Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 1/2" Guns

Thank you, John. -Al

No kidding. You can't call it a 1/2" rifle unless you can post 5 5shot groups under 1/2" average. Even better, shoot a season of short range benchrest and see what it averages. Showing a target on the internet usually means the best group that rifle has ever shot.

I normally like to get lots of trigger time. It seems like the more trigger time the smaller the groups. As spring moves into summer, my crew sees noticably smaller groups from so much shooting.

A three shot group is quite adequate for me as shooting Rockchucks is somewhat slow anyhow. I have 6 rifles I shoot varmints with, 4 that are sub 1/2" shooters. So I believe it when shooters make claims of sub half inch groups. In fact, one particular day last fall, I shot my 20 TAC, 223 and 204 and all three grouped under an inch at 250 yards. I think that a very good gunsmith like Bob Green can turn out good shooting guns, as long as the barrels are excellent.

It is a lot of work developing loads, but the rewards are great. I think there are more guns that shoot that well, than there are shooters.

Good post John.. Spot on as far as I'm concerned..

I don't understand why guys question 1/2" accuracy at a 100 yards. I haven't had too much trouble getting that kind of accuracy out of most of my rifles once I found the ammo that it liked, and I don't even reload. I am a stickler for that kind of accuracy, though I know its not necessary. But it do add mucho confidence that the bullet will go where I want it to, close up and far away. I don't care about 5 shot or 10 shot groups because I have never fired more than 1 or 2 bullets at anything I've killed in the last 10 years with the exception of my boys first black bear, that was a bit of a rodeo!....grin

Perhaps it was Al Nyhus who posted this some time in the past.

A half-inch rifle is one that will put one shot into a different half-inch dot every time. I've yet to see a hunting weight sporter that will do so.

7 in .499
It's not necessary, but golly it is fun.

You might be surprised how many rifles/shooters won't/cant shoot 1/2" groups consistently. Furthermore, 3 shots don't tell you much. Start shooting 5 and 10 shot groups and get back to us...

The new Kimber .300 Savage did this yesterday with Nosler 150 Accubonds and Leupold 6x42. Excuse the scribble, I was trying to make it into a .5rifle, but once I got a handle on the ruler again it wasn't.

Anyway, is this a two inch rifle or sub moa rifle. One obviously go away from me, but thinking I'll just forget about it.



Then it did this with 130 Barnes TTSX.




200 Yards:





I could most certainly shoot a few .5s for three shots, but that wouldn't prove it was a .5 rifle. Then again, maybe it is, because I know I'm not a .5in shooter.

Most of my rifles will shoot half-inch 3 shot groups, if you discount the occasional "flyer" or two.

Wait, wait, wait....if you shoot two shots tight, and then push a third about 1" off, all you have to do is write the phrase "called flyer", and it still counts as a great group. Just check the classifieds.

What the [bleep] for? Like I said.....in the last 10 years I haven't shot anything I have killed more than once or twice, what the hell does a 10 shot string tell you in a hunting rifle? When was the last time you shot at anything even 5 times?

If you are measuring a guns precision, which happens to be the topic of this thread, then groups are the proof. I don't think that anyone is arguing that a good hunting rifle needs to be a 10 shot, .5 moa stick.

Maybe I cant read, but what I interpreted from the opening thread , was the OP questioning people selling HUNTING rifles that they claim will shoot 1/2" and insinuating that its an exaggeration. It was never brought up that 10 shot stringers are how you determine whether or not a rifle is a 1/2" rifle. If the [bleep] will put 3 shots into a 1/2" at 100 yards in succession without waiting for the barrel to cool,etc. Then its a 1/2" gun, furthermore I don't comprehend the difficulty in accepting that based on the rifles I've owned, hunted with and killed chit with. It aint rocket science. Maybe I am out of touch?????

Kimber Montana...Federal 165 gr TSX's 100 yards and 300 yards, no modifications to rifle. This rifle would do this all day every day if I did my part.

However, it takes more than a .5 shooter to put one in the right place when this is going on, and she was a lot closer than 100.



Or this, when you have nothing but your legs to lean on and time is running out.

I'd let both of 'em walk unless I had hungry kids at home, and mine are about grown.

Terry Cross has opined that a no-schit one moa rifle will win any tactical rifle match in the US, if the shooter is up to the task.

That second Deer is around 50 and you let it walk in Pa and you left a lot of meat in the woods on what is a fairly common opportunity.

The first while more difficult, deserves a kick in the ass if you don't put it on the ground.

Stand hunter?

Yeah, and an old SF medic, and current TCCC instructor (I have to get folks to be able to comprehend the concept of a tension pneumothorax) and a grad of SFAUC and SOTIC, and I'm currently shooting a pistol in the 80's on a Rogers Range. Nothing really impressive, but I have pulled a trigger or two.

No Portugese head shots for me.

My 22-250 is an honest 1/2" rifle. Rem SA with a Hart barrel. I have shot 4 into the teens a few times, just not all five. I have a Ruger boat paddle in 270 Win that will put 3 into 5/8-3/4, 5 into an inch. Yes I have shot a few 1/2 groups with it, but that doesn't make it a 1/2" gun in my book. Same with a 300 Wby, Vanguard sub-moa model. Shoots most stuff under an inch and a quarter. Never have gotten anywhere close to the test target though. I think that one was shot underground at 25 yards.

On the other hand, while pulling range duty, I have seen many people take one inch guns and make shotgun patterns with them while trying to sight in for deer season. Watched two older gentelmen go through two boxes of '06. Four inches left, adjust scope, five inches low, adjust scope. I am no bench rest shooter, but I sat down and put three into 1 3/4" with the dirty hot barrel. Friend and I adusted scope and put two rounds two inches high about an inch apart. Think they had about seven rounds left in the third box!

Impressive credentials. Me, I'm just a Pa hunter that shoots a little.

Around 30yards from admittedly a sit, but it was either back of the neck or nothing.





Around 40 off hand and under the eye in the thick half way up the hill.








Why a .22LR is your friend; offhand at 50.