I posted this on Mitchells ultra 223 accuracy thread, and cut and pasted it here (too lazy to type over....) It's just my humble opinions, no one please take objection to it, like all opinions it differs with others, and changes with time.
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Also, the usual, be sure your scope mount hasn't worked loose, rings are tight, butt stock bolt is tight, sand bagged under hinge pin, etc. And these 223's have a 1-12" twist, so in general they like smaller bullets (55 grains and smaller). You might try some more 40-50 grain offerings. How often are you cleaning the barrel? Might try cleaning more and cleaning less. Some barrels like it clean, others like it fowled up a little (not alot...). What optics do you have? For sub moa groups a 6-18 or 6-24 (or 8-32, fixed 40x, etc....) are typically alot better than a typical 3-9x40 scope. Also, try different targets. I have targets laying around with 6" black bulls, 1" black bulls, 1" orange squares, etc. Given the thickness off the crossairs, magnification of the scope, lighting conditions at the range, etc all targets are not all the same, some your eyes will be able to see better. Does the rifle surpise you when you pull the trigger? if so, alot of people will say good, I say bad, I want the rifle to go off when the cross airs are dead center over the bulls eye. Know your trigger and the groups will shrink. What's your shooting position at the bench? Feet, shoulders, etc? Does your cheak/butt stock have the proper cheak weld? You might want to look into a cheak pad if not. Do you have only one sand bag? I like having two, one under the henge pin, one under the butt stock. After lining everything up I hold onto the rear bag with my off hand, not the butt stock. Are you shooting with a full breath in your lungs or have you exhailed first? Most people shoot better with a half full or empty (or near empty) chest of air.
Do you have any friends that are bench shooters that can take you out and look at your shooting position to see if it looks stable, consistant, etc? Also, another set of hands shooting your rifle is always a good indication if it's something the shooters doing wrong or the rifle.
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In addition to above I'd shoulder your rifle in the seated shooting position you use with your eyes closed. Then open your eyes. Where are you looking, right down the middle of the scope? Probably not because these scopes have to be mounted high for hammer clearance. You might want to look at getting a cheek pad. The most natural position is the most consistant, a cheek pad will help with that. If the scope is too low then you need taller mounts. If the scope is too far forward or back you need to more the scope farther forward or back. If you can't move it far enough forward or back you need to get offset rings to give you the clearance necesary. I have a set a weaver offset high rings on one of my nef rifles with a bushnell scope to get it farther back.
Edit: also, if you have a bad trigger the "surprise" aproach is probably best, actually, it's probably all you have because most heavy triggers also vary a few ounces from shot to shot. If you have a consistant ultra light "target" trigger, or just a consistant "hunting trigger", being able to pull that last 1/2 ounce and break the trigger at precisely the time the crossairs of you 32x scope and perfectly placed over the center of the bulls eye will win you the big money. So how far do you want to go with this, better groups or the best they can be? It's addictive, first you want better groups then you may fall into they must be better yet and better yet. :wink:
With triggers there's bad, good, better. Pull is bad, surprise is much better, precise anticipated exacting squeeze is best, but it takes a really good trigger to "pull it off", pun intended....
later,
scruffy
