Horizontal stringing?

[alphapygmy]

Besides the wind what causes horizontal stringing? It was totally calm and 4 out of 6 groups were most definitely strung out horizontal. This has happened my last two trips to the range. One thing I did change on my rifle was to weld 2 bases, one on top of the other, to raise my cheek off the stock some. I had press down pretty hard on the stock to get a good sight picture. I use Burris dual dove-tail bases and signature rings. I was shooting high 2's to high 3's five shot groups before but haven't shot under .4 since. I'm not sure how this would affect accuracy, the welds are good and the groups are excellent vertical wise. Any thoughts or help?

 

[SF340Driver]

Rifle cant would be my first guess. It's especially evident with a higher sight-line.

 

[chuckw2]

Were you shooting with wind flags? What distance ?


Chuck

 

[Travelor]

Usually when you change something and the results change - that is the cause. I would put another set of rings on and see if the groups go back to the inital sizes. If so, I would get a set of factory higher rings and try again.

Why the welded rings may be causing this - who knows, but the fix may be simple. If you have the same problems with the new rings, I would suspect a parallax problem.

 

[Shelley]

In short range Benchrest competition we have a saying... " Never shoot into a boil." A boil is when therre's not enough wind to make the mirage move one way or the other so it sorta boils straight up. The reason a savy shooter won't shoot into a boil is that the wind condition can't be determined and the group will almost always be wide.

My personal rule is to never shoot when the flags show no wind or movement at all. Once more, the reason is that there is most definitly air movement between me and the target but I can't read what it's doing so I'd be trusting to luck that the wind will be what I think it'll be. I always wait until there's at least enough breeze to make the flags commit one way or the other.

If a shooter fires a shot with a very gentle breeze moving from 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock and then fires another shot with a gentle breeze moving from 3 o'clock to 9 o'clock he'll be shocked at the amount of paper between the two holes.

As a previous post asked..... You were using flags weren't you?? If not, the obvious reason is failure to read the conditions. Heck it's a monumental task to try to manage your shooting when you do have the flags set and can see what the demons are doing out there.

Shelley

 

[jb1000br]

did you change or refil your sandbags?

JB

 

[alphapygmy]

As I reply keep in mind I'm a newbie so go easy on the tongue lashings First, I use a piece of flaggers tape stapled to my target board for a wind flag, better than nothing I hope. Second, I am going to reinstall the original bases just to see if that changes anything, and shoot a few sessions that way. Last, I use whatever sandbags I can get at the range so I am probably using different bags every session. Do I need to get my own set-up, maybe this would help with the canting issue if it's a factor. FYI my set-up is a Savage A/T with original laminate stock, 27" 8 twist Pac-nor barrel, Weaver T-36, Lapua case, 30gr. Varget with a 80gr Berger flat base right at the lands.Shooting at 100 yds for now. Thanks for all the help guys.

 

[jb1000br]

My guess is rolling on the bags aint helping ya...

You can get by with a midway or caldwell rest...I would definitely look at this.

But don't use their rear bags, get some from protektor http://www.protektormodel.com

BTW -- .4's off of real bags of sand is nothing to scoff at...

JB

 

[BoydAllen]

Your tape on the frame is just about useless. Any sort of sticks with the same stuff stuck to their tops at 15 30 and 60 yards will do a lot more good.

 

[Forum Boss]

Think we need to cut Alpha some slack. Those are pretty good groups for a Savage. Aside from the obvious wind issue, I think variances in cheek pressure may be at work, plus the alignment of the rear bag,or rear supports--not sure what he's using).

Try shooting with no cheek pressure, and make sure the channel in your rear support is aligned with the bore. If a protektor style bag is even slightly askew it can alter the shot horizontall IMHO.

Also I think you'll find those Bergers will shoot even better .010" or more into the lands.