If a rifle shoots one inch at one hundred yards with S&K Flatnose Match and also shoots one minute of windage, but drops one low every fifteen to twenty, with a much more inexpensive American Standard Velocity, is it still an M.O.A
rifle?
I am of the mind that a minute of angle rifle that drops shots out of the group due to powder variations in a factory loading, is still an M.O.A. rifle. I can blame it for radial dispersion on target, but not for low chronograph numbers.
I see plenty of occasions of competitors losing a match or points from a dropped shot. Is their Anschutz suddenly no longer an accurate rifle? What about the days I've had too much coffee just enjoying the morning and can't hit the Earth, is my rifle no longer the elusive M.O.A.?
I would love to spend a hundred and ten bucks on a box of Lapua rimfire all the time, but the fact is, that is a whole lot of bullets and powder for all the other hungry Flame-Throwers.
I would not go so far as to call a human that spends six hundred dollars on a rimfire barrel, just to have to spend a two hundred a box on rimfire ammo, foolish, especially a competitor...
It's just not my bag, baby.
I have plenty of other irons in the fire...
Well thought out questions.
For those who actually compete in smallbore competitions, be they prone shooters or F Class, the topic of good ammunition is an all consuming issue, lurking in the background, ready to burst out when a competitor is asked. I know former National Champions who are absolutely maniacal in their brand and lot testing.
Now I have seen lots of 6 OC drop outs with lesser quality match ammunition. The stuff will still shoot well, but the occasional drop out potential is unacceptable for something like a Regional or National Match. I have been shooting this recent acquisition, a MKII BSA, and it shoots well, but shoots more consistently with better quality match ammunition:
I am quite certain the 6OC shot was due to the ammunition, but, a slight wind gust will move the bullet that much, and you won't be able to see the wind change.
This drop out was so blatant, I am sure it was not me:
Cheap ammunition will ruin your score. This target was the last time a shooting bud of mine used TAC22 in his F class rifle.
He switched to Black Box Eley, and these are 100 yard targets of his, and he is much happier with his groups.
As some point in barrel quality and chamber quality, the differences in group size will be due to the ammunition. The better ammunition shoots rounder groups. Cheap stuff will fling shots, and I am going to claim, the further you go out, the more obvious it becomes.
The tube and the chambering job are absolutely critical to good accuracy in a rim fire and centerfire weapon. Anschutz ships a factory target with each rifle:
My first and only 10/22 would put most commercial rounds within an inch and quarter at fifty yards, some groups more horrible than others. Groups with Eley were not that much different than with Federal Lighting's. A cheap barrel and poor chambering job will not take advantage of the accuracy potential of good ammunition. I could place a round in the chamber and rock it by pressing on the rim. The chamber was huge. However, Ruger knew its customer base, the average buyer is a poor shot and only cleans the rifle when it malfunctions. So, to keep those shooters happy, and shooting even though the chamber is full of crud, the chambering reamer is huge. But, I had Volquartsen install one of his Walther barrels, and that thing shoots Eley match into a dime at 50 yards, the same stuff that shot inch + sized groups with the factory barrel. it is not worth spending money on good ammunition to be fired in a poor barrel. I have killed a number of squirrels with the rifle, and that is all I do with the thing. I have no doubt it is as inherently accurate as any other competition rifle, just the ergonomics are inferior to a full up match rifle. My BSA MKII has a 1.5 lb trigger, my BSA MKIII eight ounces, my Anschutz, is too light to measure, and that makes a difference when shooting prone.
This pre WW2 Remington M37 shoots well with good ammunition
This is a 400-32X fired by me in competition, with Eley Black Box.
It is very hard to shoot well. Period features include a sling placement impossibly far out, perhaps there because the M1903 sling loop is so far up the stock. The stock was within the Smallbore Prone rules of the time, which were written by the US Army, which made shooters use a rifle not to far from the M1903 configuration. And the trigger, it is great for a service rifle: 3.5 lbs. Again the Army wanted shooters to be using a rifle close to the service rifle which had a 3.0 pound trigger. These ridiculous rules stayed in place until the 1960's. US shooters were having their butts kicked in International Competition by the Soviets. The US M1903 compliant small bore rifles were just not competitive against the modern rifles the Soviets were using. It took time, but the rules were finally changed and they got the flint off the hammer.
The guy who sold me my Rem 37 kept the one that shot these groups. He shot these groups rested with a bipod, in competition. The ammunition he used is vintage stuff, and better than the match ammunition today. At least, that is what Lones Wigger verified. Lones claimed the old standard for accuracy was 152 X's in a 1600 match, and I assume the standard was a 1600-152X. And as Lones observed, it is very rare for anyone to shoot 152 X's any more. So, it is probably the ammunition. Anyone can search the Smallbore Prone National records, and except for the geezer class (seniors) all the National records were set in the 1970's.
