Blog post #1 Shoot More, Reload Less.
Welcome along to the first “blog” post Ive done. The idea behind these is to be a place for less formal shooting topics, thoughts and opinions rather than reviews and other tech based content.
Topic one is group size and the internets obsession around shooting tiny groups with super low standard deviation and extreme spread, now I’ll aim this at newer shooters and or at least new to hand loading for precision style events or medium range hunting use. Modern 6mm and 6.5 cartridges have a far shorter barrel life than the mighty 308 of years gone by and 400 rounds down the tube trying to find a 5 shot one hole group is just waisted barrel life, time, money and more importantly practice in my opinion. Its important to remember I’m not talking about F Class here and purely field based shoot ing or hunting.
I have always thought online shooting content is similar to woman’s magazines when it comes to group shooting and what new shooters think they must achieve to get consistent accurate hits at long range. For example, woman’s magazines show beautiful woman in airbrushed photos taken by professional photographers that make girls feel inadequate and in turn buy the rubbish advertised in said magazines to improve their appearance. Online gun content is no different, showing of cherry picked sub 10mm groups that was the best out of ten groups shot that day, but I’m not sure it’s intended to sell stuff as it’s portrayed mainly by the consumers themselves as they brag about the one good group they shot that one time and write everything else of as “random flyers”.
Now when it comes to field shooting or hunting game animals I work with the opinion that five shots in under 25mm is more than adequate for most everything you will need to get accurate hits on target out to extended distances. Remembering that in perfect conditions a 25mm five group at 100m will translate to a 250mm five shot group at 1km and if you can do this consistently then you are in a good position to be winning major competitions. Both hunting and field shooting rarely allow for perfect prone positions or calm wind that won’t interfere with the intended path of your projectiles so your one hole gun at 100 meters isn’t going to print the same pattern when under the clock in competition or when your heart rate is up as you line up on that big stag you have been looking for.
Now, if you can get lucky and cobbled together a load that shoots consistent 12mm groups at 100 meters with an extreme spread of 10fps then awesome. But if your new to the reloading and precision game then don’t get caught up in all the noise and just concentrate on learning the correct fundamentals of marksmanship (I’m still learning these myself) as this will advance your shooting faster than anything else in my opinion. MOA accuracy and an extreme spread of 30fps or under will serve you perfectly well in most sub 1,000 meter matches here in New Zealand.
One thing I will say is extreme spread is in my opinion more important than group size, I’d take a 1 MOA load with an extreme spread of 10fps over a 1/4 MOA load with an extreme spread of 50fps every single time.
But If you want to spend your weekends taking trips to the range to shoot groups and learn how to master the perfect hand load straight of the bat then go for it, but I’d much rather spend that time learning basic trigger control, natural point of aim and keeping your face on the gun looking through the scope between shots. Funnily enough three things that will shrink your groups more than you might realise.
It’s important to remember I’m not saying you should not strive to get your rifle to be a true precision machine, but being able to accurately put those projectiles on target is far more important than having a super precise group a meter or so to the left of target in the dirt.
So I guess what I saying is learn to shoot and then learn to precision hand load.