Scores now shocking...

[jennageit]

Hi Guys,

Well, I had a shocking night shooting on Wednesday night and I can't for the life of me figure out what I'm doing wrong.

I'm hoping it was just not my night. The rifle behaved herself beautifully, as did all of the ammo (excluding one round that just refused to fire no matter what we did), and it wasn't exactly windy there, so that wouldn't account for the low scores.

Now to the scores:

1st card - 188/200 (Dropped 12 points - not the worst I've done, but not far off it!),
2nd card - 184/200 (Dropped 16 points - still not he worst).

Now, given the rifle was good, the ammo behaved, there was neglible wind and the target wasn't running around the range as I was trying to shoot, that only leaves me as the problem. Am I right?

I've gone through and thought about everything that I did. I know that I had to adjust he scope a LOT more than normal as every shot was landing about an inch lower than it should have been. When I finally got it where I wanted it, I was shooting to the left of centre, then the right of centre, then high or low. I still managed to hit every target circle, but honestly, if you looked at it, you'd think I'd had a sneezing fit at the time of firing!

It's been suggested that I have someone video me when I'm shooting so that I can go back over it and see where I'm going wrong. What do you think?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Jenna

PS. The payment form for my licensce arrived in the mail the other day, but there's a few errors on it, so I rang LRD and they're sending out a new one. Almost there! Yay!

[North East]

What's the rifle, caliber, distance, hand loads or not?

[cavok]

Are you shooting prone, standing, kneeling? Over what time period did you shoot? From 5-6 till 8pm? How often do you shoot this match? Weekly?

[jennageit]

Rifle - Anschutz s/s BA (no other info other than its about 30 years old and has only had about 15,000 rounds through it).

Shooting Bench at 50m - started shooting at 8:15pm, finished up two cards by 9:10pm (had to stop halfway through for a break as my back was sore). Had the option to shoot a third card but decided against it.
Also, no-one else uses this rifle at the club, everyone has their own rifles, and if they want to use one of the club guns, they all avoid this one due to not liking the trigger.

I shoot twice a week (Wednesday nights from 8 - 9:30pmish, Saturday arvo's - 2 - 3:30pmish), usually 5 - 6 cards (3 cards each outing) in that time, all at 50m, same targets, same ammo (SKR Match - 22lr - 40g) - Target rounds straight out of the box. I've been using these for the past 5 weeks or so and have scored this badly before only once. That was 178/200.

The Saturday afternoon before, it was daylight, there was an annoying wind that sent the flags nuts (two flags, one was blowing left, the other right at the same time - walls of the range creates it's only little swirly wind tunnel thingy) - technical huh, same everything as before.

Anyway, I only shot two cards last saturday due to time constraints. scores were 197.5 and 197.10 out of 200.

The only things that have changed are: My back meds - started a nerve pain inhibitor again, and I'm stuck on crutches because I can't walk without them at the moment. My left leg doesn't work.
Otherwise, everything was normal. Same clothes, same glasses, same bench, rifle, ammo, seat, sight, even shooting bay position. The only other difference was that hubby drove me there and then came and picked me up afterwards cos I can't drive at the moment.

Jenna

[cavok]

To drop 12 points on one card 16 on another, was there 1 shot that lost the points, or 2 or the whole group was larger than usual?

[Baronvonrort]

Rifle - Anschutz s/s BA (no other info other than its about 30 years old and has only had about 15,000 rounds through it).

Also, no-one else uses this rifle at the club, everyone has their own rifles, and if they want to use one of the club guns, they all avoid this one due to not liking the trigger.

The only things that have changed are: My back meds - started a nerve pain inhibitor again, and I'm stuck on crutches because I can't walk without them at the moment. My left leg doesn't work.
Otherwise, everything was normal. Same clothes, same glasses, same bench, rifle, ammo, seat, sight, even shooting bay position. The only other difference was that hubby drove me there and then came and picked me up afterwards cos I can't drive at the moment.

Jenna

There is usually more than 1 reason why everyone avoids that gun, it's easy to blame the trigger.

The meds could have interfered ,sometimes you just don't do as well,perhaps it's more than just the trigger as for why everyone avoids that gun.

[jennageit]

Cavok - it was all over the card. 1 point here, 2 there etc etc - one card I managed ten 10's, the other about the same, but I had a 7 thrown in there, which really drops the points down.

