Rifle Accuracy

The most common way of assessing a rifle's accuracy is to shoot from a bench rest at a target which is placed at 100 yards. We usually judge a rifle's accuracy by carefully shooting a five shot group and carefully measuring the widest spread between the bullet holes.

New shooters may not understand why a rifle is considered very accurate when the hunter has set it to place the group out of the target center, most often several inches high.

Hunting rifle accuracy is often considered good if the group has a maximum spread of one inch or less at the 100 yard range. Many of today's hunting rifles will beat that with the right combination of bullet and load.

This is sometimes called MOA or minute of angle, supposedly the rifle could shoot within about two inches at 200 yards, 3 inches at 300... But! True hunting accuracy diminishes with increased range, even with the best shooter and rifle.

There are many factors which make a rifle accurate. The load, vibration, barrel bedding, barrel crown, trigger, action, lockup, sights, scope, heat, wind, weight, sights, gun rest, how it's held, and more.

I do believe that certain rifle cartridges are inherently more accurate. I know the bullet, load, all components are important, but I'm not confident that certain rifle calibers are more accurate. Bench-rest shooters obsess over all of the above and more. Special rifles they build shoot incredibly accurate groups.

But! How much accuracy does a hunter need? Rifle accuracy isn't only about shooting tight groups off a bench; not for deer rifles. A good hunter may stalk close and bring home the venison with a lousy rifle.

If you are shooting ground squirrels at 400+ yards you need all the accuracy you can get. A deer has a much larger kill zone, and is most often shot at less than 200 yards.

We all want the best most accurate rifle we can get, but part of that is our pride, ego... The gun makers try to sell us accuracy, power, and "bling" to keep the money moving.

A hunter who can get close, or who hunts in dense woods doesn't need as much accuracy. Hunting in more open areas where shots are longer; rifle accuracy is more important.

We don't need a super accurate, big, heavy, magnum, a thumb-hole stock, and a powerful scope, where deer are taken at less than 100 yards. Such a combination may be too slow to get into action, and we may miss a quick close range shot.

So what makes a great deer rifle? Simple answer: One we can shoot and have confidence in. For most deer hunting 'we' are the greatest factor in how accurate the shot is.

But! A good trigger is always nice. Our gun needs to fit us, so we can shoot quickly (if needed) without a lot of adjustments to our shooting form. Low recoil while still having enough killing energy is good. Not so heavy that it is a burden to carry, or so light that you hate to pull the trigger and feel the recoil.

How accurate do we really need? Probably not as much as we think. A rifle that will shoot less than 4 inch groups for dense woods, or less than 2 inch groups for most deer hunting would often be good enough. Most of today's typical factory rifles will beat that.

Dense wooded area ranges are under 100 yards. There are exceptions, but most anywhere a good hunter can get within 200 yards. We want a fine rifle and M.O.A. accuracy, but we seldom need it for deer.

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