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Shooting Tips & How-To

Shooting the perfect group: When stars align

March 13, 2019 by Graham Baates Leave a Comment

Shooting the perfect group: When stars align

We all go to the range with hopes of besting our last time out.  What happens when you finally do?  Let’s say your significant other shoots an amazing group, then you follow suit, and get it all on camera: what do you do then?

It’s what we always dream of, but never seems to happen.  What manufacturers always advertise, and yet we can’t ever obtain.  For accuracy like that it takes more than good ammunition, rifle, optic, and gear.  It requires EVERYTHING to be in sync.  Good mental state, good health, good wind, and good lighting.  We always chase groupings like this, but rarely are they ever seen.  The group seen in the video is rare, but we’ll spell out the ingredients for you.

The rifle was the Midnight Dragon from Doublestar.  If you’ve read the linked article you know that it is far from a basic AR, and yet we have done nothing to it.  It hasn’t even been properly cleaned!  The ammunition was from Nosler.  Nosler has been known for their precision for decades, but the ammunition used was their varmint load in 62gr.  The rifle was held steady by the Stinger rest from Caldwell.  The Stinger has been acclaimed by us before for it’s perfect balance between portability and stability.

All in, we had the ingredients for a great grouping, but did not expect what we received.  In the video above is a grouping achieved with a hot barrel, low lighting, no pause between shots aside from target alignment, and two different shooters splitting the shots.  I can’t expect to ever group like this again, but it seems that for once the stars aligned with a little help from Doublestar, Nosler, and Caldwell.

I’ve always paraphrased the US Army’s marksmanship fundamentals to STAB: Steady position, Trigger squeeze, Aiming, and Breathing.  All four of course played a major role, but there is no denying that the rifle, ammunition, and rest were part of it.

 

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About the Author

Graham Baates “Graham Baates” is a pen name used by a 15-year active Army veteran who spent most of his time in the tactical side of the Intelligence community including tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. Post-Army Graham spent some time in the 3-Gun circuit before becoming a full-time NRA Certified defensive handgun instructor. After more than 1,900 hours instructing he now works as an industry writer while curating a YouTube channel on the side.

See All Graham Baates Articles

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