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Photo taken from deck of Warren's home.

On Accuracy

I’m a recreational shooter of both rifles and pistols. The subject of “accuracy” came up one day on a shooting-related forum to which I subscribe. It got me to thinking about “accuracy” and I decided that guns are neither accurate nor inaccurate. Guns can no more be accurate than can a hammer. Accuracy is the province of the shooter. Let me explain.

Say, I go to the county fair shooting gallery and I find that I cannot hit those motorized duckies gliding by. The sights of the rifle appear to be off. I’m not hitting what I shoot at. Some might say the rifle is “inaccurate”.

With careful observation I find that whatever my Point Of Aim (POA), my Point Of Impact (POI) is low and to the right. Knowing this, I adjust my POA high and to the left of my targets. Now I’m able to hit my targets consistently. Did this “inaccurate” rifle suddenly become accurate? Of course not.

Take another example, this time imagine a rifle whose telescopic sight is properly aligned and zeroed at 100 yards. That is, it’s POA and POI coincide at 100 yards. If I put the crosshairs on a target at 100 yards and shoot, I hit my target. Now I put the crosshairs on a target at 300 yards and shoot. I miss. Is the rifle “accurate” at 100 yards but not at 300? Nope.

Now, I know that with a 100-yard zero, I have to aim above my target at 300 yards to compensate for the bullet’s additional drop due to gravity at the longer distance. I have to hold a POA above the target. This distance that I have to aim high is called the “holdover”, holding the POA over the target. When I have the proper holdover, I hit my target.

In both cases, the scoped rifle and the county fair mis-aligned rifle, it required the knowledge of the weapon’s characteristics for me, the shooter, to be accurate — hit my targets. Knowing the sights and how they are aligned and how to operate them is crucial. Knowing the ballistic characteristics of the round being fired is as well.

Hollywood has taught too many people that just putting the crosshairs on a target and pulling the trigger will do the job. Sometimes it will, but it is much more complicated than that.

It is not the job of a gun to be accurate; that’s the shooter’s job. It is the job of the gun to be precise and repeatable. That is, given the same POA, same ammo, same weather conditions and such, to place its shots in the same spot at the target — to have a consistent POI. If a gun can do that, it can be shot accurately.

The key to precision and repeatability turns out to be precision and repeatability of the assorted components making up the weapon system, the barrel, the bolt, etc. The ammo especially needs to be held to tight tolerances. The shell casing length and thickness, weight of the powder charge, weight and shape of the projectile, seating depth of the projectile in the case, the primer, all these need to be consistent for a consistent, repeatable POI.

The same weapon can be accurate in my hands but not in yours – or vice-versa. The key to accuracy of any weapon is in the knowledge and skills of the shooter. Often times, a gun “will shoot better than I do”, which is to say, the gun is capable of more precision and repeatability than my own skills can yield.

Shooters can be accurate. Guns cannot

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