Did I get a bad box of ammo?

[rcmigpilot]

Forum is called Stupid Marksmanship Questions so here goes.

I had the oddest thing happen at the range yesterday, finished off one box and opened another of the same brand and bullet and couldn't hit shit with the rounds out of the second box. Rifle is a Tikka T3 CTR 6.5 Creedmoor in a Cadex chassis with a Minox scope. Ammo is Prime 130gr OTM bought during the group buy. About 250 rounds through the rifle since new.

At the end of my last range trip my groups were getting inconsistent, I tracked the problem down to the action being loose. When I got home I found out I forgot to loctite the action screws. I figured if I forgot it there, where else did I forget to put it, so I pulled the scope rail and rings apart and made sure to put loctite and torque everything. Went to the range yesterday, pulled out a box of Prime with 15 rounds in it to rezero. First 5 grouped nicely about 1" low, made an adjustment and the next 5 went into a .43 MOA group (best group ever out of the rifle) dead center of the target. After a group like that I figured she was as zeroed as she was going to get so I moved down to the steel targets. The last 5 out of the first box were 2@300 and 3@400 with 5 hits (8" gongs). I grabbed another box, dialed for 500 and started to shoot the 500 yard 8" gong, only no matter where I held I couldn't get a hit. Spot the hit into the berm just off to the right but good elevation, next shot hold the left edge and the shot goes high, the shots were all over the place. It was like there was a force field around the target. After 10 shots (loaded 5 at a time so not shooting very fast) I asked the guy next to me spot for me, still couldn't get a hit. After burning the whole box I was getting frustrated and the barrel was getting hot so I put it aside and shot my 223 for a while. After 15 minutes or so with the 223 I grabbed the 6.5 and my last 10 American Gunner 140s. I've always had good luck with with the AG 140s in both the Tikka and my Ruger. I dialed for the 140s and 500 yards, of the first 3 @ 500 all 3 hit pretty much dead center. I switched to the 600 (15" gong) and hit 7 of 7, again pretty much dead center. It was getting late and the light was almost gone so I packed up after shooting the AG and didn't try any more Prime.

So I'm confused as to what's going on. The rifle has done well in the past with the Prime and I had dope for shooting at that distance, at that range. The amb temps and humidity were about the same as the last time I shot there, there wasn't much wind (according to the guy next to me it was 3 mph, but with trees on both sides of a relatively narrow shooting lane wind is seldom much of an issue). The barrel had cooled down while I was moving from the 100 yard benches to the steel benches (barely warm to the touch) and there were only 5 shots before changing boxes so I don't think it was barrel heat. Is it possible it was a bad box of ammo? Like I said before all my Prime came in one order from the group buy a while back, all boxes are marked the same so I'd assume they're the same batch. I would think if it was me or the rifle it wouldn't have shot the .43 MOA group and the AG wouldn't have hit at 500 and 600.

 

[Dthomas3523]

Hard to say. Could be lots of things.

On another note, I didn’t know loctiting action screws was a thing.

 

[rcmigpilot]

On another note, I didn’t know loctiting action screws was a thing.

Probably could have worded that better. I usually don't, but when you torque to 60 in/lbs and the bolts back out a little dab of the blue lipstick type helps make sure it doesn't do it again.

 

[Foul Mike]

How many rounds down range since the bbl. was last cleaned? How many round total down the bbl.?
I have had bad boxes of Win. 140 6.5 Creedmoor to the point that one box shot well and the next box was blowing primers clear out of the case so anything is possible. And to think I could trust Winchester ammo???

 

[rcmigpilot]

How many rounds down range since the bbl. was last cleaned? How many round total down the bbl.?
I have had bad boxes of Win. 140 6.5 Creedmoor to the point that one box shot well and the next box was blowing primers clear out of the case so anything is possible. And to think I could trust Winchester ammo???

Around 250 total rounds since new and about 50 or so since the last cleaning. If it was round count or cleaning related, either just cleaned or needed cleaning, I don't think it would have shot great, crappy, great like it did. I'm not really concerned about the whole thing, anything mss produced can can have issues. I've run into it before with rimfire, but never to this extent with centerfire, but most of my past is in rimfire and pistols and I was just wondering if it was common for centerfire rifles. If the weather's good I'll be back at the range on Sunday with more Prime, if it shoots it like crap I've got a couple boxes of Hornady 140 ELD to try, but if it shoots good like it has in the past I'll just chalk it up to a bad box and move on with life.

As far as Winchester, out of the current stable of 2 rimfire rifles, 4 pistols and 6 centerfire rifles I don't own anything that likes Winchester, and can't remember anything in the last 10 years that did. It's a shame, I can remember when Winchester white box was most people's go to and about as good as it got.

 

[eastexsteve]

Using my on-the-fly shooting math, an 8" gong at 500 yds is a bit more than a 1.5 MOA target. Even if your gun was shooting a solid .5 MOA, it wouldn't take much to throw you off of that target. A combination of small things would be all it would take. After the first two misses, I would be sitting up and taking a breath, and re-evaluating everything. I would also settle back into the "zone" and dry fire a couple of times and see if I couldn't catch myself doing something stupid. I'd be looking to determine if it was the gun/ammo or was it me? The fact that you kept shooting and missing caused your frustration to build, and likely was taking you out of the "zone" so to speak.

Plus, it sounds like the sun was going down on you. Things can start to look different, even through a good optic. It was likely not the gun as you took a break from it, came back to it, and started to hit again. But, you were also shooting a different gun during that time and adjusting to the changing light. Things like this are hard to diagnose, but it was likely not the ammo, either. Just from what you said, it could very well be that changing conditions and building frustration were your gremlins. When something changes on you, sometimes you just need to sit up, take a break, and mentally take note of everything you are doing and any change in the conditions. If you do this, you will be surprised how you can overcome increasingly difficult obstacles just by making yourself aware of them and how they are affecting you.

 

[1moaoff]

Probably could have worded that better. I usually don't, but when you torque to 60 in/lbs and the bolts back out a little dab of the blue lipstick type helps make sure it doesn't do it again.

Thats a sign of mechanical fastener issue