Went to the range today and started off at 50 yards. With a new rifle I would normally start at 25 with my sight in, but since this was a preowned barrel that had probably been zeroed before I decided to give it a try at 50 yards first. I set-up the Lead sled solo my wife got me for Christmas last year.
I started with the Hornady 250 grains as they had the least recoil. The lead sled REALLY cut down on the effects of the recoil, although I found it very difficult to use the sights with the lead sled. That may be in a large part because I needed to remove the rifle from the rest to load each time. I got better with the rest, but it was awkward the whole day. At fifty yards I was excited because the 250 grain Hornady were grouping pretty well. I fired a couple of the Winchester and was able to get a reasonable group. I then tried the Remington and could not establish a group at fifty yards. The 350 grain Hornady were the last I tried. The recoil was significantly stronger than the others without any better group, so I put the box away after three shots for that reason.
Before I headed to the 100 yard range I fired a few shots without the lead sled from standing unsupported. The first was a bad flinch in anticipation of the recoil, which was considerably less than anticipated. I would say it is more comfortable shooting the Hornady 250 grain, the Remington, or Winchester, than shooting Remington Nitro Pheasant rounds out of my Moss 500. I fired three more rounds and achieved a group as good as any I shot off the lead sled in a similar location. All the groups were centered around the top of the 6" center circle on the target I was using. Some real flyers and some holes from the Remington. The front sight post took up the entire circle at 50 yards which was something I did not like.
Anyways, onto 100 yards and I'm not on the target Or the backer. With any of the loads. 10"+ above my previous groups, 15"+ below on the backer, and I'm not hitting anywhere. I can see some dust thrown up above my target on one shot, so I aim sub-six and a little on the next shot and it I get a hole at the top of the target. Probably 15"+ above where I was aiming.
That would be about 12" rise over 50 yards.
I should have adjusted the sights down 3" at fifty, but decided I was going to have to adjust at 100 and it wasn't too far off so I didn't. The published trajectory info from Hornady only lists a 4.5" change over the first hundred yards on the 250 grain.
The other possibility: At 100 yards the front fiber optic on the front sight is now larger than the target zone on my target. It then has a band around it which is larger yet. The aperture was pretty large also. It may just be I wasn't shooting on the backer, but that seems extreme considering the goups I was getitng at 50 and I was using a rest, even if it was a bit awkward.
Running out of time I stopped there in hopes of digging up some better trajectory information.
So, as of right now I have a very hard kicking 50 yard deer gun. Back to the range when it opens Wednesday.