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

Double Naught Spy: I suppose there are cases where a new rifle will shoot poorly with any factory ammo, but odds are that some ammo will shoot 2 moa or under.

I used to hunt West coast blacktails, then I would have said volleyball. Deer on the dry side of the Cascades are a bit larger.:)
 
I go with Art Eatman and some of the others about bench shooting testing only the accuracy of the rifle. I hunt the coal regions and a lot of the terrain is almost straight up and down. It can be hard to even get something to lean against when in a hurry. I have seen (And shot) quite a few deer missing legs or hit low. I suspect that this is from the weirdness of shooting up or down at a very steep angle. Not much difference @ 100 yards or less, but with a gun that you can only keep the bare minimum (6" ?) with on a bench? As others have said, the field is way different than the bench. Not to say that you should not go hunting if a pie plate @ 100 yards is your best. If you stick with it, you will get better. I think at this point I am as good as I will get. My problem is staying awake now.
 
For me to be comfortable at the ranges you're talking about, my rifle needs to shoot 1 MOA at 100yds. But thats my preference.
 
Does a moa group at 100 guarantee a moa group at 300?

I think there is a love affair with the term "moa".

Is it not more appropriate to speak in terms of 'point blank ranging'? Having your zero set at a point of aim at 200 (or whatever) yds that guarantees a hit in the vitals at any distance out to three hundred is more important than discussing 'moa'. There is no reference to "moa" in a long range ballistics table or point blank range calculator.
 
personally I use MOA because it's faster and easier than typing "roughly, one inch groups". that's my excuse, I'm lazy. heck I don't even capitalize after every sentence, doesn't mean that I sit there with a MOA calculator on my phone measuring at whatever distance I'm shooting.
 
I get it. You get it tahunua001. Others get it I suppose, but you wouldn't know by reading what they say.

1.5 to 2'' MOA @ 100 yards
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What the heck does that mean? It's gibberish.

I think you were right when you said

tahunua001 said:
well this is a horrible question to ask and it sets a bad precedent if it's ever answered.
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I personally have grown tired of the 'psychobabble'. Now I am off to see if I can duplicate my 2" MOA @ 1000 yards...
 
When a rifle/scope/load/shooter combo is too erratic to inspire confidence in my shot at the distance I am shooting I declare it "not acccurate" enough for that purpose. Example my old .30-30 Marlin by no means a tack driving target rifle but good enough for a deer at 100 yards with open sites, put that same deer out at 250 and I probably ain't gonna shoot. However change that rifle to my .280 Rem and yeah I would be willing put a couple bucks on making the shot. There are so many variables that I wouldn't even begin to nail down one. My Muzzle loader will never win any trophys but I have never worried about being able to take a deer with it.
 
When a rifle/scope/load/shooter combo is too erratic to inspire confidence in my shot at the distance I am shooting I declare it "not acccurate" enough for that purpose.
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Exactly. Knowing your tools and when to use them.
 
"1.5 to 2'' MOA @ 100 yards"

It's called a typo. :D

If you're gonna play in Ma Bell country, sub-MOA is much better. In my younger and healthier years, I worked pretty hard to be able to honestly say that anything inside of 500 yards belonged to me. Proved it, too. But I was just keeping up with my father and my uncle; no big deal.
 
"Hunting accuracy" is far more about hunting than it is about accuracy.

Many good archers kill deer and elk at under 30 yards with accuracy that will keep all their arrows on a softball at that range.

Millions of hunters have killed deer with slugs from shotguns that only shoot 6" at 50 yards.

I often hunt with a flintlock that holds all its balls into about 3" at 100 yards and I have used a 20 gauge smoothbore flintlock to hunt and kill game with that only would keep its balls into 8" at 100 yards. I never have fired a shot with my flintlocks at any big game that I have not killed with. The reason?
I don't shoot until I know I will kill. If I don't know I can make a killing shot I don't fire.

I have also shot some game at very long range with bolt actions rifles. So I have done it on both sides of the spectrum

My advice is to work with your weapon until you are as proficient as you can get with it and use it within YOUR limitations. The better you get at shooting the longer range you can utilize up to the maximum range of your chosen weapon. You are far more the limiting factor than what you carry. You are also the part that does the hunting. Hunting is the most important part of that question, not mechanical accuracy.
 
Double Naught Spy: I suppose there are cases where a new rifle will shoot poorly with any factory ammo, but odds are that some ammo will shoot 2 moa or under.
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I am not sure of the point you are making. I noted specifically and repeatedly "rifle/ammo combo" in my posts. They work in concert with one another, LOL. Yes, you should be able to find something that will work with your rifle, no doubt, that is why it is the rifle/ammo combo. However, that you can find something that works in your rifle does not mean that you will find what you want to work in your rifle.
 
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