The truth is
 

If you don't have good accurate eyes, you can't have an accurate rifle. Not with 'bad eyes' shooting it.

Why in the world did you bring this old thread back up after making an even longer post about eyesight previous to this one?!!!

Topgun, this is our friend Valentine... :sheep:

Yea, I know and that's why I wondered why he had done it Maybe he's like I am with bad eyes and couldn't see the previous post he made :confused2: :p

Most accurate rifle? Well that's going to depend on each individual person. I've been shooting and loading for more than 40 yrs and it's been my experience that if you're willing to spend the time, you can make any of them shoot, of course considering that I rifle hasn't been damaged or misused. Some may take more time to get there, different loads, glass bedding ect. But I've seen some that you could hit on a good load right out of the box, and some you had to work at. I had a rem 788 in a 243 cal that took quite a bit of time to get there, and I have a Ruger no-1 25-06 that I hit right out the box.
These were the the extremes, and the rest have fell in the middle. Both of these rifles would shoot a 3-shot group at a 100 yds that you could cover with a dime.
The big skinny is how hard are you willing to go and what's accurate to you?

The worse the shooter
 

...the more the complaints. It's not only the accuracy of the shooter, but knowing where to shoot the bullet.
Good shooters rarely have experience with more than a few rifles.

African Perspective
 

I am a PH in Africa and have hunted throughout the Continent both myself and with clients from all over the World. From my experiences the Calibre choice is generally a more important decision than the Brand. As a general rule of thumb, the smaller the calibre, the more accurately one tends to shoot. I own and have shot rifles ranging from .222 right through to .500NE. My .223 and .243 generally give me tighter groups than any of the larger calibres. I have made numerous one shot kills on 2000LB Eland Bulls using 55Gr bullets in my .223. I firmly believe in 'placement over power'.

There are many great Brands on the market today. Historically, the Americans are the pioneers of the bolt-action rifle and(in my opinion) have always produced the very best of them. The Winchester Model 70 happens to be my favourite, hands down, but you cannot go wrong with Ruger, Remington and Savage. CZ is a very popular brand in South Africa.

I don't shoot big 30lbs custom bench guns, I only shoot auto, bolt, and lever guns designed for hunting.
Best individual results I ever got were
#1 Tikka T3 (You would not believe me if I told you.)
#2 Browning A-Bolt (Tight cloverleafs @100)
#3 Marlin X7 (touching three holes on a regular basis)
#4 Tie between Savage 110 and New FN Winchester model 70 (consistent 1/2MOA groups)
#5 1970s model heavily used Browning BBR (just over 1/2 MOA)
DEAD LAST 1990s Model 70 pushfeed (I would measure the groups if I could get three shots to hit the paper at 50 yards!)

I've been doing this a long time and have my thoughts on it.

In most cases the rifle is more accurate than the shooter is. It takes a long time and a lot of practice before a shooter can shoot better than most rifles do.

Sometimes it is fit, if it doesn't fit right you are unlikely to repeat exactly and gain consistency.

Parallax when using a scope.

Picking up bad habits as you shoot. The key is consistency, right down to how you breath and even your heart rate. A little cant can cause big problems. How tight you hold the rifle to your shoulder can also have an effect. A whole bunch of bad habits can creep in.

My biggest gains in accuracy are (for me) from the trigger. Using a set trigger really shrank my groups.

Optics, using better optics and finding the right reticle also had a large effect on my groups.

When I finally learned about eye relief on a scope and learned about parallax. They advertise parallax free optics or parallax adjustable optics. To be honest, the advertisements should be parallax reducing.

And eventually finding which ammo that particular rifle preferred. Before you could even start to determine this, you had to be a better shot than the rifle, which took a great deal of time and practice.

I've had two rifles I just shot really well, I really don't think it was the rifles so much as they just fit well and we worked well together. One is my SSG 69, which you would kind of expect. But even the 69 will change point of impact if I let it get hot. The other was a Winchester model 70 extra lite. You'd think that skinny barrel would mess with the groups, it may in theory, but in practice it didn't seem to matter at all.

The worst shooter I ever had was a mini 14, I never did shoot any better than 3-4 inch groups at a hundred yards with it.

I still have an old Stevens in .222, it is pretty much used up, the lands and grooves are almost gone. It still shoots one inch groups at a hundred yards. I'm consistent with it and even with all it's flaws, it still shoots consistently.

Awesome comment!