What's the secret to accurately shooting lightweight rifles

[TNRifleman]

I know that practice plays a big part but what are some of the other tips and tricks that us normal hunters can employ to try to tighten up our groups our of lightweight hunting rifles.

My Tikka T3 rig weighs in at 7.7lbs with scope and all and while it is shooting right at 3/4" with factory ammo, I am wondering if I can squeeze any more accuracy out of it. My shooting setup is a leather rear bunny ear back and front leather bag rest. I have no intention of shooting out of a lead sled or similar device so am looking for any other tips that may apply.

I understand that a move to hand loads would probably help but that is not in the cards for me right now. The trigger pull on this rifle is a crisp 2 lbs.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[markwondi]

Re: What's the secret to accurately shooting lightweight rif

There is no "secret" to shooting them any differently than a normal rifle.

Having a light trigger is a big first step with a lightweight rifle, but trigger control is also a big factor. You need to practice dry firing, especially in shooting positions (ie. off a bipod, shooting sticks, etc.).

Recoil control is also something to work on. Bury the butt-end of the stock into your shoulder and make sure the follow through of the recoil moves straight back on the same axis. This takes body manipulation to get a consistent follow through. Again, practice this in hunting/real world shooting positions. Do not try to mitigate recoil, it will not work out well for you.

I have several rifles in the 6.0-6.25 lb weight range all up and can consistently hit 600 yard steel the same as my heavier rifles. Spotting my shots with the lightweight rifles is more difficult however.

Stay away from leadsleads and the like, they will do you no practical good.

Lastly, handloading will help but shooting technique will be the biggest advancement you can make.

 

[DaveB]

Re: What's the secret to accurately shooting lightweight rif

Recoil is more pronounced so film yourself at the range to see if you are flinching or closing your eyes. Sony and others have this teeny little handycam thing that sits on a tripod and does a good job. I have a video of my son shooting a 22-250 and flinching ever so slightly. By watching the video he detected the flinch and was able to improve his accuracy quite a bit.

My heart beat is 58-->60 BPM. When I am ticked or just back from target changing I take a few minutes to let things return to normal before I start up.

At the range I do my very level best to drop cares and concerns and worries on the drive in. Total focus on objective. No excitement.

Your current experience is pretty darn good with or without hand loads.

We are practically neighbors. Save your brass. When you are ready I can teach you to load.

 

[infoman jr.]

Re: What's the secret to accurately shooting lightweight rif

Trigger control, follow through, consistent shoulder, cheek, and cheek pressure...

I would say, though, that you've probably reached the capabilities of your gun and ammo, and any improvements in accuracy will be statistically indistinguishable between shooter, gun, and ammo variations. It's time to put that gun to work.

 

[280longshot]

Re: What's the secret to accurately shooting lightweight rif

All of the above but if you're getting 3/4" groups with factory ammo it's time to quit chasing accuracy and hunt.
What is your longest range where you'll be hunting? In most cases I think you're plenty accurate enough .
I've only had a few opportunities where a buck stood still long enough past the 450 yd mark, one was 500 but I didn't shoot although I have practiced at that range several times.

 

[TNRifleman]

Re: What's the secret to accurately shooting lightweight rif

No doubt it is fine the way it is and I will hunt it this fall for sure. I am just always looking to squeeze every last drop out of it.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I appreciate it.

 

[EastTNHunter]

Re: What's the secret to accurately shooting lightweight rif

Good bench form is more important with light rifles than heavy rifles

 

[user 14220]

Re: What's the secret to accurately shooting lightweight rif

Try this technique. When shooting off the bench take your hand that would normally hold the forearm when shooting offhand and put it on top of the scope. Apply medium pressure to hold the rifle down. This helped me cut the group size in half on a lightweight 300 WSM.
Good luck.

 

[LanceS4803]

Re: What's the secret to accurately shooting lightweight rif

Try this technique. When shooting off the bench take your hand that would normally hold the forearm when shooting offhand and put it on top of the scope. Apply medium pressure to hold the rifle down.

Yep, this works.

https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2015/9/10/how-to-shoot-light-rifles/

 

[TNRifleman]

Re: What's the secret to accurately shooting lightweight rif

Try this technique. When shooting off the bench take your hand that would normally hold the forearm when shooting offhand and put it on top of the scope. Apply medium pressure to hold the rifle down.

Yep, this works.

https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2015/9/10/how-to-shoot-light-rifles/

Thanks guys. This is great info.

 

[infoman jr.]

Re: What's the secret to accurately shooting lightweight rif

First he says this:

it is important to mimic anticipated field conditions

Then he says this:

reach around the front rest, grip the fore-end and hold down—straight down—not down and pulling to the left. A better way may be to rest the left hand on the center of the scope with just a bit of downward pressure.

Your practice time and money would be better spent shooting from improvised positions rather than trying to shooter smaller groups with goofy grips that you won't be able to replicate in the field.

