goodgrouper
tryingtobeabettergrouper
Well, we shot our first match of the year up here in Utah last weekend at Springville and there were some great shooting going on but unfortunately, it was not on my target frame! Actually, I shot well but my agg's didn't show it because I ran back into the problem of fliers in just about every match and I felt they weren't my fault. I played the game extra cautious at 200 yards and fired at least one sighter before every record shot and I never started on the record until the sighters were touching and they were where I expected they'd be. In this manner, I was able to make almost all of my groups have at least three bullets touching and sometimes four but darn if I could get five. I could tell something just wasn't right. The conditions were not that tricky and I practice at this range on a weekly basis so I know what to expect.
But before I get into that, let me backup a bit. I have had this re-occuring flier problem for the past 14 months. I narrowed the problem down to bags. I even posted some threads about what bags to use with an Edge stock here on benchrestcentral several times. Well, at first my rear bag was too mushy. It sagged enough that I had to really tighten up my front side screws and I don't like that because that in itself can cause fliers. Then I switched to a bunny ear Protektor bag which is what I have been using for the past three matches. Only problem that I saw was that the ears on this bag were not wide enough apart to allow the stock to nestle down between them. But I was assured by many that that would be ok so long as the stock was "imprinted" into the bags and pressed hard until no more "squish" could be felt. So that is how I shot it. But during the Cactus, I noticed some fliers but the conditions were too nasty to really narrow it down to a remaining bag problem. But at Springville last week, the conditions were good and the fliers came back. Well, halfway through the match, Jack Snyder (maker of the wonderful Edgewood bags) pointed out that my ears were way too hard and that backed up what Jim Erickson had told me in practice a few weeks before. So, I let out some sand halfway through the match and my four shot groups shrunk considerably. However, the fliers remained. And even more puzzling, they always were on the either the 4th or 5th shot. So that has got to be me misreading the conditions right? Well, I thought so at first but remembered that I had shot a sighter before every record shot and they were spot on. Then without a condition change, I would go to the record quickly and the shot would drop out.
Puzzled, I evaluated my dilema after the match. Why the flier and why the fifth shot? It soon occured to me that in my haste to get that fifth shot on the record, I was working my bolt extra fast and hard and that was slightly upsetting my gun sitting on top of the bunny ears of my bag. This would result in the bags becoming disturbed and causing the gun to recoil different ever so slightly.
To correct this, I borrowed a buddy's Gator bag this week with a 1/2" gap inbetween the ears made for the Edge stocks. I pressed it down into the gap and it fit like a glove. It slides beautifully with no hangups of any kind. Best of all, I can work the bolt as fast as I want or as hard as I want and the gun doesn't try to torque in the bags. So, I set up to shoot several groups yesterday at the same range and I lucked out because the conditions were identical to what they were during our match. I used the same load and held the same amount to form the groups. Well, I'm happy to say, that the gun was shooting pretty well and there were no fliers finally!! Now I know this is just a couple of groups on one day but it is very promising. Time will tell if the groups stay good but I'm optimistic which is the absolute opposite of what I was on the day I packed up my gear and came home from the match. The frustration level of having a flier ruin a great group when you know you did your part to prevent it was really hammering me hard.
I will keep updating this thread with new news as I continue shooting this bag and stock combination.
Here's a few pics to illustrate my story: Fliers from the match
and the one that almost killed me:
And here's a pic of the Gator and stock. I sure wish someone would have told me 14 months ago this is how Edge's need to fit to shoot! I could have saved some serious headaches and greenbacks!
And here's the worst group I shot with the Gator yesterday. I took pics of the other four groups that were better but the flash bleached them out.
But before I get into that, let me backup a bit. I have had this re-occuring flier problem for the past 14 months. I narrowed the problem down to bags. I even posted some threads about what bags to use with an Edge stock here on benchrestcentral several times. Well, at first my rear bag was too mushy. It sagged enough that I had to really tighten up my front side screws and I don't like that because that in itself can cause fliers. Then I switched to a bunny ear Protektor bag which is what I have been using for the past three matches. Only problem that I saw was that the ears on this bag were not wide enough apart to allow the stock to nestle down between them. But I was assured by many that that would be ok so long as the stock was "imprinted" into the bags and pressed hard until no more "squish" could be felt. So that is how I shot it. But during the Cactus, I noticed some fliers but the conditions were too nasty to really narrow it down to a remaining bag problem. But at Springville last week, the conditions were good and the fliers came back. Well, halfway through the match, Jack Snyder (maker of the wonderful Edgewood bags) pointed out that my ears were way too hard and that backed up what Jim Erickson had told me in practice a few weeks before. So, I let out some sand halfway through the match and my four shot groups shrunk considerably. However, the fliers remained. And even more puzzling, they always were on the either the 4th or 5th shot. So that has got to be me misreading the conditions right? Well, I thought so at first but remembered that I had shot a sighter before every record shot and they were spot on. Then without a condition change, I would go to the record quickly and the shot would drop out.
Puzzled, I evaluated my dilema after the match. Why the flier and why the fifth shot? It soon occured to me that in my haste to get that fifth shot on the record, I was working my bolt extra fast and hard and that was slightly upsetting my gun sitting on top of the bunny ears of my bag. This would result in the bags becoming disturbed and causing the gun to recoil different ever so slightly.
To correct this, I borrowed a buddy's Gator bag this week with a 1/2" gap inbetween the ears made for the Edge stocks. I pressed it down into the gap and it fit like a glove. It slides beautifully with no hangups of any kind. Best of all, I can work the bolt as fast as I want or as hard as I want and the gun doesn't try to torque in the bags. So, I set up to shoot several groups yesterday at the same range and I lucked out because the conditions were identical to what they were during our match. I used the same load and held the same amount to form the groups. Well, I'm happy to say, that the gun was shooting pretty well and there were no fliers finally!! Now I know this is just a couple of groups on one day but it is very promising. Time will tell if the groups stay good but I'm optimistic which is the absolute opposite of what I was on the day I packed up my gear and came home from the match. The frustration level of having a flier ruin a great group when you know you did your part to prevent it was really hammering me hard.
I will keep updating this thread with new news as I continue shooting this bag and stock combination.
Here's a few pics to illustrate my story: Fliers from the match
and the one that almost killed me:
And here's a pic of the Gator and stock. I sure wish someone would have told me 14 months ago this is how Edge's need to fit to shoot! I could have saved some serious headaches and greenbacks!
And here's the worst group I shot with the Gator yesterday. I took pics of the other four groups that were better but the flash bleached them out.
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