How much is enough?

Dave Petzal is talking about ammo, and he recommends that three or four boxes of ammo is enough for the average hunter. He's right. Barring a competition, an average hunter is better off using 3/4ths of his ammo for hunting and 1/4 of it for the field. I once had a 7mm-08 that really liked a particular factory ammo. Liked it so much that I never bothered to reload for that caliber. I'd buy a box of ammo in the spring, use it to shoot the odd crow, practice some and have four or five rounds to hunt with. That was plenty. I never put that rifle on a bench. The closest it ever came to a formal shooting situation was resting on my hat on the hood of my pickup.

But, he also talks about accuracy and factory ammo.

First, don’t set your heart on minute-of-angle groups. You may get them, but you don’t need them. An inch and a half will do fine. I’d say if you don’t find something that will give you this kind of accuracy within three boxes, it’s time for a trip to the gunsmith to see if your rifle is ailing.

He's right again. We've gotten used to seeing rifles shoot into an inch at 100 yards. From the bench. Under controlled conditions. The simple fact of the matter is that the practical accuracy of a rifle/ammo combination can't be known until you get away from the bench and shoot it under field conditions. It takes practice to do that, more than some of us get.

It's springtime, guys. Take your rifles to the range once a month and shoot a half-dozen round from field conditions. Then, come the hunting season, it'll take a lot less time to tune up your shooting.

UPDATE** Misspelling corrected. Thanks, Junior.