Having trouble getting your rifle to group?

By Bill McLeod

You’ve made it to your shooting area with the rifle, scope, and bullets which wouldn’t shoot for nuts. 
Wipe out the barrel with dry patches till no sign of oil shows.
Find a seriously stable place to shoot from.
Leaning against the mudguard of the Ute or over a gate does not cut it.
Preferably a benchrest or if not available use a prone position where you can lie down comfortably.
Ditch the suppressor and the bi-pod.
Both can be very useful aids but both may seriously compromise accuracy. Your test should be to establish the performance of the three important elements of your combination, rifle, scope and ammo.
Find a very stable block, rest, pack to rest your front hand on. Preferably this will have a cushion of sorts to avoid abrasion of your hand and be more comfortable to shoot off.
Grip the rifle conventionally with both hands. Wriggle your shooting shoulder back and forward to establish a controlled movement zone. Your rifle will recoil, it will not kill you. Give it room to move using enough control to avoid the scope biting you above the eye.
The single most important step is next. Dry fire your rifle till you are sick of it.
Not just once or twice, heaps of times. I like to see the shooter releasing the trigger with no movement of the rifle after release. Ask yourself after each release was the sight correctly aligned with the target when the trigger broke. Was there any movement.
My preference at this stage if possible is have your mate put a cartridge into the breach so that you don’t have to change position.
While doing your test shooting be aware the everyone is not an Olympic class shooter so be forgiving of yourself if all your shots are not perfect.
You may be surprised at the improvement in the rifles performance.