Accuracy means different things to different people
Most of the year, you can visit a local rifle range and find few, if any, shooters. But as the leaves turn yellow and red, the same shooting range becomes crowded as rifles that had been stored away are sighted in.
The gun is not the only thing shot at these ranges as debates break out on the desireability of various rounds and rifles. Among the subjects debated will be power, trajectory and accuracy. It is the latter that I enjoy debating the most.
Actually, accuracy is not as simple a subject as it seems. For one thing, it is subjective. People differ on opinions of what accuracy is.
I have always divided it into separate parts. There is target accuracy, where the distance is known and a flat trajectory is not needed.
While a form of target shooting, I tend to separate bench rest shooting from the other paper punching sports.
Hunting accuracy is different because terminal ballistics become important. After all, what good is the accuracy of a rifle if the animal is hit and just runs away.
Bench rest shooters seek the most accuracy out of their rifle. This group of shooters is always seeking the perfect group from their rifle.
Of course, the perfect group would measure the exact size of the bullet they are shooting. In such an instance, all of the bullets would have gone through the same hole.
This has never actually happened, but a few shooters have come close.
To this group, accuracy is a group fired that measures somewhere around 1/10 of an inch. Great pains are made in building a rifle to do this, and even greater lengths are used to make the ammunition.
Cases are checked for capacity, and those that vary are set aside. Necks of the cases are turned and made even. Flash holes are deburred and primer pockets are evened.
After all the work in case preparation is done and the round is loaded, it is checked for concentricity. Only when it is as perfect as it can be, it can be used in competition.
Barrels are the best that can be purchased, and actions are squared up, barrels recrowned, triggers lightened and stocked rebedded.
Bench rest shooters need all of the accuracy they can get, and they do a lot of work in advance of shooting. Do hunters need to spend hours in case preparation when hunting with handloads? A groundhog hunter shooting at 400 yards needs a tight grouping for its rifle-ammunition combo.
A rifle that groups 1/2 inch at 100 yards when shooting from the bench will be, under even the most perfect conditions, off by 2 inches at 400 yards. Add in wind and an uncomfortable shooting position and you can see why misses occur.
That’s why hog hunters need excellent accuracy.
For big game hunters, different conditions exist. A deer’s chest measures 12 inches by 12 inches.
I once saw Dave Garrison of Canonsburg helping a frustrated young hunter sight in his rifle. The young man was worried because his rifle was shooting groups that measured 1 1/2 inches.
Garrison held his hand on the target and asked if the young man could hit his hand? His point was if his hand could be hit, the young man could down a deer.
Deer hunters hardly need the accuracy of a varmint hunter or bench rest shooter.
You might enjoy seeking those little, tight groups, but they are hardly necessary for big game success.
Better yet, and more important, is a form of accuracy that I haven’t mentioned, something I call dependability.
To me, that means the rifle’s ability to hold zero despite rain and other abuse. It hits what it is pointed at year after year.
I have owned many rifles and not many have done just that. The ones that did shot on target regardless of what was done to them.
I would sacrifice 1/4 inch for dependability in a big game rifle every time.
George H. Block writes a Sunday Outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter.