I have 2 rifles out of 12, 13 if you count my 94 Winchester .30-30, that will shoot 1" 5 shot groups but will on occasion shoot under. And both those rifles are not the latest and greatest. They just happen to be well made with few flaws in their machining.
Also, the shooter, me, has put quite a number of rounds down range in the past 60 years. I think that has more to do with it than anything. And that's all with reloads. I don't think I've ever shot 5 shots at one sitting under an inch or even an inch in my entire life with factory ammo. To shoot that accurate in my opinion you need to employ proper bullet seating and that requires hand loading.
To shoot five shots inside an inch with factory ammo is asking more than a production rifle is capable of. Even a bench rifle would be challenged to do it with factory anything because bullet seating depth is totally left out of the equation and that right there is a very very very important part of extreme accuracy.
How much load work goes into a bench shooters competitive load? I believe many many rounds and adjusting powder charge weight and bullet depth as well as trying different bullets. If you buy a box of factory ammo that gives you that kind of accuracy you need to go buy yourself a lotto ticket immediately if not sooner.
That simply isn't true.
It doesn't accord with my experience either. I have had several rifles, production/unfettled, shoot groups under an inch with factory ammunition, five rounds at 100 yards. I have also had other rifles which weren't entirely stock shoot similarly small groups with factory rounds. Not all rifles will, but not all rifles won't. I'm not just talking about that one great group that one time either. FWIW I've also shot any number of matches with both .22LR and 7.62 factory ammunition, and relied on doing rather better than 1 moa with them, week in and week out.
I have also not been convinced that you always have to do a lot of faffing around to find a load which will shoot. Some rifles are fussy, sure. With others I have found it actually pretty easy to identify a good, accurate load. FWIW I don't usually worry too much about seating depth either, unless I'm running out of other ideas. I usually find that a bit of jump to the lands does no great harm, and factors like fitting magazines, feeding well etc are considerations more important than kissing the lands. I think that sometimes people make reloading sound a lot more complicated than it really needs to be, at least for reliable hunting ammunition.
Personally I'm happy with a hunting rifle which will consistently put 5 rounds into under 1 moa, and I have several which will do it. I have a couple which will do a bit better. I have a couple of others which won't but I forgive them because they do well enough all things considered, such as my old Marlin, mentioned earlier, and an SMLE with open sights, which really wasn't built to do that well (though they can be tuned to do it, like my other Lee Enfield, with target sights and bedding etc). I would never expect my double rifle to shoot under 1 moa (though each barrel will go pretty close) - but it really doesn't need to do better than the roughly 2 1/2" group for four rounds which it will usually achieve from a standing rest, given the size of target I have it for.