Baronvornrort - you're right, it'll be more than just the trigger stopping these guys, however I don't know how I could drop that much over the two cards when it's the same gun, ammo, everything.

I have noticed that I shoot better during daylight than at night (maybe I'm less tired), or maybe it is the meds.

I wont get the chance to shoot again for a few weeks. Next Wednesday is the anniversary of my daughter's birth and Saturdays are out as my instructor can't make it for the time being, so back to once a week again.

[Jack V]

How old is the scope ? It may be loosing spring tension on the erector tube . the first thing I do when something changes like that is replace the scope with a spare and see if normal accuracy returns . Sometimes we develop bad shooting habits without knowing it. get an experienced target shooter to review your style . Also get someone else to shoot the gun and test the accuracy and see if the POI changes repeat . A 30 year old gun could have a warped stock . Rim fires are generally not that touchy to bedding problems due to soft recoil but a badly warped stock could be putting pressure some place.
barrel fouling may be getting bad , although rim fires don't foul as bad as centre fires after many rounds they can gum up with lead , powder fouling and wax .

[mausermate]

I think you are being a little hard on yourself. You have not been shooting that long and I recon you are doing great.
Concentrate on your breathing and pulling a good shot. Maybe you are expecting a good shot instead of making sure it is a good shot. It's not as easy as it sometimes seems.
Check your gear.
Even the best shooters have bad days. Keep a positive mind.
Drugs don't help, you need a clear head to perform at your best.

[Baronvonrort]

Maybe Jack V is on the right path with barrel fouling, if people avoid shooting it they probably don't want to clean it or touch it either.

Is that the same gun that had the premature firing problem, perhaps they might have cleaned it which loosened the bore up a bit when they fixed the trigger.

The premature firing problem is a good reminder on why we should be strict with safety rules.

[Noisydad]

X 2 Mausermate! Sometimes you just off days!

[Jack V]

It's been my experience that it's never just one single thing in firearms. We all tend to want any problem to be one single issue so it's easy to understand . Life is not that simple I'm afraid. Generally when we have a rifle start to shoot badly we make it even worse by getting nervous and frustrated over it .
My best guess is that an old rifle like that needs some inspection and re-furbishing from a professional as it sounds like it could become dangerous .

[jennageit]

Thanks for all of the tips and advice guys.

I'm not sure how well this club rifle is looked after. I'm on there on Wednesday nights, and if the guys know I'm going to be there, 9 times out of 10 it's set up and ready to go. There's only been one or two occasions when I've gotten to help with the setup.

As for swapping out the scope, I don't think this is an option at the club.

I'm starting to wonder if it was just me having a bad day. The new tablets are really starting to affect me in other ways, and I have noticed that I'm "off" most of the time, so maybe it was an onset of that on the night I went shooting.

I wont know until later on this month when I can get back to it if it's the rifle, or me, but we'll see. I'll let you all know how I go. If my scores go back up to the mid 190's, then i'll know it's me. If not, it might just be the rifle.

Thanks again guys,
Take care,

Jenna

[AusC]

PS. The payment form for my licensce arrived in the mail the other day, but there's a few errors on it, so I rang LRD and they're sending out a new one.

It happens.

I've had the wrong serial number on PTA's before and they fixed them with a phone call no worries.

[Khan]

Are you getting the same rifle each time or do they have a bunch of the same club rifles and you're getting a different one each time?

[jennageit]

Are you getting the same rifle each time or do they have a bunch of the same club rifles and you're getting a different one each time?

It's the same rifle every time. The range only has two Anschutz club rifles, and they are quite different from each other.

I'll get the chance to shoot with it again on the 29th, until then I just have to wait, oh and maybe put my own rifle on layby lol

[cavok]

I think if you shoot the same rifle next time and look at your results then you could look at various aspects of your style, but from one bad or lesser score than previous it is hard to draw any conclusions. Shoot well.

[Khan]

It's the same rifle every time. The range only has two Anschutz club rifles, and they are quite different from each other.

Fair enough. Unless someone has bungled a clean on the rifle and buggered it or something it's probably not that then.

I know it's a club rifle so you can't do any work or testing on it as such. Maybe just have a quick look at the scope mounts and make sure nothings come lose, action screw isn't lose etc.

And give it another shoot and see if you come back to form.

Tough when you can't really touch the rifle as it's not yours though

Will have to wait and see.