anyone ever notice...

[frontier gander]

that your groups can be not that good at close range, say like 50 yards and then you go back to 70-100 and find that they tightened up a lot?

How can that be?

 

[big6x6]

that your groups can be not that good at close range, say like 50 yards and then you go back to 70-100 and find that they tightened up a lot?

How can that be?

TRUTHFULLY....that's really impossible... For whatever reason..the groups were just smaller at the longer range...

 

[cayuga]

Well the rifle might have settled in the stock or fouled in finally and your getting more consistent fouling after a few shots. But it really does not make sense. You might have also started to calm down, relax, and pay attention to what you are doing... strange.

 

[frontier gander]

That could be. All i know is that i got that .45 Hawken shooting the 275's @ 71 yards and a 1/2" 3 shot group :lol: I am done with the .45 Hawken. I will save the rest of the bullets for my nephew.

Guns like that are the reason i sell them and buy something else, It gets boring after a while LOL.

 

[wildhobbybobby]

This is a phenomenon that has been noticed in long range rifle competition. The best theory to explain it is that the bullet, when it leaves the muzzle, may be tipped a bit by uneven gas pressure caused by an imperfect barrel crown, imperfect bullet base or other factor such as an off-center Center of Gravity. So, it begins its flight wobbling around its long axis and accuracy suffers.

As the bullet continues to travel, it develops better gyroscopic stability and the wobbling stops. This is referred to as the bullet "going to sleep", and results in better accuracy (measured in MOA) at longer range than at the shorter ranges.

You can observe an example of this with a spinning top, which will wobble when first spun, but eventually settles down and spins with stability. You can also see an exagerrated example of this with arrows, which bend, flex and twist as they are released from the bow, but become stable after a short distance.

I am no ballistician (and I did NOT stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night), but it seems to me that the use of a sabot would make this phenomenon more likely with muzzleloading rifles, because any imperfection in the fit of sabot/bullet/bore, or any lack of concentricity in the sabot/bullet combination, would result in the projectile wobbling even more than a conventional bullet from a rifled barrel. Therefore, the effect of the ML bullet "going to sleep" and being more accurate at farther distances would be much more noticable with a muzzleloader than a cartridge rifle.

That's my opinion and it is guaranteed to be worth what you paid for it.

 

[AJ]

I think it's just concentration on the shooters part. I know I just get close at 100 and fine tune at 200 then verify at long range (250-300 yards). when I shoot at the farther targets, I find myself concentrating more on form than when shooting close range (100 yards). I have often shot 2 MOA groups at 100 then 1 MOA or less at 200 yards.

 

[UtahRob]

I almost always shoot tighter groups at smaller targets . I think i Concentrate more on smaller target .When i make my own targets they are almost always just a small dot. I know when i use to shoot bows with out a siight i would concentrate at another arrow hole or JUST the bulls eye and not the whole target and my groups would really tighter up . Or when you shoot at a deer with along bow you focus on a light spot or a hair and not the whole deer .

 

[old/new]

Maybe you're just nearsighted...or is that farsighted :!: :shock: :wink:

 

[frontier gander]

Maybe you're just nearsighted...or is that farsighted :!: :shock: :wink:

I actually am near sighted. I have to be about 3 feet away from the 50" big screen in order to read whats on *if i dont have my glasses on* :lol:

 

[Spitpatch]

That's what happens to me when I shoot arrows!!

 

[RogerDailey]

This is a phenomenon that has been noticed in long range rifle competition. ...t.

Yes, that is a possibilty. Sometimes it can be confirmed by close examination of the bullet hole. Or it may just be "luck of the draw" for those two groups. To be conclusive, it would have to happen for several groups shot under the same conditions.

 

[john keyes]

you can't get too close
you have to give the bullets a chance to speed up

 

[Redeye171]

Aim small, miss small.

 

[saxman1]

What's a group?

Is that when all the buletts hit the target? :shock: