grouping size for hunting based on skill

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peepsig4t

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i can't find an answer anywhere other then how precise a rifle should be (1-1.5 MOA repeated everywhere )for hunting .
what i want to know is regardless of equipment , what group size on target at X distance would qualify as good for a person to consider hunting at X distance.
3-4-5-... inches , moose , deer etc. whats good.
so i can stay within my limitations in different shooting positions when hunting, while still improving my skills.
 
Google, "Minute of Angle". You will find the answer there, with respect to 1-1.5 MOA.

"Regardless of equipment" does not factor because lots of people us the SKS and at best those are 3-4 MOA rifles.

The better question is at what distance can you and your rifle produce a group roughly the size of the vitals on the game animal you want to hunt. The caveat to this being the ability to place that group where it needs to be.
 
200m Moa is good to strive for, practice off hand with .22 from all sorts of weird positions at range, your never gonna have it easy off a bench in the field.
Tbh most shots i take are less than 100.
All the best animals ive harvested have been less than 50m.
 
kwintz said:
200m Moa is good to strive for, practice off hand with .22 from all sorts of weird positions at range, your never gonna have it easy off a bench in the field.
Tbh most shots i take are less than 100.
All the best animals ive harvested have been less than 50m.
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this is pretty much what i plan to do and where i live a 150+ m shot is once in a life time for most hunters.
 
Minute of pie plate. If you can keep 5 shots inside an 8" circle at whatever distance you're planning to hunt, from positions you're planning to use while hunting, then you are good to go. 6" circle would be even better.

That does NOT mean you're good to 400 if you can put 5 rounds into 8" at 400yds from a bench, unless the bench is coming hunting with you.
 
peepsig4t said:
i can't find an answer anywhere other then how precise a rifle should be (1-1.5 MOA repeated everywhere )for hunting .
what i want to know is regardless of equipment , what group size on target at X distance would qualify as good for a person to consider hunting at X distance.
3-4-5-... inches , moose , deer etc. whats good.
so i can stay within my limitations in different shooting positions when hunting, while still improving my skills.
Click to expand...
My advice for people wanting to know about hunting accuracy is to be able to hold a group within a pie plate from their positions they would use while hunting at thier max distance
Cat
 
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^^^^^
Suther and iron cat have summed it up.

Can you hold a pie plate sized group at unknown distances shooting from field positions? That will give you a good idea of your limitations.
 
Pie plates be damned, if you can keep your shots on a standard 8.5”x11” piece of printer paper mounted 11” horizontally, you would be golden on any ungulate or bear in North America.

Try that offhand at 100 yds and let me know how ya do, I’ll wager a lot of hunters wouldn’t land 50% of their shots on the paper this way, let alone if they were a wee bit winded……….
 
This white tail heart shot was at 372 yards while leaning against a power pole.
I don't shoot groups with my hunting rifles but I sure do shoot them at longer ranges to confirm the accuracy of both myself and the gear.
The buck I am holding was a double lung and clipped the heart from 192 yards uphill from kneeling .
Cat
 

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peepsig4t said:
i can't find an answer anywhere other then how precise a rifle should be (1-1.5 MOA repeated everywhere )for hunting .
what i want to know is regardless of equipment , what group size on target at X distance would qualify as good for a person to consider hunting at X distance.
3-4-5-... inches , moose , deer etc. whats good.
so i can stay within my limitations in different shooting positions when hunting, while still improving my skills.
Click to expand...
Get some 8 inch or so paper plates, and staple them to your target stands at various ranges. Whatever range you can no longer put all your bullets in that paper plate is you maximum range, in whatever position you shoot from. - dan
 
Lefty #### said:
Pie plates be damned, if you can keep your shots on a standard 8.5”x11” piece of printer paper mounted 11” horizontally, you would be golden on any ungulate or bear in North America.

