While shooting my 221 Fireball Encore this afternoon, I experienced one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to shooting:



My first two shots were right on top of each other (the bottom left hole). My third shot, though, wasn't. Oh well, I'll try again, after adjusting the scope:



Except it happened again. The first two shots (the higher two) were quite close together, but the third was quite a bit further away.

Perhaps you should shoot 4 shot groups, then you can be assured that you will have a tight 3 shot group ;-)

With my luck, the fourth shot will be even worse.

Try letting the barrel cool down between shots. Sometimes a barrel that is warm/hot will change the impact point.

Charlie

The idea is to ignore the 4th, ha

What Forend do you have, and how are you resting the Pistol?

Bob

Its almost always a loose butt nut when that happens.

Slight change in grip pressure or change in position on the bags. .Aggravating when it happens but part of the journey we all go thru.

Pachmayr pistol forend, resting on a machine rest.






Yeah, the issue was likely this loose nut pulling the trigger.

Chance, when you shoot groups do you shoot one round and then peek at the target through your spotter, or do you shoot all three and then look?

So I've been battling a form of this on my 45-70 encore recently. First erratic groups caused by the forend shifting around, then the hanger bar shifting around. Now the first and usually second shots group wonderfully, but the third is 6"-8" low. I think it is the hanger bar that isn't warming up with the barrel that is pulling it down after I torqued the screws down tight. This afternoon I put 5 cold shots (5 min pause)in less than 3" at 100 yd with a red dot while a 3 shot group measures 8".

Karl, how does your 30 30 barrel do shooting a three shot group at 100 yards?

With the 110gn vmax over a max load of RL 7, it will shoot 1" groups with some regularity if I do my part and the wind is steady/low. With the 110 Barnes TAC-TX I use for hunting it has shot a couple rare 1" groups, but ~2" is more typical. I found some some sweet spots for accuracy around 2000-2100 fps with 150 Barns TSX FN bullets with a variety of powders, but i'm pushing 110gn bullets ~2400-2500 fps for more effective range.


With the 45-70, the first two shots of the day sometimes touch with the third being a loooong flyer.

When we are group shooting and we are paying attention to each shot some crazy stuff goes into our head.
Say we have a really nice 2-shot group going so far, and we want a to make a good one on the third/last shot...Our head gets in the way, and we end up making a bad shot.
The mental aspect can be part of it.
http://www.primalrights.com/library/articles/you-shoot-better-unconscious

Plus the more we shoot, the larger our group is going to get-Shoot 10 or 20 or 30 rounds and see what happens to your groups.
Shoot that same number of rounds at distance and it really gets humbling

Changing your grip, not placing the gun on the rest the same each time, changing your finger placement on the trigger, jerking the trigger, feeling the need to rush the shot before you need to breather again, improper breathing, not paying attention to where your crosshair was when the shot broke, etc..... can all make things go wonky.

You want to get to a place to where shooting becomes instinctive