Thread: Acceptable group size at long range ?

My "resident know nothing" opinion is that 0.5MOA is what a good LR rifle should shoot. But as is mentioned, there is no point in this if you shoot two groups - one group @0.25MOA but 4MOA high then a 0.125MOA group 4MOA low.

In my opinion, the requirement is a combination of 0.5MOA groups in a consistent vertical location. At least with this, it give the nut behind the butt the best oppourtunity to achieve the kill. From there - any larger group sizes come from the nut behind the butt, and it is easier to correct without the variable of an inaccurate rifle.

For me - I know my rifle can do 0.25 MOA. I have had days were I have shot several groups at different ranges that have met this. But I also know that I am not the best shot, and I have days where I pull the shots, typically up and right. BUt because I have removed the variable of the accuracy of the rifle, I can work on the rest

So my short answer without the rambling - 0.5MOA groups

Originally Posted by Mossie

My "resident know nothing" opinion is that 0.5MOA is what a good LR rifle should shoot. But as is mentioned, there is no point in this if you shoot two groups - one group @0.25MOA but 4MOA high then a 0.125MOA group 4MOA low.

In my opinion, the requirement is a combination of 0.5MOA groups in a consistent vertical location. At least with this, it give the nut behind the butt the best oppourtunity to achieve the kill. From there - any larger group sizes come from the nut behind the butt, and it is easier to correct without the variable of an inaccurate rifle.

For me - I know my rifle can do 0.25 MOA. I have had days were I have shot several groups at different ranges that have met this. But I also know that I am not the best shot, and I have days where I pull the shots, typically up and right. BUt because I have removed the variable of the accuracy of the rifle, I can work on the rest

So my short answer without the rambling - 0.5MOA groups

I would just like to add that guys who shoot LR sometimes can often have cases of extreme miss as the variables can move vertical the impact as much as 1m at times due to vertical wind effect, temp. humidity, mirage, air pressure ( not height above sea level).. Guys need to understand these variables to shoot well over a broad range of country and seasons.....

Another point I would really like to hammer down and this is the use of chronigraphs....
It is imperitive for consistantcy of your chrony info over the range of variables and shooting to gain solid knowledge of what your load is doing speedwise, I have found this to be a/the major contributing issue on and in many cases is a poor reading chrony IE a chrony reading way out (and most of the F1 chronys do) combined with the poor BC information = no thanks please come again.... (yet guys swear there loads doing such and such)
You really do have to do alot of shooting to understand this, but purchasing an oehler chrony was the best thing ive ever done, I now solidly know how fast my loads are going....

The next thing is the use of fair and proper BC measurements... And when Im shooting targex I have my own devised figures taken from matching trajectorys over a number of range sessions.... Brian litz book is a MUST OWN to anyone that wants to shoot 400m or further...

Have one of the above out and you will find yourself testing at the range, then on an animal on the hill and miss OR even both slightly out... Ive seen the question itself asked on these forums many times (Y DID I MISS...sniff sniff)..

Ive found that with finally having the gear and knowledge to ensure my numbers are spot on theres more room for error than ever before and the use of a rangecard is much more accurate through the variable ranges.......