Thread: Perplexing, inexplicable misses

There's a possum just 25 metres away. You have a steady hold, so you place the cross hairs for a head shot. You squeeze off. You don't hear the usual 'plop' and the possum accelerates into the darkness.

Why, dangnabit?

This sort of thing has happened to me more than once. I seldom get buck fever, and I've done a heap of shooting. It can erode my confidence. I've experienced this mostly with .22 rimfire.

With a high-mounted scope like a thermal, one has to be aware of the trajectory. At 10 metres when using a thermal rig, for instance, the point of impact relative to the crosshairs might be 3cm low. Also, with a high mount, holding the rifle with a tilt ('cant'), can make quite a difference to impact compared to when the rifle is held with the centre of the scope exactly above the centre of the bore in relation to gravity.

I know that a loose suppressor can cause flyers. I have a heavy suppressor on my .223 which, when loose, might change the point of impact by 20cm at 100 metres. I have to check that the suppressor is screwed tight often.

Sometimes subsonic .22 ammo seems to go supersonic, and I'd expect to see an impact change when that happens.... but I'd expect the variation to be vertical. But what about sideways flyers when the suppressor is tight and the ammo sounds normal?

I recently fired three shots at around 26 metres from my accurate Norinco .22 rimfire. I was sitting at a table and was very comfortable. Two bullets touched in the middle of the target, but one flew about 3cm to the right despite my careful hold and squeeze. The ammo was CCI standard velocity which normally is one of the best 'groupers' in my rifle, and all the shots sounded normal.

The picture below shows the group. The target is much bigger than I might normally use at close range, but it was all I had at the time.