What do you consider a good group

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El Pablo

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Don’t assume that your equipment is SUB MOA. Have you had any good luck with any factory loads?

I don’t assume my stuff is sub moa, I’m not. I don’t really care. It’s all MOGoodEnough. I don’t go into the field with sandbags, rests, etc. as such, I don’t practice that way. My marlin 30/30 is prob not moa. It doesn’t need to be for my use case either. My 7mm-08 model seven is close with my crappy shooting, if I wait between shots. The barrel heats up fast. No idea yet on my 6.5 gren or tikka 17hmr yet, or the 18 in ar I’m building... Id expect them to be really close if I can hold up my end.

if I were antelope hunting or precision target shooting.. that would be one thing. I don’t do that though. My point was mission and my skill level dictates what I consider good enough. I judge how far I can shoot based on 4 in groups, the gun, and firing positions.
 
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Rez Exelon

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I don’t assume my stuff is sub moa, I’m not. I don’t really care. It’s all MOGoodEnough. I don’t go into the field with sandbags, rests, etc. as such, I don’t practice that way. My marlin 30/30 is prob not moa. It doesn’t need to be for my use case either. My 7mm-08 model seven is close with my crappy shooting I wait between shots. The barrel heats up fast. No idea yet on my 6.5 gren or tikka 17hmr yet, or the 18 in ar I’m building... Id expect them to be really close if I can hold up my end.

if I were antelope hunting or precision target shooting.. that would be one thing. I don’t do that though. My point was mission and my skill level dictates what I consider good enough. I judge how far I can shoot based on 4 in groups, the gun, and firing positions.
I have more stuff than I'll ever shoot to perfection. It's just fun to try to keep dialing things in and having projects.
 

Kev1Doggy

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View attachment 202102 Here are the chronograph speeds
I am shooting the same load you are , except 140 VLD. Iwasnt happy with my load at .060 jump so I seated 3 at .080, 3 at.100 3 at .120 and shot them. When i got to the .100 it started getting better and the .120 was a lot better so any way I ended up with a jump of .140 and it is shooting a lot better
 

magna19

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What do you all consider a good group for reloads as for hunting? I know some or most mess with seating depth I never have I shoot at 100 yards and as hard as reloading components are to find the smallest group I have come up with so far is about 1 1.25 and I’m using up a lot of stuff searching just curious what you all do
What type of gun are you shooting?
 

HoLeChit

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Someone once told if you can keep your group the size of the inside of a pie pan at 100 yards you are gonna put meat in the freezer. Personally I am a lot more picky than that. I try for a one inch group at 100 yards. Better is nice. Slightly larger doesn’t cause me to lose sleep.

i kinda go for this idea. 1-1.5 Moa at 100yds, pie plate for 350ish yards or less. I don’t do precision stuff, just want to make clean, precise hits on game. I heard a guy talking a while back on another board that he practices like this: with target the size of the kill zone of whatever animal youre pursuing, you need to make one hit per yard you want to shoot. So for me, if I’m going after a pig, a pie plate is a good representation of making a vital hit. At 25 yards I need to hit the pie plate 25 times. Move to 100yds. At 100 yards I need to hit the plate 75 times. At 200 yards I need to hit it another 100 times. Move out to 300, I hit it another 100 times. This process uses a ton of ammo and time, but it builds confidence and tons of muscle memory. If I’m limited on range distance, I make the target smaller to compensate. I haven’t practiced this to the T, but I like the concept and the pie plate accuracy concept works well with this practice.
 

turkeyrun

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I'm NOT a benchrest or extremely anal on precision. I do like having a nice group.
About the only factory ammo I buy, is when I i get a new caliber ( rarely). Just to get the brass and test the rifle for base accuracy.

When buying bullets, I prefer the mid -light weight and hunting bullets. Example: .223 62-64gr, 6.5 123gr, .30-06 150 gr

I pick a powder with the highest velocity, preferably one I already have

Set up a ladder test. Hopefully, finding 1" or better @100 yards.

Load a batch and shoot 10 shots @200 and @300 yards.

After final load selection. I do the majority of shooting offhand
Minute of deer is acceptable. IF a rest of any kind is attainable, in the field, my accuracy will be better than offhand and my confidence in making the shot does not hinder me.

Once the load is determined, I buy several hundred bullets and keep 400-500 rounds loaded.

I had a 7mag load that shot 3" or better @ 350 yards, from the bench. I took several deer from 300-450 yards.
.
These panic shortages don't affect me much.
 

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