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The Importance of Rifle Accuracy

2K views 16 replies 16 participants last post by  85LoneStar 
#1 ·
This article was in the Outdoors Section of today's Houston Chronicle. IMO, anybody that hunts with a rifle should read it.

Deer hunters must be as precise as possible
Dinner-plate accuracy from 100 yards is far from acceptable

By DOUG PIKE
Hunters preach to each other regularly about respect for wildlife and improving the image of the sport, but there still are so-called experts among us who call it dead wrong, set bad examples and make us all look foolish.

In addition to the expected, my mailbox on occasion receives unsolicited DVDs from various outdoors-related production companies. A recent one, not named because there's no reason to promote it, featured a "professional" outdoorsman narrating several trophy whitetail hunts and giving his take, in a separate segment, on the importance of shooting skills.

According to him, acceptable accuracy at 100 yards is the ability to hit a target the size of a dinner plate. That's like asking The Texans' Kris Brown to kick a 20-yard field goal with the uprights placed on each corner of the end zone or like Tiger Woods putting at a hole the size of a peach basket.

The star of this production, dressed to the nines in a sponsor's starched camo, continued with explanation that a bullet strike within that parameter should result in a clean kill.

(Make no mistake that clean kills are important to ethical and conscientious hunters. No sportsman wants to put himself or an animal through an exhausting search down a bloody trail in heavy cover.)

Any notion that dinner-plate accuracy is acceptible with scoped rifles at Texas' standard 100-yard (from box blind to feeder) range is absurd. That guy shouldn't be allowed to hunt Easter eggs.

Once adjusted, a rifle-and-optics package intended for deer hunting should be accurate enough from the bench to shatter a teacup every time the trigger is pulled. Skilled marksmen using quality firearms and ammunition can shoot through a teacup's dainty handle at football-field distance and never scratch the glaze.

More often than not, the fault of sloppy shooting is not with the weapon. Rifle barrels, if you'll excuse the cliché, are pretty much bulletproof. It's hard enough to knock a carbon-fiber arrow out of line; damaging two feet of thick-steel tubing sufficiently to wreck its accuracy permanently would require herculean strength. Even airline baggage handlers aren't up to that task.

Most deer rifles sold today are capable of three-inch or better accuracy at 100 yards, and average groups shot by experienced hands should be tighter than two inches. That's for guns that cost hundreds, not thousands of dollars, too, representative of what Texas deer hunters carry.

That is well short of military-sniper accuracy, but two-inch bench groups translate well in the field, critical because actual hunting situations introduce variables that can move bullets significantly off line.

Hunting takes hours, but opportunities for clean shots can come and go in a few seconds.

In that time, since deer have no bull's-eyes on their hides, the hunter first has to establish a specific target amid all that fur. Throw in the sense of urgency that rises if a deer seems somehow spooky and triple the anxiety level when that whitetail's head is covered in big antlers.

Accept dinner-plate accuracy at the bench, and you may miss the "X" on a real deer by a foot. More if you flinch.

That's pathetic from sand-wedge distance; a goof of that magnitude has potential to place the bullet in a non-lethal spot and leave a fine animal to suffer needlessly. No excuse.

Deer hunters don't always hit the exact spot at which they aim, but each of us has an obligation to get as close as possible.

My suspicion is that the DVD's host may have taped the questionable segment to establish justification for a poor shot that turns up elsewhere in the video. If that's the case, he should have omitted the hunt with the bad shot and used that time to show people how to sight a rifle - or maybe get someone to teach him the skill.

TROUBLE-SHOOTING

If your rifle seems incapable of grouping three bullets no farther apart than can be covered by a tennis ball, something is wrong either with the gun or the gunner. Here's a refresher on making yourself a better shot and, in turn, a better hunter:

Make sure the scope is undamaged and attached securely to the rifle: The recoil of a high-powered round has potential to shake things (like fillings, in larger calibers) loose. Tighten the screws and visually inspect the cross hairs to make certain they're where they belong.

Take your time: Warm barrels expand, even if only in microns, but the slightest change affects accuracy. Touch your wrist to the metal. If it stings with heat, wait before firing the next shot.

Assess your personal shooting talent honestly: Before you blame the rifle for punching holes all over the paper, ask someone else to send a couple of rounds down range.

Sample different ammo brands: Rifles tend to be more accurate with some loads than others. With ammunition, don't assume that higher cost is synonymous with greater accuracy.

Bottom line: Before you blame the gun for poor accuracy, get a second opinion.
 
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#3 ·
Thanks Pale one!! Years ago I started using a very small drop of clear fingernail polish on all our scoped rifles.....applied to a point were the rings/tube meet...if that seal is broken, I know the scope has moved..

Just a tip for those who 4 wheel...Jeep it and don't use hard travel cases...

