Wanted to add shooting ely match, and scores are around 1700 and lower.

 

This may not help but just know its alot easier shooting little groups than it is good scores on the Ara unlimited cards.. gotta stay mentally focused when shooting them cards.

 

I think most of us deal with the same issue to some degree. Even with a one-piece rest, moving from bull to bull and hitting the dot is a still a big challenge

 

Wind flags?

 

I shot one target this morning, there were several people shooting, didn't get flags out during the target hanging break, planned on zeroing a scope on another rifle but that didn’t work out. So I grabbed my wanna be BR rifle and shot my UL target. Fortunately the wind was pretty low and I got decent results. After that flags were not an option as the wind picked up and started switching fairly fast. Trip got cut short before I got through half the next card. I doubt it would have been as good.

I have found there isn’t much wiggle room on an ARA UL target. I just started practicing on that target and keeping it in the 100 ring is tough.

 

The shot dispersion increases when you move to a new bull, as it is common for the poi to be different from the poa due to the recoil action of the rifle in the rest. Next time this happens, after the shot look through the scope and you will probably see that the poa has changed to agree with the poi. It's challenging to get the rifle settled the same in the rest everytime you change to a new bull. A challenge I'm still working on.....

 

Your 25 shot groups run 0.25" to 0.30"? Shooting 5 or even 10 shot groups hide the poi shifts along the way.

 

It's not a 25 shot group. The ARA target has 25 bulls and you put 1 shot in each bull. He is probably referring to his groups on the sighter bulls.

 

During a match I break the target down into rows. Each row is 5 bulls and 5 shots just like shooting a 5 shot group. Look for 500 rows and the occasional row 500-5X.

 

Two quarter inch groups can be a quarter inch left and right of the POA ... which gets you a half inch ten shot group. Which is not very impressive but nearer reality. Shooting for score, any target, is where the rubber meets the road.

And score targets can be scanned, digitized and subjected to statistical analysis. My F Class target (5 per eight bulls) gives me a 40 shot composite group. I'm more than a little pleased that my new rifle just shot a 14mm (outside-outside) 40 group outdoors with Cx.

 

Yes Sir...see it all the time. A bunch of 5 shot groups randomly shot around the point of aim.

 

Maybe a different kind of target would help. Rings in even tenths of an inch from the X. A scoring plug to let us get the extra digit between the rings. Just score it by mean radius. Of course phone software can already do all this for us easy enough.

More seriously, it sounds like maybe some more care in how you set the rifle up to ride the bags would help.

 

Groups lie.
Makes it look like my results are better than they are.
Shifting from aimpoint to aimpoint is not the problem.
My overall scored target aggregate group size
is smaller than my aggregate group measurement
from a target full of 5 shot groups. If switching
from dot to dot was an issue, that couldn't happen.
It does.
The reason? Variations in cartridge quality and
changes in range conditions during the time it takes
to shoot a group. Small time intervals, range conditions
remain similar. Longer intervals conditions change more
and group centers wander relative to point of aim.
Why is this not such a problem for my scored targets?
I'm much more focused on doing everything correctly.


Another item, is patterns in cartridge uniformity.
Changes in components and assembly tolerances
vary over time on the assembly line.
My thinking is from one end of the box to the other,
those patterns of uniformity shift, causing gradual shifts
in point of impact relative to point of aim.
It's not my body mechanics or rifle alignment.
Watching videos of myself at the bench,
shows chambering the next cartridge causes more movement
than aligning to the next bullseye. Try it.
Set that phone to video record and watch yourself.
It's educational.

 

Have you shot any 25 shot groups? Shooting amazing 5 shot groups doesn't matter BR/ARA you shoot at least 25 shots. IF you can shoot 25shots inside of .5" (size of ARA 100 point ring) i.e. your rifle and ammo could potentially shoot a 2500. IF your rifle and ammo shoots 25shots into a .6 or .7" group (how many of those were outside of the .5" ring?) your rifle and ammo are likely holding you back and you will likely never be able to shoot a 2500 even in perfect conditions.

Like others have said 5 shot groups with wondering POI don't matter. .2" and .3" groups are good for a factory class rifle but an UL rifle should be shooting .1" five shot groups pretty regularly because once you shoot 25-50 those tiny groups always grow. Do that and see how big the "Cone of fire" really is. That will most likely be a much more realistic indication of what your rifle and ammo can actually do vs the size target you are shooting. Even if it holds under .5" for 30 shots YOU will still have to read and hold off for the wind perfectly to not lose points.

