A lot of good work can be done by getting straight behind your rifle and loading the bipod before the shot. I run a standard weight Tikka in .270 and call most of my own shots in the field. To much magnification or being to close will clearly alter results.

I would also agree a brake would offer more of a difference than going to a heavier barrel.

Hunt hard, kill clean, waste nothing and offer no apologies.

"In rifle work, group size is of some interest...but it is well to remember that a rifleman does not shoot groups, he shoots shots." Jeff Cooper