Shots everywhere

[harvey lee]

Took my granddaughter out today for another practice round before the tyouth season in a few short weeks.

last season she was shooting very tight groups. This year, I put on a better scope and the first time out, using the same shells, we shot and all went well after a few adjustements for the new scope and very tight groups again.

Today we go out, shots to the left 5", then to the right 3-4 inches and maybe low 3-5 inches. I then took the gun and shot 5 myself and as with her, my shots went about everywhere but where I aimed.

I am thinking something went south in the new scope as nothing else has changed since the last time out. Same distance and exact same slugs.

Tomorrow I am going to go out and shoot with the rifle rest to make sure I have zero movement and see if the same results happen. I am also going to buy another brand of slugs incase just maybe a got a bad box of 20 rounds, who knows.

What am I missing in regards to the poor shooting today and the very erratic shots, other than bad slugs or a scope that the crosshairs let loose, yes, I checked the scope and it is in it's place and the mounts are tight.

Any help in direction would be great. never shot this poorly all of a sudden.

[Ufatz]

Best guess is your diagnosis of problems with the scope is accurate (so to speak) and you had better get somebody to look at it or talk with somebody from the company that made it. Are all the "fittings" in the gun itself tight?...no way it is shifting etc.?

[harvey lee]

Everything is fine as far as I can see. As I said, I am going to use a gun vise tomorrow morning to shoot again, with another brand and the brand I have been using, if they are all not very tight of a group, then I will be calling Nikon to see what they believe the issue is.

I took the barrel off and put it back on, all seemed very tight there. I also checked the scope mountings and nothing loose there and all the base screws are also tight.

I figured there is a chance I got a bad box of 20 slugs or they changed something in their slugs this year. I do have a box of 20 from last year and I am going to try those also to see how they pattern.

The slugs we used last fall, r the exact same in size slug weight and velocity, nothing changed there either.

I will know more tomorrow after shooting again but my guess is, the scope let loose inside, had that happen one time years ago on my 300 win mag. Maybe too much recoil.

[harvey lee]

Well, after shooting this am, I purchased 2 other brands of slugs and also took along a box of the same slugs " leftover from last season" I was shooting yesterday and went and shot them all. Every brand grouped very well, so, I guess the new box of slugs was the issue, no other explanation that I can see.

Looks like the new box of slugs of the same brand used last season were bad, why I do not know but all is well after I got rid of that box of slugs.

[harvey lee]

One time I purchased a box of 5 Lightfield slugs for this gun and they shot better than any slug out there but the price of $3 each keep me from using them anymore.

Realizing that one really does not go through that many in a season, I went to the gun shop today with the intention of getting 3 boxes at $14.99 per box of 5. I got there and they had 3" magnum slugs in that brand for $9 a box, approx. $1.80 a shot. Bought 6 boxes to set the scope all up and let the Granddaughter practice with them.

Even with the winds as high as they are today, I went to the gun range north of town and took 3 shots.

At 25 yards, slug was dead center but a 1/2 inch high. Next shot at 50 yards was 1/4 inch left and dead on. Now at 100 yards, shot was 3/8th inch to the left and maybe 1/2 low. I would guess the fact I was to the left on the longer shots was due to a 30 mph plus crosswind.

After trying to go the less expensive route, I guess I will be buying more of the Lightfield slugs, they are a lot more but the performance in this BPS slug gun is amazing to say the least.

I realize every barrel likes a different slug but these are unreal and it now shoots like a rifle. Note to self, "don't be so cheap".