what makes a rifle accurate

[swamp]

some pretty good articles found below:

http://www.bryantcustom.com/articles/accuracy.htm

http://www.riflebarrels.com/articles/barrel_making/rifle_barrel_accurate.htm

http://www.z-hat.com/Accurate.htm

[SST]

1)Good barrel
2)Good bullet
3)Good bedding
4)Everything else

[30-338]

1) Good Barrel
2) Good gunsmith

[Twanger]

Floating the barrel above the forend doesn't hurt either.

[Smokey]

And....., someone who can shoot.

[Badger]

swamp,

Very good articles. I agree with all that the other posters said: Good barrel, stock, bedding, load and very good shooting techniques.

Badger

[Twanger]

And....., someone who can shoot.

Man is that the truth. Sometimes I can hold a half-MOA on the bench, and sometimes I'm lucky to hold 2 MOA. :confused:

[30-338]

Man is that the truth. Sometimes I can hold a half-MOA on the bench, and sometimes I'm lucky to hold 2 MOA. :confused:

BR shooter was looking for a new rifle walk into world famous gunsmith known for his BR rifles and he ask "can you build me a rifle to shoot in the .0's" gunsmith ask him "can you shoot in the .0's".

[kenjs1]

and how 'bout not trying to fix something that ain't broke! Boy am I suffering right now from a case of one tweak too many- Jeeeesh.

[alan]

I see that Marlin is calling attention to their ugly barrel band that Savage employs indcating it helps with "Headspacing" issues.

[bugsNbows]

1). Good barrel
2). Good trigger
3). Good bullet
4). Good shooter

Good day all.

[Smokey]

I think there are now more accurate rifles be produced then any time in our history. I also believe the average person who only shoots just before or just during the hunting seasons lacks the skills to get all of the accuracy out of these rifles.

[Hi Ball]

Smokey there is no doubt that factory production rifles made today, are far more accurate than 90% of those that are shooting them during the year. Now to me an accurate rifle is one that will shoot under 1/2 inch or better 7 days a week on call!!!

Now to get that under .500-MOA at the bench, one simply must shoot his or her rifle more than a couple of times prior to deer season. It also will probabley as not take the use of handloads too for the most part. It takes a long time to become proficient enough to pickup any rifle and shoot well with it or be able to bring out that exceptional sub 1/2 groups from a rifle.

I have a couple such rifles for target shooting that will knock flies off a barn door at 100 yards but you won't find them for sale a Wally-World for sure. An outstanding shooting rifle costs big Bucks in a custom rig. There are a couple of factory rifle manufacturers today that are turning out some very good rifles that will shoot sub-MOA. I have a couple of CZ rifles and SAVAGE rifles that have done so and even using Hornady factory ammo in one such rifle. This type of quality is far above what the industry standards were 50 years ago. A factory rifle shooting 1/2 groups at a 100 yards off the bench with factory ammo was unheard of in my young days!

1. Action
2. Barrel
3. Trigger
4. Bedding
5. Outstanding Marksmanship

[TinStar]

Price does not ALWAYS equate to accuracy. Some owners of Stevens 200's and Marlin XL7's are reporting outstanding accuracy on other forums I go to; all in guns costing half of what others are. With both factory ammo and reloads.

TinStar
Soli Deo Gloria!

[howdydoit]

I would say for the average hunter/shooter. Its the ammo and the nut driving the rifle.

If the ammo is of good quality or hand loaded for said rifle, one could easily have a 1/2 MOA group at 100 or 200 yards. If the shooter pulling the trigger has any idea of how to shoot.

For an F/class shooter of course every .025 of accuracy can be achieved by labor cost on the action and custom action, precision barrel, target trigger, bedding, hand loaded ammo and alot of trigger time.

But lets face it how many weekend shooters/hunters shoot F/class.

Howdy.:eek:

[Badger]

Hi Ball,

How do you utilize your .50" inch rifles from hunting positions such as offhand, sitting and prone? Do you often shoot half-inch offhand at 100 yards? What value is lots of potential in your accurate rifles that you cannot utilize OFF the bench? I have very accurate rifles AT the bench that are good deer rifles. I also have military surplus arms with good handloads that take deer. MOA rifles are interesting fireside chat material, but show me what shooters can do offhand at 100 yards.

Badger

[AK-49]

few rifles out of the box will shoot a 3 shot MOA group... a lot of people claim their rifles will but in truth they won't.

[Badger]

AK-49,

I agree with you. ONE MOA group does not make a MOA rifle or MOA shooter. We all have very good groups we save for the shooting diary, but that is NOT 10 groups shot back-to-back. "One swallow does not make a Summer."

Badger

[AK-49]

Cooper starting at about $1500, and HS Precision rifles at about $3000 both come with test targets.. both companies guarantee 1/2 MOA 3 shot groups. You won't find many companies that offer this guarantee and most that do are in the $5000 price range.

