What rifle accuracy is "good enough" for hunting...

E

ezmiraldo

New member
... at such distances as 100 yards, 200 yards, and 300 yards. i will be hunting elk, deer, and black bear. i'll be going for broadside lung/heart shots...

just wanna know when i can be satisfied with my groups, and feel like i'm ready for hunting (at least from marksmanship perspective).
 
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The kill zone for each of those animals is larger than a 6'' paper plate. Any gun that consistently shoots within that at the distance you are shooting, is accurate enough to consistently take those animals. To many this means a gun that shoots 1.5 to 2'' MOA @ 100 yards. Most of the time it is not the guns fault when a hunter misses or wounds an animal that is not retrieved.
 
well this is a horrible question to ask and it sets a bad precedent if it's ever answered. what is accurate enough for some people is way below other people's standards. some people never hunt in areas that allows for more than 50 yard shots, therefore for them, a 6 inch 100 yard group is more than plenty for anything because the kill zone on a deer and black bear is about 6 inches across and elk is closer to 10 inches across so for them to be able to group 3 inches or better at 50 yards makes it very doable.

however those same people, are often quick to call foul on anyone that even suggests 100 yard shots, no less 300 because they see no reason why THEY would ever need to make that shot, completely ignoring that many hunters live in regions that necessitate long shots(my first deer was the size of a large skunk at 350 yards). now in keeping with the killzone sizes I just laid out, you need to be able to keep all shots within a killzone sized target area at the specified ranges, meaning that if you are shooting 300 yards at a deer, you need to be able to group no wider than 6 inches at 300 yards or 2 inches at 100 yards. elk comes to 3.33333333... inches at 100 yards.

but as I said that sets a bad precedent. why? because:
1. you need to be able to make those shots from field positions that you would be using from hunting. some people think that because a deer's killzone is about 6 inches that all they have to do is shoot 6 inches off sandbags from a bench and they're good enough to hunt, this is not the case. you need to be able to make real world groups smaller than the kill zone you'd be required to make.

2. shtuff happens, wind gusts up without warning, the animal turns or takes a step at the last second, any one of a hundred things can happen to throw what would have otherwise been a grazing shot to the heart, into a complete miss of all vital organs. just because you can make good hits on a stationary target does not mean that you can make those same sized groups on a moving target.


so real world suggests that you need to be able to squeeze every bit of accuracy from both you and the rifle to minimize the chances of wounding and losing an animal. if I was going to shoot 300 yards at deer, I would want to make sure that I could make at a minimum 1.5 inch groups at 100 yards because by 300, that becomes 4.5 and that's without any wind drift, bullet drop or atmospheric interference being calculated.
 
A rifle or handgun should keep three shots in 4" at the maximum range you might use it on game. That's the mechanical accuracy side of it.

Your practical max range is the distance where you can reliably repeat that performance in a moderate hurry under field conditions. This is not to say you never can or should shoot farther, when conditions are ideal and you are sure of the shot.
 
I normally consider 6" (combined hunter/firearm accuracy) under real world hunting conditions, including adrenalin, to be the minimum acceptable at any distance.
 
Determine the size of the kill-zones of the animals you wish to hunt. Be sure you understand how shooting from different angles or from different elevations may change the size and/or shape of the kill-zones.

Practice until you can keep all your shots in the kill-zones of the animals you wish to hunt while shooting from the same kind of shooting positions you will likely use while hunting.

In other words, if you will likely be doing all your shooting in the field from the offhand position or from a sitting position, it is completely unrealistic to determine if you and your rifle are up to the challenge by assessing the accuracy when fired from the bench.

Also, if you will be shooting in low-light conditions, you need to do at least some practice in low-light conditions. If you expect to be shooting in very cold, very hot, or rainy/wet conditions, you should try to practice in those conditions as well.

There's no magic to it. The people I know who are successful hunters got that way through hard work.
 
great advice, fellas. THANKS! and please keep it comin'... it helps me greatly think thru my training plan for this year...

me and my rifle are able to consistently do 1 moa (in perfect conditions - bench, sand socks, non moving target, no adrenaline, taking my sweet time, etc). i will definitely be focusing on adding more realism as i progress.
 
