Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire BS and Rifle accuracy

Every now and then you will find one guy who can really shoot. I was at the range one day and the doctor sitting next to me was shooting a mauser military style rifle with a peep sight. When we went down to check our targets at 100 yards, I had shot about a 2" group with a scoped .280 M77. I noticed the doctor's group was about an inch. I was impressed.

Bob

I'd submit that one could take a relative newbie on a calm day,put good stuff in his hands,dial him good dope and he'd have upper percentile results downrange. Fact is,it would freak most folks out and the principles are very easy to grasp/apply.

The mechanics of shooting good stuff,from a fair to middlin' rest,ain't Rocket Science,no matter what anybody says. That again assuming favorable conditions.

Good tools,go a long ways,towards reducing the "Guesstimation Clause" within the equation. If one can pinpoint the dope and yield something resembling a field rest,good things IS gonna happen.

We are pretty spoiled today,as fantastic equipment is readily available from lotsa sources and for modest loot if your nose is in the wind. Couple that equipment with some serious range time and the once "impossible" becomes mundane. You can then whittle off another hunk and push equipment/skills even further and a guy climbs another rung up the proficiency ladder. For the true Looney,he can keep pushing both skills and equipment,to the limits of his Wife's understanding(grin) and available free time to hone skills.

But those are issues/practices farrrr seperate from being able to hang a half inch offhand cyber-cluster at 300yds,while standing on one foot,with a beer can balanced atop the noggin'. Generally pretty easy to see through the smoke and a trip to the range removes ALL doubts,for those spinning yarns in the flesh.

The ability to communicate via the 'net,has opened lotsa new doors too. There are more fans than there are players,but there are some SERIOUSLY gifted/steeped gents who are willing to share info on both equipment and technique. A guy can yield more in a coupla chats,than he could in 5yrs of rag subscriptions. That is a sweet deal.

So I can see both sides of the coin. Billy Bob ain't never gonna be good with anything,while there are those that are gonna be fair to middlin'(as a minimum),with most everything.

Coming full circle,a guy makes his own luck and one can be as routinely "lucky" as he wishes......................

For the true Looney,he can keep pushing both skills and equipment,to the limits of his [color:"red"] Wife's [/color] understanding(grin) and available free time to hone skills.

I may print this quote off and hang it above my bed at home. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I try to keep Big Momma guessing,so as to obscure the next pending project.

Thus far,so good..................

That's how I do it!

More than once I got a 0.6 inch three shot group out of my savage 99. I stopped shooting! Those targets are neatly hangin' in the shop to show my prowess.

The 6.6 inch 5 shot groups never left the range. I have shot about an equal number of 0.6s and 6.6s over the last few years.

Most of the truth is in the 1.25-1.9 MOA (3 shot group) range. Most of the cussing is in the 2.0-2.75 MOA (5 shot group) range. It always seems that the 4th shot is the one that adds an inch (who knows why?)

Anyway, thanx for the laugh GunnyBob.

BMT

I would hate to know how much money that first prairie dog has cost me...

Amen to that Sky. I'm not up to "several thousands" of dollars yet, but there is still time ! E

Well this has been an interesting discussion.

My only contribution is this-
I used to regularly shoot 1/2" groups at 500 yards with almost every rifle I own (damn shotgun just won't group worth a dam at 400, much less 500). But since I've seen the venom displayed by those jealous of us who can perform these feats, I've decided to actually lie about my abilities and underreport how my rifles perform. I wouldn't want anyone here to get their feelings hurt because I've truthfully reported my groups, but then again if somebody here called me on it I'd probably get my feelings hurt and have to go eat worms. In fact, after reading this thread, I feel so bad I think I need a hug.
You know, for us serious riflemen who shot 2 1/2 to 3 boxes of ammo a year, it really isn't all that hard. Hard work and perseverance do pay off. Of course, having a 500 yard range would be helpful, but not totally necessary. Heck, anyone can extrapolate their groups from shooting at 25 yards, right? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

LOL,

I want to be one of those serious riflemen who goes through 3 boxs of ammo a year. I must be doing something wrong cause I went through 18 lbs. of powder last year and have already gone through 4 lbs of powder this year!

{Dang how many people can shoot 4 inch 200 yard groups off hand?!?!)

Answer: Anyone with a keyboard.

What you really mean to say isThat deer were 324 yds out and I shot him "Off Hand" {my "Off hand" were setting on my coat and my coat were setting on a rock} The last half isn't mentioned though.

Well, there you go Sheister- shooting up all that ammo (2 to 3 boxes) every year does nothin' but develop bad habits.

Do it my way. One shot to check zero. One to drop the moose at 50 yards or so. One shot for insurance. Clean gun and put away until next year. Heck- you can get 4 or 5 head of game out of a box like that. Use premium ammo of course. Not recommended for novices. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I once got a 7/8 inch (3 shot) group out of my .338 at 200 yards. The next one went just over an inch, and I was out of that box of reloads. (I was testing reliabilty of the scope, (Tasco) after dropping the whole rig 30 feet out of the tree stand) Figured I'd quit while I was ahead, and haven't loaded that recipe (blindly chosen - no work-up) since. Damned Sierra Game Kings.

