What is the group size you are happy with?

[wapitibob]

3 shot groups work just fine for me.

 

[Darkphage]

I think your rifle is probably capable of shooting even tighter groups than the 1.2” group you shared. Trigger control is probably the most important thing that will shrink groups. Practice slowly squeezing the trigger & actually pinning the trigger back for a few seconds before releasing after each shot. Obviously natural point of aim & breathing and a host of other things come into play as well.

Also remember 1 MOA @ 100 yards is a decent group. 1 MOA @ 1000 yards is a 10 inch group. It’s an obvious extrapolation, but many shooters don’t really think about it in terms of what’s an ethical show on game animals.

5 shot group from my 7SAUM. And always remember — just like on social media- people generally only show the “best” result — not me, I’m just good — just saying other people…….. lol

 

[NorthIdahoDude]

Three 3-shot groups provide 9 data points collected under conditions similar to how the rifle might be used in the field. I could care less what the cone of fire will be after three shots. For a target or varmint rifle 10 shots make perfect sense.

At the risk of repeating myself - let a random number generator pick 3 numbers between 1 and 100. How often do you think it will pick both 1 and 100? Pretty much never, obviously. Now have the random number generator pick 30 numbers, and while it likely won't pick both 1 and 100, it will likely get at least one down into the 10s and one up until the 90s.

Now, imagine you did not know in advance the range was 1 and 100, and the purpose of your test was to figure out the maximum possible spread. Now amplify that principle by visualizing random points in a circle of unknown size, instead of just numbers in a linear range. That's how measuring accuracy works. Half the time, your groups will be half the size of what the gun might actually shoot.

To be clear, I don't shoot 30 shot groups every time I go to the range, nor do I need to, nor do I suggest you do. In the life of any given gun, I'll do it once for any given load I intend to shoot a lot of, which for most of my guns is maybe 2 or 3. Once I know what the gun is capable of, I shoot 3 or 5 shot groups like everyone else (and often just 1 or 2 shots when simply checking zero), and as long as they print inside the cone I know the gun can shoot into, that's all I need to know.