Forum shooting challenge: The under 500 500

[LRP]

So I believe but I suspect only a machine-rest, used in a tunnel, MAY be able to separate that phenomenon from all the other variables that lead to group divergence ?

[Tussock]

So I believe but I suspect only a machine-rest, used in a tunnel, MAY be able to separate that phenomenon from all the other variables that lead to group divergence ?

I could have summarised the whole thing with "I shoot badly when I can see the group forming with this rifle".

[Tussock]

So I believe but I suspect only a machine-rest, used in a tunnel, MAY be able to separate that phenomenon from all the other variables that lead to group divergence ?

You have it a little backward. Why do I care about separating variables? This is the great conceit of science. You isolate variables in order to talk about them. There is no instruction manual and no way of predicting what will happen when you bring those variables back together. That is the domain of math.

There is no point in creating a fair test if it is an irrelevant test.

I would put it simply. When you have the machine rest in the wind tunnel, how do you get the wind tunnel up the hill and line it up with the deer?

If you take away relevant variables, then you are just wasting your time.

How many hunting rifles shoot 1/5" MOA groups off a benchrest, but throw a first round flier from a cold barrel? How many shoot 4" to the left (for example) when cold? Heaps of them. Your half MOA is not a relevant variable to hunting. The first shot out of a cold barrel is.

There is no point isolating relevant variables and the exercise to find relevant variables is different. Without going through that process you are making a ton of assumptions, and assumptions are the mother of all fuck ups.

The point of this entire exercise from the get go is to start a discussion about shooting in terms of marksmanship, taking in the human element.

Is there any way a machine rest could demonstrate what happens when a human fires a rifle? How could a machine rest in a tunnel demonstrate the mental aspects of marksmanship?

Setting up heavy rigs with gadgets and computers and isolating every variable is fun, but I would hold my manhood cheap if it was all I could do.