- Joined
- Jan 12, 2026
- Messages
- 11
I was wondering if any of you who are getting older (especially those over 70) are noticing that lapses in concentration are causing issues with your ability to maintain accuracy.
I am over 82 and, for the last couple of years, even though my accuracy appears to have remained about the same overall, I have noticed more and more cases where about 1 group out of every 4 has one round going astray and enlarging the group. All my groups are shot at 100 yards. Our range is limited by space and by being in a pretty populated area of Northern Virginia. That is probably just as well, as my ability to control recoil has diminished with age and, if I were going to shoot out to 300+ yards and beyond, I would probably opt for my 6.5mm CMs.
I generally load 25 rounds for each load and shoot a couple of sighters to get my aim point established for each new load, which is usually a different bullet or a different seating depth. So, I generally measure 4 groups for each load that I reload.
For example, since November 1st, with my new Shilen Select Match 416R 1:7 twist barrel in my Savage 12 FV .223 in an MDT LSS chassis using a Leupold 45X Competition scope, I have shot 128 5-round groups to an average of 0.216 with a group size standard deviation of 0.032.
Looking at only the groups since November that didn’t have the one shot that opened them up (shooter Induced variations), there were 49 groups that averaged 0.184 with a standard deviation of 0.020. That is what I am trying to do for every group.
Most of the time, my messed-up groups are in the mid .220s, but occasionally the groups grow to .260 to .270 if I really mess up. I have only shot two groups over 0.300 since I have been shooting this new barrel, Since April 2025, and those were just after the break-in period. Actually, the first 40 or so groups after the 50-round break-in process were more me trying to figure out the barrel than trying to attain the accuracy that the barrel has shown since.
After shooting for about 100 groups with some really great groups and some relatively poor groups, I finally realized that to get the accuracy that the barrel could deliver, I had to aim very precisely. With most of my factory barreled rifles, the barrels weren’t able to put rounds exactly where they were aimed so I didn’t notice. But once I realized that the barrel put the shots where they were aimed, I started to really work on precise aiming.
Probably, the best lesson came when l shot the first four rounds in a group in exactly the same hole. I couldn’t see any difference in the hole after each shot and I had even looked all over the target after the second shot to see if there was a bullet hole somewhere else before I continued shooting. I had shot two sighters first and then proceeded to put the next four shots in exactly the same hole. I knew that there was some drop in POI when the barrel got hot but, since I was on a such a roll, I shot the 5th round anyway. It was in the same hole but just slightly lower and I could see that the hole got slightly larger at the bottom. That 5-round group measured 0.055. I then realized that I really had to do my part to get really good accuracy.
I have noticed that a I got a stray round when I have seemed to skip a step in my set-up routine, or twitch a bit as I was pulling the trigger, or didn’t adjust my position after the recoil from the previous shot.
Also, this new barrel is so accurate that variations of a reticle width during aiming can change a group from measuring under 0.200 to measuring over 0.250 with a single shot.
I have also noticed starting in November, when the morning temperatures got colder and dropped into the 30s a few times, and in December and January, with the morning temperatures often in the 20s and low 30s, that the winter monthly averages of 0.212 to 0.222 got larger compared to July to October with monthly averages of 0.207 to 0.208. The bullet mix was about the same so I don’t think that was the difference. Perhaps the colder conditions keep me from concentrating as effectively.
The impact of my shooter induced variations on the overall average isn’t great since it doesn’t occur with every group, but it seems to be an indicator of my inability to maintain consistency and that concerns me. Since I record all my data and try to determine which bullets, powders, seating depths, jumps and bullet exit times perform best, these ‘shooter induced variations’ are causing bias in my data and masking what performs the best.
Anyone have any suggestions on what I might do to get my shooter induced variations under better control?
I am over 82 and, for the last couple of years, even though my accuracy appears to have remained about the same overall, I have noticed more and more cases where about 1 group out of every 4 has one round going astray and enlarging the group. All my groups are shot at 100 yards. Our range is limited by space and by being in a pretty populated area of Northern Virginia. That is probably just as well, as my ability to control recoil has diminished with age and, if I were going to shoot out to 300+ yards and beyond, I would probably opt for my 6.5mm CMs.
I generally load 25 rounds for each load and shoot a couple of sighters to get my aim point established for each new load, which is usually a different bullet or a different seating depth. So, I generally measure 4 groups for each load that I reload.
For example, since November 1st, with my new Shilen Select Match 416R 1:7 twist barrel in my Savage 12 FV .223 in an MDT LSS chassis using a Leupold 45X Competition scope, I have shot 128 5-round groups to an average of 0.216 with a group size standard deviation of 0.032.
Looking at only the groups since November that didn’t have the one shot that opened them up (shooter Induced variations), there were 49 groups that averaged 0.184 with a standard deviation of 0.020. That is what I am trying to do for every group.
Most of the time, my messed-up groups are in the mid .220s, but occasionally the groups grow to .260 to .270 if I really mess up. I have only shot two groups over 0.300 since I have been shooting this new barrel, Since April 2025, and those were just after the break-in period. Actually, the first 40 or so groups after the 50-round break-in process were more me trying to figure out the barrel than trying to attain the accuracy that the barrel has shown since.
After shooting for about 100 groups with some really great groups and some relatively poor groups, I finally realized that to get the accuracy that the barrel could deliver, I had to aim very precisely. With most of my factory barreled rifles, the barrels weren’t able to put rounds exactly where they were aimed so I didn’t notice. But once I realized that the barrel put the shots where they were aimed, I started to really work on precise aiming.
Probably, the best lesson came when l shot the first four rounds in a group in exactly the same hole. I couldn’t see any difference in the hole after each shot and I had even looked all over the target after the second shot to see if there was a bullet hole somewhere else before I continued shooting. I had shot two sighters first and then proceeded to put the next four shots in exactly the same hole. I knew that there was some drop in POI when the barrel got hot but, since I was on a such a roll, I shot the 5th round anyway. It was in the same hole but just slightly lower and I could see that the hole got slightly larger at the bottom. That 5-round group measured 0.055. I then realized that I really had to do my part to get really good accuracy.
I have noticed that a I got a stray round when I have seemed to skip a step in my set-up routine, or twitch a bit as I was pulling the trigger, or didn’t adjust my position after the recoil from the previous shot.
Also, this new barrel is so accurate that variations of a reticle width during aiming can change a group from measuring under 0.200 to measuring over 0.250 with a single shot.
I have also noticed starting in November, when the morning temperatures got colder and dropped into the 30s a few times, and in December and January, with the morning temperatures often in the 20s and low 30s, that the winter monthly averages of 0.212 to 0.222 got larger compared to July to October with monthly averages of 0.207 to 0.208. The bullet mix was about the same so I don’t think that was the difference. Perhaps the colder conditions keep me from concentrating as effectively.
The impact of my shooter induced variations on the overall average isn’t great since it doesn’t occur with every group, but it seems to be an indicator of my inability to maintain consistency and that concerns me. Since I record all my data and try to determine which bullets, powders, seating depths, jumps and bullet exit times perform best, these ‘shooter induced variations’ are causing bias in my data and masking what performs the best.
Anyone have any suggestions on what I might do to get my shooter induced variations under better control?
