1 1/8 inch grouping

[Git r Done]

I have a 222 that will shoot 1 1/8 inch groups with handloads which i know isnt great but i am just wondering how far away this thing will be good on gophers for

[BallCoeff.435]

Lessee now, a gopher is about 1 1/4" wide, so it should be good for 100 yards, right? -Of course, you'll probably have to pull around a concrete benchrest everywhere you go...

[wolf308]

thats similiar to a 223 right? then you could pop em out to 500 yards with the right optics and no heat mirage, however not with that grouping,thats a moose cannon grouping, how far away are you from the lands when you seat your bullet???

[ctd]

Heres a question for you, when you take your first shot where does it land, where you aimed?
First shot is all that matters, dont' care about groupings. Every person is wound up on getting tight groupings. Many shooters are not able to hold a rifle steady enough to get good groupings. Yet their first shot makes the kill.

Shooting groupings is as psychological as it is Physical.

Here is what you need to do, set up a few aiming points on your target (4 or 5)and take shots at them. 1 shot per aim point. If you can hit those points then there is nothing wrong with your shooting.

Getting a grouping of .25 is not impressive to me. Hitting your target first target round is. People will say it builds confidance in your rifle and it's abilities. Sorry any rifle out of the box can attain .25 groupings at 100m with the right shooter behind it. But many are not the right shooters.

The only other suggestion I have is to let someone else who you know is a excellant range grouping shooter (proven by actual performance) shoot your rifle to see if your loads are good.
Good luck and keep us posted on what you find out.

[Lefty-Canuck]

IMHO a decent grouping is relevant in a "gopher gun". Unless you are taking 1 shot every 5-10 minutes and the barrel cools completely between rounds shot to shot variance in a short time span (ie. gopher patch shooting conditions) can make a difference in your hit to miss ratio.

Knowing whether or not a rifle will group "consistantly" is important in a gopher patch scenario.

Under hunting conditions I would tend to agree the first shot is the one that has to count and if you can get follow up shots within 1.5-2.0 MOA from the first shot then you are good to go (although I prefer less than MOA if possible )

Lefty

[wolf308]

if whoever is shooting gophers chances are their gonna have a warm barrel though,poi is gonna change and so forth, gonna have to walk into the target too at ranges past 200 sometimes as well, wind and such.

ctd: i understand what your saying,thats fine for a big game rifle hence why i said moose, but gophers are tiny, at 300 yards his spread will be 4 inches and thats under optimum cond. or whatever he used for testing his bullets,4 inches to the right and hes gonna miss that cute moving target. 6 shots one kill. his rifle and load aint even moa and your telling him its ok for gophers!

git r done: is the rifle a wood stock on it, cause sometimes theyll heat up and the forend on the stock will change the poi as well, especially if its in a straight line leading out further from the poa

[elkhunter11]

Heres a question for you, when you take your first shot where does it land, where you aimed?
First shot is all that matters, dont' care about groupings. Every person is wound up on getting tight groupings. Many shooters are not able to hold a rifle steady enough to get good groupings. Yet their first shot makes the kill.

Gopher shooting is one case where more than the first shot out of a cold barrel is important. A rifle that puts the first shot in the bull then strings the following shots as the barrel heats up isn't much good as a gopher gun that might shoot 100 shots in an hour.

As for a 222 that only groups 1-1/8" at 100 yards, and I would at least hope that is for five shot groups, for gophers,I would be using a rimfire instead, because the 222 isn't going to gain you much with that kind of accuracy.

[Cowtown guy]

Originally Posted by ctd

Sorry any rifle out of the box can attain .25 groupings at 100m with the right shooter behind it. But many are not the right shooters.

Sorry, but this simply is not the norm.

I consider myself a pretty good shot and I can tell you that I rarely get a factory rifle, that most folks don't have to blow two or three weeks wages on, to shoot a 3/4 inch group. That is with trying a lot of different factory ammo for it.

With handloads that have been worked up and tweaked the percentage usually goes up quickly. Once the action has been bedded and the trigger tuned the percentage increases again. True the action and you get better yet.

But 1/4" out of the box??? Maybe it's because I shoot 100 yards instead of 100m.

[Rockymtnx]

Originally Posted by ctd

Sorry any rifle out of the box can attain .25 groupings at 100m with the right shooter behind it.

Are you serious? .25 of an inch.......
There are a few companies who test fire their barrels & actions in a vise before mounting them in a stock. I can tell you that they aren't getting .25" groups even shooting from a vise.

[eric2381]

Originally Posted by ctd

Getting a grouping of .25 is not impressive to me. Hitting your target first target round is. People will say it builds confidance in your rifle and it's abilities. Sorry any rifle out of the box can attain .25 groupings at 100m with the right shooter behind it. But many are not the right shooters.

Please post pics of all your rifles and please post pics of the stacks of targets with 1/4 moa groups on them. It'd be interesting to see.

[Bushrat]

Originally Posted by ctd

. Sorry any rifle out of the box can attain .25 groupings at 100m with the right shooter behind it. But many are not the right shooters.

.

Ohhhh Boy........this I gotta see

[260 Rem]

The availability of factory rifles that shoot consistent 1/4" groups is great news! No more need for me to order custom actions or tolerate the long wait for match barrels.... using custom built reamers...and stocks.... and then discover my $3000.00+ rifle (and me) shoots in the 3's & 4's! I'm off to look at a $400.00 Stevens tack driver package (may as well go for the top line 3 X 9 Simmons scope included in the deal).

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by Git r Done

I have a 222 that will shoot 1 1/8 inch groups with handloads which i know isnt great but i am just wondering how far away this thing will be good on gophers for

With a rifle like that you are goodtogo IMO.
try it, you find that you can hit gopher quite well with it, as well as you can with a rifle that will print .250.
The shooter is the biggest variable in any shot, and throwing wind and mirage into the mix proves that.
Cat