I don’t disagree with what you are saying. For a properly stress relieved barrel and based on statistical theory and with all other things constant, a 10 shot group should be inside of a 100 shot group. But reality and statistics differ in that the covariates are rarely constant. As the barrel heats, the cone of fire should expand. If all other things are equal and the barrel is perfectly stress relieved, the centroid of twenty 5-shot groups should be the same as one 100 shot group.No, a 100 shot group won’t be the same size as a 3 shot “group”. However- every one of your 3 shots groups will be inside the 100 round group….
I think you rightly advocate, albeit in an amusing and shit-stirring sort of way given your chosen moniker, that hunters should try to better understand how they and their guns will really perform under pressure through practice and analysis. I think we as hunters get a bit too hung up on barrel heat because it’s not realistic in most hunting situations. That is also true. What I think we often miss is that bad form and environmental factors like wind calls both have a bigger effect on shooting repeatability than barrel heat. Both of those will decrease through the regular application of barrel heat with regular practice. And if we track and pool smaller shot groups for analysis, e.g. what is the center and extent of ten 3-shot groups in relation to the point of aim, the result is going to be similar to shooting longer 30-shot strings. If we ignore the variability between smaller shot strings, we are overestimating our skills and failing to learn critical lessons that could make us better.
All that said, when I get a ragged one-hole three shot group, I’m prone to share it with my friends and puff out my chest a bit without mentioning where it is in space related to previous or subsequent groups. And sometimes I just like to shoot for fun and not sweat the details of analyzing anything beyond where those rounds hit right now.
And finally thanks for the shit stirring. I always get a chuckle out of it and often learn something.