The Myth of the Sub-MOA Rifle

If you happen to stated “sub-MOA or bust,” you’re not alone. Many hunters count on even bargain-bin rifles to shoot less-than-one-inch teams at 100 yards, and I’m as responsible as anybody of wishcasting that fable into existence.

However the reality is, even on the subject of high-end rifles, true sub-MOA weapons are much less widespread than you’ve been led to consider. I’ve accuracy-tested tons of of rifles during the last decade from throughout the price-point spectrum, and whereas some rifles adhere to the parable (which is why it persists), nearly all of them don’t.

Take, for example, the massive sport searching rifles we’ve reviewed during the last 12 months right here at TheMeatEater.com. If you happen to outline a sub-MOA rifle as one which shoots lower than one-inch teams at 100 yards with any high-quality ammo, none handed that take a look at.

The averages above incorporate the ammunition the rifles shot properly together with the ammunition they didn’t. Admittedly, that’s not the very best metric. Most hunters discover the bullet/ammo a gun likes and use that combo completely. However even when we take simply the ammunition every rifle shot the very best, they nonetheless land principally within the 1-1.5-inch vary.

Each rifle shot at the least one sub-MOA group, and most shot a number of such teams with totally different sorts of ammunition. However in case you’ve spent a lot time printing teams at 100 yards, that even the jankiest rifles can publish the occasional good group. To name a rifle “sub-MOA,” that group dimension must be the norm, not the exception. Whereas the Tikka and the Springfield barely slipped below the road, solely the Wilson broke the sub-MOA barrier in a big method, and that was with three-shot teams relatively than 5.

You may level out, pretty sufficient, that we didn’t take a look at these rifles with each potential form of ammunition. We used three to 4 bullet weights and kinds for every overview, however there are numerous different choices. One among them could have produced constant 0.75-1-inch teams, by which case that rifle would certainly be “sub-MOA.”

It’s additionally true that cheap sub-MOA rifles aren’t a complete fable, as a few of you might need already gone all the way down to the feedback to elucidate. I’ve a Howa 1500 that may shoot constant less-than-one-inch teams at 100 yards with just about each form of match ammo you should purchase. It’s a legit sub-MOA rifle, and I believe I paid perhaps $800 for it.

Many have had the same expertise with a manufacturing unit rifle, but it surely’s much less widespread than gun boards would have you ever consider. Oftentimes, a fella who brags about how his price range rifle can shoot teeny, tiny teams actually simply means it shoots these teams often. That’s nonetheless spectacular for a reasonable rifle, however that lack of context generates unreasonably excessive expectations for the remainder of us.

Plus, as I’ve argued beforehand, group dimension isn’t even the very best metric for figuring out how properly a searching rig will carry out within the area. Until you’re having a reasonably unhealthy day, you’re not going to take greater than two photographs on an animal. Ideally, you’ll solely take a single shot on a chilly bore. It’s that first cold-bore shot that basically issues to a hunter, and taking pictures 5 or 6 teams isn’t a terrific actual world take a look at.

We nonetheless conduct group-based accuracy testing on our overview rifles as a result of that’s how hunters are used to evaluating accuracy throughout totally different firearms. Testing for group dimension additionally offers some sense of how properly a rifle will make that first cold-bore shot. However everytime you’re doing accuracy testing to discover a spherical your rifle likes, don’t overlook to ship a number of rounds downrange on a chilly bore.

Backside line? Don’t get bent out of form in case your rifle isn’t sub-MOA. You’re within the majority. Fretting a few rifle’s accuracy can bitter a visit to the vary and make you much less assured within the area. However the reality is, even costly rifles can battle to hit that magic one-inch mark. Because the final yr of rifle critiques demonstrates, you shouldn’t be upset in case your new searching rifle shoots 1-1.5-inch teams. That’s lots correct for many hunts, and ok {that a} miss is extra about you than your taking pictures iron.