Its not a revelation I expected to make. But more power to you. I think many times we see needless debate between the paper punchers, and the hunters, particular when each described a gun as " Accurate", or worse, a barrel as " accurate", without defining in what context they are judging the barrel or gun. The debate is all about a " Failure to communicate," and nothing really of substance.
I have passionately wanted a .36 caliber rifle for more than 30 years because they make such light weight field guns and are all the accurate I ever want for a small game rifle.
I first realized, however, that my favorite " Want " gun would not be much for accuracy on windy days at ranges of 50 yards and beyond when I was at Friendship one Fall, and a storm blew in, spoiling a lot of fine targets for the shooters I was watching. They all took what happened stoicly, and with surprising good humor,( Poop happens!), shaking their heads with a smile to each other.
Here I was seeing some fine off-hand shooting at the 50 yard range with some very fine rifles, and in the middle of the relay, the winds picked up and became gusty, so that no one could put their last 2 or 3 shots in the group they had started. A couple of the men were kind enough to answer some of my dumb questions, when I told them of my interest in owning a .36 caliber rifle for small game.
It was the first time someone explained how they used the flags, and spinners out on the range to judge the wind. I also found out what I have seen every visit since, that when even a light breeze begins to stir on the ranges there, you can have the wind blowing from the West close to the muzzle, and the wind blowing from the East out at your target.
If you shoot the 100 and 200 yard courses, you can have the wind direction switch back and forth a couple of times between the muzzle and the target. The Experienced shooters at Friendship shoot at first light, and late in the afternoon, when the winds either don't exist, or die down.
I am sure that there must be somewhere in America where you don't experience these kinds of wind across a range, but this reality at Friendship is one of the reasons that the .40 and .45 caliber rifles are so often chosen for serious target work. We talk here about trajectories, but in the real world of competition shooting, it windage that makes and breaks the competition. That was my true " revelation."
