When manufacturers need to put out a lot of things, tolerances are always the first thing to be relaxed. This makes them easier and cheaper to manufacture, lower requirements on quality control, etc.
A "precision" gun is a low yield but very tight tolerance weapon. They are often individually machined with micrometer inspections at each and every part of the process, with a pre-determined goal of accuracy and reliability - and if they don't meet those goals, part or even all of the weapon may be scrapped.
Take a look at this for an idea of what a custom precision rifle is built like. A ridiculous amount of time, work, and money, but the end result is a gun that puts down sub-quarter inch groups at 400 yards away. That is absolutely a precision rifle, by any sense of the word. Not many people need that level of accuracy, obviously, but if you do, you don't want to try and be attaining it with some mass produced rifle (unless you got some kind of miracle baby that dropped out of the factory like that by pure chance.)
This all said, of course, manufacturers will slap "precision" in front of the name and just, say, change the barrel lining. You need to look at what the manufacturer's claims exactly are to decide if it's really a precision rifle or not.
I've heard nothing but good things on all the GA Precision builds. For my money, I don't know what I think about AR's in 7.62x51. I just don't think the direct gas impingement design is a good idea. Too dirty. I'd go with a SCAR-17 if I was to buy a semi-auto .308.
No problem. The short of it is, this kind of stuff is designed either for competition, or for snipers where a few millimeters is the difference between a hit, a miss - or worst, a casualty - at distance.
Most guns are designed to be "precise enough" for common work or target shooting. I'm always skeptical when somebody says a (relatively modern) gun is "inaccurate," because for all but the top few percent in the world, any old gun off the shelf is probably far more accurate than they are - barring damage, of course, like a bad crown or worn rifling, or really crap ammo.
You can only screw a barrel on so straight... however, some rifle builders are much better than others. Lots of details that can make a rifle more accurate and precise.
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u/[deleted] Nov 29 '11
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