All,
I was talking with a co-worker today about the pursuit of the one-hole group. I made the statement that regularly shooting a one-hole group is easy, that in fact all it takes to do so is money. Let me clarify.
It is my belief that for "reasonable" rifle chamberings, putting together a rifle and rest setup that often puts 5 shots into about 1/4 inch or maybe 3/8 inch at 100 yards on a more-or-less calm day can be done for less than $5,000. I'm not saying $5,000 is chump change, 'cause it ain't (at least to me). I'm just saying that if you have that kind of money to invest in a rifle, scope, rest, and a decent handloading setup, itty-bitty groups can be yours pretty easily.
"Reasonable" chamberings include things like .308, .223, .30-06, .22-250, .270, etc. Chamberings for which high-quality bullets are available. There are many, many more than the five chamberings I have listed, of course.
"Rifle" means something the average non-shooter would look at and say "Yup, that's a rifle." Maybe even "Yup, that's a fancy rifle." I am not talking about open/unlimited benchrest class return-to-battery setups.
"More-or-less calm" means no wind or at most 5-10 mph wind - even full-value, gusty wind.
I made this claim because at the rifle range I go to I see guys all the time with these custom bolt guns (usually in .308) shooting itty-bitty groups. One guy had his gun strapped (forearm and buttstock) into a nice one-piece sled-type rest and was basically aiming with knobs on the rest and otherwise not touching the rifle except to pull the trigger. His 100-yard groups at starting loads were better than any group I have ever shot, period the end. And that day was what I would call windy...15-20mph gusty wind. He was shooting without flags.
Anyway, what do you guys think? Was I just running my mouth or do you think there is some truth to my $5,000 claim?
-cls
I was talking with a co-worker today about the pursuit of the one-hole group. I made the statement that regularly shooting a one-hole group is easy, that in fact all it takes to do so is money. Let me clarify.
It is my belief that for "reasonable" rifle chamberings, putting together a rifle and rest setup that often puts 5 shots into about 1/4 inch or maybe 3/8 inch at 100 yards on a more-or-less calm day can be done for less than $5,000. I'm not saying $5,000 is chump change, 'cause it ain't (at least to me). I'm just saying that if you have that kind of money to invest in a rifle, scope, rest, and a decent handloading setup, itty-bitty groups can be yours pretty easily.
"Reasonable" chamberings include things like .308, .223, .30-06, .22-250, .270, etc. Chamberings for which high-quality bullets are available. There are many, many more than the five chamberings I have listed, of course.
"Rifle" means something the average non-shooter would look at and say "Yup, that's a rifle." Maybe even "Yup, that's a fancy rifle." I am not talking about open/unlimited benchrest class return-to-battery setups.
"More-or-less calm" means no wind or at most 5-10 mph wind - even full-value, gusty wind.
I made this claim because at the rifle range I go to I see guys all the time with these custom bolt guns (usually in .308) shooting itty-bitty groups. One guy had his gun strapped (forearm and buttstock) into a nice one-piece sled-type rest and was basically aiming with knobs on the rest and otherwise not touching the rifle except to pull the trigger. His 100-yard groups at starting loads were better than any group I have ever shot, period the end. And that day was what I would call windy...15-20mph gusty wind. He was shooting without flags.
Anyway, what do you guys think? Was I just running my mouth or do you think there is some truth to my $5,000 claim?
-cls