Served Myself a Nice Hot Cup of FAIL

I took the Core Scout AR-15 out today to zero the new Primary Arms scope. Based on the last outing, in which I used an improperly mounted scope, the wrong rear bag, a wobbly bipod, and a flimsy table, I expected to do well. Back then, I shot around 1.4 MOA at 50 yards, and that was for groups of 8 and 12 rounds. I figured I would be below 1 MOA today at 100 yards if I shot prone, using a scope that was mounted correctly, with a good rear bag, after taking an expensive class.

WRONG.

I shot around 2.5 MOA. Nauseating. I came in, and then I went out to photograph the targets, but the cows had torn them up. They do that every single time I shoot.

So. What’s the deal? How can a rifle shoot something like 1.4 MOA at 50 yards under bad conditions and then shoot 2.5 at 100 yards under good conditions? There was some wind, but it wasn’t very strong.

I shot three kinds of ammo. I used 55-grain Australian Outback, 40-grain Fiocchi, and 50-grain Fiocchi, all with ballistic tips. The 40-grain was the least bad, but not by much.

I guess it sounds silly to feel bad about being able to nail an apple repeatedly a football field away, but I should be able to nail a ping pong ball. I would like to be able to shoot 1 MOA out to 600 yards with this gun. That means a little under 7″. Call it a honeydew melon.

I’m already on the web, trying to figure out what’s wrong.

I don’t like my Magpul bipod all that much. It’s very flexible. But it shot well at 50 yards, and other people claim they use it for long-range shooting. The scope can’t be the problem unless I’m not adjusting the parallax correctly. The manual says to move my eye back and forth and see if the reticle moves relative to the target. Of course it moves. The whole rifle moves. You can’t wobble around behind a rifle without moving the point of aim. There must be a way to do this correctly. I’ll check Youtube.

I was going to go out and try shooting from the table. I made the mistake of applying sunblock. As soon as you put this stuff on, it starts to rain, so you’re coated with a disgusting glue that burns your eyes and stains your furniture and clothing, and it does you no good at all.

I also wanted to shoot the .204 Ruger. I need to find out whether 32-grain or 40-grain ammo is more accurate, so I can decide which type to hoard. That gun almost seems cursed. The crazy ATN night scope I put on it had lots of battery issues, so when I tried to practice with the gun, I kept having to quit. Now it looks like the battery is okay, but the rain will not stop stalking me.

I should go ahead and build a shed for prone shooting, with a raised platform. I was afraid to commit to a heavy structure because I wanted something I could move, but now I know that all long-range shooting is based on 100-yard scope zeroing, so I can plop a shed at that distance from the berm and leave it there.

I would like to get up off the ground. Today I found that weeds a long way off interfered with my ability to see, so I had to walk around moving things. I’m not sure, but mirage also seems very strong down on the ground.

I haven’t shot the new Ruger Precision Rifle. I wanted to get the AR-15 and .204 working first. I thought I’d be done in 90 minutes.

If it turns out the AR-15 can’t do any better than this, I’ll get a new barrel. I won’t go for a $500 match winner, but I can get a barrel with a 1-MOA guarantee for half of that. That’s more than good enough. This rifle would thrill me to death if it shot 1 MOA for real. By “for real,” I mean, “not 30 shots into 3 MOA, with one 1-MOA group buried in there somewhere.”

It’s frustrating to be driven indoors by rain every single time I shoot a rifle. Every time I make a plan and get to work on it, I’m forced to quit for at least a day. Hopefully, the situation will change. I plan to shoot again tomorrow. I’m going to shoot every single dry day until I get some things done.