Improving my Agg?

[JDBraddy]

I'm probably beating a dead horse here,

I'm not really a new shooter anymore, I've been at it several years now, but am struggling to graduate from the bottom of the lists at matches, to at least the upper half. I've never placed in even a local club match. I usually agg around 0.4-0.5", I've been slowly upgrading my equipment as my budget permits, Have a fairly nice rifle and rest now, good dies and reloading equipment, good set of flags.

Many other shooters have tried to show me how they tune their loads to the conditions, but haven't been able to really get a handle on that yet, was reading in the PPC primer on this website, how Jim Borden says that can kill you, and that he pre-loads all of his ammo before a match, and aggs in the teens. I would love to be able to do that. In practice I usually shoot at 200yd, and try to keep all my groups under an inch, about half are 0.5" or better, but what usually kills my agg, is that occasional 1.5" group. I've been shooting mostly Barts Ultra's and Cheeks 68gr FB, haven't had any luck with boat-tails. I have tried H-322, Benchmark, N-133, and LT-32. Had kind of settled on about 29.3 - 30.2gr N-133, but when it became hard to get, switched over to around 28.7-29.3gr LT-32. Just feel like I'm stuck, nothing I've tried lately has seemed to make a significant improvement, and am not sure what to try next.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

You should seriously consider giving a tuner a try. They really simplify keeping a gun in tune. I haven't loaded at a match since about 2009 and have done fairly well over the years. Nothing will replace time behind your rifle with good flags but the tuning aspect of the game is much, much easier to learn with a tuner.

 

[dmoran]

Suggestions to try:
- a different scope(s)
- swap rifles and rests with someone <> to see if it is you and/or the rifle/equipment
- have someone else clean the barrel with there methods and rituals
- use someone else's reloading equipment or have them load yours
- look at every aspect of the rifle, rest, scope and equipment used
All aspects and name brands are subject to failure and/or issues, no matter what part of the big picture they play.

 

[Mulligan]

Suggestions to try:
- try a different scope(s)
- swap rifles and rests with someone <> to see if it is you and/or the rifle/equipment
- have someone else clean the barrel with there methods and rituals
- use someone else's reloading equipment or have them load yours
- look at every aspect of the rifle, rest, scope and equipment used
All aspects and name brands are subject to failure and/or issues, no matter what part of the big picture they play.

Donovan,
this is good stuff.

At our local matches (F-class, and LRBR) several of the fellas have struggled like the OP is.
Seeing this, our F-class match director planned a practice match and paired each of the struggling shooters with someone who has been at the top.
The results were really cool. Each of the top shooters allowed the struggling shooter to shoot their equipment for the second relay. Several of these "struggling" shooters shoot the best scores they had ever shot. One shot a clean! Talk about a confidence booster!!!!
They each had time to discuss issues and each came back a better shooter.
CW

 

[Dusty Stevens]

You really need a benchrest shooter mentor. Just a little time with somebody could save years of heartache. Go to some of those matches up in the dallas area and learn from those guys. Im going to try to make some of the matches