brewer12345
Member
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2015
- Messages
- 2,753
For a lot of my reloading thus far I have been trying to maximize accuracy given the constraints (components, cost, inherent accuracy potential, etc.) on each workup. In most cases, the highest accuracy I cared about was consistent groups of an inch or so at 100 yards - hunting accuracy for deer and elk where the possibility of a 300 yard shot is not uncommon.
I just bought a 556 rifle that I have been told by the seller is a tack driver. Given the way things go and what the seller has told me, I think it was a tack driver with high end Sierra MatchKings. What I will be using this rifle for is mostly target shooting, but I don't compete and the local range is limited to 100 yards. I plan to experiment with using it for jack rabbits next year. We normally flush them and shoot with a shotgun, but I want to try sitting on a hill and having my hunting partner stomp around. If they run out of range of the shotgun, I want to try hitting them from 100+ yards out with the 556. I doubt I could see a jack beyond 200 yards, though, even with the scope.
So at what point do you stop trying to improve accuracy? At what cost? I can cast bullets for this rifle for no more than 3 cents a piece. I picked up some Hornady 62 grain soft points for 8 cents a pop. Looks like the MatchKings go for a quarter a piece on line (yikes) and might not be a good choice for hunting (although a headshot on a jack just means a headless bunny if the bullet fragments, right?). I'd guess an inch at 100 yards would probably do it, although tighter accuracy would be welcome. On the flip side, 25 cents for a bullet, 3 cents for a primer, and a nickel's worth of Varget means that these rounds would be about triple the cost of similar fodder rolled up with a cast bullet.
I just bought a 556 rifle that I have been told by the seller is a tack driver. Given the way things go and what the seller has told me, I think it was a tack driver with high end Sierra MatchKings. What I will be using this rifle for is mostly target shooting, but I don't compete and the local range is limited to 100 yards. I plan to experiment with using it for jack rabbits next year. We normally flush them and shoot with a shotgun, but I want to try sitting on a hill and having my hunting partner stomp around. If they run out of range of the shotgun, I want to try hitting them from 100+ yards out with the 556. I doubt I could see a jack beyond 200 yards, though, even with the scope.
So at what point do you stop trying to improve accuracy? At what cost? I can cast bullets for this rifle for no more than 3 cents a piece. I picked up some Hornady 62 grain soft points for 8 cents a pop. Looks like the MatchKings go for a quarter a piece on line (yikes) and might not be a good choice for hunting (although a headshot on a jack just means a headless bunny if the bullet fragments, right?). I'd guess an inch at 100 yards would probably do it, although tighter accuracy would be welcome. On the flip side, 25 cents for a bullet, 3 cents for a primer, and a nickel's worth of Varget means that these rounds would be about triple the cost of similar fodder rolled up with a cast bullet.