Hey all, long time lurker here. I have been shooting F-class and IBS 600-1000 competition for a few years. I compete very well in local matches and fare OK at some of the bigger meets. I'm no expert, but I enjoy the sport. Sorry ahead of time for the long post, but I wanted to see if anybody had any insight for our problem.
My wife has been interested for the last few years, but wasn't certain this was the game for her. She shoots some IDPA and tactical matches currently. Instead of going custom route, we decided to start with an off the shelf option and finally went out and bought a new Savage Model 12 Bench Rest in 6mmBR. We topped it with a Bushnell 6500 Elite 4.5-30 50mm off of another gun. It was an easy an inexpensive way for her to try out the sport and see if she liked it. The rifle shot pretty well out of the box after some bedding, and we have done some load development and "practice" prior to her first 600 yard IBS event next month. The range we shoot at has a 300 yard line, and we do the majority of her shooting at this distance.
The load that we have settled on with this rifle is 30 gr of Varget behind a 107gr Nosler or 107gr SMK's with CCI BR primers. Both bullets seem to prefer about .010 jam into the lands. She is usually able to shoot about 2-2.5" 5 shot groups at 300 yards, and is starting to read the wind conditions pretty well. There is 600-625 rounds throught the tube at this point. The SMK's shoot a little better, so we use the Noslers for trigger practice.
The problem we are having right now are all around the 200 yard range. We shot a local match this last week at 200 yards, 4 10 shot relays at this range. Her groups were terrible (in the tune of 2-4") with alot of vertical stringing. I chalked up the groups to nerves, this being the first time she has shot in a BR style competition. The conditions were good (for March in Iowa anyway). I told her we would go out and get some more practice since she was pretty embarassed with the results of the match.
Yesterday we went out and fired 60-75 through this rifle at the same rifle range. We started at 200 because the scope was set up for this distance and someone left up some really nice unshot targets. Groups remained in the 2-3" range. Kept the regular cleaning routine every 25 rounds or so and shot 2 foulers. I shot a group that measured just under 2" as well, and I thought that there might be something wrong with the rifle/scope/bedding/load/etc. I put up some targets at 300 to shoot my own rifle. I decided to put a few more rounds through the savage and shot a 1.4" 5 shot group from her rifle. I thought this was pretty strange. Shot a few more sub 1.5" groups at 300. Then I moved back to 100 just to see what was going on and shot a .37" 5 shot group. Back to 200 yards I shot another ~2.25" group at 200.
What is going on at 200 yards? I can't believe that yaw or conditions are vexing us at 200, but everything is just groovy at 100 and 300 yards. Is there something I could be overlooking? Not a huge deal I guess if the rifle shoots fine at 600, but our local range runs a league during the week at that distance that would allow some more trigger time for her. Any suggestions would be welcome.
My wife has been interested for the last few years, but wasn't certain this was the game for her. She shoots some IDPA and tactical matches currently. Instead of going custom route, we decided to start with an off the shelf option and finally went out and bought a new Savage Model 12 Bench Rest in 6mmBR. We topped it with a Bushnell 6500 Elite 4.5-30 50mm off of another gun. It was an easy an inexpensive way for her to try out the sport and see if she liked it. The rifle shot pretty well out of the box after some bedding, and we have done some load development and "practice" prior to her first 600 yard IBS event next month. The range we shoot at has a 300 yard line, and we do the majority of her shooting at this distance.
The load that we have settled on with this rifle is 30 gr of Varget behind a 107gr Nosler or 107gr SMK's with CCI BR primers. Both bullets seem to prefer about .010 jam into the lands. She is usually able to shoot about 2-2.5" 5 shot groups at 300 yards, and is starting to read the wind conditions pretty well. There is 600-625 rounds throught the tube at this point. The SMK's shoot a little better, so we use the Noslers for trigger practice.
The problem we are having right now are all around the 200 yard range. We shot a local match this last week at 200 yards, 4 10 shot relays at this range. Her groups were terrible (in the tune of 2-4") with alot of vertical stringing. I chalked up the groups to nerves, this being the first time she has shot in a BR style competition. The conditions were good (for March in Iowa anyway). I told her we would go out and get some more practice since she was pretty embarassed with the results of the match.
Yesterday we went out and fired 60-75 through this rifle at the same rifle range. We started at 200 because the scope was set up for this distance and someone left up some really nice unshot targets. Groups remained in the 2-3" range. Kept the regular cleaning routine every 25 rounds or so and shot 2 foulers. I shot a group that measured just under 2" as well, and I thought that there might be something wrong with the rifle/scope/bedding/load/etc. I put up some targets at 300 to shoot my own rifle. I decided to put a few more rounds through the savage and shot a 1.4" 5 shot group from her rifle. I thought this was pretty strange. Shot a few more sub 1.5" groups at 300. Then I moved back to 100 just to see what was going on and shot a .37" 5 shot group. Back to 200 yards I shot another ~2.25" group at 200.
What is going on at 200 yards? I can't believe that yaw or conditions are vexing us at 200, but everything is just groovy at 100 and 300 yards. Is there something I could be overlooking? Not a huge deal I guess if the rifle shoots fine at 600, but our local range runs a league during the week at that distance that would allow some more trigger time for her. Any suggestions would be welcome.
I do the majority of my shooting at 600-1000 yards, so I need a bit more BC then those light pills offer. Maybe someday I will take a look a playing the short range game, but for now we seem content to sling long, high BC bullets long distance. 
