[MarkDido]

I went to my local range today to get a little "rimfire" time in.

I was shooting at 50 meters with my Marlin Model 60 with a 3x9 scope. I then switched to a Ruger KMK-4BL (4" bull barrel - stainless) with a Bushnell Red Dot.

Imagine my surprise when I noticed that the groups I was shooting with the little 4" Ruger were tighter than the ones that I shot with the Marlin.

I'm not that great of a shot, so is there some kind of physics answer as to why this was? (higher muzzle velocity out of the pistol because of shorter barrel length - less drag or something like that?)

[trapperjohn]

all things being equal, a rifle should give much tighter groups than a pistol. Physics is on the side of a rifle, longer sight radius, higher velocity.

there could be 2 explanations for what you experienced.
1) you are much better with a pistol than a rifle. in this case practice with the rifle more

2) there is a problem with your rifle scope combination. to see if this is the case you need to do some bench shooting with the rifle.

[Majic]

Could be poor rifle shooting technique.
You may be holding the rifle on target too long and fatigue sets in.
Incompatability of the rifle/ammo combo.
Simple mindset. You had noticed the rifle groups and may have paid closer attention to the basics when shooting the pistol.

[SapperLeader]

A second possibility is the ammo being used. Rimfires are picky about what they like. The rifle might shoot ok with ammo a and awseome with ammo c, while the pistol really likes ammo b but hates a and c. Other than that, all things considered you should shoot a rifle with tighter groups.

[Browns Fan]

Hmm, I have the same 2 guns, but I havent fired the Marlin in yrs. I need to at least take it out and check the sighting of the scope... and try your little experiment and see if I get the same results.

[HSMITH]

I have a couple of the Marlin M60's, fantastic little rifles. Mine will all do an inch or so at 50 yards with ammo they like and less with high grade ammo. Olympic shooters would be happy with one inch groups from handguns at 50 meters.

You don't say what the group sizes were like, but to outshoot the rifle with the handgun something is not quite right.

[MarkDido]

Thanks for the input.

TrapperJohn hit the mark. When I got home and started to clean the Marlin, I noticed that my scope had walked backwards so that the rear ring was just about to drop off the rail.

My fault for not checking the tightness of all the scope screws before I started blasting away.

Man you guys are good!