I once heard of a guy that bought four M-70 Winchester 30-06s, new, at the same time, back in about 1960.
He shot all four enough to determine which one was the most accurate with his preferred factory ammo. He kept that one, and sold the other three as used.
That was in the days before personal chronographs. Today, if one wanted the most accurate and the fastest rifle, it might take more than four rifles to arrive at the solution.
I know a guy today that owns a fairly large gun shop. He tries out quite a few new guns, then sells them as used, only keeping the exceptional ones for his personal collection. It must be nice to have that luxury.
