true, one should always strive to accomplish the most accuraccy they can, both through shooting form and equipment consistancy. whether is smallbore silhoutte, benchrest, hunting, etc. then scores will usually be better throughout any disipline. that's where matching the ammo to rifle, optics to have repeatability, trigger to be just so, etc. comes into play.

while an around MOA or sub MOA is a nice tool to have, in this discipline it is seemingly not a requirement.

i too like the notion that i can blame a "miss" on myself and not my equipment so the smaller group you can achieve obviously helps in that aspect.

but as far as putting lead on steel, whether it's on the rams nose, ass, or leg, it's still a hit.

"a little over 1" center-to-center, improves the odds that a poor shot on my part will still catch the target" is definitely a good rule of thumb.

I do believe that the top-tier shooters in this game could take a factory stock CZ 452 and any decent ammo and shoot great scores. That's because their hold lets them stay toward the center of the animal better than other people. I'm not one of the top-tier shooters so my hold doesn't keep the dot near the center of the animal. That means that my rifle/ammo/scope damn well better put the bullet on the animal if my dot is out close to the edge when the trigger breaks. If my rifle/ammo/scope won't shoot very tight groups, it won't reliably put the bullet on the animal if I'm close to the edge when the trigger breaks. The logic for accuracy isn't any more complicated than that. After that, the goal is to make the rifle so that the shooter is able to shoot it better. That's where better triggers, stock shapes, etc. come into it.

Agreed. Even after all this time shooting my Anschutz 1712 FWT I still think I could be getting the same scores with my CZ 453 Varmint that used to be my main gun. But then again, the CZ doesn't shoot a whole lot different than the Anschutz off the bench. The trigger in the Anschutz is a little nicer, but not by much.

I seem to remember something about practice, practice, practice...

The "magic" formula is decent gear, a case of ammunition, and range time, not perfect gear with practice squeezed in here & there.

Now that I have been shooting the silhouette game for a few years (not an expert by any means), here is what I have noticed about gear, practice and general shooting of this game.

All my current rifles feel comfortable when mounting to my shoulder and holding on target. If they don't and you can definantely tell when shooting, then I either fix the issue (if legal) or sell the rifle. I owned a really nice (purchased new the box) winchester legacy lever gun. The gun shot real nice groups off the bench, but, I could never make it shoot for me. Sold the winchester and bought a marlin. Imediantly went from shooting consistant 26's to consistant low 30's.

Also, had the same experiance with my remington 700 in 260 for high power. Could hardly get out of double digits with the standard hunting stock that came with gun. It just never felt right. Put a far stock on the gun and my scores went from single digits to consistant 15-17's. Yeah, I know, my scores suck, but, that was not the point. I think how you bond with a rifle is as important as the other two (practice and rifle accuracy) ingredance to good silhouette shooting.

It definitely has to be comfortable. And what's comfortable for you may not be the same as someone else. It could be, but might not be. Gotta try it for yourself to see. I haven't shot a Pharr stock enough times to know whether or not I would like it, really. And I frankly prefer my CZ 453 Varmint's stock to my Anschutz 1712 FWT's stock, but I've still been shooting the latter more often anyway. Once I pick up some more ammo I may switch back to the CZ for a while and see what my scores are like with it now, after shooting the Anschutz for probably a year now. Don't have enough ammo for the CZ at the moment, and have been slowly chewing through the ammo that the 1712 likes, but that's almost gone finally. Then it'll be time to play with both again.

edit - typos

True - it has to fit. Pharr stocks don't work for me but the Nesika Bay is perfect from the magazine well back. I'm told the Wooster forearm is probably what I'm looking for, and it would be great to try one one out.