Crazy Group ?

[imhntn]

I went out yesterday and shot a 5 shot group with some new loads. I have had very good luck with the 55 gr vmax with 27 gr of Varget but I am out of the vmax and have not been able to get any. I did find a bunch of 55 gr ballistic tip Noslers so loaded them up with the same powder. Here is the group I got. First 2 shots are top ones and the next 3 were the lower. 3" between the 2 groups. What the heck happened? Scope move internally? Would a barrel fouling or warming up do this. It is a Savage 12BVSS in .223. Any ideas?

 

[TwoForFlinching]

Cold to hot could do it, but it wild to see two distinct groups on a heating barrel. I think you're looking in the right direction with the scope thought. Or your target moved.

 

[ripnbst]

I would guess more that your target moved than anything.

 

[imhntn]

Definitely not target movement. It would have had to move before every shot as I was aiming at the center of the red dot on each shot.

 

[03on22s]

Do the groups line up vertically? Looks like something came loose since they look exactly the same distance to the right of the bullseye.

 

[NikatKimber]

How far away were you?

Could it have been possible to have gotten different powder charges?

 

[amcardon]

No help with your question, but if you're looking for 55grn v-max, Ernie over at Predator's West has 50 & 55 grn bt v-max. Not the best price, but available, and Ernie's a great guy (and if you haven't registered for his site, he'll send you a free camo shirt when you do)...

 

[MoBoost]

Scope jumped a tooth.

 

[imhntn]

Scope jumped a tooth.

That is what I think happened. Nothing else moved and the loads were all out of my Dillon 550 on the same set up. I loaded 12 more and am going to try again but have not had time yet. I'll let you know results when I do. These are grouping pretty well it looks like and they are only going to be used for prairie dogs. I don't like the bt's for predators but they are fine on varmints. These were shot off a bench at 100 yrds by the way.

 

[Huckelberry75]

Seating depth can also do this. If the bearing surface of the NBT's is different than the Vmax, you may have to tune seating depth. Amond my group of shooters, we call this "two grouping". I have a 308 that did this until I adjusted seating depth, and then it laid them all into a tight little covey of holes.