Real "acceptable" hunting accuracy

Interesting story:

I watched a guy sight in his rifled shotgun before deer season using those expensive sabot shells. At 25 yards he shot $100 worth of slugs off a rest. Then he asked the range officer to see if he could figure out what was going wrong. The RO shot out the center of the target. Gave the gun back and the guy missed 4 more times and went home. This was a scoped gun.
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At 25 yards maybe, but IME, I'd need $100(~25 shots) worth of shells to shoot the center out with sabot slugs at 100 yds.

....and I can shoot 5 300 WSM's prone at 100 under 1"!

To me, hunting accuracy is defined by that mythical paper plate. 1 should hit it everytime at max range.

10 shots in 2.5" at 100 should be fine!
 
MOA is pointless. what matters is the group size at whatever range you intend to shoot. I've hunted deer with a 4 MOA rifle(on a good day) but it was a 9mm and with that particular cartridge you're maxed at about 75 yards anyway so at that range 3 inches is the best possible group and the kill zone on a deer is nearly 3 times that. so as long as my wobble added to a 3 inch variance does not equal an area larger than the kill zone of a deer at my desired range that is acceptable accuracy as far as I'm concerned.

however, I routinely hunt in an area that can require up to 300 yard shots at deer so even if my 9mm had been 1 MOA or under, it would not have had the necessary energy and expansion to kill a deer cleanly should I have been presented with a good shot at that max range. because of this I normally hunt with 22s all the way up to about 6.5MMs but at 300 yards, there is no way that a 4 MOA rifle would keep within the kill zone on a deer even if it was standing still and I happened to be shooting from a lead sled. so in that occurrence, I would require no less than 1.5 MOA(equal to 4.5 inches at 300 yards) because at 300 yards I still have to account for my wobble, plus wind, plus a minute chance that the animal can move at the last second.

so for guys that insist you need holes touching groups that never hunt past 50 yards, a good shot does not need nearly that level of accuracy but if you have a 10 MOA wobble then holes touching is exactly what you need to guarantee a clean kill.
 
Tahunua, what you have to say to these people is Confidence, whether my rifle shoots onehole groups at 100 from a rest or a hastey rest no matter. Confidence in ones rifle and loads means millions when hunting. I dont hunt with 9 mm anything, so I cant wear your shoes, however I won't go afield with a rifle I cant put ten into less than MOA on any givin Sunday at the range..
 
I'd rather hit with a mild load than miss with a hot one. Max loads will extend your effective range a bit, but what's the benefit if your bullet wanders out of the killing zone.
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That's a good point. (As mentioned by other posters, as well.)

The .270 Win load that I mentioned above is an example of accuracy over velocity.
While most people push 140 gr bullets to 2,850-2,900 fps, my hunting load is a slowpoke at just 2,790 fps.

It's not as flat-shooting as some loads, but it is more accurate.


Really... With all of my hunting rifles, the only ones that I can think of where I even consider velocity while planning new loads are the .458 SOCOM and 6x45mm.

In the SOCOM it's because if I don't try to stick with powders that offer max velocity for a given bullet, then I might as well be shooting my .44 Mag. There's that much of a difference between the "fast" powders and the next couple options on the list. In half a heart beat, you can go from 1,900 fps to 1,600 fps, just by going from #1 to #3 on a list of powders ranked fast-to-slow for a particular bullet. ...And I have .44 Mag loads that can do 1,600 fps, or close to it.

The 6x45mm is meant for varmints and antelope, and the bullets have a lower ballistic coefficient than .224 bullets (of similar weight). And, being an AR-style rifle, I need to keep it where it will still function under all conditions. I can't let velocity fall off too far. So, I try to keep the velocity up with that one, while still working towards the most accurate load.
 
With today's bolt guns, I'm pretty disappointed if I can't keep 5 shots inside an inch and a half at 100. My usual course of action is to load up to find my maximum with the bullet as close to the lands as possible with the magazine length, then back off a half grain and tune seating depth in .010" increments for accuracy. I shoot over a chronograph when loading up to max, firing at just 25 yards to make lining things up easier. If a load won't shoot pretty near a ragged hole at 25 yards, then it probably won't be very accurate and I try a different powder.
 
Well ...... I have a Browning 100 atr .270 I shoot deer.... deer fall over dead... works for me lol it is not the most expensive gun I own nore the most accurate one I own but never had a deer run after I hit it. So I guess it is acceptable. Strange thing is I tried EVERY thing in it but it likes the winchester 130,-PowerPoint the BEST.lol
 
Well I have been around a ton of hunters in my short 50 something years. Their experience ranged from growing up shooting from an early age to having just purchased the rifle the spring before hunting that fall. The accuracy demands varied as much or more than their personalities.

