Well, it finally stopped raining! In fact, 2013 thus far has been bordering on drought conditions!
Here's my effort for the .22 fun shoot. If you think my 5p looks a bit big, that's 'cos I drew around it with a fat felt pen
Conditions were as near as poss to normal rabbiting. Lying in the mud behind a clump of rushes, rifle on bipod. Using CCI segmented hollow points, as I use when hunting. 50 yards range.
Strong intermittent breeze from right to left.
The first two shots, almost shot-on-shot at the left of the target spot, were taken during a period of steady wind, which dropped suddenly just as I squeezed off the third shot (seen at right of target spot).
Change of ammo (to CCI non-segmented hollow points) and the next group of 5 shots were much better. (white square is 1" x 1"). I hadn't tried these rounds before. Off bipod at 50 yards again. I have to say that this is one of my best efforts to date, and would be 5 very dead rabbits.
Next I tried 65 yards, also off bipod, and the group opened up wildly. Didn't even all fall in the 1" square. Next 80 yards, and grouped ok.
Then off sticks - 50 yard = nice group, 65 yards = awful, 80 yards = good group.
Anyone got any suggestions why the issue at 65 yards? I could understand it if the groups got progressively worse as range increased, but that wasn't the case.