Donuts at 600 yards.

  This is how it ought to look.  A 196 with a lot of Xs and just a little wind drift to 9:00.

   The bottom photo is yesterdays 600 yard target plot.  22 shots in 22 minutes, the first two being fired and scored as sighters.  AR-15 shooting 80 grain Sierra Matchkings over 24.2 grains of Varget powder.

  I shoot a prone single-loaded shot at 600, hold the trigger back and follow through until the target is pulled into the pits and I see the dust swirling behind it.  Then I plot the PREVIOUS shot, drop a bullet in the open bolt and look in the spotting scope to see (if the target is up) the current shot and mirage, close the bolt, get sight alignment, break the shot, follow through until the target goes down and the dust swirls, plot the shot I just looked at, et, et.

  I'm only plotting a shot when the target is IN the pits being marked and I am always remembering and plotting the previous shot.

  This plot shows hits jumping from side to side all the way across the target even though the wind was close to zero.  Look at hits 5 and 6.   There is a donut of tens all the way around the X ring.  I think this is an ammunition problem.  It is shooting anywhere but in the middle.  Its either the bullets themselves or the bullet seating depth in the brass case.

  The S1 and S2 are the two sighting shots.  S1 was a 10 at 2:00 and S2 was a 9 way out at 4:00.  Shot 1 for score was a 9 at 3:00.  Shot 2 was an 8 on the other side of the target at 9:00.  My hold isn't that bad.

  Every shot has a "call" as to where you think it ought to be on the target, depending on how the sights looked when the rifle went off.  For example, I would fire and think : "That's a little 12:00".  Few of these hits were on call.

  The TOP photo is the same rifle and load the way it ought to look.