I recently bought a rifle to have fun shooting some distance. I am very green shooting longer ranges and currently do not reload. The rifle shoots pretty well at 100 yards but I did not have a chrono to check velocity to enter correct data into a ballistics program, no big deal, just back up and shoot with a guess on velocity then adjust the velocity accordingly to the drop to get the correct dope. Well I set up at 704 yards, entered my guess on velocity and was about 2 feet high. No problem there since I can just dial down BUT I was getting 3 shot groups with a vertical spread of about 14-16". Horizontal or windage spread was maybe 3" and I was pleased with that but the vertical stringing that far to me was unacceptable...roughly 2+ moa.
Now for the hard part.....what am I doing wrong? I am 99% sure it is me and not the rifle being from a bench at 100 the rifle performs fairly well. The rifle is a Rem 700 sps tac aac 20", I was using FGMM 168's. I was shooting prone which I rarely do, using a bipod and using a coat under the rear for a rest. I am laying the rifle down, crawling in behind it and sliding it into my shoulder. I feel I am getting a consistent cheek weld and sight picture looks good. Does this vertical stringing sound like a technique problem, breathing, etc? One other thing I did notice if I did not have enough pressure on the stock to my shoulder I could easily notice my heartbeat moving the reticle vertically. I don't have the funds to do a class or that is where I would start so anything you can give me to check/ work on I would really appreciate it. Being green as I am I figured I could learn a lot from this post without wasting any more ammo.
Thanks.
Now for the hard part.....what am I doing wrong? I am 99% sure it is me and not the rifle being from a bench at 100 the rifle performs fairly well. The rifle is a Rem 700 sps tac aac 20", I was using FGMM 168's. I was shooting prone which I rarely do, using a bipod and using a coat under the rear for a rest. I am laying the rifle down, crawling in behind it and sliding it into my shoulder. I feel I am getting a consistent cheek weld and sight picture looks good. Does this vertical stringing sound like a technique problem, breathing, etc? One other thing I did notice if I did not have enough pressure on the stock to my shoulder I could easily notice my heartbeat moving the reticle vertically. I don't have the funds to do a class or that is where I would start so anything you can give me to check/ work on I would really appreciate it. Being green as I am I figured I could learn a lot from this post without wasting any more ammo.
Thanks.