whats considered accurate?

[beex215]

ive been testing cast reloads and i cant seem to get any better then 2.5 inch groups at only 20 feet. at 40 feet they open up to about 5.5 inches. i have not been shooting factory or jacketed in quite some time, so i dont really have a base line control. im still in testing and still have many things to try out but what do you consider as accurate?

im talking about pistols. i mainly shoot pistols. p95 9mm and m&p 40.

[454PB]

9mm can be challenging with cast boolits. Most people see that jacketed bullets are .355" to .356" and start sizing cast the same. Usually, that's too small.

I cast 9mm boolits fairly hard (BHN 15), and size .357". I own four 9mm pistols, and all will stay in 3" groups at 25 yards, some even better.

[dbarnhart]

Go buy a box of factory 9mm ammo and shoot it. You may be pleasantly surprised. I'm more accurate with my .45acp cast boolits than I am with the factory stuff.

[C.F.Plinker]

I'm far from the best shot even when I use a rest. (The better shooters will be along shortly) However, when I am testing loads I shoot 5 shot groups and want the center to center distance for the two furthest apart to be 2" or less, the best 4 shots of the 5 to be 1.5 inches or smaller, and the best 3 of the 5 to be 1 inch or smaller. Handguns are shot with iron sights at 25 yards, iron sighted rifles at 50 yards, and scoped rifles at 100 yards. The same criteria applies to all distances. When I have compared my loads against factory rounds (hunting rounds, not match rounds) I can usually cut the factory groups down by about half.

[gray wolf]

20 feet -- OK lets call it 7 yards.
Sand bag the pistol and shoot as well and as careful as you can, this should let you prove the load.
7 yards from a sand bag should be almost one hole for a 10 shot group.
If they open up off the bag it's you not the pistol.
A sand bag rest can be your friend when testing loads.
If you are confident in your shooting skills and you can't put them in a tight cluster repeatedly from a rest at 10 yards--scrub the load or have someone else shoot the pistol.

I kept the response short.

[paul h]

To me, accurate is 2" or under at 25 yds, shot from a rest.

[Kraschenbirn]

"Accurate" can be a somewhat subjective term...'specially when it comes to handguns. When I was shooting NRA bullseye competition, my personal benchmark was 2" (or better) at 25 yards for both my .45 ACPs and .22s. For IHMSA (or NRA) silhouettes, the accepted standard for most shooters was 2" (or better) at 50M. Groups shot off solid rests with match-grade handloads.

For 'everyday' shooting, though...practice, plinking, or whatever...I'm pretty well satisfied with minute of 'popcan' or 'clay pigeon' at 20-25 yards, shot offhand from my single-actions or 3" carry guns.

Bill

[Freightman]

It is according on how I feel, some days from a rest I can keep them all in the 10 ring at 25 and 50 yards, other days it seems like I couldn't hit a proverbial bull in the rear with a bass fiddle.

[geargnasher]

What I consider accurate is equaling or surpassing the best accuracy that can be had with jacketed bullets in a given gun. It's really not that difficult to do with most pistols, but I'll admit the 9mm can be a challenge. An autopistol that won't group at least 3" at 25 yards for multiple, ten-shot groups needs work or a new owner IMO. Inaccurate guns aren't fun to shoot, although you don't need much accuracy with a snubby carry pistol, so those are an exception. My wife's Model 36 will shoot five cast boolits into 3" or better at 25, yes, 25 yards, but that took some work on the gun and on the ammo. I just wanted to see how well I could make it shoot, all it really needs to be is minute-of-bad-guy across the bedroom.

Gear

[leadman]

I second the fact that most 9mm I have run across have bores larger than .355". My last Ruger was .3575". A .358" boolit shot well out of it.

[Thumbcocker]

Snap caps are your friend.

[runfiverun]

it depends on the gun.
with my blackhawks and thier like i am happy knocking down 5" steel plates at 50'
with my dan wessons i expect much more.
like the 357 i will shoot 2-1/2" swingers at 30 yds.
with the 445,357 max,and 375 i expect [and get] under a pie plate at 100 yds free hand.
i also get that with my 41 ruger hunter model.
about twice the group size i get from my leverguns.

[bobthenailer]

from my 40+ years experince from shooting cast bullets from handguns , even a bad load , for me will group alot better than your groups at that distance even with short barrels handguns will still group at under 1 1/2 inches at 40 feet with selected loads. for longer barrels most will group in 2 inches or better @25 yards
I would possibley look at your system for shooting from the bench for accuracy . how are your skills with a rifle ? a handgun will be even harder to shoot from the bench for accuracy testing than a rifle. but it can be done with some experince.
Try letting a known good pistol shot shoot your gun & ammo and see how he does!

[Shiloh]

Go buy a box of factory 9mm ammo and shoot it. You may be pleasantly surprised. I'm more accurate with my .45acp cast boolits than I am with the factory stuff.

Me too. Other than trying out some surplus GI .45 ball, it has been a long, long time since I fired factory ammo.

Shiloh

[sig2009]

Your choice of powder has a great effect on accuracy!

[beex215]

rifles are not the problem. shooting m16 and m4 to qualify with FACTORY ammo. i just scored 38/40 not long ago. the 3 300 meter targets were all hit.

the load was with unique.

my groups are actually 15 round magazines. ive heard that was too much to use. i will try again with 3 and 5 to test next. im gonna try to rest the gun on my range bag as i do not have a ransom rest or anything like that.

ill report back.

[BulletFactory]

Get some ball ammo, and some JHP rounds, and your reloads (that are fitted and charged properly), and see which ones get your best groups. Personally, my reloads out shoot even the premium JHP rounds.

ETA, Im very proud to say it, I have this one target on the wall on which I got 15 rounds in a 2 1/4 inch hole, prone at 30 feet with the M&P.40 5" I had one, that I pulled low. Could have slapped myself for messing up that target.

[MtGun44]

Depends.

Gun? Ammo? Shooter? Having a good day? range?

Standing or rested? Iron, red dot or scope?

Sitting with my back on a post or tree, with one of my better handguns and
loads - 1" at 25ys can be done, or 2" at 50 and usually about 4" at 100 is
as good as I can work iron sights. Add a scope with a pocket rifle and I can
do 1.5" or a bit better at 100 on a good day, 2" any day.

[bld451]

"Sitting with my back on a post or tree"

+1. Best position, IMHO.

I'm really happy with 1" @ 25Y. 3" will prevent me from trading that piece off. 4"-5", it is inherited and significant for me to keep it.

[fredj338]

IMO, testing for accuracy @ 20ft is pointless. Any gun, any load & a good shooter will shoot 1" groups all day every day @ 21ft, even w/o bags. No, accuracy testing for handguns starts @ 50ft, 25yds is better. Your benchmark should be what you do with quality factory ammo, Then you know what you & the gun are capable of. Only then can you tell if the accuracy problem is you, the gun or the ammo.