Alright guys, this is going to give some idea how little I actually get to shoot. Though I've loved and have been shooting most of my life, I don't get to do it much.
Anyway, I recently got to fire a few rounds through my new rifle (CZ 527 .223). It was a last minute invite I received to a range and I wasn't really prepared, so I was freezing (light jacket, tee-shirt, jeans, worn out sneakers, 15*F with a decent breeze). But I still jumped at the chance to send a few rounds through my new gun.
I got it dialed in at 50 yards in three shots, then moved to 100. Clustered a few rounds right around the bull, looking good (Group wasn't great, probably around an inch or a bit bigger, but I'll take that any day when I'm barely able to feel my fingers or toes, haha).
I had brought several different factory loads to see if anything stood out as great or poor. The first 6-8 shots were with Winchester 55 grn. SP. Just high and right of the bull (maybe a half inch high and a half inch right, but the wind was coming from the left, so I decided not to do any more adjusting for the time being).
I then switched to some Hornady 53 grn. Superformance Varmint. Took a shot and couldn't see where it hit. Took another and still couldn't see it. Hmm. Took two more at a different POI and couldn't see those either. Took two more at yet a different POI and couldn't see any of them. Once everybody was ready to go down-range I decided to go see if I could find any of the hits.
It turns out it was impacting around 2" high and 3-4" right from the previous POI. It was just outside of the main diamond, so the hits blended in with the rest of the backround, making them harder to see. The good news is that in each case (three different sets of two shots) the shots were within 1/4'-1/2 inch of each other. So the round shows promise for consistancy (by that time I was really cold and wasn't focusing on my shots as well as I could have been).
Now, this is only my second center-fire rifle, the first being a .204 Ruger. But I've shot everything I could find locally out of the .204 (.32 grn. to .45 grn. in different brands and types), and never saw a POI change of more than an inch or so at 100 yards between them (factoring out group sizes).
The vertical change didn't suprise me too much, but the several inches of horizontal change at 100 yards surprised me a bit.
I'm not really worried about it. I will shoot more when I can feel my extremities and get a much better feel for what is actually going on. Just curious if a change that drastic is normal. I know different ammo can shoot very different (and I think that 53 grn. Superformance is a pretty hot .223 round), but just wondering if that much of a change is the norm, or is a bit extreme.
Sorry for the long winded post.
Anyway, I recently got to fire a few rounds through my new rifle (CZ 527 .223). It was a last minute invite I received to a range and I wasn't really prepared, so I was freezing (light jacket, tee-shirt, jeans, worn out sneakers, 15*F with a decent breeze). But I still jumped at the chance to send a few rounds through my new gun.
I got it dialed in at 50 yards in three shots, then moved to 100. Clustered a few rounds right around the bull, looking good (Group wasn't great, probably around an inch or a bit bigger, but I'll take that any day when I'm barely able to feel my fingers or toes, haha).
I had brought several different factory loads to see if anything stood out as great or poor. The first 6-8 shots were with Winchester 55 grn. SP. Just high and right of the bull (maybe a half inch high and a half inch right, but the wind was coming from the left, so I decided not to do any more adjusting for the time being).
I then switched to some Hornady 53 grn. Superformance Varmint. Took a shot and couldn't see where it hit. Took another and still couldn't see it. Hmm. Took two more at a different POI and couldn't see those either. Took two more at yet a different POI and couldn't see any of them. Once everybody was ready to go down-range I decided to go see if I could find any of the hits.
It turns out it was impacting around 2" high and 3-4" right from the previous POI. It was just outside of the main diamond, so the hits blended in with the rest of the backround, making them harder to see. The good news is that in each case (three different sets of two shots) the shots were within 1/4'-1/2 inch of each other. So the round shows promise for consistancy (by that time I was really cold and wasn't focusing on my shots as well as I could have been).
Now, this is only my second center-fire rifle, the first being a .204 Ruger. But I've shot everything I could find locally out of the .204 (.32 grn. to .45 grn. in different brands and types), and never saw a POI change of more than an inch or so at 100 yards between them (factoring out group sizes).
The vertical change didn't suprise me too much, but the several inches of horizontal change at 100 yards surprised me a bit.
I'm not really worried about it. I will shoot more when I can feel my extremities and get a much better feel for what is actually going on. Just curious if a change that drastic is normal. I know different ammo can shoot very different (and I think that 53 grn. Superformance is a pretty hot .223 round), but just wondering if that much of a change is the norm, or is a bit extreme.
Sorry for the long winded post.