When shooting a group on a target, what would be unacceptable as far as grouping size?

Depends on the the distance, the rifle and the cartridge, and what you will be using it for. Bolt action, scoped rifle for deer, I'd want better than 2" from a bench at 100 yds Open sighted 30-30, probably 3" is ok.

For a 22 for plinking, 2" at 50yds would be ok.

Heavy weight 22-250 for prairie dogs, better shoot well under 1" at 100yds.

So it depends...

...off hand or supported at all?

Standing, kneeling, sitting, or prone?

rifle? pistol?

bolt action, shooting from a bench with a steady rest, perfect conditions weather wise.

say shooting 100 yards with a centerfire.

When you say "unacceptable" -- well, what are you trying to accomplish? The kill zone on a deer is pretty large. If you shot 5" groups and didn't take irresponsible shots and let some deer walk if you didn't know you could take 'em down, then you wouldn't be doing anything unacceptable.

1" with a rifle in good condition, scope and good quality ammunition that your rifle likes is a good benchmark but it's only that, a benchmark, something to try for. Smaller is better, larger is worse. A lot goes into why a rifle may shoot larger or smaller groups, many of which have nothing to do with the shooter. "Worse" does not mean "unacceptable" or even that you should be concerned about shooting 1.5" or 2". 1" is a good benchmark to strive to attain and many rifles will do that out of the box now.

If you shot 2" groups all day long, and can get your scope adjusted to put them on center, you would be a perfectly lethal 100 yard deer killer. For many weapons, you would be a perfectly lethal 200 yard deer killer with that same grouping. Based on observations at ranges, many, many people find that perfectly acceptable and why shouldn't they? It suits their interests.

To me anything over 2in in unacceptable for my deer rifle. Anything over 3/4in for my 300wthby that I shoot long distances with.

It is subjective to the shooter and application.



For example, last month I decided to conduct load development when I switched to the 139gr Lapua Scenars in my .260. I test my loads in 5 round groups against the readings of my chronograph. Shot off a bipod and rear bag.

The center and right groupings were acceptable accuracy. The right target is .3MOA and the center is .181MOA.




Now for a deer rifle, anything under 1.5 MOA would be acceptable to me. Most modern deer rifles are capable of 1MOA.

Others think a pie plate at 100yards is acceptable. Just depends on what you want for accuracy.

260 rem. What rifle and barrel do you have. I just got one and have not achieved 1/5 Moa yet I am going to try 140 Berger vld's and the lapua's next. I was working with 120 a max's and various powder's

Surgeon SA
Bartlien Heavy Varmit 1:8.5
AICS - skim bedded
Jewell Trigger @ 14oz
T2K brake and level

140gr VLDs shoot best jammed in the lands. I jammed mine .015 into them. Problem is you have to chase the lands as the throat erodes and I fire from 10rd mags so my neck tention needs to be a minumum of .002 - makes for a lot of babysitting the rifle every 200-400 rounds.

Terry Cross turned me on to the Scenars at the last match we shot together. I'm jumping them .010 and achieving the above accuracy which makes them much more forgiving as the throat move away from you.

F Class = 140VLD seated long the light neck tention.
Tactical = Scenars fed from a magazine.

Your mileage may vary.

oh try H4350 between 41 and 43gr

During my benchrest day's I would have said anything over .250 at 200 yards, but those day's and group's are long gone. Most over the counter rifles are capable of 1 1/2 group's at 100, which is better than most hunters are capable of shooting. If you can stay inside 2 inches at 100 you'll be fine.