Is your rifle actually Sub MOA accurate

Is your rifle actually Sub MOA accurate?

the reality of accuracy vs. precision

I’m going to step out on a limb and guess that if you’re taking the time to read this article, you’ve seen major companies claim their rifles to be “sub moa 3 shot group. Guaranteed.” You’ve seen gunsmiths’ websites where the more expensive the rifles get, the smaller that measurement of moa guarantee gets. Heck, there is even this commercial that incessantly pops up on my youtube for MidwayUSA that has the founder saying “…only accurate rifles are interesting. Is your rifle interesting?”. Now imagine an entire industry that, in trying to describe some attribute of quality for their products, uses the entirely wrong synonym. I hate to tell you gents, but when you post that picture on the ‘gram of 5 shots you can cover with a quarter that center an inch and a half from bullseye, that group size has nothing to do with accuracy. What are you trying to convey? Precision.

Now I realize that the visceral reaction to reading my prior statements here is “so what? Why argue semantics?”  Frankly, my major goal is just to get people thinking. But if you bear with me for just a bit, you’ll realize that most people are lumping two distinct and equally difficult attributes to achieve into a singular adjective that doesn’t give enough credit to modern technology or our love for our craft. So, let’s dig in.

What is the difference between accuracy and precision? In the most concise way to describe for shooting terms, accuracy is how close to your aimpoint did you impact. Speaking in terms of groups, accuracy is how close is the center of your group to aimpoint. Precision, meanwhile, is the actual refinement of measure, or tightness, of the group. Let me use a graphic here. Assume these groups were all shot with perfect trigger breaks and the reticles resting in the middle of the small center dot.

Let’s be honest. The far-left target is our goal. However, let’s think about a load test. Let’s say we shot a group with load X and got the second target as our result. Then, we shot load Y and got the third target as a result. Are you going to pick load Y? I mean all shots did land significantly closer to center mass. They were inherently more accurate. But no. You pick the more precise load X. Why? Because accuracy becomes a sum of inputs, the combination of your proper and repeatable form with the proper use of quality, adjustable optics. My main point here being, that’s on you. What you are chasing that depends a lot on your rifle and the ‘guarantees’ mentioned in the first paragraph is, in fact, precision. We typically always prioritize finding our most precise load, or even factory ammo combo. Then, assuming we have good form, we can adjust for accuracy quite easily.

Considering I have mentioned reloading and ammo/rifle combos, this does lead us down another rabbit hole: the fact that we measure both the precision of ammo speed and ammo grouping. ES or SD, which ever you prefer, are a measure of precision, just like group size. If you’ve been around this game a while, you know very well that the ammo providing the most precise groups isn’t always the ammo with the most precise speed and visa versa. How do you choose? Well there are several schools of thought, but I tend to agree with my esteemed peer, Johnathon Solinsky, who generally covers that topic here. Is seeking 1/4 MOA Groups Worth it?

At the end of the day, maybe it is a little bit of just semantics. Everyone knows what you mean when you say sub-MOA accurate rifles. Nonetheless, a grand majority of readers are followers of, if not involved in, the Precision Rifle Series. Most would describe themselves as precision rifle shooters. Most of us choose to spend just a little bit more money for tight tolerance, or precision, parts. In order to accurately describe my sub MOA rifles, I can only do so by telling you that they are in fact precise.

Written by POI Reviews Manager Jose Gardner