goodgrouper
Well-Known Member
Recent posts in Bullets, barrels, and ballistics prompted me to write this post. There have been many recent discussions on concentricity, neck tension, barrel break-in, case prep and others. I have found that with such a broad audience on so many different levels of this game, that a lot of the arguments being made are pointless. The problem is that context does not work here. There are many people with different ideas of accuracy and how to get it. Without context, you really don't know how to figure a solution to problems. You simply get a mix of every possible viewpoint, and then you have to take the info and digest it and decide which way follows your thoughts and feelings for your own level in this game of accuracy chasing. If there was some way of putting context into the equation, you would know who you're talking to. For instance, if you go to a benchrest match, you know the context of that situation would involve many accuracy minded individuals who use things and do things totally foreign to some people in another context-say trap shooters, or rack crazed deer hunters. But, there might be one or two of those trap shooters and deer hunters who know all about weighing brass, and they throw another curve at you because they don't fit into their place.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that when someone talks about accuracy and how to get it, the context in which that person speaks from may not be on your level. It could be higher or lower or on a different angle. But one thing that is constant and unchanging is that accuracy, no matter what your definition is of it, comes from a simple process of elimination. You have to experiment with everything you can and eliminate what is causing you to lose your accuracy. This fact remains the same for everything from trap shooters to air guns to mile shooters.
That being said, everything you can do to increase accuracy should be done. Some things only make small differences and others make huge differences, but if your personal best is desired, you really have to make an effort to try everything you can. This requires that we must keep an open mind, and not be afraid to admit when we're wrong. We must also be brave and try things before dismissing them as frivolous. I have noticed on this forum, and from talking with people around my home state, that people sometimes will go against the popular consensus as a defense mechanism because they can't afford the proven method, or they don't want to try it because of time constraints, or their wives just won't let them have fun so they in effect talk themselves out of the operation or gadget. Then they make matters worse by trying to bring others into their boat for company or back-up. BE LEARY OF THIS MINDSET!! If someone has a very dyed-in-the-wool view on something but has no proof to back it up, then most likely they are in the defense mechanism mode for one reason or another. If accuracy inhancement is a learning process, then HOW IN THE HELL can you learn if you don't keep an open mind and experiment on your own before you go spouting off your premature concoctions of accuracy theory! What we must also recognize is that anyone in any level of this game might be reading your post, and they might earnestly be tying to find more knowledge about a certain subject and are being confused by people who haven't really done their homework and are just guesstimating with their premature theory.
Anyways, I believe that having so many different views is a good thing because no one knows everything and the collective knowledge of all on this board is something not to be taken for granted. You simply have to consider the context in which the information is being presented to you in. Is it above my knowledge or is it something I should and could post something on? That is the question.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that when someone talks about accuracy and how to get it, the context in which that person speaks from may not be on your level. It could be higher or lower or on a different angle. But one thing that is constant and unchanging is that accuracy, no matter what your definition is of it, comes from a simple process of elimination. You have to experiment with everything you can and eliminate what is causing you to lose your accuracy. This fact remains the same for everything from trap shooters to air guns to mile shooters.
That being said, everything you can do to increase accuracy should be done. Some things only make small differences and others make huge differences, but if your personal best is desired, you really have to make an effort to try everything you can. This requires that we must keep an open mind, and not be afraid to admit when we're wrong. We must also be brave and try things before dismissing them as frivolous. I have noticed on this forum, and from talking with people around my home state, that people sometimes will go against the popular consensus as a defense mechanism because they can't afford the proven method, or they don't want to try it because of time constraints, or their wives just won't let them have fun so they in effect talk themselves out of the operation or gadget. Then they make matters worse by trying to bring others into their boat for company or back-up. BE LEARY OF THIS MINDSET!! If someone has a very dyed-in-the-wool view on something but has no proof to back it up, then most likely they are in the defense mechanism mode for one reason or another. If accuracy inhancement is a learning process, then HOW IN THE HELL can you learn if you don't keep an open mind and experiment on your own before you go spouting off your premature concoctions of accuracy theory! What we must also recognize is that anyone in any level of this game might be reading your post, and they might earnestly be tying to find more knowledge about a certain subject and are being confused by people who haven't really done their homework and are just guesstimating with their premature theory.
Anyways, I believe that having so many different views is a good thing because no one knows everything and the collective knowledge of all on this board is something not to be taken for granted. You simply have to consider the context in which the information is being presented to you in. Is it above my knowledge or is it something I should and could post something on? That is the question.