For the money you won't find a more accurate rifle than a cooper, for the money you want find a better all round hunting rifle than a HS precision.

So many toys to buy so little money to spend.

[Bushman]

AK, I've got that one hole target from my Cooper too, but I know that it was shot with match grade hand loads in an underground tunnel with a 36x scope but a guy who does it for a living and probably in some kind of a machine rest. I'll cut overlapping bullet holes at a hundred yards on occasion, but the wind blows those bullets around some. That and I wiggle a little now and again. The rifle might be a 1/2 moa piece, but I know this shooter isn't.

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

I must be a VERY below average shooter because I very seldom shoot a 1/2 inch group at 100 yards. Certainly, a 5 shot, 1/2 inch group has been my most elusive prey to date. I seldom sit at the bench and crank off groups. I guess my interests don't follow that vein. I shoot for groups when working up a load and then test the load afterwards. This is at best a three trip to the range affair, usually more. After that I sight in that group and after that I'm only interested in the first shot the following morning from a cold, dry barrel. I know that there are guys who like to shoot groups and if they are shooting 1/2 inch groups consistently then they are better shots than I. I usually shoot off of a sack of corn which is supporting the whole stock and is really very tight and gives no bounce.

I will agree that today's rifles coupled with today's ammo is a very, very good match. The average shooter can do quite well if he possesses the basic fundamentals of marksmanship.

Alan

[30-338]

For me it takes at least two years before I get to hunt with a rifle. I like to get my hunting rifles in the early spring work up some loads then I will do pretty much as Alan talked about 1 shot from cold barrel but I may do that for a month or so at 200/300yd.

Here in Co my hunting season starts Oct if I hunt a combination season deer/elk longest is around 8 days late cow hunt maybe 9 days then acouple days for antelope. Last year I was gone almost for a month.

I like to shoot so between varmits,big game and range time need afew rifles. Being an ex BR shooter I like a rifle that can shoot groups so I have very few factory chambered rifles. I want a rifle that can shoot repeatable groups so I don't mind spending the money to get a rifle to shoot that. Sure I don't shoot 1/2" groups off-hand but when I see a legal elk or deer in the crooshair I know that bullet going right were I want it and thats all that counts.

Our gun club has open site in days for the public before hunting season and you see all kinds we see alot of women hunters with their husband,kids etc. My wife shoots a 280AI been a great hunting partner for the last 45yrs.

[Chuck S]

Accuracy is a somewhat general term in that we speak of Bench Rest accurate, Long Range accurate, general hunting accuracy, varmint rifle accuracy and so on. Certainly blueprinting, precision barrels, bedded stocks, custom triggers and more are commonplace aftermarket things we can do to enhance accuracy and, of course, the shooter and practice is a given.

For hunting accuracy the more common problems I've seen are bad triggers with creep, and heavy pull being the top offenders. Another bug a boo is slow lock times on an action. Following these, especially for that second or followup shot is repeatability due to stock/barrel interaction. I worry less about that second shot as how accurate is that first shot out of a cold barrel? I prefer a bedded action but with many such as lever guns, pumps and others bedding isn't a friendly option.

Give me a rifle that fires that first shot out of a cold, or hot, dry or wet barrel and hits within a couple MOA for general 250 yds or less hunting and I'm fine with that. For specific applications calling for distance and under somewhat predictable conditions, such as Antelope Hunting, I opt for a rifle shooting a bit tighter and look for the 1 MOA or better as my benchmark.

[Smokey]

I very much agree with the last three posts. Like them after I have a rifle sighted in I repeatedly shoot it through the year. Usually we shoot two shot groups. I prefer this to shooting general groups over and over. The first shot is always the most important out of a cold barrel. Fortunately my two boys shoot very close to the way I shoot so any time one of us goes to the range we take the other rifles with us.

Through the year we have a good idea how the rifle will shoot under different weather changes and being moved around in the trucks. It also tells you if anything is shooting loose and it gets corrected during the year. Plus it keeps us in better shooting form also.

[Hi Ball]

Badger......I have two rifles that are used for big game hunting, one a 7mm mag tricked out with a 5 x 15 mil-dot with turrets on top the barrel. It is a long range mule deer rifle I had made up some time ago. The other is a .300 Win mag that was used to knock down elk back in the 60's & 70's. It sported a 4 x 12 Redfield scope in those days.

Now my super accurate rifles, that shoot under .500 are used for varmint, target and coyote hunting. A CZ in .222 Rem., model 70 Win in 25/06, Savage 12 in .204 and the old 700 Remmy in the 6mm Remington, which was recently traded for a Ruger 25/06. These rifles are usually used in a sitting or prone position, sometimes it might be off-handed but seldom passed the 100 yard marker.

Now if your asking me can I shoot accurately, I'll just tell you I received the expert marksmans badge in the service back in the 60's and shot 3rd highest in my battalion of 800 men with open sights using the M1-Garand rifle in 30-06at the famous Fort Lenoard Wood, Missouri.;) :D :D