Did I become a bad shot, or is my setup going hawire?
110 FCP HS, chambered in 300 win mag. Setup is as follows:
barrel threaded for brake, and the brake was used/installed during discussion below.
nightforce one piece 20moa scope base
vortex scope rings
vortex viper pst 6-24x50 EBR-1 MOA
Bipod
vortex scope bubble level
Shooting at 100yds
Before seating and torquing the scope rings, the rifle was leveled followed by the scope. Everything was torqued, ensuring level was not lost.
Outing 1 to the range:
15MPH gusts, Federal Gold Match BTHP, 190gr. Took a while to get it on paper, then scope adjustments got the POI closer to the POA, but things seemed erratic. Got Frustrated, went home. 18 shots total.
Noticed that the scope base was loose, so I retorqued this time using blue loctice. Also redid the scope rings with loctite.
Outing 2 to the range (earlier today):
5mph breeze from directly behind, Federal 180gr powershock. Not the same as day one, but much cheaper and readily available so I was fine zeroing with it. 20 shots total.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...ps72c3dd54.jpg
In the image above, I am pointing at my 1st two shots of the day (today). Then things went a bit nutty. I was ~2inches low and left, so I adjsuted scope for 2" up and 2" right. Shots grouped at the top of the same target, so the "right" adjustment seemed to help and was accurate, but the "up" adjustement seemed to be way too much. (please not that these adjustments yieled only one of the tight grouping of three) I then adjusted the scope down for 1", and that's when things got grey/muddy. I lost all consistency.
I still kept it on the target, but POI and POA never matched. I always used 3 shot groups before making adjustments, and usually 2/3 were OK in the sense that they were close to each other, but the third was always a flier. And the 2/3 that were close to each other never had matching POI and POA.
I am fully prepared to admit that I'm not a pro, but I'm pretty sure that I'm better than this at 100yds! Is there something I can do to verify my setup is rigged properly and functioning as it should? Or, how can I make sure that it isn't me?
Thanks for your help and suggestions.
Is it the gun or the gunner?
I thought these rifles came with a 1 MoA guarantee. So why the need for all this aftermarket stock bedding and so on?
My MkII is a tackdriver at 25-50 yds right out of the box.
I just got my Savage 14 Classic (.308) last month, and I'm still at the sighting-in stage; the best group I've got so far is ~2 MoA
at 100yds using Federal 165 gr. I've put that down to my less-than-perfect marksmanship and the lack of a sandbag for the butt.
For my next day at the range I won't be in such a rush. I could shoot from a Lead Sled, but what I'd gain in recoil reduction
I'd lose in precise windage adjustment. I'm using a pachyderm recoil pad which I find helps a lot when bench shooting.
Good, solid bags under the fore end and buttstock, then it's just a matter of fundamentals of marksmanship, eh?
That's the human factor. I'm not going to start messing with the factory setup until I'm certain I've done all I can to
optimize my technique.
nb: (I let my partner try his luck with it, and he put a nice little three shot group at 12:00 using his surplus Norinco 7.62 ammo!
So much for the 'use the best ammo' theory!)
Do your absolute best before you start blaming the rifle, that's been my experience.