How accurate should my 11 be?

[jt41time]

I was at the range and trying to hit a target at 400yd out and about 300 ft up. I couldn't even get close. The target was 18x24... sad. I was using the bipod and a block for the back. I was all over the place. 4ft in any direction. With cross hairs on target steady....... light breeze. 73*.

Hunter xp .223 choate tac stock. Factory sporter barrel. Hand me down hand loads. 300$ scope.

Shooting the persons gun next to me and hitting it. Factory .17 hmr. With crappy scope.

What's the deal?

[JCalhoun]

Could be several things.

Barrel touching the stock when shooting?

Action screws loose?

Scope mounts loose?

Bad ammo?

Bad scope?

Have tried shooting it at a very close distance to see if the problem is consistent?

[jt41time]

Barrel is def not touching. The barrel is so skinny, and the channel so big, it looks sad.... action is tight. Doubt the scope is loose. Will check into that. Bad scope, I hope not. Have no idea how to tell if its that or some thing else. Don't have any quality glass to compare too. I will purchase nice ammo to test.......

How much should I spend on. 20 pack of decent ammo?

[jt41time]

Mabee I'm a total newbe and have no idea that parallax out of whack can jack my shots up that bad? Just throwing that out there.....

[JW]

Could be several things

Have tried shooting it at a very close distance to see if the problem is consistent?

Plus one
I would start there
Jack

[RyanG]

I will say that every time I have a problem with one of my rifles shooting where I think it should it has been the scope. Everytime..... I dont know when I will figure out to check that first! lol.....4 feet in any direction seems pretty poor tho. But check the scope first.

[jonbearman]

Borrow a known good scope and zero at 100 yds and go from there.Some factory barrels just are a ***** to find a load from the factory to tune.Handloading for your specific barrel will have much better results.How hot did you get the barrel while trying to hit the target as sporters tend to heat up almost on the first couple of shots. How are you cleaning the barrel as it could be coppered to death and accuracy will plummet until you clean it up real good with jb bore compound or sweets 7.62 bore solvent which should be allowed to sit once saturated and dry patched out.Then use it again or until there is no more green blue patches.Do not leave sweets in the barrel for any length of time as it will atract moisture and rust the barrel,then clean with hoppes to remove any traces of sweets and dry patch and lightly oil the barrel and dry patch before shooting the next time.

[Pilgrim]

"...400 yards and 300 feet up..." "...hand me down handloads..."
I have two suggestions. First, determine the expected best from the rifle by shooting off a benchrest at 100 yards, using your very best technique. Extrapolating backwards from your range report, your rifle is shooting 10-12 inch groups at 100 yards! Something is seriously wrong with that. Troubleshoot at 100 yards to get your groups down to, at least, two MOA.
Second, I don't shoot other people's handloads. Factory loads are manufactured to fit a standard SAAMI chamber. One of the advantages of handloading is that the cartridge can be specifically adjusted to match a particular rifle's chamber. It may or may not be a good fit to a different chamber, but it may actually be dangerous! For example, if I load some .223 for a long throated rifle, seating the bullet long to avoid freebore, and coincidently loading it hot to the upper limits of powder, and then I attempt to shoot it in a relatively short throated (but still within SAAMI specs) rifle, the pressures can go up into dangerous levels. Not knowing the specifics of someone else's handloads leads me to never shooting someone else's fodder.

[stangfish]

Pilgrim is right on. If you want to shoot accuratly at longer ranges it is best to remove all potential weakness. You can do this at 50-100 yards. Things that need to be right, in no particular order; you, the rifle, the ammo, the optics and the optic mounting system. Conditions( wind, uphill, downhill, etc..) are important but that will fall under "you" and your knowledge.

If you are not sure on how to go about shoreing up those weakness then start buy studying each of those components. Don't go on a forum where juveniles hang out. Find a place where men discuss things. Read and read more. Don't throw money at something until you have investigated the why's. Price has no bearing on quality.

[jt41time]

Pilgrim is right on. If you want to shoot accuratly at longer ranges it is best to remove all potential weakness. You can do this at 50-100 yards. Things that need to be right, in no particular order; you, the rifle, the ammo, the optics and the optic mounting system. Conditions( wind, uphill, downhill, etc..) are important but that will fall under "you" and your knowledge.

If you are not sure on how to go about shoreing up those weakness then start buy studying each of those components. Don't go on a forum where juveniles hang out. Find a place where men discuss things. Read and read more. Don't throw money at something until you have investigated the why's. Price has no bearing on quality.

I do so much research its crazy. That's why I asked before I bought a new barrel. I'm still leaning towards parallax situation. I spend a better part of my night finding parallax correction post on all kinds of sights and figured out that I'm doin things completely wrong. Makes sense why I can do a lil better at 100 yds then 400. I had to change the (what I thought was focus) parallax side adjust to make the picture right....... now that I have read all that, I think I have an understanding of what and how it works..... I have never used a high powered scope before this one...... now I just have to find some ammo and hit the range again and test my research and see how it effects me. Still learning. No one to teach me but you guys..... thank you all.....

[scythefwd]

parallax can do some shift of poi, as will inconsistent mounting of your rifle. Are you breaking cheek weld when you work the bolt? If so, next time keep that weld when you work the action (I do this with a long action rifle, it should be possible). I'm NOT the best shooter in the world, but I know that a small error in form will not always show at close ranges, but it will definitely show at long distances. Go to a range, find someone who is cloverleafing his shots, and get him to try a few shots. That will eliminate shooter error (to an extent), and narrow it down to the gun. If he overlaps his hits with your rifle.. we can say with whom the error lies. If he cant, start troubleshooting the rifle and ammo. Start off with some quality target ammo, forget hunting stuff.

[JCalhoun]

jt,

Where are you located?

[jt41time]

jt,

Where are you located?

CA.