 

[TNRifleman]

Re: What's the secret to accurately shooting lightweight rif

First he says this:

it is important to mimic anticipated field conditions

Then he says this:

reach around the front rest, grip the fore-end and hold down—straight down—not down and pulling to the left. A better way may be to rest the left hand on the center of the scope with just a bit of downward pressure.

Your practice time and money would be better spent shooting from improvised positions rather than trying to shooter smaller groups with goofy grips that you won't be able to replicate in the field.

Certainly understand this. My goal from a bench is to see what the accuracy potential of the rifle is. Shooting in the field is simply me executing a shot with all of the field variables in play, with the accuracy of the rifle being a variable. If that makes any sense. If I am 100% honest, .75 MOA is more than good enough for any shot I will encounter while whitetail hunting but I have a bit heavier hunting rifle that shoots under 1/2" and I just like to see those holes touching on paper.

 

[infoman jr.]

Re: What's the secret to accurately shooting lightweight rif

I think many online claims of "cloverleafing" rifles are largely unsubstantiated.

 

[TNRifleman]

Re: What's the secret to accurately shooting lightweight rif

I think many online claims of "cloverleafing" rifles are largely unsubstantiated.

The only hunting rifle I have been able to get to cloverleaf is my Bergara B14 TImber in 6.5 CM. This target is 4 shots at 100 yards using Hornady Black factory ammo.

My Tikkas shoot really well but not quite as well as the Bergara unless I consider my CTR, but it is not what I would consider a hunting rifle.

 

[DaveB]

Re: What's the secret to accurately shooting lightweight rif

Not unsubstantiated, just really difficult to accomplish.

All these are factory rifles shooting handloads, nothing hyper great about the glass although the Leupold is pretty good.

 

[LanceS4803]

Re: What's the secret to accurately shooting lightweight rif

While not a hunting rifle, I was issued a "rack rifle" at a sniper school I attended. This was Remington M700 LTR, .308, that was used for students who didn't bring an agency issued rifle.
They told me before I started that this was the last class for this rifle (based on round count) and then the barrel would be pulled.
This rifle shot actual cloverleafs, all 3 shots touching, at 200yds. The first time in my life I've had a rifle that could do this and they were pulling the barrel?! BTW, shooting factory Gold Medal Match ammo.

 

[MUP]

Re: What's the secret to accurately shooting lightweight rif

Cool! Did you ask for the barrel after the class Lance?

 

[Hardwoodmaterials]

Re: What's the secret to accurately shooting lightweight rif

I had a Remington 700 Mountain Rifle and off the bench shot great groups but in the field shooting free hand or off a shooting stick I couldn't hit a bull in the hind end with it. The light weight barrel was really hard for me to work with in shooting positions and I finally gave up and sold it. I also had a Browning with the thin light weight barrel and had the same problem. Now I buy standard of heavy fluted barrels to hunt with. It seems like the little bit of extra weight makes a world of difference when I'm shooting in the field.

 

[jlanecr500]

Re: What's the secret to accurately shooting lightweight rif

I think many online claims of "cloverleafing" rifles are largely unsubstantiated.

Getting factory ammo to cloverleaf is highly dependant on barrel length, provided the barrel is a shooter to begin with. In other words, a poorly rifled barrel or one that is shot out isn't gonna shoot anyway.

Factory ammo is usually loaded to obtain a barrel time that is close to optimum in a certain length barrel but close on other length barrels. For instance, My 300 Win Mag likes 72.5gr of RL22 with a 200 Accubond .020" off the lands. That load has a barrel time of 1.405ms per QuickLoad. I worked this load up using the OCW method 2 years ago and had only heard of accuracy nodes and the science of barrel harmonics. Fast forward to this year and I look back at that load in Quickoad and find that it fell EXACTLY on a node for my 28" barrel. If I were to try that cartridge in a 27" barrel with the same throat, it would likely not shoot as well because the barrel time would be 1.376ms and the accuracy node for the 27" barrel needs to be 1.355ms. In order to hit that node, the charge would need to be increased to 73.2gr provided you didn't hit pressure first which would yield a barrel time of 1.357ms. For a 26" barrel, the load would be near 71.0gr in order to achieve the barrel time required at 1.388ms. A 25" barrel would require a barrel time of 1.335ms which would be a charge of 72.0gr. A 24" barrel would require a barrel time of 1.281ms which would be a charge of 72.5gr. A 23" barrel would require a barrel time of 1.228ms which would be a 73.5gr provided you didn't hit pressure first. If that happened, you would need to drop to the next lower node at a barrel time of 1.345ms and a charge of 69.3gr. From that data we just observed, the load for my 28" barrel would also work in a 24" barrel. Of course, it could be shot in other barrel lengths but accuracy wouldn't be very good. This is what makes it so tough to make factory loads that work in a variety of barrel lengths and throats.

