Horizontal flyers

Was out at the range shooting at 200m today with my new Kimber Hunter .280 Ackley, still in the load development stage.

I had the first two shots group perfectly above one another, half an inch apart, then...

The third printed at about 4 oclock on the target but 3 inches away from the centre.

Rifle seems to be doing this consistently with the other groups I've shot, including the one where the first two shots thru' the same hole and the third printing once again at 4 oclock and 3 inches away from centre.

Any thoughts on why?

Got any pics?

Might be too fast causing the bullet to tumble.
Might be barrel.
Might be poor shooting technique?

Do you have any factory loads you can shoot with?
Have someone else shoot the same loads.
Have a crony to see what speeds your getting.
Could you publish here your load data...what brass, powder, primer etc
Cheers S

Shoot a five or more shot group and report back here

Some of the Kimbers have very light profile barrels that heat up very quickly and rely on pressure point bedding at muzzle end of stock to counter some of the barrel whip. If its the 3rd shot consistently then I'd be looking at the rifle bedding. is the bbl free floated ? or is it touching at the pressure points ? if its very close to touching the pressure points then as the barrel heats up you could find it then does touch and that will produce flyers.
Try waiting 2 or 3 mins or longer between shots to let bbl cool. If this removes the flyer then that would support my suggestion above.

If you overlay targets dies it present two separate groups? Sounds like a mechanical issue to me, scope mounts moving on action or bedding, something along those lines

3 inches away isn't bad at 200m. Do you really think the rifle is grouping half inch or "all shots touching" at that range ?

Wind can easily shift a shot a couple of inches at 200m too.

I would like to see a few 5 shot strings with each shot numbered before I conclude my own rifle has a consistent hot barrel flyer problem.

Mauser 308 has posted some excellent technical suggestions. The most likely outcome is that if you follow best technique on a no wind day you will get some 5 shot groups around 1 MOA which is good for a lightweight rifle in a staunch clambering. Then you can move on , to honing group size, trajectory and wind testing and field marksmanship .

3 shots isnt really a group is what everyone is saying here. If its purely a hunter and cold barrel first shots is your thing then its good to go.
if its a LR rig for multiple shots it may just be an MOA rifle not a half MOA one.