Stretching your shots

Q

QuarterHorse

New member
Finished up putting my 100 yard zero today on my SBH Hunter in 45 colt. I'm pushing a 325gr bullet 1200+ fps so it does have a bit of a smack to it. I put my first few shots of every cylinder within an inch or two, then they open up. After about 5 cylinders my day is shot and I pack up due to not holding a group. I am shooting from a bag.
Do I just need more quality trigger time? Like put 1-3 funders through and find something else to shoot for the day? I realize in the field it's the first shot that's going to matter but there's the adrenaline factor too.
Looking for tips to get better groups.
Thanks fellas
 
How are YOU feeling after shooting?

Sore? Twitchy? Shell shocked? Or just bemused that the gun is opening up on you?

Confession time: even shooting from sandbags some guns can intimidate me. A nice long session with my Ruger .22 is the cure.

It might be you or it might be the gun heating up. I'll let some of our revolver experts tell you about the gun. I'll tell you when the gun starts hurting my hand my shooting goes bad.
 
My hands don't hurt but it is a bit of recoil. I'm presuming I'm flinching trying to get too much shooting in with too short a time.
 
Quarter Horse

Even not in pain, your nerves and muscles are 'touchy' after a few of those.

Go with the first few shots. Try it for several days and see if the gun shoots to the sights for the couple of decent shots you get. That is your zero.

If it holds, you KNOW that's where the gun will shoot. So if you get opening day jitters, just remember to hold your proper hold and the bullet HAS to go where it is aimed.

Really hot loads do tell on one's 'focus' after a bit; obvious pain or not.
 
Sounds like you're "flinching" in some way or other after the recoil/muzzle blast gets to you. But as you pointed out, you're only going to need the first two at most in any hunting situation. If you're really concerned, you might try some "ball and dummy" practice. Get a friend to load or not load the gun for you, when you attempt to fire, it's obvious if you're flinching...you may not be jerking the trigger, (the classic flinch). When I'm having a problem, it's usually throwing my strong hand shoulder into the gun as it fires...my shots go low and usually left when I do it...too, when I anticipate the recoil, I find that I grip the gun harder, and that alone will open the group 2-3" at 25 yds for me...

On another aspect of your post, I'd re-check your zero shooting in the position that you'll be using while hunting. I've found over the years (more than 50 now), that my zero off a bag is not the same as when I shoot offhand, or from a deer stand. Just a thought, but then you're probably well aware of your gun's idiosyncrasies.

Good luck with the practice. Best Regards, Rod
 
who else seen Taffin's wrist x-rays?

After five total surgeries on my upper extremities, might I suggest a 'range' session with THAT load be held to six shots or less.
Every OTHER day.....


or split up your practice session with a 22LR.
 
I limit my range sessions with my 454 Ruger Super RedHawk too 20 rounds, in order to avoid picking up a flinch. A padded shooting glove, helps a great deal.
 
It seems to me once you have zeroed the heavy loads, switching to light loads for practice would be fine. I have to fool myself by loading only two or three cartridges randomly in the cylinder and giving it a spin to shoot decent groups with heavy loads.
 
Thank you for all the tips fellas. My range is a bit of a drive away and has a bunch of quirks about using it but I'll make the best of it and get back out perhaps tomorrow morning to try and see where I'm shooting.

Thanks again.
 
Maybe stop shooting groups. For hunting maybe you could try multiple bulls and one shot on each. Or, if you have the place for it, some good old fashioned plinking. Something where you wouldn't get in a sweat about blowing a whole group with one mischievously errant shot. That could get tiresome after, well, 5 cylinders.
 
If I were you, I'd put together an identical setup using the Single Six Hunter model and use that for most of your practice.

Another option might be to load some light practice fodder for your SBH using Trail Boss powder. But that would require rezeroing your scope when you changed loads.
 
I do have my New Vaquero loads I can run through the gun as well which is 250gr RNFP over 7.8gr of Unique. That should at least get muscle memory down.

Thanks again all.
 
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