How to Shoot Tiny Groups

Accuracy.

It’s the bane of the range. We read articles about the latest, greatest gob of lead flinger and how it will shoot .0027″ groups from a quarter mile using leftover ammo from the War of 1812. Then we get our hands on one, and, well, the results don’t quite live up to the expectations.

Modern Accuracy Expectations

The only thing I did showing the faintest glimmer of foresight a couple of decades ago was to start logging the results of all guns and ammo I formally tested. Not to bore you with detail, but, never able to cauterize the OCD tech geek lobe from my brain. I spent some hours building my own custom database to log guns, ammo, group sizes, velocities and a few other tidbits. Long story short: I can now look back at most every combination of gun and ammo I’ve ever shot to see how it performed.

There are some interesting and perhaps surprising insights. Keep in mind I only use this database to track formal testing results. I don’t track my recreational shooting or practice, standing freehand, plinking away at targets. For this, I record testing conditions: known distance, formal groups, bench rests, caliper-measured groups, temperature, wind conditions (for rifle shooting) and the like.

Just in case you’re wondering, the average temperature on testing days was 74.6 degrees. I would have guessed higher, but apparently, I chicken out on range days when the “feels like” is the “interior of a lobster pot.”