 7 or 8 patches until there is only the slightest hint of pale blue on the patch. I usually do about 3 or 4 cycles of brush/patch before I get to the very pale blue colour. I understand that the brass jag will cause some of the residual bluish colouring. I finish up with a few dry patches followed by some oiled patches to preserve the barrel. Before firing I usually pull a bore snake through the barrel to get the oil out.

I hate to ask stupid questions but I'm at the point where I'm questioning everything and want to make sure that at least my cleaning regime is correct.

When you clean the copper fouling out of your rifle, do you have any hint of blue at all on the solvent soaked patch? I'm wondering if I'm stopping to early?

Thanks,
RD

.

You may be overcleaning. Most of my rifles will not shoot well till they have fouled some. I usually shoot 2 shoots to foul the barrel and shoot my groups from there.

I use a copper cleaning solvent after maybe 25-40 rounds and clean till my patches show no blue and come out white.

Try shooting w/ a cool barrel like the rest of the guys mentioned, let the barrel foul and see what happens.

Cheers!!

 

[Boomer]

If the problem is the result of barrel heating, the group should be strung out vertically, if the group is a shotgun pattern something else is going on. I see no reason why a 5 shot group cannot be fired fairly rapidly in your rifle, even with a large capacity cartridge, as long as it is allowed to cool with the bolt open between groups. That's how I shoot my light barreled .375 Ultra, with some loads burning 100 grs. of powder. I am shooting good consistent groups usually under 1.5 MOA from prone. Try to find another bullet - complicated hi-tech bullets while wonders with regards to terminal performance, sometimes don't shoot very well. If you don't handload, try a box of .270 ammo loaded with standard bullets, and see if your groups improve.

Lots of game is taken every year with Hornady InterLocks (not InterBonds), and if your Sendero takes to Hornady Ammunition that would be a good place to start. You should be able to stay within 2 MOA with factory ammo, and before anyone bemoans this, in practical terms it means that all your bullets land within 1 MOA of your intended point of impact.

Much can be learned from dry firing. Try this drill at home - balance a dime on top of the rifle muzzle, and try to achieve a surprise trigger break without the dime moving. This drill will train you to press the trigger properly. Another drill is to aim at a distant object with your rifle cocked but unloaded. Concentrate on the shot, and when the trigger breaks, the cross hair should still be on the target. If you do not get a surprise break, chances are the cross hairs will be off target.

 

[Boomer]

I just went through the responses again, and it seems no one mentioned the importance of hearing protection. I'll bet the majority of shooters who suffer from flinching are reacting to blast rather than recoil.

If you think that flinching is an issue the only recourse is to down load your rifle, or switch to a .22 and start from scratch. Have a buddy load the rifle so you never know if there is a live round or a dud in the chamber. Concentrate on your sight picture, breathing and press the trigger - increasing pressure until you achieve that surprise break.

 

[Republic of Alberta]

Hi Scott_R,

I give it a stroke (back and forth) for every round I fired. I then use cotton patches soaked with Bore Shine and (using a bore guide) push it through from the receiver end. .

Whoa, wait a minute, you are cleaning between every round? That is definatly part of your problem right there. Most of the time a clean bore will give poor accuracy, inconsistant veleocity, and wide pressure swings.

The general rule of thumb is to only clean the bore (especaly with copper solvent) when accuracy starts to drop off. It can take a few or even quite a few rounds to get the gun to start to shoot like normal agian.

Don't clean just shoot. And don't flinch. If you still have a problem suspect the #1 rebuilt scope and mounts and then #2 the rifle it's self.