New Savage 11 Package

The granddaughters boyfriend come home with a new Savage 11 Package 308. I have not fooled with a pencil barreled rifle in a while. He is stringing his groups. He does not have a lot of trigger time and I believe it is his technique. He is using my equipment, good adjustable front rest and rabbit ear rear, cement bench. He is shooting a 3-4 in. vertical group at 100, 4-6 in vertical at 200 and 5-7 in vertical at 300. Horizontal is about an inch. I shot a 1.5 three shot at 200, looked at the target and re-adjust the rifle and the next 2 were 2 inches low. I am lead to believe it is technique, I think the rifle shoots fine, we are not setting it up the same each time. I have checked the obvious, scope mounts, bedding and barrel heat. Any great ideas or similar experiences?

Sounds like shooter technique... You have proven the rifle shoots with your groups.

A few years back, I worked with a young man that was having the same issue. I had him on the range for a few sessions, only I had him shoot a 10/22 that I had rebuilt. Great trigger and would shoot bug holes at 50 with the Remington Green label. Working on his trigger control, breath control, etc... he began tearing out the 10X.

Switched him back to his rifle, he applied what he learned, and he became quite proficient with it.

Just an idea... :cool:

I shot like that (vertical stringing) for awhile. It came down to me getting a lesson in controlling my breathing. The better I have gotten and keeping my breathing under control the tighter my groups have become.