Must have been a fluke?

[Danattherock]

Barnes Precision AR-15 that I just put 20" Kreiger in. Still working up a load for this barrel. Shot my first half inch group ever the other week, first time shooting new Kreiger. I'm not a very good shot yet.

But today I pulled the trigger three consecutive times at 100 yards and did this. Looks a little wider to me, but my buddy measured it with calipers, not sure. Either way, I would like to thank Boyd Allen for making me think about my bench technique, or lack thereof, which was retooled today.

I spent an hour at the range before firing a shot. Changed everything, end result was steady cross hairs at 32x, no neck pain, and limited eye strain. Things that are the norm for me on a bench. I'm 6'6" 320 lb and have always been real hunched over in the past, uncomfortable, and looking through just the very top of my prescription glasses. The five shot group following this three shot group had a clover leaf in it. Fluke, im sure, but it gives me hope.


Dan

 

[michaelnel]

Good shootin' !! The trick though is to make it repeatable and consistent.

If you are shooting at 100 yards, 32x magnification is gross overkill. At that range, 12-20X is more than enough. Heck, 9X is enough. If you get the magnification up too high, it is more difficult to shoot small groups, in my experience.

I use only 25-30X at 600 and 1000 yards. Try turning it down.

 

[Danattherock]

Intentionally took that scope off my 50 BMG to show me flaws in my technique. Much was revealed. If you see cross hairs bouncing at 32x or don't see it at 9x, they are moving just the same. When I put this scope on it took the blinders off.

Every contact point with the gun was assessed. Greatest offenders were identified, in my case, the cheek weld on my fixed magpul stock. Might put an adjustable stock on it. As is, cramming square peg in round hole.

And LOP is way too short, my right bicep is sore from my right arm being bent all day. The highest priority was alleviating eye strain, from accessory muscles being overworked. Additionally, I not only changed the parallax setting way off 100, which my old ways said was correct, but I slightly adjusted it throughout the afternoon to keep my target sharp.

80% of what I thought I knew about shooting rifles was wrong. I started breaking down the old me today, now I'm eager to work on new skills. I'm a very impatient person by nature, and often get to the range and just start shooting.

Saw "Shooter" with Mark Wahlberg the other night. One quote stands out, "slow is smooth, and smooth is fast". Not sure what it means, but it just popped in my mind. Either way, time to get out of my ironically uncomfortable comfort zone.


Dan

 

[expiper]

Dan,,,great shootin,,,especilally for a AR !!!!.....use all the scope you can get,,,,benchrest shooters usually always have a 36 or 45 X on their gun at 100 yds,,,,and its good to know that you can figure out parallex and scope issues,,,you are on the way,,,,Roger
PS,,,what powder charge and bullet ????

 

[MrMajestic]

Sure glad you missed the Penny! That's a Wheatie! :

 

[Danattherock]

The load as of now is Lapua brass sorted within a grain, trimmed to 1.745" on Forster, with 23.8 gr Varget under a 77 SMK moly with Win primers and a COAL average of 2.266. I say average because this is the worst ammo I've made yet.

It was the test batch with using my new Forster Ultra seating die the other day. The die was a dud, sending it back to Forster. But they were great in helping me figure out the issue. Anyway, end result was some serious banana bullets, doubling the runout I had been creating with my Redding Deluxe die set.

To make things worse, I was getting the Forster to somehow make two groups lengthwise that varied by 7 thou. Thread here, die was broke from factory, results were bizarre. Guess that makes what I shot today even more of a fluke. Hah.

To say the least, I'm going to continue to focus on the archer, not just the (crooked) arrows.


http://forum.accurateshooter.com/index.php?topic=3864833.0



Dan


Cliff notes....



On Hornady bullet comparator ogive/base measurement ...

All were between 1.880-1.882" (1.881 avg)

COAL with calipers ...
2.266
2.267
2.266
2.267
2.267
2.265
2.269
2.265
2.270
2.265
2.264
2.272
2.260



Runout measured in thou on 21st Century concentricity gauge

The 1.881 avg group was...

2.5
3
4
4
2
6
4.5
6
2
6.5
5.5
1
5.5

 

[broncman]

Nice. My Kreigered AR is my first love... So accurate. It is the rifle that started my addiction.

 

[mr45man]

I believe the parallax is ment to focus on the crosshairs not the target.
Good shooting though,prolly not a fluke.
John H.

 

[jhord]

: I bet bench shooters would use 100x if such a thing could be had.

If you are shooting at 100 yards, 32x magnification is gross overkill. At that range, 12-20X is more than enough. Heck, 9X is enough.

 

[Danattherock]

I believe the parallax is ment to focus on the crosshairs not the target.
Good shooting though,prolly not a fluke.
John H.

Can't say what's 'meant' to focus, but on this scope, Burris Black Diamond 8-32, the rear eye piece adjustment ring focuses the cross hairs, which are fine target. And the parallax adjust focus of the target. Rather than set it at 100, I initially set it at 80, as target was much clearer.

During shooting it was moved on two additional occasions, all the way up to 180 ish. Could be my vision, but I learned today that parallax adjustment is dynamic, not static. Would have had no chance of shooting the one hole or the clover leaf had I not got myself clued in on this.


Dan

 

[Danattherock]

: I bet bench shooters would use 100x if such a thing could be had.

If you are shooting at 100 yards, 32x magnification is gross overkill. At that range, 12-20X is more than enough. Heck, 9X is enough.

