Ultimate Precision: Mac McMillan’s Historic .009″ Group
.009″ — The Record That Stood for 40 Years.
In 1973 Mac McMillan shot an amazing 100-yard, .009″ five-shot group in a benchrest match. The .009″ group was measured with a 60x microscope for verification. Mac McMillan shot the group using a handbuilt prototype McMillan rifle with an early McMillan stock.
Mac’s .009″ group was the “Holy Grail” of rifle accuracy. This .009″ record was considered by many to be unbreakable, a record that would “stand for all time”. Well, it took 40 years, but someone finally broke Mac’s record with an even smaller group. In 2013, Mike Stinnett shot a .0077″ five-shot group using a 30 Stewart, a .30 caliber wildcat based on the 6.5 Grendel. Stinnett’s .0077″ group now stands as the smallest 100-yard group ever shot in registered benchrest competition.*
Read About .0077″ group HERE.
Stinnett’s success doesn’t diminish the significance of Mac McMillan’s .009″ group in the history of benchrest competition. For four decades Mac’s group stood as the ultimate standard of rifle accuracy*. For those of you who have never seen Mac McMillan’s .009″ group, here it is, along with the NBRSA World Record certificate. The target now hangs in the McMillan Family Museum.
*Somebody else might claim a smaller group, but unless moving backers or electronic targets were used, it cannot be verified. Moving target backers are used at registered benchrest matches to ensure that five (5) shots are actually fired in each group. That eliminates any doubt.
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And was accomplished shooting the 222 Remington. So much for the PPC!
Well the PPC was not invented then so an odd comment….
This one hole group has, and should, stand the test of time. There was an article in “Precision Shooting” (RIP) about the measuring of the group and how each time the hole was gauged it grow a little. Also the paper absorbed moisture from humidity and this changed the hole size.
The point being that this group contributed to better measuring procedures for BR and, if measured today, could have been smaller than the accepted 0.009.
222 with bullets, brass, primers and powders of 1970’s quality and technology? Not to mention barrels, triggers and stocks of the 1970’s? I’m really impressed by McMillan’s accomplishment. 222 was the my first cartridge when I started at 16. Shot it out of a T/C Contender with 14″ bull barrel. Sub 1/2″ groups got me hooked on reloading and guns in general. Love the Triple Deuce!
…when I started handloading at 16…