Starting out - How accurate is accurate enough?

[bimbo]

I am starting out in this whole target shooting deal and coming from nearly 15 years of shooting scatter guns and hunting rifles I am certainly having fun shooting a rifle that is far more accurate that I am shooter.
That being said it is 'only' a factory savage fclass in 6mmbr with sightron 8-32 that is my long range bunny gun and atm I am just spending time getting trigger time and learning to read wind, shooting technique before I get into fclass.

I was at the range the other day testing a few loads using 107gr sierras and started wondering what exactly am I aiming for group wise at 100/200m, how accurate does the rifle/load need to be to shoot competitively at club matches (I realise that the shooters ability to read wind and conditions etc will have the biggest impact on target downrange)?


Cheers
James

[macguru]

half inch group at 100m will give you a good start.

[AlanF]

half inch group at 100m will give you a good start.

I think "start" is an important word there, because short range accuracy is no guarantee of long range accuracy. Things like muzzle velocity variation and bullet drag variation have minimal affect at the shorts and won't be fully evident until the longs. I do most testing at 500 yd, including velocity measurement for that reason, but even then you can be very unpleasantly surprised by how accuracy drops off at 1000 yards. 100/200 yd/m testing is good for eliminating loads (or equipment!) from further consideration, but needs velocity measurement at least if you want some assurance about long range accuracy.

BTW I'd suggest that most serious 6mm target rifles would shoot 5 shots at around 1/4 to 1/3MOA at 100 wouldn't they Andrew?

[williada]

Welcome to the sport Bimbo. Alan's words are wise. When you are starting out, look for relatively round groups if there is little wind or sometimes triangular if there is a bit of wind. Its a good idea to measure your group from the centres of the extreme shots in your group rather than the total width or height as this will give you the measurement to convert to minutes of angle. The 6br is a very capable bit of kit and will be competitive as your wind reading skills pick up. Find a mentor to give you some guidance and if you are being coached ask the coach to indicate what he or she is looking at.

[Tim N]

Hey Bimbo
Your story is the same as a lot of FClass shooters coming from a hunting background.
Be warned it's fun and addictive, enjoy the sport!
You are welcome to try the Cessnock club if you haven't already.

[Pommy Chris]

Dont worry about what is good enough, just get started and go and have some fun at your local club. A good barrel will punch one hole for 5 shots at 300 yards, but you dont need to be doing this to have fun. Reducing group sizes to this might take a few years and not all barrels can do it either, and you will do a LOT of valuable wind reading learning in this time shooting at your club. I would just get to your club now and get going, it is not all about the score, just beating yourself next week
Chris

[macguru]

umm thats why I said "start" alan.

my 6x47 will do 1/4" but I am over the moon about that .....

[DenisA]

I believe that .5 moa is too much for F-class. Less than .3moa is required. The factory Savage 6BR will be able to produce that but not as consistently as custom barrels. I reckon the 105gn VLD's will work much more consistently in that barrel than the Hybrids as was my experience. Scenars were brilliant too. Your load will end up at 30.5gn +/- .2gn and .015" jam will most likely produce good results.

I started shooting F-class with a factory Savage 6BR. It shot very well, but there was a noticeable difference when I went to a custom barrel.

I have learnt from experience that there are 3 critical areas that need to be sorted with a factory Savage F-class rifle.
1. Obviously they need to bedded. I found that the thin walled factory pillars have worked well although its always recommended that they should be replaced with thicker pillars.
2. The tang needs to be free floating.... oh and check the bolt handle too. Often that touched the stock cut out when closed.
3. The taper on the underside (toe) of the butt, from the handle to the butt pad needs to be straightened out. That taper is a major accuracy killer and should never have been part of the design.

IMO, without these things being fixed, you wont get the best out of any loads that you test.

Also, make sure you get a rear bag with 1" spacing between the ears. The toe is wide at its narrowest point and riding it on the bags ears, combined with that stupid taper is a poor idea.

I started out shooting Savages, and I'm still using the actions in different stocks with different barrels.

If I can help you with any Savage question, feel free to PM me.

[bimbo]

Thanks,
I was thinking that if I could consistently shoot less than half moa at 100/200 that would be good start. I have shot a few groups around 0.3inch at 100 with my varmint load (75gr vmax) so the rifle can do it, and I can when all the stars align, but the best I could get with the 107gr was 0.5 and 0.6 but I also only loaded rounds to just over the ADI max for 2208 but reading up it looks like the ADI max is very conservative and may people running up to 3gr over. I wasn't getting any pressure signs at all so next trip to the range I will load up a few more and keep stoking the fire and see if accuracy improves.

At the moment the action hasn't been bedded but that is next on the list. I will also look at making the bottom of the butt parallel (always wondered what the thinking/theory was behind the tapered butt).

Tim, Ill definitely be heading out to Cessnock range once I get sorted. As I was packing up leaving the range (Seaham) on saturday I got to talking to 2 guys who are west Wallsend f class shooters and they suggested dropping out on a day when they are shooting at 300 as a good intro/starter without being too daunting (I'm also pretty confident that I could at least land shots on the target board at that range )

Cheers
James

[RDavies]

Bimbo, your set up will be fine to use out to 900yds at Cessnock. Your gun will likely be more accurate than most of the TR rifles at Cessnock range and there will usually be some local F class shooters at the range who can help you out with how things are done at the range as it will be a little different to SSAA ranges. They are a good bunch of F class shooters at that range. I wouldn't trust them with your sister, but they will be friendly and helpful at the range. Just turn up at the range on a Saturday afternoon and have a go.
BTW, most 6BRs shooting 105gn type bullets use around 30.0gns of 2208.