If Gary goes out and purchases a rifle because Larry and Steve like theirs.

Is there any chance at all that all three rifles till shoot very similarly with the same ammo?

Off the shelf rifles ,not special order elite custom modified jobs.

Or

Is it going to be a spin of the giant wheel of chance?
As
To what ammo will be optimal out of each gun?

I think factory tolerances will probably be close enough that three factory rifles coming off the same line will have very similar chamber dimensions and barrels and will therefore shoot pretty similarly with the same ammo (that was also manufactured with pretty decent tolerances.)

They’ll all kill a deer the same, when you get thousandths of an inch then there will probably be some differences.

Definately not the case with .22 LR rifles. Luck of the draw with them in most cases.

So if the first guy takes the time to try a dozen different makers of ammo and five different weights.

He can tell the others and they can come close to similar performance.

If the other shooters possess the same abilities.

I have 3 different AR15s 2 are the same barrel length and rifling twist. The 3 is an AR pistol.

The 2 carbines shoot the same about 2” at 100 yds with iron sights if I’m having a good day. I have a scope i can swap between them, they both are within an 1 - 1 1/2” (if I use a sling). Smaller if I use a bipod.

DPMS and Bushmaster purchased 5 years apart. Both new and no mag dumping etc.

Definitely maybe.

Not a bad place to start however those receivers and barrels came out of a bin at different times, perhaps built by a variety of shifts.

Really depends on the demands of the rifles mission.
In a regular hunting rifle or defensive AR for example, any difference is likely to be very small either unnoticeable or entirely inconsequential
In a precision rifle with a very high accuracy and consistency expectation, whole different story.

Depends on the platform and the consistency of the manufacturer.

Tony.

I would think they would be similar, not necessarily accurate or precise, that would depend on the particular specifications of the build.

The factual answer is "it depends". I would think with modern technology the preferences would be close, but I've found two exact models can sometimes give slightly different chronograph averages with the same loading. My Remchester made in March of 2023 could have slightly different tolerances than your Remchester made in November of 2023.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
If Gary goes out and purchases a rifle because Larry and Steve like theirs.

Is there any chance at all that all three rifles till shoot very similarly with the same ammo?

Off the shelf rifles ,not special order elite custom modified jobs.

Or

Is it going to be a spin of the giant wheel of chance?
As
To what ammo will be optimal out of each gun?

I would suspect that it would depend on how much time passed between the production of said rifles and the maintenance that had been done on the machines that cut (especially) the barrels.
For instance if the cutters that had been used were needing maintenance or near the end of life for rifles of Larry and Steve, but Gary’s rifle was produced by equipment that had been freshly calibrated and sharpened cutters would likely do better providing the 3 men’s skills were equal.
Just my humble opinion.

It would really depend on manufacturer, and their tolerances and quality, but in general, no.

Here’s an overly simplistic thought experiment. Let's say a manufacturer has two machines, A and B to make barrels, with tolerances of +/- 5. Machine A turns out barrels +5 and B turns out barrels -5. The same manufacturer has two other machines, A and B making bolts, with the same tolerances, and once again A is 5 long and B is 5 short.

Now, if you assemble a rifle with an A bolt and A barrel, fit will be ideal. Same thing with a B-B bolt and barrel. But, if you assemble a rifle with a bolt off of machine A and a barrel off of B, it will still be within spec, but you can easily imagine that performance would vary. Similarly with a B-A rifle.