Ran some .22's

[Kurt]

Jim those shots with the Fed HV mirrors mine. I have better results with the sub sonic ammo. I ordered a case of the Fed Gold for $350> and Fed has a rebate on there ammo now so I have two bricks coming for free. So this stuff shoots very good in my rifle and at less than .06 cents a round makes it pretty cheap shooting. I was in the local Dunnam store to get some new .22 cleaning cages and their shells run almost $10. a box of 50.

[Distant Thunder]

Kurt,

I know what you are saying about the HV ammo but somewhere back in my brain there is always that thought that faster is better.

The only one of the HV ammo I have tested that really held good accuracy beyond 50 yards is the CCI Mini-Mag. I have used that a bunch in my hunting weight bolt gun and made some pretty impressive shots over the years out to about 150 yards.

In my .22 BPCR it shot fairly well at 220 yards but has a bit more vertical than you'd want on rams. So the standard velocity is probably the best and is said to be less affected by the wind. That has got to be because starting out above the speed of sound, transitioning thru the speed of sound and then going into the subsonic realm is a bad thing as we all know, even though we do it all the time with the big bores.

Since I see very little difference in .22 RF bullet designs I guess the only real advantage against the wind has to come from the speed. I would think there would be room for a least some design improvement in .22 RF bullets so it is disappointing not to see it used in any ammo, at least that I have seen.

If a shooter wants to explore that himself, have at it, but it would go against one of the benefits I see in shooting RF. I don't need nor want a shooting sport that requires casting and loading. If there is an advantage to be gained in .22 RF bullet design I sure hope someone tells us about it. Enter another variable! Better to keep things simple.

This idea of bench resting groups at 50 yards is something new for me and while it is fun to sit there and put one bullet after the other thru the same ragged hole I don't see that it has much value other than for "show & tell". I consider it to be about the same as shooting groups at 100 yards with my big bore BPCRs, next to useless. So when I have time to do some more .22 RF ammo testing it will be at 100 and 220 yards. Then I should be able to sort the good from the bad. Even that will require more than one group with any given ammo and 10-shot groups.

Probably the main reason I put this rifle together is for offhand practice (brother, do I need it) and hopefully a few .22 matches and eventually a .22 BPCR silhouette match somewhere. It sure has been a fun project, offering a level challenge that I need from time to time and being very rewarding with the outcome so far.

I have tried the liners and they can shoot very well, but I find then to be a PITA to load and eject. I have one of the new Winchester low walls and it's ok but not heavy enough to transfer to big bore silhouette offhand shooting and not nearly as accurate rested as this new rifle. I'm looking forward to the match next week and more shooting and testing with this rifle.

Merry Christmas to you all!

[Kurt]

Jim I think with the .22 coming back down into the subsonic has to do a lot with the weight of the bullet. The heavy .38 to 50 we use for black powder I think hold the shock better I think then the light .40 grain that really gets bounced around breaking back through into the sub or the wind at super the wake around the bullet is what pushes it more than in the sub and the high power holds better at HV because of the faster rotation they get acts like a gyroscope holding it true in flight and gets to the target faster holding the drift down.
I agree testing the powder rifles at ranges less than 300 is of not much use for long range. 200 yards is a start but you need to get past 300 to get the best from your loads. The .22 used for 200 yards one better test the rounds at 200 yards. 25 or 50 yards is not the answer what it will do at 200 but it will show at 50 the priming will be good. The priming is what effects a rimfire round and you also see this with centerfire primers.

[Distant Thunder]

Yes, it's hard for me to believe a 520 grain bullet wouldn't resist the affects of the transonic zone better than a 40 grain bullet. Bigger stuff is usually hard to push around.

For the big bores I have had to rely on 200 meters for my development, because that's as far as my backyard range goes. Years ago I was able to shoot at 300 about 20 minutes from home for development and testing, but that range really hasn't been open to me for the past several years. They were building a nice 600 yard range there, but the people in the area got all riled up and shut the project down. They were afraid those "HIGH POWER" bullets would kill somebody miles away. The club range here in Niagara is only 100 yards because nobody wanted to shoot any farther than that. It could have just as easily been 200 or even 300 yards. Sometimes I have to wonder what the heck people are thinking.

So 220 yards is what I have until I go to a match. I don't really do any shooting with the big guns at home anymore so I'm happier than can be to have a .22 to shoot and 220 yards is about right for that. I would like to do some shooting out 300 yards with it when I can.

[Kurt]

Jim 200 yards is all I have also and most of my load development is during a match or if the range has a days practice before the match. Lodi is close to three hour from my place and I wanted to join that club but it is almost impossible for me living far form this range to meet their qualifications.
The Quigley, Baker MT I take advantage the opportunity to perfect loads but again a new lot of components need some changes so I do the best I can with what I have to work with.
Jim you and the rest on this forum, Y'all have a Merry Christmas.

Kurt

[Distant Thunder]

I did some more shooting today, not the best weather for shooting but not worth a poop for anything else either. The temperature started out at about 31 degrees and quickly dropped into the mid 20s, which isn't bad really. The wind went from a light switchy breeze to strong gusts of 20 mph plus, that made things challenging.

I started at 50 yards because I had two new ammos to test. I also shot two known ammos to have an idea how the new stuff looked in comparison.

   

Then I moved out to 100 yards and I shot everything I had that shot pretty well in the past weeks. By the time I was at 100 yards the wind was blowing hard and switching every few seconds. This became more of how does this shoot in crappy winds than an accuracy test. Not all bad really. Today I did not wipe the barrel between groups with a dry patch like I had been doing previously. The only time I really saw where it made a difference was when I went from the FEDERAL Premium GM Match to the CMP ELEY. That first shot with the CMP was low.

