Reflections on Accuracy and the Number Four

Originally Posted November 18, 2011

It occurred to me the other day that the number 4 has a significant meaning in the world of shooting accuracy both with pistol and carbine. This came about after a service member emailed me from OCONUS and asked for measurements of a certain target so they could improvise making one and shoot some of my tests. I kept this under my hat for a few weeks until I could prove or disprove my theory. Ended up that my first thoughts were correct. I kept track of the group sizes of a diverse group of shooters. Obviously, all were good enough to actually be measured. So here goes-

The gold standard for pistol accuracy is the 25 yd line. The most common target at that distance is an NRA B-8 which has a 5.5" bull. The best shooters I was around and myself routinely had a group size of right at 4 inches on that target. Even when some guys would have an awesome few rounds, they would throw one or two and the average over 3 to 5 different shoots was still 4".

As for carbine, in my classes I use the same NRA B-8 at 100 yds for zeroing and accuracy work on short ranges. When I have a 200 yd range I go to a NRA SR-42, which has a 12" bull. Keep in mind that pretty much all NRA tagets are based on the principle of the bull being the width of the front sight post for the weapon and distance that the target was designed for (this in itself has proven to be a huge time saving factor in training, especially for accuracy , over the years. We should all thank the guy who figured this out).

No matter the distance, either 100 or 200 on the above respective targets the normal group size again after 3-5 shoots was an average of 4 MOA (minutes of angle), which equals 4 inches at 100 yds. and 8 inches at 200 yds. Another interesting point here is that the Appleseed Shoot, which is based on the old ‘rifleman’s qurater mile’ of 500 yds is also based on 4 MOA.

As for the guns, none of them were super tricked out, just the normal combat modifications. Interestingly, even the 4 power optics like my new scope didn’t really improve the group size that much on non-accurized rifles.

So I think that this is a good standard to aim for; 4 “ group at 25 yds with a pistol and 4 MOA at either 100 or 200 yds. with your carbine.