This Accuracy Thing

[Greg Duerr]

So what is good accuracy............I dont mean that one great group you shot last week, but what is a good average group? Like you go the the Range and shoot 5 5 shot groups..........................Lots of guys carry around in their wallet that one great group, we all have those but if you shot 10 five shot groups and they averaged .500 Would that be excellent, Good, or maybe just fair.............................Out at the Range the Range Master showed me a Group he shot out of his Custom .223 a real tight three shot group. I saw two others close by and asked about those .........." Oh, those are fliers I dont count those "

 

[royinidaho]

Back in the day when I shot Benchrest if 5 5-shot groups @ 100 and 5 5-shot groups @ 200 yards didn't average around 0.3 MOA you were down on the bottom half of the standings list. For me that was 40 years ago.

I quit bench rest when H&K came out with an semi-auto 308 that would almost approach that accuracy.

Nowa days I tune to get at least 3 shots into 1/2 MOA on a consistent basis at all ranges. The shorter the range the higher the success rate.

A fella can burn up a ton of barrel life trying to get the rifle to shoot tiny groups when most of the time the problem is the driver.

Example, this afternoon while doing some bullet testing I tuned things up to get MOA accuracy @ 100 yards. The test was to see if the bullets would be consistent and hold together at extreme velocities (170 class bullets in excess of 3500 FPS MV)

After I determined that they were consistent and held together I shot a 1 MOA group @ 100 then moved to 300 to check the drop to get an idea of bc. The 3 shots @ 300 went into an MOA but drop was almost twice what it should have been.:roll eyes:

The problem …. the driver. The 100 yard group was shot from a Cabelas super hooty folding bench that I've steadied as much as possible without casting it in concrete.

I'm satisfied with MOA consistency when shooting from it. The reticle typically hovers around the 1 inch aiming dot. From that platform MOA 3 shot consistency is acceptable.

The 300 yard group was fired from a rock solid prone bipod sand bag position. The rifle never moved from the target paper when the trigger broke. Result an MOA group with twice the expected drop.

Lesson learned……again. Be SOLID and consistent in your shooting position.

A better and shorter answer set the target at long range, beyond 350 or so and fire 1 shot per day for 5 days. If you keep 'em within a half MOA of Point of Aim I'd say you're good to go.

And, ya gotta count every shot!!!!

 

[Greg Duerr]

Well I shoot off of a Harrison bipod and a rear bunny ear bag. That's how I shoot when Varmint hunting. So I would guess that getting my rifle to shoot in the .5's would be good considering the set up?? My rifle has a 26" #4 barrel and I shoot with a Leupold 4.5-14............This is all new to me ......................Last Friday I shot three five shot groups that went ..546, .526, and .489 Im shooting a .243 AI, my first custom rifle and 48.7gr of RL 22 105 berger...............My rifle twist is 1x8

Would appreciate your input as I'm a beginner here.

Thanks

 

[Wachsmann]

I would say you and your rifle seem to consistently shoot 1/2 MOA at what ever distance you were shooting at. hopefully at least 100 yrds. thats usually good for long range hunting (big game). Shooting small animals (small game) might make it a challenge when the range get out there but its the consistant things that pay off. if the shooter and equiptment can shoot 1/2 moa at each distance say up to 1000 yards then that's really good Accuracy.

 

[machiavelli]

I live in the real world and shoot long-range to hunt, I group 150mm(6") at 600metres and can do this 8 times out of 10 with my 338LM in field conditions thats as much accuracies I need.

 

[lightflight]

If I hit what I'm aiming at then I'm happy.

 

[machiavelli]

Good point Lightflight.

 

[FearNoWind]

Consider the difference between accuracy and precision. Precision is what bench rest shooters strive for. Tiny groups, regardless of how close they may be to the center of the target. Accuracy is what the hunter needs. He has to hit the target at the aim point; the size of the group (as long as it's not absurdly large) is not critical. If I can maintain .5 MOA on the X ring at any distance I figure I'm in champion form. Some days are good - others? Well, you've already heard the story about fliers .

 

[davkrat]

I quit shooting groups outside initial load development. I set up 2MOA gongs and try to hit towards the center of them from field positions. Put a 4" at 200, 8" at 400 and a 12" at 600. Take a few shots at each then pick up and move 50-100 yards, try to get a different angle wind and shoot em again. If I can keep them consistanly inside a 2MOA plate I know I am good enough for hunting at least out to 600-700 yards. The guns and bullets I shoot for the animals I hunt that is good enough. I think practicing the ranging, set up and adjusting to the next target is often missed practice for a hunter. By shooting same target from different wind angles (moving around the clock like skeet shooting) it really helps exaggerate the subtleties of wind too.

 

[FearNoWind]

I quit shooting groups outside initial load development. .... I think practicing the ranging, set up and adjusting to the next target is often missed practice for a hunter. ...

Excellent point, IMO. Rule of thumb for me when instructing a new hunter (which is done differently than a target shooter) is "only if you can put all of your shots inside an eight inch pie tin at a given distance is the target within your personal hunter shooting capability". But for truely accurate long range hunting I'd like to see them advance to 1 MOA consistency so that pie plate gets punched at 1000 yards. That way we have fewer wounded animals and cleaner quicker kills.

 

[Truc]

Back in the day when I shot Benchrest if 5 5-shot groups @ 100 and 5 5-shot groups @ 200 yards didn't average around 0.3 MOA you were down on the bottom half of the standings list. For me that was 40 years ago.

Might have been good 30 yrs ago but you have to shoot in the teens at 100 and in the 1/4 MOA @200 minimum to have any chance. Had a .26" at the SS one yr. for 4 matches finished 18th and loss a 200 yd match by 1/10,000" there, Jack Sutton of Hart Rifle barrels beat me.
For my hunting rifles a three shot group is all I ever shoot to tune, if it's a custom I expect a minimum of .3" and factory has to be less than to 3/4" for me to keep it as a factory.

 

[snowpro440]

Roy , That's so true , you can get the rifle shooting great groups . Then all the shooter does is not everything the same and your groups go to hell ....Rifle and shooter need to be in tune and do the same everytime.

 

[Greg Duerr]

3 shot groups .3 That will work for me. That would eleiminate he last two fliers.

 

[Canadian Bushman]

My goal for bi pod and rear bag is always the same. Everytime i go out and from every distance i try to shoot within 1moa of point of aim. If you can do this consistantly youre a pretty bad dude.

When i get set up and steady or shoot for group regardless of poa, 1/2 moa is pretty typical.