grouping
 

is it possible to have better groups at 200 yds than 100 yds
My 7-08 with handloads sure seems to be doing just that.
I did a 3 shot 1/2" group at 200 yds yesterday. it never does that at a 100.

Nope, its possible for the bullet to stabilize longer distances, and you might get simular groups at 200 as 100, but never smaller on average.

In other words, not out of the question to 1.5MOA at 100 yards, but less than 1.5MOA at 200 yards. So you could get 1.5" groups at 100 but might be smaller than 3" at 200.

But in this case on average the 400 yards group will be smaller.

It is possible for a shooter to shoot tighter moa groups at different ranges due to target focus or some other intangible, but not for the rifle to shoot tighter.

Does it always do that? How about five shot and ten shot groups at 100 and 200?
Pete

I am going to have to do it again to tell the truth.
But yesterday I would say was a 2 1/2" 10 shot grouping at 200.
Including the flyers, prolly 1 1/2" without the flyers.
This range wont retrieve are targets, so I am just going by the size of the rings, center is 1" next is 2" and 3" and so on.

But its done 3 shot 1/2" at 200 before.
I dont shoot 100 much but when I do it seems dissapointing, like 2" groups.
I,ll have to go back and really sit down and do this right and plead for my targets, when their slow they sometimes have retrieved them for me.

I have been loading for my friends savage 7 mag and yesterday he did a 5 shot 1" group in the bull right out of the case, 100yds, he put it away and called it good.
70gr rl22 and a 120 gr BT .05 off the lands

My NEF .22 hornet did 1 1/2" all day long at a 100 yds
some 3 shot groups were smaller, went through 50 rounds with it.
Its what we use in between cooling on the bigger guns.

You can't base it on one group.

Take a 20 shot group that is about 2", you will likely be able to pick 5 shots in a cluster that you could cover with a dime. You know the rifle doesn't shoot that well because you have the rest of the group.

Now suppose those five shots were the first five fired. Sometimes what looks really good is just a statisical abberation. You can do coin flips and get heads or tails 5 times in a row, but over time it will be close to 50-50.

You can't always tell how good a rifle is with one group. I've had some groups around 1/2", when I loaded more of the same load they were 1.25"

If you are using the same size target at both 100 and 200 it's very possible for tighter groups at longer distances because you are focusing on a smaller target area at 200. I like to sight in at 100 yards using a small bore, 50 foot target. I will concentrate and hold a tighter group than I would with a large center mass target.

Its possible to shoot a half inch group at 200 yd but to do so you would have had a quarter inch group at 100 yards . If you can do it four or five times in a row you might have something .

I used to think like halcon,, if it shoots 1/2 @ 100 then it should be 1 @ 200 That's before I became the range master at the Mifflin co. groundhog matches, we shoot 200-300-500 yards with just about every caliber, cartridge, firearm, loads, bullets, scopes made on the planet... It's amazing to me how some of them, especially the real benchrest quality equipment where you can really get rid of all that slop in the action, chamber neck.. how different they can actually be.. I'd say that the stranges cartridge of all is the 6.5 X 284, the cartridge built off the original 284 case... the vast majority of rifles, some built by the best benchrest gunsmiths in the USA can not shoot worth beans @ 200 yards.. maybe an inch or so..but their targets at 300 and 500 look the same.. so we can't use the formula if it inch at 200 then it should be 1 1/2 at 300 and 2 1/2 at 500...it just isn't so... it's also the same for the little ones,, the .223's in standard factory varmints will lay them right in there all day long at 200-300 but when the 500 shows up they aren't worth a darn.. YOU LEARN the most by sitting at the bench and doing it yourself...

Frank I realize there are other factors in the flight path of a bullet to consider but your going to have a hard time convincing me it can have a bigger group at 100 yards than it would at 200 yards . Line of sight would be as I stated . Ive heard of shifting winds but not that much .