I appreciate your comments.
To me, an inaccurate firearm of any type is one that cannot hold tight groups. If it consistently holds tight groups, but not on sight, it is not inaccurate, it just needs sight adjustment. Does anyone think a pro shooter's equipment is not sighted in properly?
However, your appreciation of my devil's advocate stance is, well, appreciated.
I know I'm not doing anyone here any favors, but maybe I'll stick around for awhile. I just bristle at stories that aren't 100% factual.
Blue1
Ah, but you are missing a big part of the premise of the post you quoted. Not every gun's sights can be adjusted. Some are only adjustable in 1\4 inch incraments. Therefore, in order to hit accuratly, you have to aim at a point other than the one you want to hit. Take big game hunting in my home state of NY.
Some counties are shotgun only. Most shotgun barrels only have a front bead which is most definitly a non-adjustable sight. A slug is a single projectile, and will only hit at one point of the target. therefore, if the bead is on the bullseye, and the slug hits a foot low, you can not adjust the sights. You have to adjust the shooter. Until last year, my county was a no rifle zone. I have hunted with the same shotgun for 25 years, and if I follow the bead to the kill zone, I will miss the deer, or wound it. Several boxes of slugs, and a sh!t load of range time tell me that in order to take a deer out at the shoulder, I have to aim for the elbow at 50 yards. Aim at the elbow, deer drops, game over. Aim at the shoulder, spine shot, or a miss, and potentailly long night spent tracking the deer, or it suffers.
Now, I have competed in several turkey shoots in my area, and have won my fair share, Most of the local ones still have a shotgun class and a rifle class. Smoothbore shotguns and slugs are a notoriously inaccurate combo. Open sights at 50 yards 2.5 in is good. My deer gun, a Mossberg 185d, Gives me a 1 3\4 inch group (3 shot) at 50 yards. I have used it to cut empty beer bottles off of fence rails at that distance, and can usually hit all 3 every time I try to. I have only missed 1 on 4 occaisions. Not bad for a smooth bore 20 gauge made in the 1940s, but the more important part of the equasion is the person behind the trigger.
If you lived closer, I would invite you up to the range to try this yourself. It might give you the evidence you need to recind you statement that a good shooter can not make up for an "inaccurate" gun. I mean no offense to you, and I hope you take no offense from this post, but I am not a profesional shooter. I shoot to do something more important than to win trophies, I shoot to feed my family. As an ethical hunter, I am obligated to give the animal the quickest, most humane death I can. If I have doubts about a shot in the woods, or at the range, I will not take it. I practice from every concievable angle and position I may encounter in the feild, with a handgun, rifle, bow, and shotgun out of respect for the animal.
As I said above, I mean you no offense, but I know I could present evidence that would change your view of accuracy, and on whether or not a pro shooter's equipment has to be sighted in perfectly.