Realistic shooting accuracy

It depends.
Well, it's a little more complicated than that!  I am not a master shooter; on my best days I shoot better than most folks, even pretty good shots.  I just wish I had more of those "good days".  When I watch some of those videos online of folks making really long shots, I have to put things into perspective. Also keep in mind that almost nobody uploads videos of them missing their shots...so we are led to believe that these long shots are the everyday, not the "good days". Let's take a quick look at why we all need to consider what PRACTICAL accuracy is.

There are so many variables in shooting and hunting that we could spend all day just listing them - winds, temperature, visibility, ammo, action type, barrel length, barrel weights, rifling twist rates and so on.  Did we shoot at the target using a bench rest or a bipod with support for the stock?  Maybe our intended game forced us to shoot in the kneeling position, or even standing offhand...is it fair to compare our conditions with others? 

I would love to smack English Starlings using only head shots at 70 yards with my air rifle (check out Ted's Holdover on YouTube - amazing!).  But my air rifle does not have the inherent accuracy to do so reliably - see my previous post!  Also, I am not yet skilled enough on this particular spring-powered air rifle to shoot half-inch groups at 70 yards...from a sitting or kneeling position.  Where I hunt starlings ( an invasive nuisance species in my home state), I can't use a bench rest or set up a bipod.  I have to move frequently, and taking a shot from whatever position I can get into before the birds spook.

So, practical accuracy depends on a few criteria; your target, your equipment (and its limitations), your skills as a shooter, skill as a hunter and environmental conditions, including your shooting site.  You have to evaluate all of these to determine just how accurate you must be to be successful.  Once you determine what you and your equipment are capable of, let's say a one inch group at 50 yards with an air rifle - you can determine if that is good enough for your plans.  If your plan is to head shoot starlings at 70 yards consistently, you need to take a look at where you can improve your accuracy. Can you shoot that well if you used a bipod?  If so, what can you change so you can utilize one in that situation?

Everyone wants to make those "impossible" shots!  Take some time now (as hunting seasons open up soon) to determine what YOUR practical accuracy is and put that knowledge to good use!

Matching pellets to airguns

I love airguns. I have a few Red Ryder BB guns, collectible editions; I prefer to shoot more powerful air rifles. I will save discussing airguns for another time.


Airguns, especially the more powerful versions, can be very particular about the pellets they are fed. Like firearms, each gun is an individual, and will shoot well with some pellets and not as well with others. Yesterday I was reminded of this during a particularly frustrating shooting session.

I have a new Ruger Airhawk airgun, imported by Umarex, in .177 caliber. Spring-powered airguns like it need a break-in period of 200-300 shots before they reveal their best performance. I bought a package of inexpensive pellets containing 300 pellets; the package was on sale, and seemed to suit my needs. I was more concerned with cost since I didn’t expect the rifle to do its best until these pellets were used.

The pellets were packaged in lots of 100, so I shot the first hundred a week ago and the rifle performed well, eventually achieving dime-sized groups at 20 yards when I did my part. These pellets were pointed in shape and average weight, about 8 grains.

Yesterday, I opened the next partition of 100 pellets and began to shoot them. I was shooting at twilight, and rushed to get some shooting in before dark. After checking the first group of ten shots, I found not a grouping, but something more like a shotgun pattern! Thinking back, the pellets did feel a little looser in the barrel and felt a little lighter.

Turns out I was now shooting a lightweight hollow point pellet intended for lower-powered pump airguns. These pellets were not designed to be shot at speeds exceeding 1,000 feet per second. My rifle certainly did not like these pellets!

The lesson I was reminded of is how important it is to match pellets with the airgun. My gun is too powerful to shoot lightweight pellets well, so I need to stick with heavier pellets from now on!