There are several things which dramatically effect the accuracy potential of an air gun.
Take a look:
Once these items have brought us into the neighborhood of the bull's eye, there are a number of other factors which give us the ability to consistently place our shots
The effort required to get you from the end of the first list to the end of the second list is significant. Choose for yourself if you "need" to buy into the second list. It may be that you want a rifle to enjoy casual shooting. You will still have the unique rarity of owning a handmade air gun of superb quality. for ultimate accuracy, you will want the state of the art and appreciate the subtle refinements needed to get you there.
On the page "Prototype Testing", you'll find targets (good and bad). I show both type that occur during testing because there is a reason for everything that happens. Accuracy is not a generic term. It's too often assumed that a rifle comes with a fail-safe "accuracy" guarantee. You know: anybody, any slug, any day, any place, any technique, and accuracy is just a trigger pull away. Hogwash!
Accuracy is earned at the range. I used to have a nice fella call me once in awhile. He very much wanted to design some accurate bullets. He had various theories and formulas and ran charts and graphs and projections by the ream. I told him to gather up a bunch of bullets and his rifle and take them to the range and shoot them. A year later, he came up to me and told me that many of the boring designs outshot the high tech designs by several times. Guess you don't know til you try.
Now, give your best rifle and your best slugs to five different fellas and see what happens at the range. You'll get five different accuracy standards. I see folks rush in from work. They've just spent an hour or more in frenzied traffic. They fling open the trunk of their car, snatch out a soft rifle sleeve, slam the trunk on the scope several times before they figure what's holding them up. They jog out and post a target, toss the rifle up on a block of hard wood, apply an allen wrench to that scope mount that just won't stay tight, and start blasting away. Over the next few groups the unfortunate scope manufacturer's pedigree is called into question several times, the pellet's manufacturer is revealed to be making inferior product, the bench seat is too high, the range table is too low (or other way round), the scope walks down to the muzzle and drops into the dirt . . . and the groups aren't real good.
Alot of folks seem to think that MOA (minute of angle) is just a place to start. This comes from too much reading about shooting and too little actual shooting at the range. I constantly hear of fellas who get there new rifle in a box and, within a week, have shipped it back out for a trigger job. It comes back and out it goes again for a tune. Months go by in a blurrrr of accessory items and shipping. Little or no time is spent at the range. Spend some time exploring the capabilities of the rifle before you alter it. I've seen three inch groups turn into one inch groups by just pointing out a different technique to try.
You'll find that many shooters talk a better group than they shoot. When you go to the range you'll see this. People that simply would not own a rifle that shot two inches at 100 yards cannot do better than four inches themselves with anything in the rack. Why is this? Mostly because they are busy, rushed, and would rather order a new scope than practice shooting.
Oddly, I read an article in the July-August issue of RIFLE magazine. Writer was Ross Seyfried. The article was talking about the fine old English .450 Express rifles. The "Hot Rods of the 1870". They were wonder guns. Reached out farther, flatter, and powerfully. AND, I'll quote here from page 29 - "Most of the best makers agreed that 3 inches at 100 yards, without cleaning between shots, was about normal". I think we've found an honest man . . .
You see, that's just not so shabby in the real world. I've always taken note of the "other" targets on the 100 yard backers at the range. As I've often said, "alot of those groups from MOA rifles can't be covered with a large tea saucer", and some of those "so called MOA groups" can't be covered with a pie plate . . . You see, many folks seem to be under the impression that you "buy" a MOA rifle and "therefore; it shoots MOA" . . . all of the time. Most of you will recognize that this is not the case. You buy something with MOA potential, and then you work the load, your technique, and the rest of your kit to produce that potential.
Now, when I go to the range, I must spend 45 minutes in nasty traffic. When I get to the range, I start to slowly get set up. If I'm all strung out from the trip, I just sit there for awhile - chat alittle - or get my bench set up in a reasonable manner. The only thing you get in a hurry is a bunch of poor groups. After I start shooting, it will still be an hour before the good groups start to show up. Now, why is that? You think it takes an hour for my rifle's quality to improve?" I suspect it has more to do with me.
That's why I show you my range groups. The poor ones, the good ones AND the trophy ones.
So, go to the range young man. Slow down, relax, learn your craft, and enjoy yourself. Accuracy shall be your reward.
