....Personally, I've always felt that a 3-shot group is a fair indicator of the potential of a given load, but a 5-shot group will usually help determine the credibility of the load. To me, saying a 3-shot group is all you need because you probably will never get more than 3 shots at an animal does nothing to validate the consistency of a load combination. It's apples and oranges. If you have ever done much bench work, you should realize that a given gun may shoot the first three in a decent group, and then launch 4 or 5 somewhere else that blows your bubble. It happens all the time. It's the consistant, uniform time-after-time day-after-day values that the 5-shot group will give you, after you find that magical combination that keeps all 5 in the same location.
I'm quite aware that many folks use the 3-shot group therory and are happy with it. I'm just not one of them. Never will be. JMHO......