So after lurking around for a while and having this board help me with my decision to buy a new rifle. I actually spent quite a bit of time, ammo getting my 7 MM 08 sighted in with irons and the scope. I'm a faily accurate shooter and practice a lot with the 22, But yes like most hunters I check zero and go hunting and I use 300 as my 'max' range.
But after firing several boxes of factory, looking for the right one and zeroing I found I pretty much make a perfect up down line of 3 inches at 100 with 0" left/right. I can tell its my breathing doing this but I've tried both ways to correct this. Breath in hold squeeze and breath out and and squeeze. Is there something else or another techinique to try?

What I have always read in marksmanship training manuals says to take a breath, exhale about 1/2 of it, hold and slowly SQUEEZE the trigger. The shot should "suprise" you and not be anticipated.

Hope this helps!

I hate surprises!

Dont become too pre-occupied with technique, just do the basic breathing and squeezing and let "holding" the + on the . become the mainstay of your focus. You gotta WANT that bullseye!

I would suspect bedding for vertical stringing more than techinique.

ditto 35nut. Check the bedding.

Don't concentrate too much on breathing or anything else except that target. You can get so concerned with breathing that you psyche yourself out.

Good trigger technique can be learned by dry firing practice. Personally, I want to know exactly when the rifle is going to fire.

R-WEST

Well the Rifle is a BLR 81 so it has semi free floating barrel and according to all the purists a 'horrible trigger' but some days I'm shooting over grainfeilds and the next I can't see more than 50 in the bush.

I bought it cause I have a smaller frame and find it fits better than my Remmy 700 ADL in .270. I also wanted the fast follow up shot of the lever and something different I like its shorter length and carryability as I was Moose hunting for a week and was walking 20 miles a day though swamp and bog.

I think I'll take the .270 out this weekend as I have about 60 rounds for it and see if I'm the same type of shooter with that one

Another possible cause of the vertical string...

Be sure that your recoil control is consistent. Keep the same amount of shoulder pressure on the butt for each shot. If you vary the pressure here, the rifle will react differently under recoil, and can print the shots in a vertical or close to vertical string.

Good luck,

Dan Newberry
green 788

I've gotten in the habit with milder calibers of just easing up on the butt-end pressure off my shoulder some and that helps aleviate the breathing problem.

The proper breathing control takes practice; it was a bit distracting to me at first but, after a few range sessions, it became second nature. There's more to it than seeing the target.

I suspect by your comments as to specific measurements of group sizes that you are getting these off the bench. Be certain you are placing your rifle exactly at the same position on the bag each and every time and place it close to the receiver,not up on the forearm.

So, I was the same with the .270, but I did pay attention to how I was different than with the 22 and I was definately pulling tighter to the shoulder in anticipation of recoil, So I pulled it to the shoulder and made a mental note that this is no diff than the 22 and lo and behold the problem went away significantly
Thanks all !!

One way to correct for stock placement on your sandbag (I presume) is to get a Harris Bipod. It is unbelievable how much they steady your aim, and they also make consistency much easier. They attach directly to your forearm sling mount and can be switched easily right at the range from rifle to rifle.

The stringing can also be caused by your loads. I know about the old adage that its a poor workman who blames his tools, but the adage assumes that the good workman has the proper tools to start with. If your load is not matched to your rifle, it is impossible to consistently get a proper group. I was shooting 110 grain bullets out of my Browning A-Bolt .270 once using 58.5 grains of propellant. My groups would not print five consecutive rounds on a target sheet, let alone on target. I reduced the load to 58 grains and my next group was covered by a dollar coin.

The same result is intended to be obtained using the barrel attachment first introduced several years ago, but opinions vary about them. The least you can say about them is that they are unpopular at the range because they generate excess noise, and if the setting slips you loose your accuracy. Properly "tuning" your load to your rifle is preferable IMO. And more fun. But you've gotta either be a handloader or know one.

Depends on how much vertical stringing you have a half inch of vertical ain't bad at all. Neither is 1.5 inches...2" will work in the field and where your first two shots go is the most important in a hunting rifle. your light rifle isn't designed to cut quarter inch clusters.

If you are a hunter, just pull up the gun and shoot and thats about what I do at the bench, I don't worry about that other stuff and I still shoot a lot of half inch groups...

I will assure you that in the hunting fields you do not have time for all that target stuff..You may have to just pull the gun up and shoot and you may have to shoot fast...

Better to practice practical shooting once the gun is sighted in, unless you intend to be a benchrester, thats a whole nuther game...

Lean proper bench positioning and take a breath and shoot or let half out and shoot..using true bench rest procedure will close your group a little but not enough to make one iota of difference except for winning a trophy.

Yeah its under 2" now
Like I said I don't usually do a lot of bench shooting other than scope checking and most of the practice I do do is from feild positions.

I guess since this was a new rifle and I did fire off a couple of boxes at once I 'noticed' the problem where for practical hunting accuracy holding stable is more important than how the rifle shoots as long as it isn't a total dog.
Which is more typical to how I practice.

Hey'
After I get my rifles,sighted in,I don't practice on paper any longer.I use plastic bottles,filled with water,and placed at all different yardages.I look at the labels,as if it were a spot on an animal.Like Atkinson says,pick up the gun and shoot.The random distances,will help in the field,for judging,the yardage.It is also fun to see those bottles explode.
1geejay
www.shooting-hunting.com