Mac McMillan’s Legendary .009″ Group — Lookee Here
.009” Group Record 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 NBRSA record .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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Tags: .009", Benchrest, Mac McMillan, McMillan, Record, Smallest Group, Stinnett, World Record
so what caliber did he use?
.222 Remington
AFAIK
Is there a picture of the McMillan rifle used for the original group
Read how McMillan .009 was measured. A 60X optical comparator calculated the group at .0000. After a bunch of guys poked plugs in the group and measured it with plastics and calipers it was determined that .009 was good enough. Seems Mack’s group got larger each time it was measured. Who really shot the smallest group ever?
As I understand it, McMillan’s group was shot without a backer. Is that true?
Does anyone know what the load was?
To suggest that MacMillian record shoots were not with a moveable backing is suggesting that Gale cheated. Apparently, these guys were not aware that such a device was not available in 1974. I take this personally offensive. Please read the accounts of how the group was originally measured with a 60X optical comparator and measured at.0000. MacMillian was an honorable man and would never cheat. But the officials thought that .009 was good enough and probably never be beaten and was good enough. Anyway,.0000 would discourage all future competition. So who is really first and who is second?