Records

One day last month a guy at the range was shooting a Coop in 243. After the fifth round he said, "Hey guys, look at this group". It as a ragged hole, the rough measurement was about .230" outside to outside. Now, I can be a miserable of goat at times so I "encouraged" him to shoot another group to match or at least close to his first. He tried but that one measured roughly .5" side to side. and AFAIK he hasn't shot another tiny group since.

Another guy mentioned the ONE 100 yard five shot record target, a verified .007" or something of that nature.

I have a stack of wallet groups around this shack, targets I shot when I did everything wrong exactly the same way every shot! I've heard for years one group proves nothing, fire a few more five shot targets to prove the shooter and the rifle.

My point, why do we hold Joe and his hunting rig to a higher standard than one record BR "Wallet group"? In my drag racing days if one set a new strip, division or national record it had to be backed up with a second run within 1% to prove the record run wasn't a fluke.

This isn't to diminish,question or bash one's performance, but my issue is the old "play it again Sam" or the one group proves nothing mantra. Why isn't a second target required within 1% to prove both the shooter's and rifle's performance?

Thoughts?

Bill ( aka: Da grumpy old Fart. :p)

In any sanctioned competition a back up target is not required or needed.
1. A moving backer is mandatory to prove there was actually 5 shots fired.
2. Potential records are scrutinized by a board of judges on the records committee for final decisions.
3. One "screamer" target can drastically lower one's agg. Aggregates are what wins matches, not just one small group.

Wallet groups prove nothing more than a lucky day at the range, because it's the best group they shot, not the worst or average.
If you want to impress someone with a wallet group, try the business card challenge.
Take a standard business card and divide it into 6 squares, and shoot a 5 shot group into each square. It's a lot harder than it's sounds, and if you can keep all the shots within the card, you are doing well, and that would qualify as a true "wallet group".

A few things to consider is first the .0077 group that Mike Stinnett shot was an amazing feet, the old .009 record has stood for over 40 yards, and many believed it would never fall. As far as backing up this action, this is not the same game as old Joe at the range, if you look when a shooter shoots a small group most likely they are not shooting any big ones, I would bet that none of Mikes groups where over .2 inches. As mentioned the scrutiny of the judges is a test that can make a shooter sweet bullets, many records are sent off to be verified and very few actually hold. I would also say the chances of Mike Stinnett ever shooting a group that size aging or even one 1% different would be 1 in a trillion. There are shooters that will shoot there hole life and never even get close to that. As far as screamer groups, they are scarce, and only show up a few times a year.

For the record,according to Mike Stinnett's reply to "benchrest.com,his 1st target measured .473"
2nd.........................092"
3rd..........................328"
4th..........................011"....later measured the world record .0077"
5th..........................237"
for a total Agg of .2282".

Oh,and BTW...You better shoot some small groups with the competition as keen as it is these days..........have you noticed all the teen aggs recently!!!

I shot several club matches at Denton, TX, 3-4 years back. This is Mike Stinnett's home range. He shot zeros at almost every match. I think didn't see many other shooters do that. At that time 2 other shooters of the USA Benchrest team also routinely shot the same club matches (dr. Tim O. and his wacky blender and Ralph Steward). At this point Mike was just getting into the 30 PPC. I think his odds where as good as anybody. Flute - maybe. I have never seen another shooter post as many zeros as Mike.

If I remember right Mike showed up to range the first time with a Savage VLP 22-250 that he shoot for his first year in BEnchrest. He was always encouraging and never bad-mouthed my Savage. Couldn't say that about many guys.

Luck, Tim