Three shot groups have always been the benchmark for hunting rifles.
Always? How old are you?
The American Rifleman will fire a series of 5 shot groups and publish the min/max and average. I think they fire 25 rounds. IMHO, They pretty much set the standard for testing hunting rifles.
It is real easy to get a lucky 3 and call it quits. On the other hand, fire 10 groups of three shots and lay one over the other and see what you got?
If the shooter whats to do a little math. You dont need groups at all. You can hang a target with 10 individual bulls and fire one shot on each bull. That tell you a LOT more than just measure the worse flyer. I mean you might have 8 shots cut the x and one out a bit off and one on the 6 ring. Now you can calculate or get a sense of where you are 80% of the time, 90% of the time, etc...
This all has nothing to do with how many shots are fired at a game animal. It is all about the probability of a bullet hitting within a certain distance from your point of aim. If all goes to plan, one shot.