Also I am pretty sure I forgot to pull my head out on one shot with the FEDERAL Champion and cross fired on the wrong black square. I can't see any other way it should come up that far right.

The WOLF was the first group at 100 yards and my math skills showed again and I came up with the wrong sight setting putting the first shot an inch below the paper. I came up 3 inches and the next 9 were good.

The horizontal spread and some of the vertical were both due to the wind. I tried to break my shots when things were good, but it never stayed one way for more than a few seconds and I could guess where a shot was in the group by the flag. This was really clear in the groups with the FEDERAL Premium GM Match and the CMP ELEY because the groups were so much tighter up and down. Those two were 5 shots only because I am saving the best stuff for the match on the 1st and I won't be able to buy more in time.

   

I still haven't decided between the scope and the irons. I was leaning toward irons thinking it would be better for offhand, then today in a quick 5 shots offhand at 50 yards with the scope I hit all 5. I have a few days to decide and I'll be shooting some more offhand for practice. Also I do shoot big bore BPCR silhouette with this same scope and action type.

[Kurt]

Not bad for the winds you had Jim.

Your Fed Match shows the same flat line vertical I get and that group might have been a enlarged hole on a calm day. That is not bad for less than $5. a box of ammo and feel comfortable using at a match.

I haven't got back out to shoot with the heavy rains and snow we been getting pounded with.

[Distant Thunder]

The rain ended here late last night, turning to light snow this morning and ending for the most part by 9am. I knew the winds would get bad and the temps would be dropping so I headed out for some shooting before it got too cold. The winds were really blowing by the time I quit and my toes and trigger finger were hurting bad, but it's always warm in the house. Now everything is ice and just getting around is treacherous. That's life in the northwoods.

I'll likely use a mix of ammo for the match. I just want to see how the rifle does and get some sight settings. It will be good to see the guys over at Merrill and visit. The weather looks like it won't be the best for driving in the early morning when I leave home and I'll have to be back on the road home by 1:30 or so to get home by dark. It will be a short window for shooting and a long drive, but it will be fun.

I've got one more adjustment to the rifle to make tomorrow that I thought of today, but everything is functioning very well. I just want to make it a bit easier to chamber those tiny cartridges. I struggle with that a bit because I don't have much feeling in my finger tips anymore, I guess I've smashed them a few too many times in the past. Machines can be hard on fingers. At least I can still count to 10!

[Kurt]

I never shot at Merrill Arnie has been mentioning it from time to time and it's really not much farther for me past Rapids. I know what cold fingers are all about. Froze them brown a couple times and it don't take much to get them tingling.
Shoot straight at the match and let me know what was going on when you get time.

[Distant Thunder]

I'll put this in here to kind of close out my part of this thread. The match at Merrill, WI was today and I have to say it went better than I expected.
The official results will be out in a couple weeks, but I'll spoil that a bit here. There were over 20 shooters for sure, probably around 25. It gets a little hard to figure with some of the guys coming in late and a lot of names crossed out as people change the shooting order to get their spotters freed up for when they are shooting. I'm not sure how Mike keeps it all in line, but he does.

I arrived about 9:30 with shooting scheduled to start at 10:00. I looked over the targets and conditions. There wasn't much snow on the ground so the targets were paint florescent orange. A quick check said they were going to stay that way. I figured right away that there was no way I was going to see those orange targets with iron sights and I would have to go with the scope. The majority of shooters were scoped as well.

Just about every kind of .22 RF is allowed in this match and there are no limits I can see on sights or scopes. Bolt guns, leverguns, single shots and liners, if it's a .22 RF you can bring it to the line.

My rifle is 12 lbs. /- with the scope and seems a bit heavy to me for offhand. So, with the scope on and an unloaded rifle I checked to see if I could hold steady on the 50-yard gong before the match started. That wasn't happening! I tried different holds and nothing worked so I ended up back where I started for holding it and that's what I went with.

Thanks to Arnie I was 17th on the list. That would allow me to shoot and still leave for home in time to make it there before dark. At least that was the plan. As it turned out I stuck around to talk some more and watch a couple other shooters go through the offhand so I was late getting out of there. It was worth it to spend a little more time with friends.

When my number came up I went the first target, the 50 yard offhand gong, thinking I'm going to be lucky to hit maybe 2 of these. When the fire command was given I raised the rifle and took the first of two sighters. I hit it! Then I hit it again!. There is some hope here after all I thought. After my 10 record shots I had hit 8!

I used the Federal Champion ammo for the offhand. My thinking was that they'll shoot into 1/2" at 50 yards and they are high velocity, less time in the barrel. I need that less time thing because by the time my brain says, "Pull the trigger!" and my finger actually does something, well the sight picture can change a bunch. Less time in the barrel can only help shorten the whole chain of events leading to the bullet getting going down range. It seemed to work.

For the three remaining targets at 100, 150 and 195 yards I used the ELEY Target and that worked pretty well too. My only miss in the 30 shots benched was one at 150 yards. I don't remember which one it was, but I do know I was surprised when the shot went off early and then again when it missed off the edge at 10 0'clock. I just got a little too heavy on the trigger as I was lining it up, I thought I was lined up pretty well, but I missed.


So out of 40 shots I ended up with a 37. To say I was please with the way my rifle shot would be an understatement, I was thrilled! Arnie spotted for me and did a great job. He said on the last gong at 195 yards you could have covered my last 5 shots with a quarter.

This rifle has been a bit of work to finish up, mostly the extractor design and build, but it is so nice to finally have a .22 BPCR that shoots well. In the past I only had my Browning low wall and that never did as good as I wished it would. This rifle is going to be a lot of fun going forward. Life is good!