When do you stop chasing accuracy?

[orkan]

Long range hunters who say MOA is good enough for 800 yard kills are not much different from short range hunters who say pie plate at 25 is good enough for kills as far as they can see a deer over 100 yards. Same "iffiness" involved.

Quite right.

Bottom line, when someone is arguing for less precision and accuracy, I know I'm dealing with someone that spends more effort trying to justify lesser performance than would be required if that effort were spent pursuing excellence.

Wide is the way that lead to destruction, and it's no mystery to me why people fight so hard to convince people that aiming down is OK.


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[yobuck]

I have a Tikka T3X Veil in 6.5 PRC, I am loading 143 ELD-X not because I particularly care for them but that's what shoots so far. I am using RL26, Nosler blem brass and Fed 210M primers. If I have not had much coffee, it shoots .5 to .6 at 100. My intent is to use it for whitetail to 800 yards. My longest shot so far is 519 yards with a 257 weatherby. Is there any point looking for another 1/4" of accuracy since I will be shooting off a bipod in field conditions?

Less accurate guns, loads, or shooters used with better shooting platforms or methods will trump accuracy at long range. Which is why over many years young kids and inexperienced adults have killed many of the long range deer taken at our PA camp.
But yes, having both would be better yet.

 

[Jon Bischof]

I have an Australian shepherd and he is a really nice boy and I like him. But that doesn't mean I'm going to take him hunting. I killed tons of deer with an old BAR 30-06 that wouldn't shoot better than an inch and a quarter at a 100 yd. But that was all within a 100 yd. When I started hunting longer ranges I bought a different gun. And even though I don't have opportunity to shoot at 800 yd now I still won't hunt with any rifle that's not at least 1/3 MoA. When you can buy a rilfle for less than $800, slap a scope on it and shoot less than half MOA, even with factory ammo, I don't see any excuse for not doing better. It is certainly not money.

 

[ShootMo]

For me personally, I judge whether I've reached my goals by the potential I've seen up to a said point in load development. Most of us have seen instances where we suddenly step into an accuracy node and big improvements are made. However, most of the time in my --admittedly NON-competitive reloading--the changes are a bit more predictable. So for me, when I see that I'm getting close to what I feel a rifle is capable of, I see no need to go full-blown OCD on load development.

For some reference....right now I'm working up a load in .243 Winnie for a new-to-me factory take off barrel in my Savage platform. It's a home-spun version of a precision rifle. Sitting in an MDT chassis. I say all this to give light to the thought process. I'd be insane to expect .25 MOA from a factory barrel in the middle of an accuracy node. So with my chosen components, I'm searching for something close to .5 MOA. If I don't get there in a reasonable amount of time (and money) then I'll assess whether I try a different reloading component, or just enjoy my rifle where it is. Most likely, I'll enjoy it where it is.

 

[Joefrazell]

do you take a half minute magnum or a 1/4 minute 6.5? I'm taking the 1/2" gun with more authority period. Especially for elk. What I really like is a quarter min magnum. Then you got people saying your lazy or a "second group" person just to justify there own desires. While I can guarantee they're lacking in many other important areas. To each their own. Chase your tail if you want or focus on other very important aspects of the hunt.

 

[orkan]

In a world where pursuit of excellence is constantly mocked and attacked, those pursuing it and encouraging others to pursue it are not looking to their left or right for validation. They are looking up.

No one aiming down, can validate someone aiming up. The worst possible thing someone moving forward can do, is to listen to someone trying to justify staying where they are. The people happy to stay where they are and work within the boundaries others have set, get enraged watching others move forward. They see successful people moving forward smashing down barriers, and it makes them feel inferior. Rather than join the person moving forward and help, they will try to stop them from moving forward.

Society at large, represented by many on this forum, does not want to feel any pressure to improve. If you try to move forward ahead of them, they will try to pull you back collectively.

You'll be free and you'll really innovate when you realize they can't stop you. All of their hand wringing, justifications, and hostility toward you are powerless. They are powerless. If you make an original contribution, it will move forward and pull you along with it under its own power. Purity and excellence carry a power that pessimism and contradiction can never overcome. The truth of this is often realized long after the deaths of people that made those contributions.

Set your own boundaries. You're the only one qualified to set them. You were uniquely and specially made, and no one in the world other than you has had the experiences you've had. There is a purity and excellence inherent in that. Look at the people trying to justify mediocrity with sadness. It's possible they will never know joy. Their relentless criticism and mocking can't hurt you and is guaranteed to hurt them.

If you attempt to stay idle, the undertow of the universe will pull you backward. You need to expend effort moving forward just to stay where you are. You need to expend all of the effort you're capable of to move forward. You will need to do that as a matter of consistent habit to develop skills, experiences, and abilities sufficient to truly innovate and propel you forward at an exponential rate.

I routinely tell shooters I mentor that I cannot make them a better shooter without making them a better person. The principles of success in any endeavor are the same, regardless of discipline. If anyone in your life is trying to stay in neutral or worse still, aiming down... you need to get away from them as fast as you can. Your entire future and your success depends on it. Surround yourself with people that are moving forward and aiming up! Protect the purity and excellence you were given. Pray for those that work to justify their adoption of mediocrity. Pray, reach a hand down to help them up to your plateau, but if they refuse to take your hand, leave them where they stand and move on.


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[Tree Farmer]

orhkan, this is a very principled life philosophy you embrace. I have a .5 moa hunting rifle that I'm quite satisfied with. I'll not pursue .25 moa because I don't have the wherewithal to do so. If someone wants to gift me a selection of powders, bullets, primers and loading tools I currently don't have, I'd spend many hours pursuing accuracy's holy grail. Till then, my maximum range will be whatever distance my current load will hit an 8" circle with a cold bore shot and a second followup shot 100% of the time.

 

[Jon Bischof]

Many of us are limited not by our desire for excellence but by our limited resources. I admit that there is no way I could have the rifles I have, all shooting less than 1/3 MOA without Divine guidance and what some folks call "luck", with the money I had to work with.
So, you have to strive with what you can afford. Money has not kept me from getting sub-moa, but then I don't waste money believing that the higher the price, the better the accuracy because it is not always true. I also do not believe one can buy marksmanship.

 

[Greyfox]

To Orkan and Tree Farmer
…..and somewhere between the extremes of inspiration and pragmatism the answer to the OP's question will be found!

 

[Hawkeye Pierce]

The wind is going to be the determining factor, not so much a .5 gun.

 

[Joefrazell]

Here ya go

 

[2buffalo]

Here ya go

 

[dfrahm]

Just wondering what some factory loads would shoot for that rifle??

 

[startrek1761d]

I've stopped chasing accuracy