What’s the art behind hunting rifle accuracy

[Woolsocks]

Wondering if others out there have worked out a good way to get shot-to-shot consistency with lightweight, heavy recoil hunting rifles.

Here’s the issue. Every training video you’ll find here shows folks getting tiny groups by firing 5 or so shots back-to-back without changing position (cheek stays on the stock, eye on the scope, only movement is working the bolt). I’ve never seen anyone shoot a hunting rifle this way. For one thing, a 7lb rifle with heavy recoil is going to move and need to be re-positioned. For another, a magnum sporter-weight barrel needs 5min or so to cool down between rounds (or at least mine do). If you shot them like Eric cortina, you’d have a burnt-out barrel and a lot of velocity spread from shoving rounds in a red-hot chamber.

I can consistently shoot 1/2 or 1/3 moa groups with little effort when I use “range guns” like 6BR or 6.5 creed’s with heavy barrels. You just stay in position and work the bolt with one finger like everybody does in the training videos. Heck, my $200 factory .22LR with cheap ammo and a crappy low-end vortex scope does 1/2moa 10-shot groups with no problem using this method. Getting good 5-shot groups from my 28 nos or 300wm is another issue. I need to shoot a round, stick in my barrel fan, chat with the guy next to me, then come back in 5 minutes for the next round. Some days, I’ll get a great group. Most of the time, I’ll get one or two outliers that turn my 1/2 moa group into a 1moa pattern. It’s kind of maddening when you’re trying to figure out if your load is off, or if you’re just positioned slightly different then your last shot.

Anybody have real-world experience getting consistently when you’re walking away from your rifle between rounds?

 

[jetjock07]

I think that’s why you see most gun manufacturers/gun smiths only shoot 3 round groups with true hunting calibers. No one is carrying a 26” straight taper 6BR into the woods, or at least not very far. Lol. My light weight 280AI is about a 1/2 moa gun but 3-4 rounds max

 

[slm9s]

My two cents, it takes a while to get used to magnum recoil over and over, its mentally taxing. The other thing is fundamentals. (especially important IME is pulling the rifle back into my shoulder with my L hand)

 

[JerkyFreak]

If your rifle cannot handle at least 3 rounds in quick succession, then you should not be using it for hunting.

 

[Whiskey_Tango6.5]

My lightweight rig w/ scope is ~9lbs. There is no point hunting with a 7lb setup if you cannot get rounds where they need to be.

 

[Ledzep]

Combine a bunch of 3 shot groups onto the same target with cooling between them. Believe the results.

If the system is 1-1.5 MOA because of the load or the shooter what does it matter? If you get lucky and pound 12 rounds worth of 3 shot groups into 1/2 MOA are you all the sudden capable of "1/2 MOA all day long"? Ready for best of the west 1200yd shots? Does that translate to you shooting off a tree branch or a rock or a tripod in the field?

Get better at building position, add weight, or limit range accordingly. YMMV.

 

[Woolsocks]

I think that’s why you see most gun manufacturers/gun smiths only shoot 3 round groups with true hunting calibers. No one is carrying a 26” straight taper 6BR into the woods, or at least not very far. Lol. My light weight 280AI is about a 1/2 moa gun but 3-4 rounds max

Are you able to shoot those rounds back-to-back? The reason I can’t “Eric cortina” 3 rounds back to back in my 28nos is the velocity change from putting rounds in a hot chamber. I see 20fps difference when I rack a 2nd or 3rd round into a hot chamber and take 30 sec to line up the shot. Makes sense, as all powders are temperature sensitive to some degree. Doesn’t make a difference at the 100 yards gunsmiths test at, but it’s an issue at longer distances.

 

[Woolsocks]

Combine a bunch of 3 shot groups onto the same target with cooling between them. Believe the results.

If the system is 1-1.5 MOA because of the load or the shooter what does it matter? If you get lucky and pound 12 rounds worth of 3 shot groups into 1/2 MOA are you all the sudden capable of "1/2 MOA all day long"? Ready for best of the west 1200yd shots? Does that translate to you shooting off a tree branch or a rock or a tripod in the field?