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Head shots on ground squirrels? .25MOA
Broad sides on elk or similar - a LOT bigger room for error......personally, I like 1' MOA for 3 shots at 100 for big game......YMMV
 
A rifle that shoots 1.5-2 MOA will generally be enough out past 300 yards. I really prefer my hunting rifles be able to shoot 1 MOA, and that is not terribly hard to accomplish with today's rifles and ammo. While the kill zone is 6"-15" on most game animals, not all of it is visible from all angles or because of brush or other obstructions. It is not unusual to have to thread a bullet through a tennis ball size opening to get a kill zone hit at 50 yards where I hunt.

Better accuracy is nice, but really just for bragging. I've found that while some rifles are capable of a lot less than 1 MOA off a bench, it is hard to take advantage of it in typical shooting positions found in the field.
 
Accurate shooting into the chest organs with a good bullet results in dead animals. For many years, my primary deer rifle was a Marlin lever gun in 44 MAG. At 50 yards my bullets center into a tight cluster. But typical group size at 100 yards is 3 inches which is not impressive but many deer were slain effectively with this rifle. None got away.

In my opinion, (anyone is allowed to disagree) shooting accurately from makeshift field positions is more important than group size from the bench.

Good hunting to you.
Jack
 
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I believe the old adage "shoot small,miss small" is over used for a reason. It's important (IMO) to shoot as accurately as your ability and weapon will allow. If you except 4" or 6" as good enough , than a 2" miss could very well put your shots outside the kill zone and you'll have a wounded animal . If you have a 1 moa standard (@ 100 yds), than a 2" real world miss will still have you firmly in the kill zone.
 
I was taught that a paper plate or pie plate area is enough to kill for deer. That didn't mean it was what you strived for but if you needed meat it would do the job. The goal was always the smallest group you could manage and to keep making it smaller with practice and realizing your flaws and how to fix them.

I have never had to shoot over 25 yards for a deer but I still practice out to 100 yards. This is mostly due to being in a heavily wooded area. This year that will change due to a new area that's more field so I practice to be even better.

Don't underestimate using tools to get the job done. There are plenty of hunting shows that now carry hunting sticks or other rests to get the job done.
 
I'd consider anything within 6 inches at your maximum shooting range accurate enough. I hope my scope guns are able to pull that off but with open sights at 100-150 yards 6 inches is hard to pull off. Especially if a tree is blocking part of its chest, you're kill soon just got that much smaller. Plus with most sights at 150 yards seeing your target gets a bit hard. With those circumstances luck is a bit more involved, those trees like to jump out at you.
 
The bench rest tests the rifle. Field positions test the shooter.

For deer-sized critters and considering that most deer are shot within 200 yards, two MOA or less is plenty good. If your situation is likely to be farther out, you're getting into one MOA country.

For such as prairie dogs, I found that 1/2 MOA is okay.

IMO, reliability for a first shot from a cold barrel imacting right on the point of aim is more important than group size. For extended strings of shooting, learn the particular behavior of your rifle as it heats up.

I sorta figure that shooter ability for range is limited to the distance at which one can hit the end of a beer can a very high percentage of all shots with misses being very, very close.
 
Art, when people hang onto rifles shot atop a bench as it's resting on something, the shooter's variables are added to that of the rifle and ammo.

Nobody shoots a rifle hand held from a bench or unsupported afield as accurate as it does when fired in free recoil untouched by humans. Benchresters groups will go much bigger if they hang onto the rifle as it fires.
 
For me, hunting accuracy is putting 3 shots, offhand, into a paper plate (8-10") at 100 yards in about 10 seconds.



Its not so much about what my rifles can shoot, as what I can do with those rifles. When hunting, I usually shoot kneeling, prone, or some sort of improvised rest (tree trunk, branch, clumps of sage brush, etc.), so I practice shooting from all kinds of positions, and varying distances.

I see many people that only practice while seated at a bench on a 100 yard range, in nice warm, sunny weather, with no wind. Then those shooters have issues hitting a target shooting from other positions or ranges, or in anything less than ideal shooting conditions.

The bench is good for sighting in.................but unless you drag the bench hunting with you, you need a little variety in the practice shooting.
 
The limiting factor is the human. Shooting is a skill and expensive equipment will not compensate for lack of shooting skills.

I see many people that only practice while seated at a bench on a 100 yard range, in nice warm, sunny weather, with no wind. Then those shooters have issues hitting a target shooting from other positions or ranges, or in anything less than ideal shooting conditions.
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Unless the shooter is bringing a 600 lb concrete bench and 30 pounds of sandbags to shoot off during the hunt, those who only shoot this way are going to find they are lucky to hit a six foot by six foot target at 200 yards when these things are taken away.
 
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