Timely Post...Thanks

chief
 
#4 ·
My sons (8 & 13)were not allowed to hunt this year until they could shoot a 3-inch group at 100 yds. And I never let them take a shot past 100yds. Practice makes all the difference. Take the time and try several different bullet weights find the one that works best for that gun. I personally will not keep a gun that will not shoot a nickel 3-shot group at 100yds. You never know when you are going to need to make a 300+ yard shot.
 
#5 ·
Indeed an excellent post and timely!
 
#9 ·
I go to the range quite a bit and I witness and hear things that will out do most boat ramp stories that are so popular. I will shoot 2 to 3 boxes of shells before going hunting on a gun that does group good, but it makes me feel confident and it gets any flinching habits out of me. Just 2 days ago a guy and his son come up stabled a target up fired 3 shots and as everybody was looking at the groups and such he was boasting loud enough so everybody could hear "you can't get much better then that, this gun is ready for deer hunting lets go boy" He did the shooting but he said his boy will be on his first deer hunt with that gun. After they left I glanced over at his target and he had a "good enough" grouping of 3 shots that you will be lucky to cover with a pie plate, maybe any 2 but cover all 3. I hope he gets lucky.
 
#10 ·
I am lucky because we have a very nice shooting range just outside the fence of the chemical plant where I work (we also have a Golf couse, swimming pool, and recreation building). I love to shoot and spend a lot of time out there. I believe when shooting off of a bench, you want to get your gun on the money because the conditions are perfect, but in the field a lot of times these conditions are not perfect (no or limited rest, buck fever, moving targets, limited targets, etc). This gives you a margin of error when you know exactly where your gun shoots. Also, I want to know where my first shot is going to be. If I don't get my gun sighted in until the third shot, I will always go back to the range and shoot it again, until that first shot is where it should be. That is the shot that matters in the field.

The Professor
 
#13 ·
Shooting

Amen to that article. Anyone who has spent much time at a bench at a rifle range has seen the poor shooting skills of most hunters. Hard to believe they get up and go hunting after spraying the target like 00 buckshot. Both of my daughters loved to hunt, and both started shooting deer at 10. We would not let them hunt until they had made a trip to the range, and had to fire at least 10 rounds through a 6 mm rem. I handload, so we go about once a month to the range. In those days, my wife and I set aside opening day for ourselves, to hunt 4 or 5 days by ourselves. The girls could come anytime after that, but always went Thanksgiving. We made a few special trips to the range a day or two before Thanksgiving sometimes, when the girls were teenagers and were to busy to go to the range with us. One time I would not let one of them hunt until Christmas because she had not shot. I believe you disrespect the animals to do it any other way. They believe the same way today.
BB
 
#15 ·
BigBuck said:
Amen to that article. Anyone who has spent much time at a bench at a rifle range has seen the poor shooting skills of most hunters. Hard to believe they get up and go hunting after spraying the target like 00 buckshot. BB
That is the truth! Just last week I saw just that from two guys that were high fiving each other for shooting so well. I just couldn't keep my mouth shut and said, "Nope fellows, this is what your target should look like." as I showed them my target. They just shurgged their shoulders, picked up their rifles and left. The range master and I discussed it some, and the stories he told are really scary. He basically said that most of the folks that come through to sight their rifles never move past 25 yards. Most of the ones that only shoot at 25 yards leave with a grouping bigger than a dinner plate. I was speachless to say the least and could only shake my head. He further said that only around 20% of the guys have groupings he would consider to be good enough at 100yards. In addition, only about 10% of the people come to the range more than once in a year. Those are just down right scary facts for the poor deer out there, plus it is also scary for other hunters.

I try to get by the range at least once a week during the season, generally a day or two before I leave for a hunt. In the off season I try and get to the range at least once a month. I don't always shoot my deer rifle, but shooting is shooting and practice is practice. Really wish there were some way the state could make folks go through some kind of proficiency test before they sale them a license, or at least a really hunter's and gun safety class. Not knocking the classes currently being provided as the provide great information, but the could be expanded.
 
#16 ·
I would like to share my regiment. First of all I shoot the same exact ammo all year every year. Next i tend to shoot a box of shells atleast once a month during the offseason just to stay in practice. I also shoot 100 & 200 yards because my feeders are 180 yards and I feel you should shoot the distance you plan to shoot afield. I clean my rifle after every box of ammo I shoot but after I clean it before season I go to the range to fire five fouling shots because I do not hunt with a clean bore. From then till the end of season I don't touch that bore till after season. just my .02
 
#17 ·
That's a good "what not to do" but I didn't get much out of what TO do besides:
- shoot a cold barrel
- practice

Where and what are the other points like:
- holding your breath
- how to squeaze the trigger
- whatch the wind
- etc. etc. ?
 
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