Vertical Spread

[DocRDS]

Rough morning at 1k, that's another story (cold and shifty wind).

Anyway, I've noticed I am getting vertical spread in my group. Peeking at my neighbor (who uses a very similar load) he had nothing like mine, and was fighting the wind. What would cause vertical movement in the shot ASSUMING the load is solid. (We checked the chrono and it wasn't fast/slow movers).

Shooting prone, bipod and rear bag. Moving up and down into 8+9 ring

 

[Marine52]

Rough morning at 1k, that's another story (cold and shifty wind).

Anyway, I've noticed I am getting vertical spread in my group. Peeking at my neighbor (who uses a very similar load) he had nothing like mine, and was fighting the wind. What would cause vertical movement in the shot ASSUMING the load is solid. (We checked the chrono and it wasn't fast/slow movers).

Shooting prone, bipod and rear bag. Moving up and down into 8+9 ring

Assuming your load is solid, as you say, recoil management is crucial. At 1000, you must have consistent cheek pressure, shoulder pressure, and trigger pull. Also, rifle tracking in the rear bag is important as well as what your bipod is resting on. Before your first shot, put downward pressure on the rear of stock into the bag while moving rifle. You want to make sure your rear bag is “settled.”

With the rifle resting on the rear bag, put one finger on the stock below the trigger guard and slowly pull the rifle back as you observe movement of your crosshairs against a fixed point on the target. There should be no horizontal movement and the vertical movement should be minimal and consistent. Make sure the stock is back in the same exact position in the rear bag for each shot.
For my F-class rifles, I’ve found my best results with no cheek pressure and with the three fingers below the trigger guard putting moderate and consistent pressure into the shoulder.

But overall, consistency is key.