I hope this isn't too stupid BUT---

As I was sighting in my ML yesterday with my new shockwaves,the grouping got worse and worse the more I shot. My first group was about 1 1/2 at 100 yrds. After that it opened up quite a bit. What would cause this? Also, Is their a way to prevent this?

Thanks
RBBH

Barrels get hot, barrels get fowled, and shooter get fatigued. There are a lot of things that might cause this to happen. I suggest when you start getting groups that begin to spread out, take a break. Really swab the rifle as clean as possible. Walk around. Think over what you were doing right, and try and pick out something that could have went wrong. That also gives the rifle a chance to cool down....

Well, I'm not exactly an expert like others on here but,,,

Not knowing your reloading procedure I might ask if you swabbed the bore between shots? Also are you shooting loose powder or pellets,,sometimes if you dont settle the powder by tapping the barrel then the bullet might not seat the same everytime. Which brings my next possible source. Is your ramrod marked so that you seat the bullet to the same depth everytime.

I'm sure other guys will have other ideas to look at but those jump to mind for me.
Good Luck!

Sorry, here is more info.

I am shooting an optima. I was shooting powerbelts but decided to switch to shockwaves this year. My gun has always done this.

I shoot 85 grains pyrodex with 200 grain shockwaves. In between shots I run a wet patch then a dry patch. My ramrod is marked and I do tap the barrell to settle the powder(all tips that I have learned on here!). I didn't know if this were normal for ML. I like to shoot alot and it really irks me that after 2 or three shots I can't hit what I am aiming at. I will try to give it time in between shots but I like to shoot so much that I hate waitng.

Thanks for the replies so far.
RBBH

The only thing I would add to the other suggestions is use a loading tip for the shockwave style bullets so the tip does not become deformed. You are probably doing this already. Or, maybe try swabbing with alcohol instead of water/spit to eleminate any chance of damp powder.

Maybe it's time you bought another MLer or two so you have something to shoot while the other one's cool down.

Just a thought.

Now that's the best idea I've heard all day!!

Common problem in the summertime if shooting too rapid! It takes very little to overheat a ML barrel.... even less to overheat the soft, extruded steel of a Traditions or CVA rifle.

I'll bet the bullet was getting more difficult to load too! Make sure you are using a bore brush swabbing & did you go downrange to see how many petals were missing from each blue plastic sabot? If two or more petals were missing, that could of been the majority reason for your inaccuracies.

The sun was shining pretty hard, the gun got hot just setting there

I did find about 70% of my sabots and they all looked like they could be used again. The bullets were a little harder to load than the powerbelts, but they never got any harder.( I think).

Even with light loads of powder, shooting the 200's in my Encore blows most all of the petals off the blue sabots. did n't somebody else have this problem with the 200s?
Ethan

Birdrider.. my understanding is the petals on the 200 grain Shockwaves are meant to break off if necessary. When I shot the 200 grain Shockwaves I notice the same thing. I also noticed their accuracy was outstanding...

Other sabots I have shot will hardly open up. Then you got some Harvesters that look like a whirl bird they have opened so wide...