And if that were the case I would have to take a beta blocker to lower my heart rate so I could squeeze off rounds between the lub and the dub. Seeing all the reticle movement at 32x was humbling enough for me.

There was a few brief moments of unspeakable clarity when the cross hairs seemed suspended in time. I will have to generate considerable energy to recreate that on a regular basis. All I felt was my heart beat. All I heard was my exhalation. Nothing else existed. First time I've ever felt that calm behind a rifle.


Dan

 

[Danattherock]

Nice. My Kreigered AR is my first love... So accurate. It is the rifle that started my addiction.

I understand.

Aside from my 300 Weatherby and Armalite 50 BMG, this AR is the only scoped weapon I own. I see a few more being added soon. 260 Rem with Bushnell 3.5-21 for long range events is next on the list. Twisting that Kreiger barrel on my AR is making me feel like a better marksman than I thougt I was.

Got it for $200 at that, installed. A local marine marksmanship team had tried them on their Barnes Precision AR-15's and said they "wouldn't shoot". My first trip out with varying charges of Varget I shot a seven shot group of 0.501". Then today a ragged hole and a clover leaf. Hah.


Dan

 

[Ackman]

If you are shooting at 100 yards, 32x magnification is gross overkill. At that range, 12-20X is more than enough. Heck, 9X is enough. If you get the magnification up too high, it is more difficult to shoot small groups, in my experience.

Complete nonsense.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

If you are shooting at 100 yards, 32x magnification is gross overkill. At that range, 12-20X is more than enough. Heck, 9X is enough. If you get the magnification up too high, it is more difficult to shoot small groups, in my experience.

Complete nonsense.

+1 to Ackman's response to that statement. If that were even close to being true, all of the becnhrest world would use nothing more than 9X scopes

Great group by the way Dan! I'll be putting a 20 Tactical custom barrel on one of my AR15s in the next couple weeks hopefully. I can only pray that it shoots that good

 

[Ledd Slinger]

There was a few brief moments of unspeakable clarity when the cross hairs seemed suspended in time. I will have to generate considerable energy to recreate that on a regular basis. All I felt was my heart beat. All I heard was my exhalation. Nothing else existed. First time I've ever felt that calm behind a rifle.


Dan

You were in "The Zone" Keep practicing to obtain that state of mind and eventually it will become second nature when you shoulder a rifle. Pure instinct.

 

[37Lincoln1]

Want some fun Dan?

Take it out to 200 yards an beyond. You'll see what scope movement really does. ;D

 

[seymour fish]

I believe the parallax is ment to focus on the crosshairs not the target.
Good shooting though,prolly not a fluke.
John H.

Nope. to eliminate parallax is to focus the reticle and the target in the same plane. Seymour

 

[jhord]

Parallax is difficult to explain, I can't that's for sure. This article will help:

http://blog.cheaperthandirt.com/understanding-and-correcting-parallax/

Parallax adjustment is a very useful feature and critical to shooting small groups. I use the method described in the article. For example if I'm bench shooting on my 100 yard range, I set up the rifle in the rest and sight through the scope at the target. Without touching the rifle, I move my head/eye around slightly. If the parallax is off, the target image will move around vs. the reticle. Adjust the scope parallax until this apparent motion ceases. Otherwise, every little head movement will result in a different aiming point, if you have less-than-optimum cheek weld, or are using no cheek weld at all. (as most bench shooters do)

Can't say what's 'meant' to focus, but on this scope, Burris Black Diamond 8-32, the rear eye piece adjustment ring focuses the cross hairs, which are fine target. And the parallax adjust focus of the target. Rather than set it at 100, I initially set it at 80, as target was much clearer.

During shooting it was moved on two additional occasions, all the way up to 180 ish. Could be my vision, but I learned today that parallax adjustment is dynamic, not static. Would have had no chance of shooting the one hole or the clover leaf had I not got myself clued in on this.


Dan

 

[BCoates]

I bought a Magpul PRS stock for my AR, so I could adjust the LOP and comb height. It was the only way I could get the gun to fit me.

Intentionally took that scope off my 50 BMG to show me flaws in my technique. Much was revealed. If you see cross hairs bouncing at 32x or don't see it at 9x, they are moving just the same. When I put this scope on it took the blinders off.

Every contact point with the gun was assessed. Greatest offenders were identified, in my case, the cheek weld on my fixed magpul stock. Might put an adjustable stock on it. As is, cramming square peg in round hole.

And LOP is way too short, my right bicep is sore from my right arm being bent all day. The highest priority was alleviating eye strain, from accessory muscles being overworked. Additionally, I not only changed the parallax setting way off 100, which my old ways said was correct, but I slightly adjusted it throughout the afternoon to keep my target sharp.

80% of what I thought I knew about shooting rifles was wrong. I started breaking down the old me today, now I'm eager to work on new skills. I'm a very impatient person by nature, and often get to the range and just start shooting.

Saw "Shooter" with Mark Wahlberg the other night. One quote stands out, "slow is smooth, and smooth is fast". Not sure what it means, but it just popped in my mind. Either way, time to get out of my ironically uncomfortable comfort zone.


Dan

 

[BoydAllen]

Big smile....glad to hear of the breakthrough. ARs are harder to shoot off of the bench than bolt action bench rifles...a lot. IMO there are a lot of fellows who have ARs that are not getting all of the potential out of them because of things other than the inherent accuracy of the rifle.