$$:SD

[sgt308]

when chasing a low SD where is money best spent. Do i need a $600 scale or chronometer? obviously a small SD will not guarantee a tight group, so when competing at 1000yds what should I spend my money on? my scale says it is .1grain, but in reality it is more like .5 to 1 grain. do I buy lapua brass? weigh each bullet and only take the ones that are +/- .01 grain my recent range SD was 9, i have seen posts of 5 or 6, do I need that? is it worth the expense? my goal is to be in the top 1/4 of 1000yrd shooters at the local competition. (i am also old, and this is about my last semi athletic competition because racing my Harley or catamaran is long past).

edit: I am interested in where to spend money on things that will shrink the group.

to be clear i am asking how to make the gun shoot better not the shooter.

 

[Old Man with Gun]

You never mention skill or competency? What about being familiar with the range or having conditions that play to your skills like windy or not.

 

[MediumSpeed]

I am not in the top 1/4. Old Man's comment about wind and familiarity are good. The 1K know distance range I get to shoot at, the wind frequently blows from 2 direction. I would add that selecting the right cartridge will help. I can shoot 175/178/185s out of a .308 but my 6.5 cm with 140/144s is far more forgiving of my ability to read the wind...

 

[sgt308]

You never mention skill or competency? What about being familiar with the range or having conditions that play to your skills like windy or not.

would you suggest a wind meter as a way to improve accuracy? if the wind is steady then does it do more than move the group a little?, and if the wind is gusty, other than trying to shoot in between gusts is there anything that can be done to keep the group tight?

i hope my question combined with "

Super low SD but crappy groups, what to do"​

should be a road map to better shooting.

 

[Old Man with Gun]

would you suggest a wind meter as a way to improve accuracy? if the wind is steady then does it do more than move the group a little?, and if the wind is gusty, other than trying to shoot in between gusts is there anything that can be done to keep the group tight?

i hope my question combined with "

Super low SD but crappy groups, what to do"​

should be a road map to better shooting.

I know there are better shooters here and I don't claim to be the best. I do shoot beyond 1000yds regularly and have for decades.

That said, the single most important success factor is to shoot with people who are more skilled than you and to take their advice.

A skilled shooter with decent gear will beat most shooters. Add to that a lot of experience with the gear, range and conditions and they are formidable.

 

[R_A_W]

anemometer is a great tool to help you learn to read wind

you can true and test for great groups at distance without a chonometer, but it's kind of like driving in the dark without headlights

quality brass & mandrelling should effectively take care of neck thickness variation

x2 on @Old Man with Gun's comments

 

[diggler1833]

SD becomes more important the further you go out, and if it sucks...no amount of skill will make up for the vertical dispersion you are going to get.

But yes, nothing builds skill more than skilled practice and guidance from those with experience. That really wasn't in the OPs question though.

I still somehow manage single digit SDs with a quasi-decent beam scale. The expensive digital ones will be more accurate (and especially faster...which is necessary for some). I always bounce my chronograph numbers with actual drop data at 650 yards (just what I have readily available). If I hold groups with less than 1/3 MOA vertical...I'm pretty content. And I'm still able to do this on an outdated beam scale.

Quality brass DOES make a difference, as does all of the other components. Never miss a chance to buy the good stuff. Average factory brass will have as much of an effect on SD due to case capacity variance as using a cheap powder scale.

 

[Old Man with Gun]

My .02 and I'm sure many will disagree.

It is really hard to self diagnose if you have the fundamentals down or not. If not, nothing else will help much. An experienced shooter can see in others, things they can't see in themselves. This is a team sport and staring at someone shooting to assess them will make you a better shooter.
Getting feedback will be vital to your improvement.

I start people with a 22lr at 50yds to check fundamentals. This is a baseline, Rimfire on a gusty day is a great teacher. Then I add recoil and see if it all falls apart. If you can't get comparable groups with a magnum, you are inconsistent in how you drive the rifle.

Next goal is to shoot 22lr at 200yds. Put up lots of wind flags and really overthink it. Wind is simply explained and very hard to understand. I've probably spent at least a hundred hours discussing it.

Learning is a process and shooting a heavy rifle with hot rod cartridge at 1000yds may get good groups, but be a poor teacher. Truly, find a support group and approach with a humble open attitude.

 

[straightshooter1]

when chasing a low SD where is money best spent. Do i need a $600 scale or chronometer? obviously a small SD will not guarantee a tight group, so when competing at 1000yds what should I spend my money on? my scale says it is .1grain, but in reality it is more like .5 to 1 grain. do I buy lapua brass? weigh each bullet and only take the ones that are +/- .01 grain my recent range SD was 9, i have seen posts of 5 or 6, do I need that? is it worth the expense? my goal is to be in the top 1/4 of 1000yrd shooters at the local competition. (i am also old, and this is about my last semi athletic competition because racing my Harley or catamaran is long past).

edit: I am interested in where to spend money on things that will shrink the group.

to be clear i am asking how to make the gun shoot better not the shooter.

Just the 2 major things I found that I can buy that really helps is having a really good barrel mounted on my gun and secondly a good scale that's consistent, fast and accurate (like weighs down to the .02 grs). A lot of the other stuff helps, but this is where I found the biggest bang for the buck. I feel a good chronograph is necessary in helping with evaluating what's going on with your reloading efforts (velocity information is really helpful). What you see on your target is the final exam for everything, but to improve on things you've got to know what's involved in that final exam result.

After getting a good barrel and a very good scale. . . how far do you want to do down that rabbit hole to get to the best possible outcome on that final exam?

PS: there's 3 components necessary for good top results and if you're missing just one of them, well. . . don't expect really good results:
* A very good gun
* Very good ammo
* A very skilled shooter