Try that offhand at 100 yds and let me know how ya do, I’ll wager a lot of hunters wouldn’t land 50% of their shots on the paper this way, let alone if they were a wee bit winded……….
Click to expand...
Don't disagree, but I do prefer round targets. Also, I found that my ability to hit at various ranges from field positions has shortened as I've aged. - dan
 
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dan belisle said:
Don't disagree, but I do prefer round targets. Also, I found that my ability to hit at various ranges from field positions has shortened as I've aged. - dan
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8.5x11 paper is far more available to most folks is all I’m saying, paper plates are good too, but using something most everyone has lots of without extra shopping trips is far more logical to me.

And yes as we age our abilities do change.
 
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Lefty #### said:
Pie plates be damned, if you can keep your shots on a standard 8.5”x11” piece of printer paper mounted 11” horizontally, you would be golden on any ungulate or bear in North America.

Try that offhand at 100 yds and let me know how ya do, I’ll wager a lot of hunters wouldn’t land 50% of their shots on the paper this way, let alone if they were a wee bit winded……….
Click to expand...
don't have a real rifle yet but just tested 50 yds offhand with the old pellet gun and got 6.25 tall and 3.12 wide 10 shots .
about 14 years ago i shot a 243 win from the bench at some propped up clay pigeons and got 8/10
 
Well I would start by having a reasonably accurate rifle in that 1-1.5” (for most rifles in standard cartridges ) range at 100 grouping the like all the other fellas said test your pie plate accuracy out at different ranges. Good shooting starts with good equipment. You’re not going to know how you’re doing in your practice if you don’t have a gun and optics you can trust. You can hone the human element. I’m not a super shot by any means but with a good rifle and some mentoring along the way I’m not the worst lol.
Intimate understanding of what iron you’re using also determines what range you can hunt with comfortably. I have a few laser accurate scoped rifles that I know really well and some open sighted big magnums that have a 100-150 +/- limit (for my skill and eyesight
 
Okay, first thing that hasn’t been explained so far. MOA is a measurement of arc of a circle (360 degrees). The actual measurement at 100 yards is 1.047”, but we round down to 1”. Now that changes as distance changes. 2” at 200. 3” at 300. etc. So if you figure the vital area of the animal you are hunting, call it an 8” circle on a deer. At 400 with a 1.5 MOA gun, you’re still only a 6” circle - still a kill shot.

However, everything that’s been mentioned above applies. 1.5 MOA off a bench ain’t 1.5 MOA in field shooting positions with your heart pumping so hard that you can’t hold the rifle steady. Practice, practice, practice!
 
10 rounds into 4 inches at 200 yds (2 moa) with rifle carefully zeroed in will give you a decent benchmark to start hunting with. Don't cheat and shoot only 3 rounds as what seems to be quite common nowadays.

On a calm day with good lighting and a solid rest with full broadside target not moving you should be effective out to 300 yds assuming proper holdover. This is quite adequate for 95 percent of shots you will be exposed to and more than a lot of hunters out there can realistically achieve.
 
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peepsig4t , it sounds like you are just getting started with hunting and shooting. Yay! Make sure your optics are fitted well and of decent quality. I often shoot 1-1.5 inches off at 100 yards and am effective out to around 300yrds for hunting. Understanding the ballistics of your chosen ammunition is important though. The bullet flight path can be found on the ammo manufacturer's website (as an example, my chosen ammo, sighted in at 100yards, drops 7 inches at 300 yards). Happy hunting!
 
I Dont Care About You said:
The better question is at what distance can you and your rifle produce a group roughly the size of the vitals on the game animal you want to hunt. The caveat to this being the ability to place that group where it needs to be.
Click to expand...
This is a perfect example of how exactly hunting accuracy is defined
the hunter makes up a very important part of the package, in fact the the most important part, not the rifle .
Whether using a flintlock smoothbore, SKS, or a rifle equipped with long range optics , the end result depends just how well the hunter can shoot his equipment.
That is why a pie plate is often referred to or an 8.5x11 piece of paper.
You are looking at something like 8 MOA at 100 yards, but at 500 it is closer to 1.5 MOA - still in the kill area of a deer.
Cat
 
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