Do hunters overthink accuracy

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heronfish

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I'm sure this subject has been beat to death, but it's raining out.
So

Do we as hunters overthink the accuracy of our rifles way too much.
It's only been in the last couple years that I took up the addiction of reloading and thus joined the prerequisite Facebook groups and started reading the online forums.
It seems to me that the Inter6would have you believe that the goal of reloading, and thus shooting, is to find the perfect load with the perfect bullet for your hunting rifle and thus make the perfect grouping.
Even firearms marketers have jumped on this bandwagon advertising things like sub MOA rifles.

And yet when I read my old hunting books and manuals (I was lucky enough to buy the estate of a former gunsmith and was fortunate to get some classic books from top writers of decades past) a 2 inch group was perfectly sufficient for a rifle of the men who spend a tremendous time afield.

All that said, do you agree with me that too much energy is spend crafting a great load then bragging about it from a hunting rifle when a nosler partition at 1.5 inches will do the same job better? Or am I wrong, and pinpoint accuracy is the entire goal of every rifle and not attempting to achieve that is a failure?

I did post this in the hunting section and meant it to apply to what could be described as a traditional hunting rifle. Your 15 pound target rifle that you may shoot a deer with does not apply. That's a different game for a different page.
 
For me with hunting rifles...6" groups at 300yds is what I try to maintain with quality hunting bullets.
With reloading it's pretty easy to achieve that and plenty accurate for any of my hunting situations.
Varmint hunting at extended ranges requires better.
My paper punchers are an addiction of their own.
 
If Mr. Bullwinkle is walking between two huge trees in a 10' clearing at 200M,I want to be able to thread the needle with a single kill shot. My scopes are hitting 1MOA at 100M with factory ammo,consistently and never change them up once they're dialed in. Luckily,I've put a lot of meat in the freezer over the years.
 
Lots of people ( including me ) spent way to much time and ammo bench shooting . It's an addiction and does help but there's no match to the benefits that practice gives I try to practice all positions but fail to keep on the week spots ( standing quick shots for me ) my guns and ammo are top knotch but I pass shots that aren't perfect and don't get that chance again. But to be surprised and take a quick accurate shot takes a lot of practice and deer for one like to suprise you. Missing is one thing but it would be a shame to wound that trophy buck .The best gun and ammo don't mean sh#t if you can't shoot straight at all given opportunities
OH to be story book perfect but if it was easy everyone could do it
 
I sevearly think people lie cheat and make claims that only hurt themselves on the boards. Just because I buy a sub .5 MOA rifle and spend 2k on a scope that can dial in for that and sit at a bench with a lead sled all day shooting groups and post the one group at 50yards that was actually sub .5 MOA (at 100yards) means absolutely nothing to me...

When in the bush and the heart is pounding and your standing and can't shift for fear of a spook, you and only you are the factor that will decided weather or not it will be a clean vital shot. My 45-70 is my baby are there more guns inherently accurate of course but when I pull that trigger I know standing within 200 yards I will be between 2-3moa that is all I ever need and they are dropping instantly.

Most people you take away the bench and the sled and they can't shoot for #### anyway. If that's your gig and your all about targets and numbers and paper awesome no take aways from that. As for hunters or people thinking they will ever be in a SHTF or real world senerio none of that will matter if you can't make a standing under pressure shot count.

Wow you really riled me up with the question lol! It's your life, it's your hobby do what makes you happy but as the saying goes guns don't shoot people (so does a sub MOA gun really matter then?).
 
I think hunters confuse bench accuracy with field accuracy....two very different things, just because a gun is capable doesn't mean the shooter is

most anybody can shoot well from a bench/solid rest but can't shoot worth a damn freehand
 
For almost all big game hunting accuracy is hopelessly over-rated. Short range shooting (300 and under) doesn't take much more than a sighted in rifle and pulling the trigger at the right time. I know its heresy and I'm probably the guiltiest guy around but by the time accuracy matters trajectory matters more. Trajectory is a small problem compared to wind. Shaving a fraction of an inch isn't an enormous help when drift is measured in feet. It would be nice if it was.
 
And here I thought I was alone on the online island.

It just always strikes me as odd that all the marketing is directed toward the latest magnum with the latest optics that are capable of reaching out and touching things, but the regular buyer has no ability to do so. But I guess that argument has been going on since we started with hunting firearms.
 
I would be lucky to be able to hold 2MOA in a hunting situation so having a 0.5MOA gun is less important than my technique.

Any of the animals I have missed, it was never the guns accuracy that was to blame. And I haven't killed much over 400 yrds either
 
I would say for me its two fold, I enjoy hunting with my factory Savage 3006 and I enjoy paper shooting at 200-400 yards with other rifles I own. But do I want to guess where my bullet goes when I fire on a deer with a 3006 with factory ammo and hope they mass produced it the same as the one before, or do I want to know that my hand loads are loaded and all the same so I DO know where that bullet is going. I guess for me knowing how accurate my rifle and bullets are gives me some reassurance when it comes down to taking the shot. Plus I get more trigger time by reloading for the best load I can find and who doesn't like more trigger time eh LOL.
 
Longer ranges mean you need a more accurate rifle. A 2moa rifle is fine at 100, but not so fine at 300+...

Alternatively, a more accurate rifle allows for greater error on my part, while still making the shot.
 
Not the guys I hunt with.
One guy, a hunter but not a shooter, fired 3 rounds last year. 2 hit paper at approx 12" apart, "good enough" he says. He was right, because the third hit his deer.

Me, I'm a shooter first, hunter second. I way over think it.
 
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