But I did write it down.

I would!!!!!!


Signed,

A rack full of Leupolds, turrets & McMillans.......and several thousand bucks lighter in the pocket book!

In my two years of hanging drywall in college I heard 3 stories from 3 different men explaining how they killed Whitetail deer with their hunting knives. These stories involved such feats as: Jumping out of the deer stand and landing on top of the deer, knife in hand. Rifle jambing, sneeking down from the stand and stalking within stabbing distance. And my favorite....running after said deer (after it bolted), losing rifle while jumping through brambles and eventually catching and cutting throat of deer once it had come to an impassable barb wire fence. I usually followed these tall tales with the story of how I killed two grizzly bears (in TN nonetheless) by placing my hunting knife blade first in front of my muzzleloader thus splitting the ball in two pieces and critically wounding both bears in one shot. Since we are discussing BS I just figured I would share a little...seeing as how it gets shoveled on us younger guys.

EvilGenius

OK- I gotta put this one out there - it's my excuse for how I am. And it was my Mom's favorite story. She'd giggle for an hour after telling it. Who can argue with a Mom?

This was during WWII. Ammo was practically non-existant. The .30-30 was dry. My Dad (this was in northern Minnesota) also had a double bbl 12 (Damascus Steel, yet- I learned to hunt with that thing, not knowing better, then, with modern loads - it never blew up!). He had some light bird or trap loads or something. Someone gave him 2 or 3 20 guage buck . Mid winter, out of meat, "season" be damned. He stuck the 20 ga. buck into two of the 12 ga. birdshot loads and went ahunting for meat. Climbed up on a big deadfall right above where several deer trails came together, and shortly, along came a doe, and he lowered the boom on her with the first barrel, and down she went. Halfway down the tree, she was on her feet, and Dad gave her the other barrel. At the bottom of the tree, she was up again, so, out of ammo, he jumped on her. As they were thrashing around on the ground, trying to hold her down while digging in his pocket for his folding knife, she somehow got her hind legs down the front of his pants, ripped them off, and went flying into the woods with them. (That was his story, anyway). It was waaaaaay below zero, and he gave Mom quite a start as she spotted him thru the kitchen window, trudging back to the house pantsless, in just his long johns. True story.

So there you have it. I was frostbit before conception, the root of all my foibles.

LAS--if I came home minus my pants with a story like that, frostbite would be the least of my worries.

I wish I could B.S. you guys with some fantastic story of my prowess, but that crap just don't fly in here. There's no substitue for time at the range. Most of these guys that claim these 500 yard shots would be lucky to shoot respectable groups at 100 yards, let alone 200 yards or farther. To the guys who can shoot at that range-you deserve to be able to tell us you can, because I'm sure you've spent way more time working up your systems than I could ever hope to. To the crackpots that just claim they can, let's go to the range and shoot some groups........... What's that you say? Can't make it today? Yeah sure! P.S. I can't even chase down 2 legged deer any more, let alone four legged ones, so I guess I'm heading for the range to work on my loads.

I am a hunter, the only accuracy that counts in the field is hunting accuracy. By that I mean, your capability to stand flat footed and make a standing shot. Use your sling, and get those elbows out at 90 degree angles or such. Grabbing a rock for a rest, or grabbing a stick for stability. Use of stoney point shooting sticks, etc. I tend to be on the move alot while hunting deer, of the last three deer I shot, one was a standing shot across a wash, one was a sitting shot, with no rest at 175 to 200 yds, and the last one was a standing jump shot in the snow at about 125 yds. Having a good trigger, and practicing off hand, and field condition shots is more valuble to me once I have developed a load I like, than continual bench shooting. In fact, once the load I like is determined, then I usually begin determining it's flight path out to about 400 yds. Little holes, maybe not, but accurate for hunting.

Aggie Dog--the bench is so comforting, what with those pretty little groups you can shoot off of it, that we hate to stand up and practice--and expose ourselves to abuse from the other shooters. The PHs I talked to in RSA had one uniform complaint about American hunters---they can't (or won't) take a fast offhand shot when it is presented. The PH will spot an animal and say "shoot" and the Yanks start looking around for a rest. Sometimes the shooting sticks are handy, but sometimes not.

One of my favorite practices is shooting pop cans at 100 yards standing freehand. When I can hit 4 out of 5 consistently, I figure I am good to go for deer season. The best rifle I have found for offhand shooting is my 99 in 308. The target I have over my reloading bench is one I shot with it, 2 1/2" at 100 yards standing freehand. I'm sure there are better shots, but for me, that is the group I was most proud to shoot, as it took alot of rounds at the range to get there.