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Factory rifle Accuracy expectations

What is your expectation for out of the box accuracy of your factory bolt action rifle?

  • 1-2”

    Votes: 5 9.8%
  • 1”

    Votes: 24 47.1%
  • 0.75”

    Votes: 16 31.4%
  • 0.5”

    Votes: 3 5.9%
  • <0.5”

    Votes: 3 5.9%

  • Total voters
    51

Newbie2020

Mmmyeah...whatever
Supporter
Full Member
Minuteman
Jan 10, 2020
1,743
1,396
Nebraska
A friend was disappointed in the accuracy of his new factory rifle. He sent it back for evaluation. He received 4, 3-shot test targets from the manufacturer QC department using 2 different types of factory loads from a single major ammunition manufacturer. All 4 of the groups were nearly identical at ~0.75”.

I tried to tell him that was not only acceptable but actually pretty good.

What says the Hide?
 
Savage/Rem/Bergara/Ruger- Under 1 moa. Many will shoot closer to 1/2 with handloads or match ammo. Each will likely shoot the occasional under 1/2 moa group which is what’s posted here when people want to brag

Tikka tend to shoot very well- .5-.75 moa from the several I’ve owned

Factory rifles like DT/AT/MRAD would be up there with customs and I’d expect 1/2 moa as a normal thing with the right match ammo or reloads

A factory rifle like a savage with a aftermarket barrel like criterion would slide into the custom end fairly quickly in my experience accuracy wise
 
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Depends on the rifle....handloads vs factory etc. Some are very good. Worked a load up for a Tikka CTR for a friend that was an honest .4 gun consistently and a few .25-.3 thrown in the mix. Don't know if they are all like that but this on was a shooter. I would be very happy with a basic factory rifle shooting .75 with bought ammo.
 
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I should have clarified when I said “factory”. This manufacturer and price tag would be somewhere between those two extremes.
There is a large enough gap between a $500 and a $4,000 rifle to drive a tractor trailer through.
The only rifles that I have purchased in the $500 range have been Savages and they were immediately dropped into aftermarket chassis.
Both shot in the .5moa range.
The only rifle I have in the $4K range is built, not bought.

Any rifle that shoots 0.75moa consistently with factory ammo is a good rifle that can probably be improved with handloads.
What is the purpose of this rifle?
 
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Depends on so many things probably the biggest is price for a "Factory rifle" could be $300 or $3000 and across those my accuracy expectations would vary wildly. Is it a pencil hunting rifle, is it a heavy barrel match rifle, etc. etc. People's expectations in general have gotten out of hand, I see tons of posts with people upset that their no name generic battle AR won't shoot 1/2 MOA groups with $10/box ammo. Usually fueled by tons of people posting on the same forum that their $500 bargain AR shoots 1/2 MOA "all day" with surplus ammo. I really doubt that if you took 100 Remington 700's plain jane hunting rifles and put average priced factory hunting ammo through it (not match ammo or top hunting ammo) that they would consistently do 1 MOA, probably not even 1.5 MOA especially in a light hunting stock that's not bedded. Not even sure the generally very accurate Tikka's would do that on average, but they almost certainly would if you went to match or a good handload. You're also not going to get an unbiased response here because most of us are chasing accuracy. It's like asking if you should buy a corvette on a corvette forum......of course you are going to get most answers pushing you that way.

I still feel like a reasonably priced factory light hunting bolt rifle (under $1000) should shoot 1.5" with average quality factory ammo. Now if you pay more than that, it's a heavy barrel rig, you are using match ammo, and/or work up handloads for your rifles, it probably changes. For example if I bought a Seekins or GAP rifle and worked up a nice handload for it, I'd certainly be unimpressed if I couldn't get it to shoot better than 1 MOA.

I would tell your friend, depending on the rifle, that he should be very happy that it shot four 0.75 MOA groups with two different factory ammo brands. Especially if it was hunting ammo. It will likely do better with handloads and a good work up.
 
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Accuracy international.

Screenshot_20220521-145347_One UI Home.jpg



Tikka T3x varmint .223. Top round is final zeroing round. Bottom hole is 5 rounds.

20241105_161626.jpg


Good factory rifles shoot with good ammo.
 
There is a large enough gap between a $500 and a $4,000 rifle to drive a tractor trailer through.
The only rifles that I have purchased in the $500 range have been Savages and they were immediately dropped into aftermarket chassis.
Both shot in the .5moa range.
The only rifle I have in the $4K range is built, not bought.

Any rifle that shoots 0.75moa consistently with factory ammo is a good rifle that can probably be improved with handloads.
What is the purpose of this rifle?
Long-range steel
 
What’s the end game of this thread? If the manufacturer says 3/4 moa is acceptable than that’s what’s going to be acceptable

If you care to share the details on the gun, barrel twist, ammo etc we can maybe make some suggestions on how to improve the groups he’s seeing

Even certain ammo like hornady has seen many inconsistencies so even narrowing down to lot numbers can sometimes come into play.

Us just spitballing every factory rifle brand your way and saying it may shoot or may not with any available factory ammo isn’t really providing any useful information. Other than his rifle may or may not shoot or like the ammo he’s using.

Even a caliber would be helpful as some are inherently easier to find accurate ammo for

Say it’s a 308 and he’s trying hornady match. We may suggest he try 175 FGMM or something of that sort.

As someone’s who owns or has owned most options from savage to AI I can say you’re flirting with a very large spectrum of quality with factory options
 
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What’s the end game of this thread? If the manufacturer says 3/4 moa is acceptable than that’s what’s going to be acceptable

If you care to share the details on the gun, barrel twist, ammo etc we can maybe make some suggestions on how to improve the groups he’s seeing

Even certain ammo like hornady has seen many inconsistencies so even narrowing down to lot numbers can sometimes come into play.

Us just spitballing every factory rifle brand your way and saying it may shoot or may not with any available factory ammo isn’t really providing any useful information. Other than his rifle may or may not shoot or like the ammo he’s using.

Even a caliber would be helpful as some are inherently easier to find accurate ammo for

Say it’s a 308 and he’s trying hornady match. We may suggest he try 175 FGMM or something of that sort.

As someone’s who owns or has owned most options from savage to AI I can say you’re flirting with a very large spectrum of quality with factory options
The purpose of my question to the Hide was to determine from a wider audience of experienced shooters what the bell-shaped curve of realistic expectations should be from non-custom, run of the mill, mid-quality factory bolt action rifles shooting decent quality factory ammo. I feel I got a decent sampling and an educated answer to share with my friend to hopefully mitigate his disappointment in his rifle.

Thanks to this thread and everyone’s input, he is giving the rifle another chance. He plans to begin load development to see if and how much he can tighten groups.
 
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A mid range priced gun with quality ammo should be able to sub MOA ( did not put a number as this still a mass production firearm). I am assuming the owner has the required skill, is using a decent front and rear rest. I also am assuming the optic mounts, and action screws are torqued correctly. Assuming it is a popular caliber I would see if there is Federsl gold medal match ammo available for it and try that ( sort of the gold standard, if it won’t shoot that it may not be possible). Last resort have a known qualified shooter verify the issue ( removes any doubt in everyone’s mind).
 
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