Groups better at 300 yards than 100

[snowshoes22]

I bought 500 Hornady zombie max bullets on sale at midwayusa.  They were a great deal so i thought i would try them.  My normal load is a hornady 25 grain HP with hodgdon benchmark.

So I load up some z-max with my favorite powders: Benchmark, Varget, BL-C(2), H322. I waited for a calm day and went to the range/farm.  At 100 yards all the loads were about even.  The groups were about 1 1/4" to 2 1/2"  So i went home and whipped a couple more loads up based off the better loads.  I got them to tighten up to about an inch.  The 25 grain load shoots 3/8" groups so i know the gun is capable of better accuracy.  I am tired of messing around at this point and take the best load to the range to shoot out to 500 just to see if the load matches my 204 32 grain turret for elevation. 

At 200 yards the groups shrank to 3/4" this is a surprise. Not just one group but several. I then shoot at 300 and the fisrt 3 holes are all touching!  I shoot a couple more and the group is under 1/2".   I was going to shoot 4 and 500 yards but the cows got curious and kept getting in my way so i moved back to 750 and shot my 6.5 creedmoor. 

Anyone ever have groups shrink the farther out they shot?  I have read about it a couple times but have never saw it first hand.  Something about the stability of the bullet at close range or something. I am going to shoot groups again this week so my barrel is cold at the longer ranges to start with to see what happens.   

[JimmyHoffa]

Targets look smaller at longer range, so it could be you were having to shoot better to keep on the target. ??

[yorketransport]

I've run into this when shooting VLDs or other super long for caliber bullets. The theory I've been told is that they take extra time to stabilize and "go to sleep".

Shooting the 185gr Berger VLD out of a 300 WSM I get 1" groups at 100 yards and just under 1" groups at 300 yards. I've just learned to test loads at 200 yards or farther now before I give up on them.

Andrew

[Biggerhammer]

Some barrel/ bullet combos just take a little further to settle down. Almost all my long range load development is done at 300 yards first. Then I take them further out, the 100 yard line doesn't always give you the big picture.

[carpsniperg2]

In deed some of the bullets like the vld's will shoot better at 300 yards then at 100 yards. Just the nature of those bullets.