So why does it print so different ?

[Jack Stanley]

Here's another question for you guys that live and breathe the number one mark three .

My Lithgow rifle has a load that will hold the black of an SR1 target pretty easy off the bags at a hundred yards . Maybe even stay in the ten ring but if I back up fifteen yards and shoot from my deck which is fifteen feet higher .The shots generally go high on the target , they still group pretty good though .

I'm not using the bags from the deck but even when I do I use both hands on the rifle so it doesn't touch the bags anywhere . I've tried it a couple times now in different light to see if that makes a difference but it doesn't have a lot .

Any ideas ?

Jack

[I'll Make Mine]

Shooting downhill will cause you to shoot high for the horizontal range, though generally it's not enough to cause problems within about three hundred yards. More likely you rifle is zeroed with a "battle sight" setup; the bullet crosses the sight line, rising, around 25 yards, is "just right" for six o'clock hold at 100, and comes back down onto center hold around 200 yards. If the bullet is still "climbing" relative to the sight line at 100 (and it probably is, out to 120 or 125, with the setup described above), it'll print higher at 115 than at 100. Move in to 75 yards, and it'll print low...

[Larry Gibson]

If you are talking a low density load with cast and are not using a filler the powder is consistently in the front of the case (probably isn't when shooting level) when shooting down hill, even at that slight angle. That changes the ballistics and probably also give a higher velocity. That's why it hits higher. A good reason for a load that uses a filler if shooting other than level at a target.

Larry Gibson

[Jack Stanley]

How much effect is the two piece stock or the difference I hold the rifle . I'm thinking that since I'm using 2400 it shouldn't make such a large difference .

Jack

[MtGun44]

Low velocity loads are in the barrel a LONG time. Follow through is CRITICAL, much more so than
with normal rifle loads. If the deck position is less stable, you maybe getting bumped around enough
to cause the problems. Try sitting position which is stable and should give good follow through.

Bill

[Jack Stanley]

Thanks Bill , I am less stable off the deck even though leaning on the rail . I'll try a good old high power sitting position once it quits raining here .

Jack

[Jim]

Thanks Bill , I am less stable off the deck even though leaning on the rail . I'll try a good old high power sitting position once it quits raining here . Jack

Ain't gonna do ya' a bit o' good, Jack. You're just plain OLD an' ya' got th' 'rickets'!

:bigsmyl2: :popcorn:

[Jack Stanley]

Ain't gonna do ya' a bit o' good, Jack. You're just plain OLD an' ya' got th' 'rickets'!

:bigsmyl2: :popcorn:

Nah ... I got arthur that keeps on sneakin' up on me arthuritis that is . I did get out this afternoon and ran five rounds from a good sitting position . About a hundred fifteen yards from the target and off the deck . I held at six o'clock and while I still had some wiggles in me , the shots were where I called them and not as high as before . I'm guessing the other position I was in though accurate enough provided a different amount of resistance to recoil .

Now I'm in a quandry do I boost velocity or reduce it . I'm thinking boost velocity to reduce barrel time . Since I usually only fool with this rifle at less than fifty yards perhaps it's not that big an issue .

Jack

[Bob S]

If you support the rifle differently ... sandbags, machine rest, in position with sling, &tc ... you should expect your POI to be different. I see this all the time where a guy shows up at a match after "zeroing" his rifle from the bench off the bags, and when forced to shoot prone, his "group" is somewhere out in Hell's Half Acre.

Resp'y,
Bob S.

[Jack Stanley]

You are so right Bob , now that I'm retired one of the things I'm trying to find for a few different rifles is a load that is drop dead reliable no matter what . Something strong enough that if the chance to go deer blasting arose I could just pick a rifle, ammo and be confident of a dead corn muncher . Of course it goes without saying that I pick old surplus rifle to do the deed .

Jack