Why is a bolt action rifle more accurate than an auto loader?

I always hear about people who are very good shots and can shoot dime size groups at 100 yds with a bolt action rifle (M77 Hawkeye) but with a autoloader (ranch rifle) it's 2 inch groups at 100 yds. I was just thinking if you take your time after each shot and aim properly each time even if it was a autoloader it would hit in the same place.

There is accuracy - and then there is ACCURACY.

All autoloading rifle must have ammo that is less than a specific cartridge overall lenght (OAL) to fit the magazine and feed correctly. This means the bullet has a space to jump between no groves in the chamber and the groves in the barrel. A bolt action rifle can ignore this specification and have it's ammo tapered so the bullet is presented just .002" before the lands and groves. No jump.

Autoloading rifles require all their ammo have a taper or roll crimp - this is to prevent the projectile from falling inside the cartridge during autoloading. Frequently this crimp becomes a pressure point, or a fulcrum, and it is not uniform from one bullet to the next. Bolt action rifles do not requrire this - and make for the cartridge to be more uniform. More uniform will be more accurate.

Autoloaders also tend to go through ammo like water - and - the barrels will wear out.

There are many match grade autoloading rifles - M1a, AR-15 etc that will shoot equal to or as good as a bolt gun. With an autoloader the rifle and ammo needs to have a certain amount of slop to prevent malfunction. You give up the pin point accuracy and accept excellent accuracy for the additional firepower. As you start to tighten up these specs in an autoloader you begin to give up some reliability - and of course the cost goes way up for the special high tolerance components and parts.

Hope this helped answer your question!

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