Started out this morning . . . just like any other morning, headed out with a new routine doing this 'pre-warming' thing and aiming to gather some meaningful data.
After 30 minutes in the sun the thermometer was only 79ºƒ and the ambient air temp. was 62ºƒ. I thought I might see a little shifting of the groups, prolly see about the same size groups as the day before only shifted some?
https://i.imgur.com/iMQunRk.jpg
This was not at all what I expected to see...those rounds were skipping back and forth between the POA and somewhere out in left field 9 to 11:00.
I started to think I have something loose? Maybe it's the scope mounts, yah...maybe them, when I finished, I headed to the shop to find out about that...
https://i.imgur.com/wbezqLK.jpg
Nope...everything still as I installed it, snug as a bug.
Obviously, the thing to do was crack a cold brew and start 'mulling on the mystery' at hand. I had nothing, I checked the stock clearance around the barrel, checked the stock screws...nothing, everything snug!
Well...I'm thinking that this should repeat itself if there's something wrong. So, I put the rifle and a box of tenex out in the sun with the big thermometer and wait another 30 minutes for the pre-warm.
As I'm heading out to the 50, I'm now thinking that I might see a POA/POI shift also since I took the scope off and put it back? No biggie, right? It can't be that much of a shift.
Ready for some confusion? This time the rifle warmed to 91ºƒ and the ambient air was up to 64-65º...the sun is up a little higher so that made sense to me.
When I saw that first warmer shot I thought I misjudged how far off that scope might really be...then the spots played out like you see them below...
https://i.imgur.com/ddOUf2y.jpg
Working those spots with that 24 power scope, those rounds looked really spread out and I was less than impressed with how I was grouping. When I got to the last spot I was pleasantly surprised...I thought..."Ever old'dog finally finds his bone!" That was nice to see...I got me my first 'redneck one-holer', kinda oblong and technically not a perfect one-hole but that was good enough to put a big smile on my mug for the day!
Now...if I could only measure it accurately. I think it's a small group but I dare not try to measure it with a rule and call it what I'm thinking it is. Someone for sure would call "BS on that!"
https://i.imgur.com/quTXFM7.jpg
It may be a once in a lifetime group for this MKII but it made me proud of this cheap little target rifle today.