Just curious to see what others think a 69 SMK out of a stock Remington 700 sps 20" 1-9 twist should shoot. Max 2 moa range? What's considered a good 550 yard group?
Range Report Expected Accuracy
- Thread starter PAYDIRT
- Start date
If MY rifle shot 2 MOA with ANY load, I would either never shoot that ammo again, rebarrel, or smash my rifle into pieces. Ok, that last one may be a little extreme, but wow, 2 MOA is horrible. I would think a bolt gun with a 1-9 SHOULD be 1 MOA or better. Using 1MOA, you should be at 5.25 MOA, or 5.5”.
Just to clarify in case OP is new to MOA/MIL units, I think you meant at 550yds, a 1MOA group would equal ~5.5" which is shooters MOA or IPHY (true 1 MOA at that distance would measure 5.79" to be exact). The actual MOA value doesn't change with distance. The equivalent space on target or how MOA subtends at distance, changes.
Good is all relative to the details. Depends on your experience as a shooter, caliber, number of rounds in group, shooting position, military vs match ammo, wind conditions and much more.
But generally any 3-5 round group measuring~1moa or less at distance is good. For your bolt action 223, 2 moa is okay to good depending wind and your experience. You didn't say what bullet you where using; this can make an huge difference at longer range. My 223Wylde AR15 maintains 1MOA for 5 shot groups at ranges out past 700 with 69gr SMKs; however 55gr VMax will easily produce .4-.5MOA but only to 300yards before they start drifting all over the place.
Being under 2MOA in field conditions for EVERY shot (no called flyers) is actually very good if using factory or non-match ammo.
We'd all like our shots to go into the same hole at whatever distance we shoot. But, I have to agree with Sub, that 2 moa at that distance under field conditions is good. That would be 11.5"
Now, if at that range and the wind is completely cooperating getting 1 moa would really be great for an "off the shelf" rifle.
One of the things you start to see with custom/semi-custom rifles is all the things that go into making a rifle shoot tighter, Once you see what makes them shoot tighter, then you go on to doing things that feed them more and better.
Now, if at that range and the wind is completely cooperating getting 1 moa would really be great for an "off the shelf" rifle.
One of the things you start to see with custom/semi-custom rifles is all the things that go into making a rifle shoot tighter, Once you see what makes them shoot tighter, then you go on to doing things that feed them more and better.
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Any consecutive hits centered on target are good. For a factory rifle (Remember, Savage, Tika etc) very good results. Looks like a 4-5" group which is good/very for that range if it's a 223. It gets substantially harder to add more rounds and keep groups small; just the math behind shooting and probability.
As you dial in load (if handloads), there is a point where you simply hit the wall: no where left to improve ammo precision due to bullet, barrel, shooter and/or environmental factors. You just need to identify the variable affecting your groups the most (sometimes much easier said than done) one at a time to keep improving.
Good shooting!
My suggestion would be to shoot 5 five shot groups at 100 yards then do it again at 200 yards. This will give you a better idea of what the gun is capable of and remove some variables. I am in the camp of what you posted is average to slightly above average for a factory rifle at 532 yards.
FWIW,. I'm in the same boat. For many years I didn't like Remington. I actually got sick of hearing Remington this, Remmy that.
As you can imagine, that is unreasonable. Remington has always done a decent job in manufacturing rifles.
To explain this, I just picked up an R700 in .308, that I intend to build into something more appeasable to me. Anyhow, I took it out on Saturday and ran some surplus Aussie L2A2 ammo through:
The two holes on the bottom were where I got up and sat back down and fired the last two rounds. the five up and to the left of center was the original 5 shot group.
The rifle is an RR serial no.
As you can imagine, that is unreasonable. Remington has always done a decent job in manufacturing rifles.
To explain this, I just picked up an R700 in .308, that I intend to build into something more appeasable to me. Anyhow, I took it out on Saturday and ran some surplus Aussie L2A2 ammo through:
The two holes on the bottom were where I got up and sat back down and fired the last two rounds. the five up and to the left of center was the original 5 shot group.
The rifle is an RR serial no.
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