Quote Originally Posted by dacaur
....took it off, looked back through the scope, got on target and started pulling the trigger again, but since I had just been pulling really hard, it went off WAY before I was ready.... ;D
I had a similar thing happen while I was deer hunting. I was using my dad's gun. I have the same gun, just in a different caliber, so I didn't shoot it before hand. Deer came out, I removed the safety, touched the trigger and BOOM! Total miss. Managed to get the deer on a follow-up shot. Later he tells me, oh yea, the trigger has been worked. It was way lighter than my gun.

When I shoot at the range I have a rest under the forearm and the butt of the stock. Get a good rest and a bean bag rest for the butt and that will help improve. The more I remove "me" from the shooting, the tighter the groups.

Also, shoot some more. My groups really tightened up after 70-100 rounds. Try different ammunition as well. I can't get under 3" groups with some ammunition. You'll get best groups if you reload, but can get excellent groups with factory ammo once you find what your gun likes.

I also shoot worse...or at least have in the past..... with larger calibers. I have a flinch and honed my skills with a .22LR so I didn't have to worry about recoil and could just focus on the basics.