Took 1st & 2nd places in our .22BR shoot

[Maven]

Our club sponsors at least 4 benchrest .22 shoots a year, but they aren't limited to $1,200guns with 36x scopes by any means. While there were 10 of them (Unlimited Class), there were also 10 Plinker Class entries, which are essentially bolt- or semi-auto actions with 'scopes up to 8x permitted. It's also OK to have the triggers tuned and bbls. bedded or free-floated, as the case may be. Ammo, however, is target variety (i.e., expensive) with Eley Tenex to Federal 900B and even Wolf Match Target making an appearance.

I shoot a Marlin heavy-bbl. bolt action (syn. stock) that wears a new BSA 2-7x scope (has had a trigger job), usually with Federal 900B ammo. (Some think Federal's quality control has fallen sharply and won't use their target ammo at all.) Anyay, since .22 bullets ARE Pb, I felt I could post this here: A perfect score in my class (Plinker) is 200-10x. I shot 200-7x and 200-5x, which took 1st place and tied with another shooter for second. I'm pleased to say this is the best I've ever shot in this event!

Btw, a perfect score in the Unlimited Class is 250-25x. I've seen 250-19x, but today's high score was 249-11x, which was shot by a friend of mine & Vly's.

[Mel-4857]

That's GREAT SHOOTING !! Mel

[Maven]

Thanks Mel! I didn't mean to boast, but I was pleased with the results. Had it been windy yesterday, I don't think I'd have done nearly as well. Btw, the X-ring on the Plinker Class target is just a tad under 2mm in diameter while that on the Unlimited Class target is ~1.5mm, possibly a bit less. (The entire Unlim. bullseye is only ~67mm in diameter while that of the Plinker is 152mm.)

[Mel-4857]

Going to be shooting a postal shoot soon with my old 22 heavy barrel Mossberg at 50 yd iron sights and 100yd scope if I can do half as well I'll be pleased. Mel

[Buckshot]

............Maven, that's not boasting it's reporting the facts! Great job. With 22RF the ammo is the limiting factor as you have no control over it. With an accurate rifle and doing your dangdest to hold, you just hope that each one follows the previous.

.............Buckshot

[Scrounger]

Maven,
Just consider yourself lucky StarMetal wasn't shooting against you...

[carpetman]

Maven---Scrounger is right,had Starmetal been in the match,your 1st place would have dropped down to atleast 5th place.

[StarMetal]

I reload my own 22 rimfires....that's why they shoot better then the factory target stuff. One RAGGED hole!!!!!!

Joe

[45 2.1]

Anybody here tried Paco's Accurizer besides me. It can turn the cheap stuff into target/match quality ammo.

Maven, I assume you shot at 100 yds?

[Maven]

45 2.1, In my zeal to post the results, I forgot (really!) to mention that all of the .22 matches are held @ 50 yds. with more wind flags between the firing line and target than you can imagine. As for ammo, each year there's a new favorite [brand], but I use Federal 900B or Wolf Match Target, neither of which is inexpensive. Needless to say, I don't do much plinking with it! Btw, as I was gloating over my targets, I noticed I had one or possibly 2 additional x's, making the score at least 200-8x. That's as close to perfection as I'll get.

[StarMetal]

Maven

What size is the bullseyes on the targets that you fellows use? You did say that the shooting is off a bench, right?

Joe

[Maven]

All, The Unlimited targets (~grass green concentric rings maybe 1/8" apart) have 25 bulls (1 shot each) and 5 sighters (as many shots as you want, but there is a time limit) . The diameter is 2 .25" or 67mm while the "x" is about the size of the dot on the bottom of the "no icon" box you see when a reply is sent. Btw, you need a rest that is easily adjustable for windage & elevation (that means expensive) as well as a 18x or 36x scope to shoot it. A perfect score would be 250-25x, which I've never seen. The Plinker Class, on the other hand, consists of 2 "cards" with 5 bulls & 1 sighter bull (as many shots as you want, but time is limited) per card, 2 shots/bull for score. Each bull is 6"/152mm in diameter with the "x" ~2mm in dia. A perfect score is 200-10x. Both matches are always fired @ 50 yds. and within 30 mins. (timed), although most shooters are finished in less time. However, if it's windy, one may need all 30 mins.

Ammo is of benchrest quality and of varies quite a bit in price/50rnd. box or brick. As I wrote yesterday, I've had excellent success with Federal 900B, but have also had misfires with it (returned 9 boxes to Fed. because of it). Wolf Match Target does about as well in 2 of my rifles. Other shooters use Eley, sometimes Lapua or whatever is currently fashionable. Some of the BR shooters (Unlim. Class) use an automobile fuse puller to handle the ammo since they believe touching it degrades accuracy. (What a crock!) Happily that bit of illogic (Post hoc, ergo propter hoc) is declining.