CB
posted this
29 January 2012
I have a completely different take on the issue of fliers. Maybe I'm just odd.
I think fliers are just the nature of groups. There has to be one shot that you would like to eliminate. We don't like it but unless the flier consistently doubles the size of the group you just have a group problem not a flier problem.
How could one bullet hole out of every five be a result of inconsistencies in bullet weight, defects, neck tension or----? How could it possible happen once in all or even most groups? It doesn't seem reasonable without divine intervention and I think God probably has other things to worry about. Why don't two or three of those assumed bad bullets bunch up in one group and none in the next?
If you were cleaning after every group and the flier was the first or the last shot having one in every group would be understandable. If it was always the fifth shot it might be shooter nerves. Otherwise it would take magic to put one in each group.
It is natural to think what might have been and we do shoot some nice round groups where taking out one shot wouldn't reduce the spread much but they are in the minority.
"Fliers” are the natural order of things for a good share of the groups we shoot. I grind my teeth about that one shot out like everybody else but with rare exceptions it is just how this random world works.
John