Get better at building position, add weight, or limit range accordingly. YMMV.

Load development and training for “real world” situations are 2 separate steps. If you want to shoot 500 yards prone in the field with confidence you can hit something the size of an elk, you demand 1/2 moa at the range out to 1000 yards from your rifle. After you’ve ensured the inherent accuracy of your gun, THEN you practice shooting in all sorts of simulated difficult situations. If you skip load development at the range, the inaccuracy of your rifle will compound with the difficulty of real-world shooting.

Feel like I’ve said this multiple times on this forum. Hunting means getting to match-level accuracy at the range THEN more training on top of that to shoot in the real world.

My question here is about how to achieve step one with lightweight rifles/magnum calibers so I can move on to step two.

 

[Woolsocks]

If your rifle cannot handle at least 3 rounds in quick succession, then you should not be using it for hunting.

Why? I’ve harvested several dozen big game animals. Can’t say I’ve ever needed to shoot something more than once. I’m just trying to figure out the trick behind doing load development for magnum calibers so I can push the range out a bit longer. Not trying to do cowboy-action shooting here…

 

[JerkyFreak]

No hunter in the field can guarantee a 1 shot kill 100% of the time. Shit happens. When your first round result in a gut-shot animal, the ability to put a second and even a third round on target in a short time can avoid having to follow a wounded animal for the rest of the day and/or night.

A 20fps increase in MV due to heat is not the end of the world. It is still well within normal distribution for most good hunting loads. If it results in more than 1/2MOA on target, then your problem is elsewhere.

 

[Woolsocks]

You’ve got a point about velocity. If my ES goes from 10 to 30 cause I’m shooting out of a hot chamber, it’s only 6 inches difference at 1000. It would be negligible at 500.

Sounds like the answer here is to stop trying to do ladders on paper. I guess you could accomplish the same thing by only paying attention to your chrono.

So I’ll “ladder test” by shooting rounds 5-10 min apart and watching the chrono instead of the paper (I’ll loose some accuracy by re-positioning for every shot so I can’t use the paper to look for nodes, but my chrono data won’t be thrown off by hot powder since I’m shooting cold bore with every shot). Then once I’ve found a node, I’ll fine tune with 3-shot groups back-to-back at 500 yards and not worry about the velocity spread. I don’t want to push it to 5-shot groups, that’ll toast my barrel

Ignore the paper when ladder testing, ignore the chrono when fine-tuning with 3-shot groups. Counter-intuitive, but it works now that I think about it.

 

[Ronws]

I have read somewhere that there are two types of hunters.
A) Those who have wounded an animal
B) Those who will wound an animal

And it really doesn't seem to matter about range. Plenty of times a person as FUBAR'd and wounded an animal at 100 yards or less. As well as longer distances.

Even .308 in a cheap poly stock with a whisker thin recoil pad can hurt. So, I put it in an Oryx chassis. But their pads have no forgiveness. Even their cushiest pad is not very, at all. So, I take out a spacer and use a Airtech slip-on. Getting hurt by the recoil accomplishes nothing. Total loaded weight is close to 12 pounds. But, in a chassis, there is zero movement of the action. Total free floating of the barrel. I tried a few different recoil systems on my newest hunting rifle also in a chassis. Gave myself a flinch. If pain is only "mental," then getting kicked in the 'nads is "only mental."

Put the slip-on back on, spent time at a shorter range close to me to work out getting rid of my flinch and get zero'd enough to be on paper at 100 yards.

Saturday, first 3 shots for group were .81 MOA. Which is acceptable for me as a hunter shooting only to about 400 yards or less. 300 yards is in my comfort zone and also about the longest distance I can shoot where I hunt. And I am not shooting more than 3 times at an animal.

Then, after adjusting to get zero, (only had to touch elevation once and windage once, 4 mph wind one whisker hair left of head on.) I shot a 5 shot for gits and shiggles. I had a flier that was me, I squeezed on a movement. That one flier made it 1.16 MOA. I kept it in because me and the rifle are a shooting system.

