Diagnosing the unexplained/random 8

[MikeMcCasland]

Gents,


I'm relatively new to the F-Class game, starting in August of last year, and shooting every match within 3-4 hours driving distance. Since starting, I've made a lot of progress on the reloading bench, and decent progress behind the trigger as well.


That said, I'll occasionally have a match where I'll have a random flyer that I genuinely can't explain (my scores suck, but I can explain those ). The shot breaks clean/feels good, the ammo prep is pretty solid (at least I feel like it is), yet the shot goes 8.


It happened again today (I shot a total of 3 "8s" on the day, but two of those were absolutely my fault). The entire drive home I'm analyzing what happened and scratching my head. The one that's bothering me I shot in dead calm conditions; I went 10-X-9-9-10-X-X-10-X-X-10-10-8(and it broke the line just to be an 8) followed by some spotter chasing 9s, and closing out with 10s.


My question to you guys.... when you've got some random flyer that pops up during a relay, and you can't easily explain it...what do you do? How do the more experienced people take steps to correct?


The ammo had all been vibratory cleaned, AMP annealed, sized with whidden FL dies, mandrel expanded back up, charged with a 120i, and checked for concentricty. Bump and depths were consistent too.


This was just a small club match, so was running 178 ELD-Ms in TR.

Really just looking for any direction...even if that direction is "you just suck, but just don't realize how bad you suck yet" hah! I got thick skin, so no worries there.

Thanks in advance,
Mike

 

[Dgd6mm]

I don't know what distance your shooting, but it sounds like a missed condition(s) change.

 

[50bmg1979]

Was the 8 waterline or was there vertical?

 

[Tempest]

Where was the 8? Low, high, R-L etc?

 

[MikeMcCasland]

The 8 was at 10 o'clock; above the water-line. High/left, roughly on the 7/8 line. Distance was 500 yards.

 

[BP1]

I had one of those today Mike...when the wind picked up and was turning straight towards us I dropped one low left. I chalked it up to a dumbass move on my part.

 

[MikeMcCasland]

I had one of those today Mike...when the wind picked up and was turning straight towards us I dropped one low left. I chalked it up to a dumbass move on my part.

Gotcha. My wife assures me I'm a high-master in dumbass moves, so it wouldn't surprise me.

I guess I gotta buy a Kestrel and camp out in pasture for a month to recalibrate .

 

[eric32]

Wind shift, analyze your range, see if you can find a wind direction that will cause a up-draft.

 

[creedfan]

in F class mirage is your friend. Learn how to use it to your advantage for spotting wind shifts.

 

[JMayo]

You're, their guess is as good as mine.
I asked the same about br. One out of 10 dropped. Grabbing at straws trying to figure out why .....
Guys suggested to me to pull those cases out & check concentricty(?) On my rounds before a match.

 

[JFrank]

The 8 was at 10 o'clock; above the water-line. High/left, roughly on the 7/8 line. Distance was 500 yards.

2:00 wind

 

[Nature Boy]

I’d be inclined to chalk it up to the bullet choice.

My suggestion would be to work up a new load with 185g Berger Juggernauts or Hybrids

 

[jpretle]

'Split second' lapses in focus will cause those---either on sight picture(focus on the x-hair) or manipulation of the trigger, among other things, of course.
You have to 'be the bullet, all the way to the target'. That, from a High Master Hi Power shooter.

 

[argh]

A couple of technique issues can push shots high to the left for a right handed shooter. Jumping off the trigger rather than following through (jerky release) can push shots left and up, but more often than not with shooters i have coached is it is due to an increase in cheek pressure. Under recoil the stock is pushed down and right, pushes your shot high right. Concentrate on consistent cheek and shoulder pressure.
JMO
Adrian

 

[MikeMcCasland]

Good feedback from everyone; I sincerely appreciate it.

 

[CharlieNC]

A couple of technique issues can push shots high to the left for a right handed shooter. Jumping off the trigger rather than following through (jerky release) can push shots left and up, but more often than not with shooters i have coached is it is due to an increase in cheek pressure. Under recoil the stock is pushed down and right, pushes your shot high right. Concentrate on consistent cheek and shoulder pressure.
JMO
Adrian

This is exactly what caused my 10 o'clock flyers. Since I modified to NO cheek contact, those flyers are gone.

 

[Bob Sebold]

Million dollar question, one dollar for each answer! Try to figure out if its random, is it always at 10 o'clock? Then its you as stated above. It could be a bad bullet, typically goes around a circle. Does it happen on every relay or just some? Could be bad primers, they typically go high or low, also same for poor charge thro's, bad setup causes gun to drag, different pressure, or a mini stroke can cause it. Usually, if everyone goes high right its a range condition. Most times for me, it is operator error, but all you can do is eliminate as many things as possible. I shoot with very light pressure on gun for that reason. If you shoot at Lodi, the range can hand you that sometimes. Try getting a load that shoots sub 1/4 minute, that aften solves most, but operator error. Good luck!

Bob

 

[Falfan2017]

I’d say your load/rifle isn’t that accurate. In dead calm conditions you shouldn’t see 8s and really shouldn’t see 9s at 500 yards. Those eld bullets may not be really consistent.
Try shooting some 5 or 10 shot groups at the distance you do f class. If the gun isn’t holding 2.5-3 inches at 500 then might be time for a new bullet or tweak the load. If the load makes bigger groups than that you’ll lose points before even factoring in condition changes.

If it’s not the bullet then chances are you missed a condition change.