Your groups were fine last month. Now they are not. Before you buy anything, work through this list in order — it is roughly ordered by how often each thing turns out to be the culprit.
1. Bands (yes, first, and it usually is)
Elastic degrades continuously from the moment it is made. Heat, UV, ozone and cycle count all accelerate it. The failure is gradual: the band loses velocity and consistency well before it looks obviously bad.
Look for cloudiness or a chalky surface, fine cracks near the pouch attachment, thinning at the fork tips, and any fraying at all. Compare the band against a new one if you have one — the difference in stretch resistance is usually obvious once you feel them side by side.
The rule that saves both your groups and your face: replace at the first sign, not the last. A band that fails at full draw sends hardware backward at speed. Spares live in Bandsets & Parts.
2. Ammunition consistency
Mixed ammunition produces mixed results, and the mixing is often accidental — a handful of recovered steel that includes a few deformed balls, or two batches from different sources with slightly different diameters.
On an auto-loading system this matters twice over, because out-of-spec ammunition also causes feed hesitation. Stay with the specified 9mm carbon steel, and cull anything visibly flattened from hitting a hard backstop.
3. Is your draw length actually repeating?
Draw length is velocity. A draw that varies by an inch between shots varies your velocity meaningfully, and that lands as vertical stringing on the target — shots spread up and down more than left and right.
If your groups are tall and narrow, this is almost certainly the cause. Fix it with a defined anchor point you can find without thinking: a knuckle to the jaw, a thumb behind the ear, something bony and repeatable. Not "about here".
4. Pouch alignment and finger torque
Horizontal spread — shots strung left and right — usually points at the release rather than the draw.
When you pinch a pouch, your grip twists it slightly, and the twist is not the same twice. The pouch then opens asymmetrically and the ball leaves at an angle you did not choose.
This is exactly the problem a caliper-style mechanical release aid exists to solve. It converts the draw into a straight linear pull with a clean break and takes your fingers out of the load path. For most shooters it is the single largest accuracy improvement available, and it is not expensive.
Safety: use D-loop bandsets with a release. Node-knot bands are hand-draw only — pairing them with a release risks equipment failure and ricochet.
5. Frame flex and loose fasteners
Check the frame under draw. Any visible fork movement is deflection, and deflection moves your point of impact independently of anything you do.
On a machined aluminium frame the material will not be the problem, but fasteners work loose over time. Go around every screw with the correct hex key — rails, pulleys, magazine mounts. A rail that has developed a millimetre of play will shift your sight reference without ever feeling obviously loose.
6. The feed path, if you shoot an auto-loader
Grit in the magazine tube or the feed channel causes hesitation, and hesitation means a ball that seats late or slightly off-centre. It rarely looks like an accuracy problem — it feels like the occasional flyer for no reason.
Clean the tube and channel, check the nylon guide wheels for wear grooves, and confirm the pouch magnet is still holding a ball firmly square rather than letting it sit loose. Worn guide wheels and tired springs are cheap to replace and are exactly what a spares kit is for.
Diagnose by group shape
- Tall and narrow → draw length inconsistency, or fading bands
- Wide and flat → release and pouch alignment, finger torque
- Round but large → ammunition inconsistency, or general form drift
- Good group, wrong place → sight or rail has shifted; that is a zero problem, not an accuracy problem
Group shape tells you more than group size does. Read the pattern before you spend money.
Always: impact-rated eye protection, a proper backstop, and never at a person or animal. Adults 18+.