So, yeah, the problem is managing recoil, especially in non-standard positions, with larger, including magnum rounds.

Maybe another solution, if one does not want to put on a cushy recoil pad, then where a shooter's pad. To get good at anything requires practice.

 

[Aftermath]

Wondering if others out there have worked out a good way to get shot-to-shot consistency with lightweight, heavy recoil hunting rifles.

Here’s the issue. Every training video you’ll find here shows folks getting tiny groups by firing 5 or so shots back-to-back without changing position (cheek stays on the stock, eye on the scope, only movement is working the bolt). I’ve never seen anyone shoot a hunting rifle this way. For one thing, a 7lb rifle with heavy recoil is going to move and need to be re-positioned. For another, a magnum sporter-weight barrel needs 5min or so to cool down between rounds (or at least mine do). If you shot them like Eric cortina, you’d have a burnt-out barrel and a lot of velocity spread from shoving rounds in a red-hot chamber.

I can consistently shoot 1/2 or 1/3 moa groups with little effort when I use “range guns” like 6BR or 6.5 creed’s with heavy barrels. You just stay in position and work the bolt with one finger like everybody does in the training videos. Heck, my $200 factory .22LR with cheap ammo and a crappy low-end vortex scope does 1/2moa 10-shot groups with no problem using this method. Getting good 5-shot groups from my 28 nos or 300wm is another issue. I need to shoot a round, stick in my barrel fan, chat with the guy next to me, then come back in 5 minutes for the next round. Some days, I’ll get a great group. Most of the time, I’ll get one or two outliers that turn my 1/2 moa group into a 1moa pattern. It’s kind of maddening when you’re trying to figure out if your load is off, or if you’re just positioned slightly different then your last shot.

Anybody have real-world experience getting consistently when you’re walking away from your rifle between rounds?

That red-hot chamber....

I mean, what happens if your first shot is a little off and you have a wounded animal? Are you going to wait 5 minutes or so to allow that magnum sporter weight barrel to cool off "enough" to take another shot?

If so, stop hunting.

Go shoot 3 or even 5 shot groups. Wait a sufficient amount of time for the barrel to cool before repeating another group. If you are really concerned, get one of the temperature reading guns that can tell you just how hot that barrel actually is.

 

[Ronws]

That red-hot chamber....

I mean, what happens if your first shot is a little off and you have a wounded animal? Are you going to wait 5 minutes or so to allow that magnum sporter weight barrel to cool off "enough" to take another shot?

If so, stop hunting.

Go shoot 3 or even 5 shot groups. Wait a sufficient amount of time for the barrel to cool before repeating another group. If you are really concerned, get one of the temperature reading guns that can tell you just how hot that barrel actually is.

I meant to cover that, too.

If the barrel is so thin that the shot has wandered by the third, then either get a rifle with a standard profile or get way closer in.

I carry a rifle that is 12 lbs but that is easy because I can rest it on my gargantuan testicles that produce testosterone.

 

[Aftermath]

I meant to cover that, too.

If the barrel is so thin that the shot has wandered by the third, then either get a rifle with a standard profile or get way closer in.

I carry a rifle that is 12 lbs but that is easy because I can rest it on my gargantuan testicles that produce testosterone.

I have one of the uber light POS Kimber Mountain Ascents in 280 Ackley. It is without a doubt the most inaccurate rifle I own. I hate the fucking thing and it mostly sits in the safe. Kimber guarantees an MOA of accuracy and that's all this thing can do with a tuned in load. It's a real piece of crap. That being said, id does hold 1 MOA, so as far as being a lightweight hunting rifle, it works. It is definitely easy to carry.