 

If your rifle can shoot 25 shots within 0.5", it’s very accurate. Bigger groups mean your rifle or ammo may limit your score. Shooting more rounds shows the real accuracy, not just small 5 shot groups.

 

Solid groups but lower scores suggest your precision is good, but consistency needs work. Check if your groups are centered - even tiny zero shifts hurt scores. Also watch for position changes between strings that might shift point of impact. The factory stock may need torque adjustment to improve consistency. Try tracking your shots relative to wind conditions too - sometimes we focus so much on group size we forget wind holds.

 

Yea it’s frustrating. I have been doing good. Then I went for a good morning with good temp and low wind to no wind. I know that sometimes is not favorable but It had been working good for me. Two examples would be the five shot group in the bull. I said well if I can put them in the bull. I should be able to shoot a good score and I actually have in the past. I actually shot quite a few 5 shot groups. Mostly to see what the heck and not one one was over .180. It might have been .one that went 250. I just couldn’t get a good score from what the Rifle was telling it could do. Another example would be the tune groups moving to another bull and two clicks on the tuner and had a .079 and if you super imposed them there was 10 shots with a tuner adjustment that aren’t over .180.
So what ever I’m doing or something was causing it. I haven’t figured it out yet. But I’m leaning toward something with the Rifle and the way it was moving in the rest or just something that IDK yet.

 

Just a quick question about the scoring. I’m a beginner on this target, I was under the impression that if I could put a plug in the target and it touched the dot it was an X. Your scoring of X’s doesn’t really reflect that, am I doing it wrong?

 

If that was a question to me. On the ARA target I believe the plug has to cover the dot.
On a IR50 best edge target. They just have to touch it.
I do understand what’s been said about 5 shot groups and the POI being off from bull to bull. Not my case I can assure you most of my 5 shot group were well inside the white of the 100 ring other than moving the tuner or switching to a different lot of ammo. So what’s going on. IDK. It is something that I have struggled with but haven’t experienced it for a while. It was nice to be getting beat by myself missing conditions. Now back to IDK what the heck is going on. lol. I will get it fixed by next weekends match.

 

Frankr, not trying to side track the post, but I wonder if you would give me your opinion on these targets and if they would be considered X’s or not. Thanks.

 

Frankr, not trying to side track the post, but I wonder if you would give me your opinion on these targets and if they would be considered X’s or not. Thanks.
View attachment 616744 View attachment 616745 View attachment 616747

Only way to know fungus is to put a plug in them. If you can see any blue their not x's.

 

I think they certainly look like it. I guess the guy with the plug on the day they were shot thought so. Sometimes looking at a target that is a close call, days later can be different. I don’t know if the paper expands or contracts. I know sounds crazy.

 

Frankr,

I was self scoring, just trying to learn the basics of the target. Thanks for the help. Funguns

 

I am not @Frankr but my 2 cents is that you must use a plug (and a scoring table if you can get one) and a maginifying lens. That's how your target will be measured in a tournament. I use the plug (and glass when necessary) on all my practice shoots to be sure I am being true to myself

 

If you think that center dot is hard to cover, try an ARA Factory target. 😬

 

So if I put a plug in it and the dot doesn't extend out from under the plug. I am good to go. Here they are with a plug. Like I said, just trying to learn the target. And how to score it properly.

 

So if I put a plug in it and the dot doesn't extend out from under the plug. I am good to go. Here they are with a plug. Like I said, just trying to learn the target. And how to score it properly.
View attachment 617004 View attachment 617005 View attachment 617006

That's how it works....if the plug covers the dot it's an X.

 

Can’t afford to shoot more. Have to go with 5 and evaluate from there. lol.

 

First I was dealing with some tough wind conditions and dropping temperatures. It was cooling down late evening. I tried the .079 tune and it was NG. Another guy wanted me to try something else. I did it was NG. Back to original tune. I was doing ok shooting like it has been In some tough conditions but as the temp cooled I started getting more vertical and as the wind died down a light head or tail wind would cause bad vertical. So I found a better tune. That shot as well as the original but had less vertical. So my 5 shot group a .165 then the next 5 bulls were all X’s. I’m not going to show the whole target. There was a lot of messing around on it. 248 13X. So yea 248’s in some tough conditions. But the Rifle is shooting good enough to do better than that
So I feel ready for this coming weekend.
You definitely have to factor in some tough wind conditions. One guy said he can’t shoot that condition at all. So it’s shooting really good.