Cannot Get A Decent Group .223

[Hawkeye. 26]

How many round's has the gun fired since new ?

Has the barrel been cleaned properly?

If it's fired a lot and never been cleaned it could explain the problem

[charlie caller 3,654]

Not wanting to sound cunty and I may be wrong but from your posts it would strike me that you have little experience of using a cf rifle that being the case before you start worrying about the rifle, load etc I should get some one who has experience to shoot it for you then at least it rules you out cause no mater what anyone says the largest variable when shooting is the person behind the gun

 

Atb Dan

Spot on mate,my feelings are it is you at fault rather than the rifle, closing your eyes at the shot, TBH I am surprised the grouping is not worse.

[stillair1 16]

Hi as above I would use off a bag rest or bipod and bag rest. Bin that rubbery thing too, if it's hitting your face and making you flinch. By the sound of it your not getting a consistent sight picture/ cheek weld. Perhaps move the scope or raise the cheek piece with one of those rap around comb raisers. Another thing is don't keep walking too and from the target between rounds it will raise your heart beat. Finally you don't say what scope you have fitted. Unfortunately some scopes don't cut it, the build quality inside is lacking and shows up at range. hth.

[shootlodge 143]

^{Go to a range with factory ammo, 5 shots & cool off the barrel. your eye should be 2-3 " back from the scope , & don't try too hard, breathing calm, trigger 'squeeze' between controlled breaths.}

[sanibel686 29]

As others have said use factory ammo for consistency,and as Danw has said get a second opinion from a seasoned shooter.

Lastly, use a target! four black 1" squares like this http://www.targetz.com/targetzlib/10001.pdf

[THE GRIFF 8]

Get yourself to a range with somebody experienced and try a few different makes and gr ammo. Make sure you only fire 3 or 4 shots and then let the barrel cool off. If the person you take with you can get good groupings then it is you at fault, if niether of you can get good groupings and the obvious things are all ok like scope tight, ammo not clipping moderator, moderator on tight ect then it may be a case of finding some ammo your rifle likes.

My tikka lite in .223 loves 55gr hornady (thumb nail groups of 4) but groupings are about 4 inch apart with the superfast 53gr ones, my zero shifts 2 inch to the right with 50gr ppu and the groups open up to about 1.5 inch but the 50gr hornady are all over the place.

[markha 99]

Sounds to me like far to many things going wrong that you dont fully understand yet.

 

The thing you said about not being able to get a decent sight picture in the scope is definitely the place to start. If there is one thing that will cause bad groupings its 'cheek Weld' and parallax issues. Pick your rifle up and bring it to shoulder with your eyes closed as if your ready to take a shot. Now open your shooting eye and do not adjust your cheek position. If you cant see through the scope properly you need to adjust the height of the scope mounts or the height of the comb till you can see through the scope when bringing the rifle to shoulder.

 

Now get a box of remington accutips from the shop, get some 50gr as the recoil will be light, go try it out.

[j316 119]

check that you are not liting your head off stock when firing as this can mess your grouping

[cyclonebri1 8]

I went to the range a few weeks ago to sight in a different scope on my 223.

It's amazing how bad habits creep in, I didn't realise until the guy that was watching me, an instructor as it happened, pointed out my fingers were touching the barrel as I shot from the bench rest.

That makes a difference with a fully floated barrel like the 1 have and you do also.

 

Their isn't much recoil at all with the 223 but some folks do flinch at it. A young guy I introduced to .22 shooting a few years ago got himself a 223 but before I even knew it had gone back to the gunny and he took out an HMR. Not only could he not get on with the noise, he just didn't like the kick. He said it wouldn't group for shit. I suspected he was just flinching, which he probably was, but when I quizzed him further it seems he had shot a continuous string of 50 rounds, the gun must have been steaming

 

I don't think the walking is helping you at all either, even from that steady walk your pulse will take a couple of mins to settle.

And don't get hung up on too great a magnification, it can make matters worse, your heartbeat will seem to be moving the crosshairs miles (which it is), but it has a greater psychological impact than having it set so you can just detect your "rhythum" and shoot with it .

Edited June 1, 2013 by cyclonebri1

[riflehunter583 58]

assuming the barrel is clean, your not getting parallax error with your scope not being focused correctly @ the range, your not snatching the trigger or closing your eyes when you take the shot. Its not to hard to tell if its you or the gun which is at fault if you know you were 'on the target'

 

if you squeeze the trigger while cross hair is on the target AND your STILL on the target a second after the shot is fired (follow through) then you know the shot was on target and you did your bit then it could be a problem with the ammo/gun.

 

why not try shooting at 50 yards to start with.

make sure barrel is clean

you have a good rest bipod/sand bag.

are using good quality factory ammo.

mounts are of good quality and secure

scope is working as it should without zero shift

squeeze off at the bottom of your lungs

rest your left hand under the butt

keep eye open during shot

 

reloading rounds need to be consistent:

 

neck tension consistent

powder amount consistent

seating depth about 20 - 30 thou off lands as a start

case length is uniform so as not crimping the bullet in chamber if to long

 

hope some of the above helps

[GEOFF.223 83]

Best way was to always let someone else with good experience shoot it before you pull you hair out.

 

Some rifles have been known to have accuracy issue's such s the browning a bolts with the fluted barrels but the none fluted barrels don't !

[rimmer 33]

I have never used reloader 15 but when I am trying a new rifle I will make some trial rounds, find out what your minimum and maximum loads are then make up a few rounds of each grain for example if your minimum is 23gr and max is 26 then make a few at 23, 24, 25 and 26 fire these at the target and see which group best then when you have found this you can start to trial .1 grains until you find the tightest group, this will vary from rifle to rifle even if they are identical models.

Also make sure the bullet heads you are using are the right weight for the twist rate of you rifle, looking at your target I think they are as they usually fly all over the place if not.

This is more important than you may imagine, its not the weight as much as the actual bullet length, the twist rate may not be fast enough to stabilise longer bullets, like nosler bt`s for example they require a twist rate quicker than 1:10 .