need help with technique: pulling to one side

chemo

chemo

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Hello

haven't been much active on the forums as of late, but I have been range active :)
The gun is good (tactical ordnance barreled and blueprinted rem700), I think I've got the right load for the gun, I got used to read the wind in my area and whatnot

I'm shooting 5rd groups and I am getting decent grouping, but I often manage to mess it up with 1 or 2 rounds pulling out of the group; always right of the group (I am left handed, so I figure this would be pulling left if I was right handed) I am pretty sure it is related to my trigger technique.
If the shot's pulling right, then I am thinking: when I pull the trigger I am pulling the rear of the gun towards my palm thus shifting POI to the right), but I am looking for other opinions (or confirmation my hypothesis is correct)

thx
 
"Palming" and trigger technique would both be suspect. Quite possible it is also done when resetting the rifle in bags/rest between shots.
 
define palming?
not sure if I'm thinking about the right palming, but wouldn't palming be associated with flyers in the other direction?
 
Chemo,
A FWIW recommendation.... rather than "trying to get a haircut over the internet".

A video camera set up on yourself while you shoot your groups will enable you to recap
just what you were doing when your shots were fired."Slow motion" high def doesn't lie.
(Most of the time :) but will enable you to get truth versus internet guesses.
You can see if your fliers are in your set up or follow through and is like having your
own personal coach.....

Regards
Gord
 
JEC said:
Quite possible it is also done when resetting the rifle in bags/rest between shots.
Click to expand...

Second this. I find that if my shoulders aren't consistently square to the line of bore, I can throw a shoot to the left (I'm right handed)
 
Don't rule out the possibility that it is not your trigger pulling.

Parallax is my first suspect, mirage is my second, intermittent cloud cover is third.

Ultimately its up to you to know how to overcome each of the above.

Parallax is easy... just set the rifle so its pointing at the target and without touching it, move your eye around inside the field of view... if the reticle is moving relative to the target... adjust the parallax until it no longer does. You cannot shoot better than the amount of parallax you have. (I assume you have a parallax adjustment on your scope.... if not.. that's a problem.)

Mirage... well once you have parallax out, just sit and watch the target.... does it stay still or dance around a little or a lot? Its hard for the best shooters to read where the target actually is and to explain how to test for it is more typing than I'm prepared to do. Bottom line is that you need to shoot in conditions where mirage is not active to get the best groups... like just as a fog is lifting, or twilight hours.... or learn how to read mirage.

Intermittent cloud cover... well theres a saying.. lights up... sights up... or the opposite... lights down... sights down... You have to take this cliché with a grain of salt because it assumes the sun is directly above you. Depending on the time of day it may not be... so when a cloud rolls in (in the middle of your string) and the sun is at 2 oclock... where do you think your next round is going to go?... 2 oclock right? Having the guts to shoot at 8 oclock in such conditions are what champion shooters are made of.
 
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chemo said:
define palming?
not sure if I'm thinking about the right palming, but wouldn't palming be associated with flyers in the other direction?
Click to expand...

A "hard" palm could result in POI to the left ... a "lighter" palm could result in POI a bit less ...which would land to the right. It is only one possibility but one thing seems for sure, that being "inconsistent" something. I have even seen rifles with cheek pieces shifting POI when it comes into contact with the ear on a back bag. Consistent reset typically resolves my problems. Maybe use some pieces of painters tape on the stock ... as a reset reference to position the stock the same place in the front rest and the rear bag.
 
Here are a couple of groups shot yesterday comparing a couple of charge weights. My diagnosis regarding the horizontal dispersion is that it was nasty windy (which of course means the shooter is never at fault):). The stray shot vertical however, was very likely not doing a consistent reset in the bags.
IMG_2402.jpg
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Pqrallax can be eliminated in any case by backing your eye away from the scope until you see an even black ring around the perimeter of the sight picture. Make this circle the same every time you pull the trigger and parralax will never be an issue. Works great with a fixed-parralax scope at different distances.
 
BadAsMo said:
Don't rule out the possibility that it is not your trigger pulling.

Parallax is my first suspect, mirage is my second, intermittent cloud cover is third.

Ultimately its up to you to know how to overcome each of the above.
Click to expand...

very good

this is exactly why I am asking an open question
to me it seems logical that it is trigger related, but I knew there would be something else I could check!

thanks everyone
 
I find, when I am pushing a shot out, it is because I am tensing my shoulder at the shot. Another problem I have had was relaxing my right hand (I shoot left-handed as well) at the shot. Dry-firing can help you to diagnose a bad habit.
 
Are you running a chassis or vertical grip stock?
Wrapping your thumb over the stock or behind the pistol grip on a chassis and gripping the stock inconsistently have caused similar stray rounds for me.

I changed to resting my thumb on the stock or side of chassis rather than gripping it and saw results within one group. Easy to miss before you start thinking about it.
 
What cartridge are you using?

Dry fire is very important and you can add a MantisX to the end of the barrel taped on tight, it will give some motion feedback. A tr shooter I know has dry fired over 300,000 shots in his international champion career.

Some notes: if the gun recoils to one side or the other then you are not taking the recoil evenly, it needs to fit well into your shoulder, a butt that can rotate is a good way to get a better fit, it should recoil straight back. The other way is to shoot free recoil to see what happens. If you find that you close your eyes when you fire you have a flinching problem to cure with a friend loading the rifle for you, or not. You can pretty much do anything you like as long as you do it the same from each shot, we use the positions that we do because they are easier to duplicate for each shot. The heavier the trigger the tighter you must grip, when it breaks your finger should stop moving as well, an over travel adjusted tight on your trigger is not a substitute for this in fact the over travel should always be set very loose.
 
Thank you guys I had forgotten to check the updates on this

the gun is a re-barreled blue printed rem 700 in 22-250 in an older AICS chassis

I will not be shooting this winter, but I have printed this thread to check what needs to be explored next spring :) can't wait
 
I find it helpful to keep my thumb on the same side as my trigger finger, in other words not to cross my thumb over the top of the stock. Makes it very difficult to jerk off a shot.
 
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