 

[wpeach1912]

1: Shooting a true 7lb rifle in a magnum cartridge consistently is going to be extremely difficult


2: your gun is probably a 1 MOA gun (which is plenty good if it is always that)

3: it takes you 30 seconds to line up a shot after you chamber a round? That should be like 5-10 seconds max. Like get on your gun have it where you want it, then close your bolt and shoot

4: if you can’t shoot to your accuracy standards with a heavy magnum, maybe consider adding weight or dropping cartridge size

Actual tips: I think a lot of the difficulty with big magnums is recoil control. Add a brake or suppressor to start, have a good shoulder connection, get something supportive under the rear of the rifle, apply some firm rearward pressure with your firing hand, keep the rifle pad on your collarbone area Vice the shoulder pocket, and have rings that allow you a head up position. Then grip it and rip it because a 7lb 300 win mag or 28 nosler is going wherever it wants in the recoil path…

 

[hlee]

In all my years of hunting, I can remember only 2 animals that stood around long enough for a second shot. My light weight hunting rifle isn’t in a magnum, but the 270 win is still a pretty stiff recoiler- compared to PRS gamer cartridges. My main concern is a reliable cold bore shot. And, while everyone wants to talk about rifles that “shoot in the teens,” a 2moa gun is more than sufficient for most NA med game at reasonable distances. And, if you can’t make the shot, get closer. Every year, middle schoolers harvest trophy bull elk with archery equipment.

 

[waveslayer]

Break the rifle and just wear ear protection. I hunt with a light rifle shooting a Warbird, break it, ear plugs. No issues

 

[Mike Casselton]

Shooting any lightweight, magnum rifle will exploit any flaws in your form.
Proper fit will help a lot, but your form has to be really good.


As pointed out above, your second and third rounds shouldn't be sitting in your chamber for 30+ seconds. 10, maybe.

Letting your barrel cool for 5-10 minutes between shots isn't helping you at all.
With lightweight rifles, do 2-3 shots, then let it cool.


If you are shooting from a bench, get away from it. Shoot prone or in supported hunting positions. Shooting small steel targets is great for checking your abilities and the ability of your rifle.
Doing so will quickly teach you your outer limits.

Put two rounds on each target, then let it cool for a couple of minutes and go after another target.

Your intention should be a center punch on anything you aim at.



Getting 1moa out of a 7# 28 Nosler should tell you the rifle is capable of much better than that. It's just a simple physics thing that the rifle is going to hit hard on both ends.

Accept that and get away from the bench.

 

[sinister]

There's a reason sniper rifles have heavier barrels. First shot consistency is a premium when your targets can kill you at the same distance you're shooting at them.

A friend asked why my hunting rifle is a Remington 700 Varmint. "How many rounds do you usually load in your rifle, and how many shots do you normally take to kill a deer?"

"Four in the mag, one in the pipe. I usually shoot just one."

"Then why don't you use a Ruger single-shot? You're a consistent shot and you don't wound or cripple game."

Couldn't argue that. Use the right tool.

Don't ask the rifle to do more than it and you are capable of.

 

[HMRamateur]

What position are you in where it takes you 30 seconds to line up the shot?

I think you need some practice at home. Dry fire training with IDFTS or DFAT. Practice getting into position and then breaking position after every dry fire. Also try to find videos on YouTube for building shooting positions.

 

[abn31c]

Cold bore, Cold bore....track it and know it.
I've shot a bunch of LW rifles and often going to a lower node will help with consistency. Prior to a hunt I will shoot one shot of my pack at varying distances. One shot, you win or you lose.
.02

Edit to more answer the op's ?
When I say 1 shot I mean one in the am before work and maybe one shot in the evening after work for days or weeks prior to season. This is assuming load development is settled. I use a 1.3 moa target @600 yards. Mix in a 10 or 15 minute jog as you prepare for the shot.
This routine has all but eliminated fussing about the shot once in the field for me.

 

[diggler1833]

Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of the time the culprit in consistency of a lightweight hunting rifle is going to be the shooter. You punish yourself enough, and eventually your body starts to compensate.

I like to cold bore map over the course of an entire morning...we're talking about ~8-10 rounds with at least 15 minutes between shots. I do have the benefit of shooting this off the side of the house. This keeps me from re-developing that dreaded flinch that haunted me from my early teens.