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I consider myself a sportsman. I enjoy the hunt (in other words, trying to find game, tracking, and reading sign) and the outdoors. Once I locate my game I feel it is my responsibility as a sportsman to kill the animal as quickly and cleanly as possible. To do this, a suitable firearm is required along with a reliable bullet (like Barnes bullets) and accurate shooting.

The latter is the topic of this story. You see hunter can only be as accurate as is his rifle and choice of ammunition. But the truth is that most modern rifles can be tuned to shoot very accurately. It is the tuning process however that causes many of us problems. I am not talking about adjusting trigger pull, zeroing the rifle and scope, or bedding or floating a barrel. I am talking about tuning your choice of ammunition to shoot as accurately as possible.

Perhaps it is here that I should pause to define some of my terms. In the field we need to shoot accurately. That is, we need to have the bullet land exactly where we want it to land...the bullseye so to speak. To do that with confidence our ammunition must have precision. Precision in the shooting world is the ability of our ammo to shoot in the same place over and over again. Essentially, precision shooting is shooting tight groups (whether or not any of the bullets hit the bullseye).

Ok, now that our lexicon is defined, we can get down to the nitty gritty. Tuning our choice of ammunition to shoot with the utmost precision. Here are my tips:
    Tips for Precision Shooting
  • Reload
  • Use benchrest primers if at all possible (CCI)
  • Use an electronic automated digital powder scale (RCBS)
  • Keep a reloading journal
  • Shoot from a good bench (Outers)
  • Use a chronograph (Oehler)
  • Use ballistics software to understand your ammunition (Ballis-tec)
  • Shoot a single shot rifle
Most of the above are pretty self explanatory I suppose except perhaps the last entry I made. Why shoot a single shot rifle? Well, here is my line of thinking. I own and shoot a couple of Ruger no. 1's. I have consistently achieved the best precision with these rifles because this action allows me complete control of bullet seating depth. My .220 Swift for instance is a phenomenally precise rifle and that was achieved by seating the bullet so that there was very little space between the bullet's meplat (when chambered of course) and the beginning of the rifling. I suspect that my ammunution would experience feeding problems in many other types of actions because the overall length of the cartridge is quite long.

I tried this same technique with my Browning BBR (7mm Rem Mag) and was actually limited by the clip! My most accurate rounds could not be fed into the clip but only straight into the chamber. The result of this little lesson was that I had to modify my rounds again and seat the bullets more deeply to accomdate the clip and action.

Lastly, always be extremely careful. A small mistake in your reloading could prove disastrous in the field.
(note: applying any of these suggestions is done completely at your own risk)