Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Acceptable accuracy , out to 400 yards

Exactly. He can practice at 400 yards from here to eternity, but if his current load is only capable of 6moa, he's pissing in the wind. He wants to know adequate moa from his rifle & load, then he can start working on his distance skills.

Great advise from guys, but getting the cart infront of the horse, imo.

Teeder, River Rider, He clearly stated he is getting sub 1.2 moa, almost anyone can agree that is sufficient at 400. All that is left, is the ability of the rifleman to deliver that accuracy from field positions. Hence the direction of the thread.

OP's question, "what would you accept as acceptable 3 shot group size at 100 yards. For hunting out to 400 yards."

This is the answer.

I personally would like to see less than 1" @ 100yds.
But 1" would be acceptable if that the best you can get from your rifle and load.
Then comes lots of practice in field conditions to see if you can put it in the vitals with said gun and load @ 400yds.

Just a reminder, deer, like most big game, have gotten smaller AND harder to kill. Therefore you need near-bench rest accuracy and magnum power. At the same time, hunters have become so weak they cannot carry a rifle that weighs more than 6 lbs "all up".

This my thinking also. 0.5-1 MOA and trigger time.

What you say is true and some sidebar talk doesn't hurt a thing, but sometimes threads go too far out on tangents and good additional relevant thoughts never get put to paper (so to speak). This is a good thread and it shouldn't be allowed to degenerate into arguments over marksmanship and field technique.

No harm, no foul.

Well said RR.

Almost any modern Rifle Scope Combo, will do the job to 400 yards with factory ammo, it's still the Indian, not the Arrow. rounds down range and in field positions, and spent brass makes a shooter, head stamp has very little to do with it. Rio7

And this statement was really all that was needed. Most guys just start jumping his ass to go right to shooting at 400 yards without quantifying the required rifle accuracy first. That's what he was asking for.

Still, lots a great info on this thread.

I had a 338 win mag that put 5 shots into 1" at 100 yards and still killed game yo 400 without missing.

For out to 400 yards?

< 2 MOA from field positions.




GR

My thought is 1" @100 equals 4" at 400. Doubling that for variables introduced due to field conditions and you're 8". That's gotta be max.

Load for 1" and then go shoot.

Even from big bores, I aim for moa or better. Better is best. Then burn lots of it from whatever positions and variable ranges. Confidence is earned, and familiarity with rifle and load can't be minimized! Recoil must only be a subconscious thing if intending to shoot from prone.

Bob
www.bigbores.ca

I've killed big game from pronghorns up at 400 yards--and some even farther--with rifles that wouldn't average any better than an inch for 3-shot groups at 100 yards, but have a couple of other comments:

3-shot groups do not adequately define a rifle's accuracy with a certain load. Five-shot groups come statistically much closer, with 6-shot groups slightly better. Generally 5-shot groups will average about 1.5 times as large as 3-shot groups.

400 yards isn't considered very far these days, but even at 400 wind-judging tends to be as important as group size.

There are a lot of keyboard warriors who are convinced that 1' at 100 yards automatically translates into 4" at 400 yards. Get out there and shoot and you'll discover the error in this assumption pretty quickly

Shoot at 400 and see if you can meet spec.

A centered 8" group will kill deer stone cold every time.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it for a while.

ETA: As MD said, reading the wind is very important. Study your cartridge's wind calls. Make sure you practice in the conditions under which you will shoot. Don't shoot an animal if you are unsure of your wind call.

When I was much younger and hunting in an area where 100 yards was considered a pretty long and rare opportunity…..I wanted and strived for 1” 5 shot groups.

Much older, and living in a region where 300+ yard shots are more the norm…..I like 3/4” or less groups at 100 yards. But now generally am only shooting 3 shot groups!

With component shortages/expenses, plus I’m getting old and lazy, I do very little load development these days……mostly just shoot to prove zero for hunting! memtb

John,
What about two, 3 shot groups shot into the same target as an alternative to 5 shot groups?
I ask this because for example my standard contour 243's after 3 shots are considerably warmer than my Mtn contour barrel 308 after 5 shots. My concern is throat erosion. I have a Fluke thermal gun and have recorded temps of my rifle barrels immediately after shooting 3 and 5 shot groups.

The first shot from a cold barrel is more important than group size in my opinion