More Powder - Shooting Lower

[curtste]

Good afternoon,

I spent some time at the range today sighting in and shooting my TC Omega. It's the "X7" model with the 24" barrel. I had results that were the opposite of what I thought they would be when I increased the powder load. I wonder if this is expected or unique to my gun? When I upped the load by 5 grains of powder, my shots all were 6 inches lower at 50 yards. I assumed they would be higher, and I was wrong. I've owned the gun for several years and always used the same load, which has proven accurate enough, 3-4" with open sights, out to 100 yards which is about 50 yards further than any shot I'll get in the area I hunt. At 50 yards, I regularly shoot 2" groups offhand. I know, that's not great, but good enough for my use.

Normal Load
90 grains Blackhorn 209
Hornady .44 caliber 240 grain XTP
Green Harvester Crush Rib sabot
Remington STS 209 Primer

Load That Shot Low
95 grains Blackhorn 209
Hornady .44 caliber 240 grain XTP
Green Harvester Crush Rib sabot
Remington STS 209 Primer

I followed my normal routine of three shots, then cleaning followed by firing two primers without a powder load before another string of three. I even asked two other shooters to shoot the rifle and their point of impact was very close to mine. I thought it must of been my shooting, but all three of us had the same result.

When I dropped back to 90 grains of powder, POI shifted back to where it always has been. Is this normal? Thank you for your input.

 

[J-Bar]

Normal.

Recoil begins the instant the bullet/ball starts to move. Recoil makes the muzzle flip up. The longer the projectile spends traveling down the barrel, the higher the point of impact will be on the target.

Increasing the powder charge gets the projectile out of the barrel faster, before the muzzle has flipped up as far as it did with the lower powder charge. So the point of impact will be lower.

It's the same effect that you see when you shoot a heavier projectile...the heavier bullet moves down the barrel slower, so it is more affected by muzzle flip. 158 grain .38 Specials hit higher (as normal ranges) than 125 grainers do.

 

[curtste]

Thank you. That makes sense. Case closed. Have a safe and happy New Year.