BBerguson
Official Pennsyltuckian
This is something that has bothered me for awhile and really got on my nerves after watching a video from that idiot wtw. I’m not going to put his name down, just his initials. And I could go on and on about him but I’m not going to here…
Anyways, how accurate is a gun. Every month I read about new guns in American Rifleman, I see posts online, I talk to buddies. The discussion always leads to group size and the smallest, largest and average are listed with various ammo. My argument is that the smallest and the average group size is irrelevant. The largest group is what matters. You can’t decide when you are going to shoot that small group So ultimately, the small and average are not dependable. Now of course if there is a known reason for the large group such as a pulled shot or odd wind then that (to me) is understandable as it wasn’t the fault of the gun or ammo and that group could be thrown out.
When I’m testing a new cartridge/load I usually load 9 rounds for 3 groups. If they are within my expectations, I‘ll load another 15 for 3 5 shot groups or 5 3 shot groups depending on how the groups start out and my mood. Sometimes a load may group so poorly that I’ll bring the ammo home and pull the bullets to save components. Did that a couple of times with the 450BM and a 265gr Lee cast…
When all is said and done, I like shooting small groups but ultimately the gun with a particular load is only as accurate as the largest group.
Let the arguments begin….
Anyways, how accurate is a gun. Every month I read about new guns in American Rifleman, I see posts online, I talk to buddies. The discussion always leads to group size and the smallest, largest and average are listed with various ammo. My argument is that the smallest and the average group size is irrelevant. The largest group is what matters. You can’t decide when you are going to shoot that small group So ultimately, the small and average are not dependable. Now of course if there is a known reason for the large group such as a pulled shot or odd wind then that (to me) is understandable as it wasn’t the fault of the gun or ammo and that group could be thrown out.
When I’m testing a new cartridge/load I usually load 9 rounds for 3 groups. If they are within my expectations, I‘ll load another 15 for 3 5 shot groups or 5 3 shot groups depending on how the groups start out and my mood. Sometimes a load may group so poorly that I’ll bring the ammo home and pull the bullets to save components. Did that a couple of times with the 450BM and a 265gr Lee cast…
When all is said and done, I like shooting small groups but ultimately the gun with a particular load is only as accurate as the largest group.
Let the arguments begin….