Frustrating day at the range--Help

[tunacan]

I just got back from the range today and I am highly frustrated.

I am shooting a 6.5x284 with Berger VLD 140 target bullets and 50.5 grains of H4831

My groups at 100 are great..The gun shoots in the .2s and .3s and an on a few occasions has shot in the .0s

I shot today and 100 and printed some great groups. I moved over to the 200 yard range and thats were the frustration began.

My groups opened up to 1-2"..The were strung from the top right to the bottom left and they were strung on a diagnal.

This happened on 3 consectutive 5 shot groups.

I have confidence that the rifle and all of the components are sound.

I had the Bergers jammed just a little. Would seating depth have anything to do with the unsatisfactory groups? If so why would if group so well at 100 and not at 200?

Please give me some suggestions..

Here is a picture of a 6 shot group at 100. The one that fell out of the group was due to a flinch so I fired another just to make sure. The group posted is an average group for the rifle

 

[cmillard]

is everything on your rifle properly tightened?

 

[tunacan]

I did check everything..that was my first thought too. I shot it at 100 and did well. Shot it at 200 and did horrible. Went back to 100 to see if it was the gun but it shot well at 100 again

 

[Nomo4me]

I'd have to suspect wind downrange is the culprit. You shooting Lee Kay?

 

[tunacan]

Did my ugly green target give me away?

Lee Kay it was...The wind wasn't bad at all there on Saturday.. Were you there?

I will dink with my seating depth a little bit and try it again Sunday

 

[Nomo4me]

I don't shoot at Lee Kay. Was just a guess.

Did my ugly green target give me away?

Lee Kay it was...The wind wasn't bad at all there on Saturday.. Were you there?

I will dink with my seating depth a little bit and try it again Sunday

 

[therifler]

you did not post any of the bad targets so it is hard to draw a conclusion without seeing those. However 100yd. groups are not always conclusive for picking a load for down range shooting. If your groups where consistant at 200 by that i mean same angle from right to left or the other way around . You know the barrel is good I would suspect the bedding to be the the problem . This does not mean that you have to re-bed.
Next trip to the range work with torque on the the action screws . Remember if it changes anything good or bad it can be fixed . If you would like a more detailed explanation feel free to PM me . The Rifler
www.therifler.com

 

[GSSP]

Was just thinking, do you have to move your rifle and how it's positioned to shoot when moving from 100 out to 200 and then back again? Maybe your front or rear rest is tweaked one way or the other.

Alan

PS, never shot at Lee Kay before. Too much open desert available for me to pay to shoot.

 

[1000yardstare]

tunacan, I have a similar situation with my 6AI but not as exagerated as yours - 1/2 moa at 100, 1 moa at 200, 1/2 moa at 300. Scores high at 1000 in F Class competiton.

My club`s 300 bench range is a narrow 10 position with high side berms, forest on one side and open on the other so it could be a wind swirl at 200 that I can`t see in the mirage or flags. Don`t bother shooting the 6AI at 200 anymore because it is not giving me a true picture.

 

[tunacan]

Could it be the seating depth of the VLDs that are causing this??

 

[robbin]

I wouldn't think it would be seating depth. Have you ever shot it past 200? I'm guessing a bedding problem that's just not as evident at 100. Your 100 yard target was dia lower left to upper right even thou you had 5 clustered right on top of each other.
Make sure you post your conclusion so we can all see what it was.
Robbin