That said, as you go thru a charge progression, groups will likely go from horizontal to a clover to vertical so when you are on the sweet spot of the harmonic node, the group will be a clover leaf.

Kyle Pittman and I were recently testing his new Pittman Accumax 275gr high BC jacketed 40 cal ML bullets in my new Savage/Rock Creek 40 cal Smokeless Muzzleloader and I was able to hit 3 different harmonic nodes with 3 different charges of the same powder. We only had a limited number of the test bullets to confirm their accuracy before production began. Therefore, all 3 loads had never been shot. They were hatched in Quickload and shot with absolutely NO tuning at all. You can see the 3rd group at 3288fps was vertical so the charge needs to be lowered a couple tenths of a grain. Also notice the distance between the harmonic nodes. 65gr Varget at 2577fps, 83gr Varget at 2925fps, 99gr Varget at 3288fps. http://hanksmessageboard.freeforums.net ... in-testing

This is cool stuff. I'm having a blast learning and just thought I would share a little.

 

[280longshot]

Re: What's the secret to accurately shooting lightweight rif

I think many online claims of "cloverleafing" rifles are largely unsubstantiated.

Getting factory ammo to cloverleaf is highly dependant on barrel length, provided the barrel is a shooter to begin with. In other words, a poorly rifled barrel or one that is shot out isn't gonna shoot anyway.

Factory ammo is usually loaded to obtain a barrel time that is close to optimum in a certain length barrel but close on other length barrels. For instance, My 300 Win Mag likes 72.5gr of RL22 with a 200 Accubond .020" off the lands. That load has a barrel time of 1.405ms per QuickLoad. I worked this load up using the OCW method 2 years ago and had only heard of accuracy nodes and the science of barrel harmonics. Fast forward to this year and I look back at that load in Quickoad and find that it fell EXACTLY on a node for my 28" barrel. If I were to try that cartridge in a 27" barrel with the same throat, it would likely not shoot as well because the barrel time would be 1.376ms and the accuracy node for the 27" barrel needs to be 1.355ms. In order to hit that node, the charge would need to be increased to 73.2gr provided you didn't hit pressure first which would yield a barrel time of 1.357ms. For a 26" barrel, the load would be near 71.0gr in order to achieve the barrel time required at 1.388ms. A 25" barrel would require a barrel time of 1.335ms which would be a charge of 72.0gr. A 24" barrel would require a barrel time of 1.281ms which would be a charge of 72.5gr. A 23" barrel would require a barrel time of 1.228ms which would be a 73.5gr provided you didn't hit pressure first. If that happened, you would need to drop to the next lower node at a barrel time of 1.345ms and a charge of 69.3gr. From that data we just observed, the load for my 28" barrel would also work in a 24" barrel. Of course, it could be shot in other barrel lengths but accuracy wouldn't be very good. This is what makes it so tough to make factory loads that work in a variety of barrel lengths and throats.

That said, as you go thru a charge progression, groups will likely go from horizontal to a clover to vertical so when you are on the sweet spot of the harmonic node, the group will be a clover leaf.

Kyle Pittman and I were recently testing his new Pittman Accumax 275gr high BC jacketed 40 cal ML bullets in my new Savage/Rock Creek 40 cal Smokeless Muzzleloader and I was able to hit 3 different harmonic nodes with 3 different charges of the same powder. We only had a limited number of the test bullets to confirm their accuracy before production began. Therefore, all 3 loads had never been shot. They were hatched in Quickload and shot with absolutely NO tuning at all. You can see the 3rd group at 3288fps was vertical so the charge needs to be lowered a couple tenths of a grain. Also notice the distance between the harmonic nodes. 65gr Varget at 2577fps, 83gr Varget at 2925fps, 99gr Varget at 3288fps. http://hanksmessageboard.freeforums.net ... in-testing

This is cool stuff. I'm having a blast learning and just thought I would share a little.

Although that's pretty interesting and got my attention, I'm not understanding all the terminology.
I'll need to read up tomorrow when I'm not tired.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[LanceS4803]

Re: What's the secret to accurately shooting lightweight rif

Cool! Did you ask for the barrel after the class Lance?

No, government doesn't like us keeping "their" stuff. But seriously, they retire them on round count, but it is tied in to historic information on throat erosion. One team from an alphabet agency brought H&K PSG1 rifles (what a pile of crap!), and ended up having to use rack rifles. They didn't like them, but think there was a little "operator headspace" error involved. I didn't have time to shoot their rifles for myself, but the instructors quickly grew frustrated.
I think I just had a total fluke, stars align kind of thing. The gunsmith did offer to accurize a M700 for me if I got one.
And I did, a 5R barreled .308. Shoots beautifully, about .75 with the same FGMM ammo. But I never got it back down to FLECT to get it worked on. Shoots good enough for me, and as with most rifle they will outshoot their owner.