Range Report Groups opening up?

[savageshooter623]

I was out shooting at 500 yards yesterday. Typically I can hit tennis balls that far away, but my groups were about 8 inches!! At first i thought it was because my scope had moved, so i fixed that issue and went back out. same thing. I was using 168 gr amax superformance match rounds that typically put me at .5 MOA or less at 100 yards. This is evident in my picture... Iv never taken these out to 500. Iv always used the FGMM before 500 yard and farther shots. I'm going to clean my barrel and try again, but needless to say, I'm pretty disappointed with these rounds. How many rounds do most of you shoot before you have to get rid of copper fouling? Hoping that's the issue.

 

[bodywerks]

It's probably the ammo. The superformance ammo is better known for killer velocity than killer accuracy. It uses a powder that is not temp stable.
I'm on about 300 round through my savage factory 308. Almost more accurate now than it was between rounds 0-50.
I do clean the chamber and bolt lug area after every outing though...

 

[savageshooter623]

It's just weird that I'm getting killer 100 yard groups.

 

[Aimsmall55]

Anywhere you can try 200 300 400 yards?? That'll tell you a good bit. Also, what were you shooting before to hit Awsome groups at 500?? Why the change??

 

[Aimsmall55]

Never mind. Saw your shooting fgm.

 

[40xs]

I and two ofther friends were chronographing some loads one day and one friend had some superformance rounds. They gave good velocity but the extreme spread and standard deviation was't that great. At the distance you'er talking this is probably your problem. Did you notice if the dispersion was more vertical than horizontal?

 

[savageshooter623]

It was actually more horizontal. I switched ammo cuz that is the only match ammo I can find. I also am having a hard time finding match bullets for hand loads. Just switched rings as well. Not happy with leupold 4 screw rings at all. I guess I'll have to see what happens and hope for more ammo and bullet options.

 

[savageshooter623]

Also, are you guys referring to superformance match? Or just superformance? I would assume more attention would be paid to match loads.

 

[bodywerks]

Wasn't aware that there was a difference...

 

[1spot]

Ive heard of isolated incidents where using two types of ammo in the same barrel can cause poor accuracy because of the reaction that can occur between different powder manufactures. Perhaps a cleaning may help.

 

[Deleted member 10043]

You went from hitting tennis balls at 500 yards to getting an 8" group. Is that what you are saying? What does the bullet do to a tennis ball once hit? Answer: You cannot tell if you hit it again. Just sayin'

 

[Sterling Shooter]

OP,

You could have a multitude of errors, all masked while shooting at 100 yards, since the errors you are making are of the angular sort, which increase with distance. Yet, because all of your errors stem from your inconsistent relationship with the gun and ground between shots and/or not properly countering for wind and weather effects on trajectory, these errors can be quickly corrected by focusing on what needs to be accomplished, ( i.e. sight alignment, trigger control, steady position, and proper adjustment of sight for trajectory needs).

 

[former naval person]

You can tell a hit if you hang the ball from a wire or string. It dances.

 

[Deleted member 10043]

If you "typically" hit it 500 yards. An 8" spread on any given day is not that bad. Too many variables and not enough data to make a determination about anything from the OP. I wish he had said he was using SMK 168's.

Also, the OP is asking how many rounds do we go though to before experiencing copper fouling. I would say a lot. It might be 1,000 before I clean the bore. I've never had an issue with copper fouling.

 

[Graham]

I was out shooting at 500 yards yesterday. Typically I can hit tennis balls that far away

Wow! You must have quite a powerful swing.


Test your long range loads at a minimum of 300 yards. A load that shoots well at 100 doesn't always shoot well at 300. If it shoots well at 300 it will probably shoot well at 500. If it shoots well at 500 it will usually shoot well beyond that.

It has nothing to so with copper fouling and cleaning the bore won't help.

Sterling has a point: The above comes to naught if it's you on the trigger, and not the load.

 

[savageshooter623]

It was faulty rings. Had great results at 1200 with the same ammo. Also regained my 500 yard accuracy. And for clarification culpeper, the ball tends to get knocked off the stand I have it sit on, and typically can be verified with a bullet hole.

 

[Deleted member 10043]

Glad you got it sorted out without any major problem. What were the faulty rings?

 

[savageshooter623]

They were the leupold low rings with 2 screws per side. They were way to high to be lows and for some reason wouldn't torque down right for me. Just went with Burris low rings with one screw per side. Would have liked to get a ring with 3 per side but s heels didn't have anything low enough. But so far so good! If these dont hold up then ill put these on my 243 hunting rig and order nicer ones. Although, when I was experiencing those great groups I was also using single screw rings and a cheap Nikon scope. Lol I'm sure this set up will do fine!