Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Precision vs Accuracy

Now may we take up something serious like clip vs. magazine?

Don't be such a pedant. Caliber vs cartridge would be much more stimulating.

Only 'precise' rifles are interesting............just doesn't have the right ring to it.

Early in my career, someone gave me some good advice.

Just Two Rules:

Don't sweet the small stuff.

Everything is small stuff.

As I age, those two rules become more profound.

Like spelling?

Absolutely!

My chemistry instruction [back in the day ] also used targets as examples. My administration had no clue.

Yes there is some inconsistency here in how the masses use 'precision' vs 'accuracy'. It irritated me some. But we sometimes have different meanings....... Language can be sloppy.

To me 'precision' means 'repeatability'.......... doing the same thing over and over again.

then 'accuracy' is about achieving what you intend.

So now i use the terms 'consistency' [repeatablility; small groups], and 'accuracy' [ bullets group around the intended location. ]

Most consistent shooting rifle i have seen was a scoped Bushmaster, 223, used by a man who frequented a decent shooting club/range near here.

The guy arrived one day with his rifle and 5 different loads he had prepared. They all used previously fired brass, same TTL, same OAL, same powder & charge. They were different only in primers.

he shot 10 shots of each load at 5 different targets. They each had a 1" aim point. I watched him shoot.

Some of the loads produced about 3" groups. One produced a ~1.5 inch group right on the aimpoint.

His best group was a ragged hole about 3" low and 2.5 " left of the aimpoint. My nickel almost covered the entire hole. We had no trouble deciding which load was most consistent and which other load was most accurate.

After he adjusted the scope that last load was both consistent and accurate.

having presented the above, i dont think many people are going to change their word use.

While I agree that the application of this distinction is just "loony-ism", I don't think the distinction ultimately stems from rifle-loony OCD but from technical fields like metrology, physics, engineering, etc., in which the two words certainly have very different meanings. Common usage is not a very good standard in determining whether words have specific and meaningful distinctions, IMO. It's the same idea as using the lowest common denominator. It may suffice to use the two words as synonyms in common usage, but when we delve into more technical descriptions and settings it's important to use correct terminology. Another related abuse of terminology is the convolution of the words "error" and "uncertainty". "Margin of error" and "error bars" on a plot are really a measure of the uncertainty in a quantity. The subtle distinction is that uncertainty is a measure of the confidence in a measurement (often estimated as one standard deviation), while error is the difference between a measured value and the true value (which may or may not be known). In common usage when discussing the variation in measured quantities, interchanging the words "error" and "uncertainty" would seemingly get the same point across, but in a technical setting they have very different meanings. In physics and metrology, uncertainty and precision are inversely correlated metrics, as are error and accuracy. Dictionaries don't often go into enough technical detail to make these sorts of distinctions, as they focus on common usage, not technical meaning.

If you try to limit my choice of tipple by saying "You may have this Scotch or that Bourbon" please remember I was a mathematician.

Still meaningless BS, in this context. GD

Which is why I often use the two words synonymously in common usage, in this context, even though it's slightly painful to do so.

A Precise rifle becomes an Accurate rifle with a few clicks of the scope adjustment knobs.......

Precisely - that is quite accurately stated. Thank goodness, I don't have to start using precision rather than accuracy!

Precision is putting five shots into a group the size of a dime. Accuracy is actually hitting the dime with those five shots...

If that's what you prefer to believe, but most shooters don't care which term is used--and also don't care about that distinction.

At the risk of beating a dead horse, why is that difference in definition so important to a few shooters, but not most--and not dictionaries?

John, I'm thinking in line with precision target shooting. Take for example short range benchrest. You can have a rifle that will shoot low .1s in group shooting (precision) but you can't hit a 1/16" dot (100yards) consecutively for 25 shots in a row (accuracy). Same for long range prone. People strive for ½ moa precision at short ranges, yet struggle to shoot a score equivalent to < 1 moa centered on the target at extended ranges.

Best definition yet IMO

drover

Yep, and that's why I believe the "distinction" between accuracy and precision began with benchrest shooting.

This is partly because I not only have copies of PRECISION SHOOTING magazine going back to the 1960s, but a hardcover book THE ULTIMATE IN RIFLE PRECISION, edited by Townsend Whelen, the "1951 Benchrest Shooter's Annual," and the 1997 collection of PS articles titled THE BENCHREST SHOOTING PRIMER. Which is why I concluded that's where the different definitions began.

But have yet to hear an average shooter/hunter say "My .270 is really precise." Instead they say, "My .270 is really accurate." And even most benchresters understand "precisely" what he means.

As I pointed out earlier, in short range BR, the first shot produces the target which you must then hit four times. In shooting for score, the target is provided and you must hit it five times. Any rifle I had which would shoot in the ones, was capable of shooting straight X's for score. The difference was this: If I made a mistake in score shooting, that shot was gone. Miss the first X of the match and you couldn't get it back.
Shooting for group, if the first shot did not hit as expected, I could chase that shot and salvage the group.
In essence, the two disciplines just required a little different mindset and semantics be damned. GD

Circular Error Probable ( CEP ) - statistical analysis of group precision, biased from aiming point ( CCEP )

🤓