Off target.

Can anyone tell what might be happening. here. Using s/s Tikka T3 .308 win from about 50m with scope on 9x power. Felt pretty good about aim and trigger pull. You can see the first two are on top of each other with third pretty close. From there they consistently went left and down from right to left as you see them in the picture. Ignore the two randoms on the lower target.

The barrel got warm but not really hot however the three shots in each group were fairly close together with a break to reload and check target.

Something i'm doing or just the barrel warming up.

Rotate target 90 deg clockwise. Don't know why it rotates when posting and don't know how to fix it.

Himmmm did you move your trigger finger? Into a proper squeeze instead of a push from the finger tip....hence as you saw the holes start to go left you concentrated more on the trigger exaggerating the problem?

Are you a left or right handed shooter ? For a right handed shooter that normally means jerking or slapping the trigger. Try a slow, consistent trigger pull, and follow-thru - keep the trigger back and count to 3 in your head before releasing it.

Has the action been out of the stock recently ?

scope mounts tight? good scope and not a cheap knock off? defiantly something going wrong there, do you have another rifle to play with? ideally a 22 (cheap and cheerful) that way you can isolate that it is the rifle and not the shooter

No I don't think so. I really focused on a good trigger pull keeping the cross hairs on target. Never use my finger tip, I wrap right around it. The two down the bottom of target was me trying to correct by aiming off point which got me back on line and just needed to get elevation right but ran out of time and rounds.

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Originally Posted by 223nut

scope mounts tight? good scope and not a cheap knock off? defiantly something going wrong there, do you have another rifle to play with? ideally a 22 (cheap and cheerful) that way you can isolate that it is the rifle and not the shooter

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Good Bushnell scope and rings. As you can see the first three were pretty good then the consistent walk down. I do have another rifle but not allowed to use it anymore so couldn't do that check.

That said each shot felt pretty good on the pulling the trigger. When I get a replacement rifle for my big bad dangerous one I will have another go. You can see with the two outer shots I could correct the windage but ran out of time and ammo to correct elevation. These were done by aiming off point to correct.

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Originally Posted by ebf

Are you a left or right handed shooter ? For a right handed shooter that normally means jerking or slapping the trigger. Try a slow, consistent trigger pull, and follow-thru - keep the trigger back and count to 3 in your head before releasing it.

Has the action been out of the stock recently ?

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I'm left handed shooter with left hand bolt. Yes I did have the action out of the stock recently to clean it properly after a wet trip in the bush. Had a very slow trigger squeeze but haven't done the 3 second after. Will give that a go next time.

That said any of these shots would have dropped a deer but always fun to see if I can get a good grouping. Will try the 3 second count next time.

Had the rifle sitting on a bipod shooting of the rear tray of ute so a pretty stable base.

Used to do the same with my finger raped around the trigger was getting similar results. Changed to just trying to push straight back with the tip and now much better:) have a go and see how you get on.

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Originally Posted by Gordo

No I don't think so. I really focused on a good trigger pull keeping the cross hairs on target. Never use my finger tip, I wrap right around it. The two down the bottom of target was me trying to correct by aiming off point which got me back on line and just needed to get elevation right but ran out of time and rounds.

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At a quick look It seems too 'consistant' a POI shift to be a trigger issue. I would've thought bedding, or something to do with heat as the barrels warms and makes contact with the stock, perhaps even your action screws? but I don't know anything about the tikkas. Interesting what you say about trigger technique. I was always told to use the pad of your finger, never the joint..

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Ok, if it has recently been out of the stock that is your most likely issue. Find someone with a torque driver and make sure all the stock screws are done up to the correct specs.

Diagnostic target for a lefty says grip too tight. Try one of Todd Hodnett's tricks and don't grip the rifle with a closed fist type grip. Relax your hand, and have only the tips of your fingers touch the front of the stock/pistol grip. Tight grip also means that any fine motor skills in your trigger finger goes out the window.

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Originally Posted by Gordo

Can anyone tell what might be happening. here. Using s/s Tikka T3 .308 win from about 50m with scope on 9x power. Felt pretty good about aim and trigger pull. You can see the first two are on top of each other with third pretty close. From there they consistently went left and down from right to left as you see them in the picture. Ignore the two randoms on the lower target.

The barrel got warm but not really hot however the three shots in each group were fairly close together with a break to reload and check target.

Something i'm doing or just the barrel warming up.

Rotate target 90 deg clockwise. Don't know why it rotates when posting and don't know how to fix it.

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I had similar results when trying to preload a bipod to much. So basically ending up pushing the rifle forward with my shoulder.

Possibly try shooting without a bipod - just over a sturdy bag.

Also, not just trigger pull, but also check how (and how aggressively) your hand is on the grip.


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Originally Posted by deepsouthaussie

At a quick look It seems too 'consistant' a POI shift to be a trigger issue. I would've thought bedding, or something to do with heat as the barrels warms and makes contact with the stock, perhaps even your action screws? but I don't know anything about the tikkas. Interesting what you say about trigger technique. I was always told to use the pad of your finger, never the joint..

Sent from my RNE-L22 using Tapatalk

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It's not really a wrap more just wrap around a bit and it where ever it feels most comfortable. Just try to get consistent weight on trigger.

Maybe I will take it out of the stock again and check bedded in properly.

That looks like a mechanical issue as though scope is sliding or something similar. I would be focusing on scope mounts or scope itself

common thing with tikkas that have been taken out of stock is not alighning the recoil lug properly when refitting it

what @ebf said - get a torque driver and make sure the action screws are set correctly. From memory in Tikka plastic stock no more than 35 in-lbs ? Very important to not over tighten, cos you'll crush the stock and the floating recoil lug set up will be screwed permanently. Also use the torque driver to check all you screws, base screws on rings and the ring screws holding the scope.
And in terms of trigger technique, practice dry firing plenty before you put lead down range. By watching the target thru the scope as you dry fire you'll see if your technique is creating any push or pull issues.

Remembering this is a 50m target trigger technique wound have to shift from uniform pull to tugging it with a but of string to get that much variation my money is on something in the rifle not being bedded right or scope/ring issue

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Originally Posted by distant stalker

Remembering this is a 50m target trigger technique wound have to shift from uniform pull to tugging it with a but of string to get that much variation my money is on something in the rifle not being bedded right or scope/ring issue

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Agree. That is far too much for it to be simply poor trigger control at that distance. To make that change would be obvious from shooters pov (I.e felt that it was a pulled shot). That is a linear decline in a fairly specific pattern.

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Originally Posted by distant stalker

That looks like a mechanical issue as though scope is sliding or something similar. I would be focusing on scope mounts or scope itself

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This^^^^

Looks to me like the scope is walking forward in the rings slightly with each shot.


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First thing that I see is 50 metres at 9x I would start to suspect parallax issues if your head moves at all from shot to shot. Try it on a lower setting like 3x or push it out to 100 with a bigger target.

It could well be not fitted into the stock properly or a loose screw either on the mounts / scope arrangement or the bedding screws to the stock so all should be checked just in case.

But I still come back to 9x at 50m will cause parallax issues with most scopes focused for ranges of 100m and over....