Fix My Shooting Flaws?

First thing I would do is use a rest that confirms you as the cause.

At what distance and how far wide? Have you tried more than 3 shots? Is it always 2 close then one wide or is it just one out of the three?

Here is a target that might help you figure things out.



Kevin

The .22 would be a good one to start with.

I built this rest that can hold the rifle in position well enough even the worst trigger yank won’t move it.



With it if the shots don’t go in the same place, it’s not me.



You can go even further and make it so you don’t even have to touch the rifle but if the rest is solid, it won’t matter.

DMW1116 said:

I have not tried more than three shots until yesterday. It happened on a 12 shot group at 50 yards with the 22. 7 shots were centered around the 1" circle I was using as a target, the rest were left about 2 inches. It also shows up at 100 yards with the 308 and 223. Those are about 2" left as well. With the three shot groups it's either 1, 2, then left for the third, or the 2nd is left then back on for the third. If I go again this week, I'll try to see exactly which order it goes and try some 5 shot string.

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I'd GUESS that 1,2 good, 3 relaxing into the rifle, recoil comes back left a bit more. I'm right handed and when I lock a rifle down, shots that were to the left with my buddy's and kids' rifles are suddenly on and just the tiniest bit low. When THEY shoot those guns their shots are dead on and my guns shoot to the right for them, I outweigh all of them by about 100 lbs so that shows the difference in recoil vs hold nicely, but I think you should be self conscious of whether you're holding the rifle exactly the same each time you pull the trigger.

Canting is a pretty good guess. Do you have a horizon reference line you can line up the top of your rear sight against?

Also, are you using single stage or two-stage trigger? It's remotely possible, I suppose, that if you're using two-stage and you shoot by pulling through the first stage to the second stage wall and pause while you finalize your sight picture you could be pulling to one side or the other just a little by your finger placement. This isn't likely if you're gripping the rifle forearm with your offside hand, but if you're resting the forearm on a bag and steadying the buttstock elevation with your offside hand tucked into your armpit like I often do you could actually unknowingly rotate the whole rifle with your trigger finger because your offside hand steadying the buttstock also makes a nifty little fulcrum. Keep that sight picture steady all the way through the trigger pull.

get someone else to shoot the rifle(s) to make sure the problem is you.

stay down on the rifle for two seconds after the shot breaks to watch the sights and see where they wind up after the shot. they should wind up in the same place every time.

luck,

murf

DMW1116 said:

Looking over my rifle targets and recent adjustments for sights, it occurs to me there are some things I need to fix maybe.

First, I appear to have a tendency to get 2 shots close together and throw one wide left. I see the same pattern with 22, 308, 223 in 3 different rifles with scopes and iron sights. It's not every time, but shows enough that I think its something I need to correct, but I don't know how. Any ideas?

The other is in rifles with iron sights, I always have to move the impact to the left. On sights with a windage scale like MBUS flip sights it is about one graduation left, which is maybe 1/32" or 1/64". I was told I may be canting the rifle a bit. Any thing else it might be? I shoot left handed if it makes a difference. This is also on 2 different rifles.

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Shooting left handed makes all the difference. Most guns have a cast in the stock that is opposite for left and right handed shooters. Are the guns built for a left hander? When you have a flyer shot out of group which shot is it in the string? More than likely your flyer is due to mechanics. Use the exact same mechanics for every shot. Line up sights on target, take safety off. Take a deep breath let half of it out slowly squeeze the trigger while maintain sight alignment. Most shooters are good about mechanics most of the time. Great shooters are good about mechanics every time.

You are ever so slightly favoring you dominant (left) hand - normal to do so. You have to be mindful of how the dominant hand affects (in your case pulling toward the left) your trigger squeeze and negate that effect on every shot. If you relax your shooting position/ style ever so slightly on any round with a consistent firearm, your just short of discipline shot will show on the target every time.