Accuracy Enough is Enough

[Weatherby-SL]

Excellent thread subject; articulate postings!

There's benchrest competition accuracy and then there's hunting accuracy. I can shoot 5 round, one hole strings all day with my benchrest .6mm PPC. I can't do that with a hunting rifle - why should I have to?

Ethically, I never shot at distances I did not feel comfortable with. If an animal was within a certain distance (different for various types/sizes of animal) and I knew, with certainty, that I could reliably hit that kill zone region, I would take the shot.

On whitetail deer, for example, I visualized a kill zone of about the size of a volley ball. If the conditions were right and I knew I could hit that size of target, only then would I take the shot. A minute of angle kill zone never entered my mind.

[224KING]

Plus,if you think your going to shoot out of your blind,walking,out of a pickup window,or off any kind of other rest out in the field your wrong.

[wyominghunter]

While it is nice to have, you don’t need MOA accuracy for most hunting situations.

The vast majority of shots on big game is well under 300 yards. All of this focus on long range shooting hasn’t changed that fact.

If I’m shooting a 1-1/2” group at 100 yards...I’m picking up my toys and going hunting.

A fairly famous gunmaker D’Arcy Echols tells a story of going elk hunting with some friends. One of them was disappointed he couldn’t get one of his rifles to shoot into an inch. D’Arcy replied “just how small are these elk we’re going after?”. That sums it up for me.

[sschefer]

My view is that if your rifle is setup to be a 1 MOA shooter on the bench, that's an advantage once it's off the bench and in the field, on the hunt. If you have pie plate accuracy on the bench and you take it out to the field then you potentially open up that pie plate to a garbage can lid. If I'm hunting Antelope, Mule Deer or Elk, I really want to know that my rifle is a finely tuned piece of equipment that is going to put that animal down quickly with the least amount of waste.

That said, when is enough, enough. I'm satisfied with 1 MOA at 100 yards on the bench. Again, my opinion only, off shoulder time is probably the biggest benefactor when learning to shoot any particular rifle. Is pie plate accuracy ok then. Probably but more time at the range may close that up and if it does then that's a plus.

[musicman]

For "big game," that is plenty sufficient.  If you are going for "little game" at long range, then you need to tighten things up.  I am sure there have been many misses, but how many MILLIONS of head of big game have been brought down with open sight lever guns, and surplus military rifles.  MM

[zonie]

When hand loading I strive for best consistency  over absolute best accuracy.  I'll take  a 1 " group that doesn't throw a flyer over other loads that may shoot   3/4 " groups but tend to throw flyers every now and then.   I do agree small animals whether it's head shots on squirrels with a 22 rim fire or shooting prairie dogs starting  at 300 yds plus 1  1/2 inch guns are not getting it.   Big game guns group sizes  depends on the ranges you will be hunting  plus  YOUR ability to hit the  kill zone as your guide on ethical ranges so long as the weapons  have enough power to get the job done.  I have old lever guns with original iron sights that that are closer to  5 inch shooters  @ 100 yds due to their sights rather than the gun itself.  Normally on a decent lever gun slap a good  peep sight on and half that group size and then with a decent scope you reduce group size again.

[grizzly340]

I hear you on the Flyers Zonie. This flyer today drove me crazy. This is the rifle this postbis about too boot. Normaly with hunting rifles I only shoot 3 shot groups. But today I made A exception. After 2 same hole shots in comes the flyer followed by two more same hole shots. Making A 7/16" group A 1 7/8" group. But this is the best load. So im sticking with it. 77 grs. IMR 7828  with 180 gr. Partition.

[amcmilla]

Try the 165 gr spitzers had good luck with them Once I went up on bullet weight it would start shooting to the left. I was able to shoot .75 inch groups.  I used imr 4831 powder

[sschefer]

I hear you on the Flyers Zonie. This flyer today drove me crazy. This is the rifle this postbis about too boot. Normaly with hunting rifles I only shoot 3 shot groups. But today I made A exception. After 2 same hole shots in comes the flyer followed by two more same hole shots. Making A 7/16" group A 1 7/8" group. But this is the best load. So im sticking with it. 77 grs. IMR 7828  with 180 gr. Partition.

I wonder if that's a warm/hot barrel issue. Just thinking aloud maybe.