100 Yards = .167 MOA ... 300 Yards = 2.45 MOA. Wait, what???

[NateHaler]

I would drop to the 168/175 as you most likely need 8 twist, forget the talk of scopes and bedding, if it shoots at 100 it will shoot longer, just must stabilize the bullet, vld's take more twist

bob

Bob,

Do you think the bullets are being over-stabilized because of too fast of a twist?

This is not what he's saying, and "over-stabilized" is a misnomer. It's likely your VLD need to be spun faster, NOT slower. So, load up some 168, like the SMK, and see what happens. Forget the crown, brake, bedding, any of that. If the rifle is shooting bugholes at 100y, then none of those is a problem. It's the bullet, it's the wind, or it's you. My guess is that Bob is right, and it's the bullet.

And that is by far the easiest issue to gauge.

 

[dkhunt14]

A 9 twist would easily stabilize the 154 grain bullets he is shooting. I don't know where you guys got that he is shooting a 180 VLD. Maybe I would check the twist to make sure it is right. My guess is possibly enough parallax to really hurt. You can bob your head and have an awful lot of parallax at 300 yards. That may not be all the troubles but would be the first things I would check. Matt

 

[loudandproud]

I have 10 more 154 SSTs, 10 168 SMKs and 10 175 SGKs loaded up for tomorrow.

We shall see.

 

[queen_stick]

A 9 twist would easily stabilize the 154 grain bullets he is shooting. I don't know where you guys got that he is shooting a 180 VLD. Maybe I would check the twist to make sure it is right. My guess is possibly enough parallax to really hurt. You can bob your head and have an awful lot of parallax at 300 yards. That may not be all the troubles but would be the first things I would check. Matt

I'm with you on that... before I fully understood how to adjust parallax (and why), it probably accounted for most of my crappy groups. Of course, I blamed it on other things (not to suggest that the OP doesn't know what he's doing)

loudandproud, please keep us updated... Would love to hear what turns out to be the root cause of this... you have some people's gears turning! lol!

 

[LHSmith]

Were the bullet holes small and round?
If your " headwind" had any angle say 11:00 to 1:00 and switching back and forth, that would account for at least part of your diagonal, and don't discount the parallax error, and aren't FFP reticles quite thick at 300 > more aiming error?
FWIW the parallax calibrations on most scopes are off.....you have to fine adjust it your exact yardage.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

I would first check the bullet vs twist, and go to a lighter/shorter one which required less stabilizing than the one you are shooting.

Bob

What is the heaviest bullet a 1:9" twist should be able to stabilize? I thought a 1:9 should be able to take the heavier bullets (168-175s and such).

A 9 twist SHOULD, but if it hasn't been checked, it may not be a 9, Also, some barrels can run slightly fast or slower twist than claimed.
It's worth checking to rule out the twist being the problem, IMO.

 

[Toolbreaker]

If it were me, I'd pull the muzzle break for the next round of testing. Just to eliminate that variable.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

I don't believe the brake is causing the problem, if it's shooting well at 100. The bullet would be unstable as soon as it left. I've never seen a barrel with proper twist for the bullet, get that much worse at just 300 yards. I'm leaning toward improper twist or operator error...no offence intended.

 

[Forum Boss]

First thing, before you start changing stuff mechanically, let another good shooter (with demonstrated aptitude) try the gun.

 

[jsthntn247]

A 9 twist would easily stabilize the 154 grain bullets he is shooting. I don't know where you guys got that he is shooting a 180 VLD. Maybe I would check the twist to make sure it is right. My guess is possibly enough parallax to really hurt. You can bob your head and have an awful lot of parallax at 300 yards. That may not be all the troubles but would be the first things I would check. Matt

They got that he was shooting 180's by not reading the post and just blabbing off the top of their heads. The op clearly stated in the first post that he was shooting 154 Hornady's.