milkman
12-14-2015, 08:25 AM
I have been wanting a plinking caliber which would be cheap on powder and lead and with slight recoil that I could punch paper with and just use as a fun gun. Something I could take to the range and shoot for a couple of hours without wearing myself out and developing a flinch. I had about decided on 7TCU and planned on buying a Savage of some sort for a donor action, then having it rebarreled by Goodsteel with a slower twist barrel.
I ended up buying a Savage Axis package gun in .223 with a scope already mounted. Then I thought ---- Hummmm, wonder if it shoots. I have never owned a centerfire .22, and never cast .22 boolits, hummm. As is my nature, I went cheap. Lee 55g double cavity mold, Lee push through sizer, aluminum checks, Lee 3 die set and Lee length trimmer. Total cost less than $100, much less than a new barrel. I did a trigger job per the internet and dry fired it a couple of hundred times to break in the gritty trigger and was set to go.
I grabbed a book load for some 55g jacketed and loaded enough of them to get the scope on target and to establish a baseline for accuracy, then loaded 5 rounds each of 2 powders and 5 rounds each of 3 loads .2 grains apart of another powder with the Lee boolits. I musta did somethin wrong, it ain't supposed to work like this !!
The “boresighted” scope started off about 14” off at 50 yd, but then everything came together. All loads shot well and to the same point, with the middle load of 2400 grouping at less than 3/4”. I don't think I have owned another gun that shot different powders to the same point of impact. I was scared to death of trying to cast and load tiny .22 cal boolits, but this might end up being fun.
Milkman
I ended up buying a Savage Axis package gun in .223 with a scope already mounted. Then I thought ---- Hummmm, wonder if it shoots. I have never owned a centerfire .22, and never cast .22 boolits, hummm. As is my nature, I went cheap. Lee 55g double cavity mold, Lee push through sizer, aluminum checks, Lee 3 die set and Lee length trimmer. Total cost less than $100, much less than a new barrel. I did a trigger job per the internet and dry fired it a couple of hundred times to break in the gritty trigger and was set to go.
I grabbed a book load for some 55g jacketed and loaded enough of them to get the scope on target and to establish a baseline for accuracy, then loaded 5 rounds each of 2 powders and 5 rounds each of 3 loads .2 grains apart of another powder with the Lee boolits. I musta did somethin wrong, it ain't supposed to work like this !!
The “boresighted” scope started off about 14” off at 50 yd, but then everything came together. All loads shot well and to the same point, with the middle load of 2400 grouping at less than 3/4”. I don't think I have owned another gun that shot different powders to the same point of impact. I was scared to death of trying to cast and load tiny .22 cal boolits, but this might end up being fun.
Milkman