For general hunting I would have to say that 2" with 5 shots at 100yds will put meat in the freezer just about any weekend. However, this is a general statement. I personally hunt a few places where you either have your rig dialed in tight or you might not get a shot. In the bottoms on my friends place you might be able to see a couple hundred yards "through" the thick woods, but placing a shot through that same area is really akin to threading a needle. An example of this can be seen in the photo below,
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I took this picture standing over the top of a feral hog I had shot from only a hundred or so yard straight through the trees there. What you cannot see in the background are the two Polaris 4 wheelers and the trailer we use to haul these bigger hogs out with. I had to put the shot literally in the ear in order to anchor the hog. I could only see part of the head, and portions of the rear due to the trees. This particular property has plenty of places just like this and thicker and has excellent deer on it as well. If however your rifle and load aren't up to shooting clover leaf groups your somewhat at a disadvantage when trying to hunt there. You will see plenty of game, but your not going to make a shot through this stuff more than about 50-75yds with a rifle that shoots a 2" group unless your VERY lucky.

On the other hand sitting on the side of a pasture where the deer come out to feed under the edges of oaks, you can easily make due with 2" accuracy all year long. However, there it is again, IF like on my property where those oaks are in a windrow in the middle of two different pastures and the wind can blow straight down the length of them either from the north or the south, you have to be able to reach out a little more than 250 or so yards and precisely place your shot. So your now 2" @100yd accuracy grows a bit more at 200yds. It might only be 3" or it might be 7" depending on how well you can contain yourself when the big one walks out, or if your like a friend, if anything at all walks out. He has problems trying to take a picture much less hold still enough to place a shot. (and no he doesn't shoot very far at all when he does shoot.) But the fact remains you have to be dialed in tight here as well in order to make up for that little adrenalin rush, or heavy breath, or even just a touch of a gust in the air once in a while. It never seems to fail it can be dead calm right up until I look through the scope to start setting up for a shot and well here is that little gust out of nowhere.

So like the OP, yes I have rifles I use that will do 2" all day every day, and I have those which I use rarely that will do .5" when I need them to. I use them when I am hunting those specific places and NEED that accuracy, and use the others when I am just dobber heading around and might come up on something.
 
If a rifle will shoot 2" and under at 100 yards it's good enough for most hunting. The smaller the kill zone of your game the tighter the group needs to be. An example is a whitetail at 100 yards. 2" groups will definitely hit the kill zone. A p-dog at 100 yards you're looking at MOA and under for a kill shot. As Mike from TX said, if you're making a 250 shot you'll need an accurate rifle. 2" at 100 yards can grow significantly out at 250 yards. I try to buy and hunt with rifles capable of MOA. Don't always get there, but most of mine can if I do my part.
 
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If a rifle consistently shoots 2" groups at 100 yards, no shot will be farther than 1" from dead center!

I haven't seen any target rings on deer, so nobody will ever know if that shot was a "10" or a "9", it doesn't matter as long as it killed the deer quickly.

The most important shot with a deer hunting rifle is the cold-barrel, (perhaps clean bore) shot. Who cares where the 10th round from a hot barrel will hit?
 
The most important shot with a deer hunting rifle is the cold-barrel, (perhaps clean bore) shot. Who cares where the 10th round from a hot barrel will hit?
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That's what I'm talkin' about.
I do my level best to foul the barrel at the range (5 or more shots) and bring it back a second day to verify cold bore accuracy. I don't clean until after the season is over. Just a little oil on the bolt to make sure it stays smooth.
 
IT depends. I cater the gun being shot to the need it will be used to accomplish.

All of my Marlin 336's, 35 Remington's will flat shoot. However, I don't intend to shoot things long range with them. My bolt guns will shoot 1 inch or less or I keep fooling with them till they will. While I will likely never have the opportunity to shoot very far in yards, they are designed to shoot well. They get fooled with till they do so. I haven't found one yet that won't. God Bless
 
I shoot all my shots cold barrel (no more than 4 to a string).

So I haven't shown a difference, even out to 850 yards.

As far as accuracy, if I can't hit a full coca cola can at 300m, it isn't good a ouch for me. That is pretty close to 1MOA. I wasn't always this picky, but after I found out what a good tuned handloading in a run of the mill savage 110 did...I became a snob.

My rifle is always fouled because I shoot it every week, 3-5 times per week sometimes.

Note: all my shooting is from a bipod, if I have to shoot off hand even with a rest it spreads out pretty quick to 2-2.5 MOA. For predators, off hand limits me to about 300 yards for ethical hunting.
 
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