any thing is possible with practice and a rifle with the right ammo. Most people would be surprised what a good service rifle is capable of in the hands of a man who knows the rifle. Plus you must remember, men who grew up in the early years before 1960 cut their teeth on open and peep sights, scopes were a gimmick item , not dependable and only used by very few people. I grew up in the 50's and early 60's and never used a scope on a high power rifle until the early 70's. My opinion is, you should never start a kid with a scope and should make them learn on iron sights and they will always be a better marksman in the long run. 4 inch group at 500 is very doable. Last year at our hunting cabin i was shooting at a metal plate about 8 x 10 at 300 yards off hand with a Marlin 30-30 open sights and was ringing it every time the younger guys just couldn't believe it . They just had no idea a 30-30 would do that at the distant with open sights, they sure looked at the old round and lever gun with a different prospective .
