This morning I picked up a couple different boxes of ammo to see if I would get different results. I decided to try
Federal Game Shok 40 grain Copperplated and
Remington Thunderbolt 40 grain Lead Round Nose, as well as the currrent supply of
Winchester Dynapoint GT 40 grain Copperplated.
The temperature was -14 (-18 w/windchill) and a west wind approx 20km/h (blowing from my left to right while at the bench.) I set up 2 targets side by side at the 50 yard mark and started with Winchester in 3 shot groups making scope adjustments as I went alon€g. As before, the rounds were all over the place. I then tried the Federal and the group tightened up significantly. Finally I loaded 3 Remingtons and got an even tighter group. I repeated the process and the results were similar with the Remington ammo seeming to perform the best. I did multiple 3 shot groups with each ammo, making scope adjustments as I went along until I found that they were all shooting somewhat consistant to each other.
I then removed the scope and tried with iron sights. My first 3 shots weren't even on paper, so I moved up to the 25 yard line and tried again with the same results. The manual said that the sights were factory set at 100 yards so I adjust the sight down and tried again. Aiming at the bottom of the target this time, my first shot hit the top of the target so I adjusted again. Finally getting my groups close to center I attempted to do 3 shot groups following the same pattern as before. However, due to the cold wind in my eyes I was having a hard time maintaing a sight picture and the results were mixed. I moved up to the 25 yard line again and shot 2 3-shot groups with the Federal and Remington ammo and found that the results were similar as to with the scope at the 50, only this time I was shooting from a kneeling position with the gun being supported by foreward elbow resting on my knee.
I returned to the bench and reattached scope, reset my eye relief to what it was before (I removed the scope and rings as one unit) and then set up a fresh target. I followed the same pattern as originally:
Center (first group): Winchester Dynapoint GT
Top left (second group): Federal Game Shok
Top right (third group): Remington Thunderbolt
The bottom left (fourth group) is the Federal and the bottom right (fifth group) is the Remington. The gun was clean when I started, and by the time I shot this target, there had been about 110-120 rounds put down the barrel.
I am more convinced now that the issue is the ammo and possibly the scope. Next time out I am going to try a couple different brands of ammo and see what happens. Only difference this time is, I am going to leave the gun dirty and then clean during my testing process to see if that plays a big factor or not. I am not certain yet if the scope is playing a factor or not, but it will be getting changed out eventually.
