Horizontal stringing at the range yesterday

[akolleth]

This was just plain weird--

I was trying out some Wolf Match in my Toz 78-01 rifle (nice little Russian 22lr bolt action) At 50 yards I shot 25 rounds and all of them were less than 1/2" on the vertical, but were a huge string of 4" on the horizontal It was quite literally a nice straight line 4 inches wide.

I was shooting from an improvised rest (resting the rifle on top of an ammo can), a little wind but very sporadic, rifle has a nice crisp trigger which is adjusted to about 2 pounds pull. Any idea what could have been causing such a huge issue with horizontal stringing?

 

[ar10]

I'm guessing it's you. I've seen vertical stringing that was attributed to the muzzle bouncing of the bench rest. About the only thing I can think of is how you're sighting after the shots.

 

[Jim Watson]

Lessee, now; wobbly rest and sporadic wind. Sounds like a recipe for horizontal to me, especially if you add in a little cheek mirage. Try again with sandbags on a calm day, being very careful to get on the gun the same every shot.

What sights? Cheap scope with parallax, maybe?

 

[Art Eatman]

In general, horizontal stringing results from canting the rifle, instead of consistently having it exactly vertical.

For centerfire rifles, if a vertical string develops with each shot higher than the one before, it results from a change in forearm pressure on the barrel as the barrel heats.

But, Art's rule: "There ain't no "always"."