What is mil-spec accuracy?

The OP is 4 years old. And mil-spec is a marketing term that means military specification. It has nothing to do with mils.
 
I think most people loosely use the term. I think most intend to illustrate a condition that reflects what an average military weapon is capable of doing. I don’t think that they intend to compare the term milspec to the worst possible passing condition.

Just a guesstimate, but I was probably issued in the neighborhood of about 20 m16/M4 variants... not a single one of them was inaccurate. The very first groups I made zeroing that rattling basic training M16 went in one hole for each group. The drill sergeant yelled that I needed to shoot each one three times. I told him that I was hitting in the same hole. He thought I was lying. After that I spread them out a little. The sergeant was pleased about how I was “improving”... ahhh to only have those 17 year old eyes again.

Milspec isn’t bad, things could be a lot worse. If milspec were a tool, it would be miles ahead of Harbor Freight :)
 
Quentin2 said:
But when it comes to firearms there are too many on the market that are below the milspec bar. And when some folks realize they didn't do their homework and bought substandard, well they scoff at the standards. If buying a serious weapon it's wise to meet or exceed that bar, not fall short. That's what our military strives to do and many civilians and LEOs as well.

Sure, there are higher bars to reach than milspec but at least get over the middle bar, don't trip over it.

As far as 8MOA, I suspect many of our rifles easily beat that but it's not as certain that the shooter can.
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Mil-Spec equipment is often looked upon much like a West Point slick-sleeve butter-bar with a compass...
it might turn out alright, but chances are your platoon is about to get BF-Lost :D
It's a beautiful Theory, but the reality too often shows more shortcomings than plusses.

Honestly, Mil-Spec, to the average Veteran, usually means a step above SNAFU.
Especially if they've got a few hash marks...because we all know for a fact that this statement is 100% true...
Mil Spec., means: build by the lowest bidder that didn't loose its contract...
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Also have to remember how much absolute junk is bought by individuals that DO NOT
have our country's best interests at heart, but are only interested in inflating their wallets.
They even invented a word for that...they call the resulting purchase a Boondoggle!
 
Pretty sure I've heard 4 MOA being acceptable for the M16A4/M4 variants. I've never been issued one that shot that poorly, and they get beat up pretty badly.
 
I dealt with enough military rifles since I started my military career 47 years ago to believe the above numbers are pretty close (for arms room guns, not match rifles).
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Good post.

In SOTIC they put out the average service rifle is ~2.5 MOA and a good quality sniper system ~1/2 to 1/4 MOA. The M24 was a 1/4MOA weapon IIRC.

MILSPEC is nothing more than the specification the military requires. It is not necessarily the lowest common denominator but simply sets a standard to measure.
 
M16A1
accuracy: 8 MOA
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Do the math....it is not as bad as you might think.

If the shipping limit is 8 MOA is the shipping limit, the likely are trying to catch those that fall more the 3 std deviations away from the mean.

If we assume the best M16A1 shoots .5 MOA, we get:

8-(((8-.5)/6)*3)= mean group size = ~4MOA....not terrible
 
All one has to do is shoot a AK47 with issue ammunition to see that accuracy is a low priority in modern weapon design. The Russians built an outstanding service rifle in the AK47: reliable, simple, but not accurate.
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I read somewhere that the acceptable accuracy for an AK to pass QC was 6moa. That's not very far from a Garand or M14, which were its contemporaries when it was designed.
 
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