Objective data. On Target Calculator, Std gun with 36x

A few years back I worked hard to measure my groups while evaluating ammo at 100m.  I found a neat little free tool called On Target Calculator 1.1.  I was able to find it on an old hard drive but I see it has been updated to 2.1 and it now cost $11.  But, if you look at the bottom of the page the freeware 1.1 is still available.  It can be a little annoying when you try to manage images but it works. 

Std gun vs hunter gun.  The big debate.  I also had a high power scope, another frequent debate.  So, to TRY to get some objective data I decided to do my very best to group 15 shots and measure it.  Try each gun and see whether there is any real difference.  Can a 36x scope and a 4 oz trigger buy that better a group than a 24x scope and 2 lb trigger?

1808 with 36x scope at 40m

So, to the right is my best group.  Two wild "duh" shots but the rest I was pretty satisfied with.  I use junk ammo at 40m.  Sure, better ammo might help a little but at 40m, not by very darn much.  At some other time I will try my hunter gun and see if there is any significant difference.

And, I can always work harder on improving the ATC or Average To Center value.  Although a 5.1 moa spread is bad news, I will take an average of 1.271 moa ATC given the minimal practice so far this season.  If anyone buys 2.1 I would love to hear about it.

As info, it is hard to generalize, but a chicken is on average 3 moa.  The big circle is 1.271 moa radius, thus 2.5 moa in diameter or thereabout.  But, my POA was on the edge of the circle.  Next time I guess I should use a chicken target.  Practice is practice.  It helps me to diagnose the practice.