TargetTalk

Maybe someone can help with this. What makes a quality rifle shoot more accurately than cheap rifles. Also when you set sights on a rifle at 50 yards what causes the rifle not to shoot perfectly at 100 yards and at 10 meters after setting setting at 50 yards.
I have a 100 dollar .22 rifle but its hard to get shots to hit the bull all the time. Usually shots are within 1 inch of center at 35 feet even if in a rest. Thanks New to this.

Its not magic. Accuracy is related to the design and tolerances of the machining and both require BIG bucks. I wish there was a way to have a 100 dollar rifle shoot like a 4,ooo ,or higher dollar competition rifle. but I no longer believe there is a tooth farie and am beginning to doubt Santa Claus as well. Small groups are related to big money. Good SHooting Bill Horton

darticus wrote:Maybe someone can help with this. What makes a quality rifle shoot more accurately than cheap rifles.

Quality of manufacturing - bore, rifling, chambering, crowning.
Thickness or stiffness of the barrel.
Headspace.
How it's bedded in the stock.
How good the ammunition is that you're putting through it.

That's just for starters.

darticus wrote:Also when you set sights on a rifle at 50 yards what causes the rifle not to shoot perfectly at 100 yards and at 10 meters after setting setting at 50 yards.

That will be the laws of physics (exterior ballistics). The sights need to be set differently for 100yds and 10 meters because:
All the time that the bullet is in flight it is falling due to gravity.
The further the bullet has to go, the longer it is in flight, the further it falls.
So to hit the bull at 50m - the sightline will point at the center of the target but the boreline will point to a spot above the bull, such that bullet will drop into the bull in the time that it takes to get from the muzzle to the target.

At 100yds, the flight time is roughly doubled so the distance the bullet drops is roughly 4 times the distance it would compared to 50m (square law) - so the bore must point correspondingly higher and the rearsight must be elevated so that the sightline points at the center of the target.

darticus wrote:I have a 100 dollar .22 rifle but its hard to get shots to hit the bull all the time. Usually shots are within 1 inch of center at 35 feet even if in a rest.

All I can say is that even with rifles that cost thousands of dollars, matched with high quality ammunition, shot from a rest, in still conditions, you can't 100% guarantee that you'll get a bull every time... but the odds will be greatly improved.

Anonymous wrote:

darticus wrote:Maybe someone can help with this. What makes a quality rifle shoot more accurately than cheap rifles.

Quality of manufacturing - bore, rifling, chambering, crowning.
Thickness or stiffness of the barrel.
Headspace.
How it's bedded in the stock.
How good the ammunition is that you're putting through it.

That's just for starters.

darticus wrote:Also when you set sights on a rifle at 50 yards what causes the rifle not to shoot perfectly at 100 yards and at 10 meters after setting setting at 50 yards.

That will be the laws of physics (exterior ballistics). The sights need to be set differently for 100yds and 10 meters because:
All the time that the bullet is in flight it is falling due to gravity.
The further the bullet has to go, the longer it is in flight, the further it falls.
So to hit the bull at 50m - the sightline will point at the center of the target but the boreline will point to a spot above the bull, such that bullet will drop into the bull in the time that it takes to get from the muzzle to the target.

At 100yds, the flight time is roughly doubled so the distance the bullet drops is roughly 4 times the distance it would compared to 50m (square law) - so the bore must point correspondingly higher and the rearsight must be elevated so that the sightline points at the center of the target.

darticus wrote:I have a 100 dollar .22 rifle but its hard to get shots to hit the bull all the time. Usually shots are within 1 inch of center at 35 feet even if in a rest.

All I can say is that even with rifles that cost thousands of dollars, matched with high quality ammunition, shot from a rest, in still conditions, you can't 100% guarantee that you'll get a bull every time... but the odds will be greatly improved.

Thanks for all your input. Is the best way to set up a cheap rifle for the 10 m by shooting and seeing the group, than adjust sights? Maybe a rest helps?

darticus wrote: Thanks for all your input. Is the best way to set up a cheap rifle for the 10 m by shooting and seeing the group, than adjust sights? Maybe a rest helps?

Yes and yes.