That went sailing over my head
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Ruger 22lr barrel replacement
- Thread starter Ischgl99
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This discussion of precision 22lr rifles brings back fond memories of when I was in high school decades ago shooting the local prone matches and a trip to Camp Perry one summer for the national matches. Back then Anchutz which I shot, Rem 40X and Win 52's were the go to rifles. My first rifle was a Rem 521T. I sold it when I got my Anchutz. The Anchutz is long gone too. My dad gave me a Rem 513T when I out grew the size of the 521T. My son-in-law now has the Rem 513T gathering dust in his safe. I have no experience with the rifles currently available.
I wonder how accurate an old Rem action with a good barrel would be? It is my belief that the quality of the barrel and the chamber is the most important part of accuracy. The action only plays a minor role in a 22lr rifle. All it is is a steel tube to hold the bolt, barrel and trigger. Hope I am not starting a huge debate on actions. Everybody has their favorites.
How big are the gongs that you will be shooting at? I know that the size will vary depending on the range. 1 MOA would seem to be too small. If I had to guess I would think the gongs are at least 3MOA or larger. 22lr are really affected by wind and bullet drop once you get past 100 yards. It must be really hard to hit anything at 400 yards with a 22lr.
If I was doing this I would buy the best barrel that I could afford. Chamber it as precisely as I could on whatever action I happened to have. I would spend an ungodly amount of time getting the trigger just the way I wanted it. Then make sure the sights, whether iron or scope, are aligned with the bore of the barrel.
I wonder how accurate an old Rem action with a good barrel would be? It is my belief that the quality of the barrel and the chamber is the most important part of accuracy. The action only plays a minor role in a 22lr rifle. All it is is a steel tube to hold the bolt, barrel and trigger. Hope I am not starting a huge debate on actions. Everybody has their favorites.
How big are the gongs that you will be shooting at? I know that the size will vary depending on the range. 1 MOA would seem to be too small. If I had to guess I would think the gongs are at least 3MOA or larger. 22lr are really affected by wind and bullet drop once you get past 100 yards. It must be really hard to hit anything at 400 yards with a 22lr.
If I was doing this I would buy the best barrel that I could afford. Chamber it as precisely as I could on whatever action I happened to have. I would spend an ungodly amount of time getting the trigger just the way I wanted it. Then make sure the sights, whether iron or scope, are aligned with the bore of the barrel.
You aren't wrong on Barrel, Chamber, and as important if you go that far, lot matched ammo. The problem with this is cost. There are guys still shooting an old 40x action that has been blueprinted with custom barrels. Some do quite well still, but at that point it is still a custom gun that gets into a much higher price category.
As to actions, while yes they are all similar in that they are round tubes, they do play an important role. Ignition (not just trigger) is is a huge factor in rimfire and there is plenty of debate around that whole area, but when discussing factory guns with what I would call reasonable prices, you can't really start comparing buying custom barrels, etc.
I also have a love of the old rifles. This is a pair of consecutive serial numbered 40xb's from the Air Force run by Remington. Bought through CMP so unfortunately the bolt serials don't match, but they have no wear on the lugs or anything. Problem now days is having someone to leave them to who will appreciate them for what they are.
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Precision Rifle Series and the Precision Rimfire leave course design up to the local match director, so there are no standard sizes for the targets. I saw on a Canadian website for their series that the rimfire targets are 1/2” to 9” and up to 300 meters, but I saw some competitions in the states saying the range could be up to 400 yards. I haven’t done one of these yet, so don’t know what to expect, but I did see something that said a rifle that can shoot 1 MOA or better can be competitive.
I also forgot that there is a production division in the rimfire series as well. I don’t know if all of the competitions have a production division and you just declare when registering if you are doing production or open, or if there are separate matches. I need to look into that further. For production, you can only spend up to $1,500 MRSP on the rifle and optic, and it needs to be as supplied by the manufacturer, so some of the recommendations here would push me into the open division. I’ll need to think about where I want to start, there might be less competition in the production division than the open. I have an SWFA 6X fixed power scope on my air rifle and like it a lot and was thinking of getting their 3-15x scope for this, but at $700, that would only leave me $800 for the rifle and stay under the cap. Decisions, decisions! Lol
I also forgot that there is a production division in the rimfire series as well. I don’t know if all of the competitions have a production division and you just declare when registering if you are doing production or open, or if there are separate matches. I need to look into that further. For production, you can only spend up to $1,500 MRSP on the rifle and optic, and it needs to be as supplied by the manufacturer, so some of the recommendations here would push me into the open division. I’ll need to think about where I want to start, there might be less competition in the production division than the open. I have an SWFA 6X fixed power scope on my air rifle and like it a lot and was thinking of getting their 3-15x scope for this, but at $700, that would only leave me $800 for the rifle and stay under the cap. Decisions, decisions! Lol
I may do that, there are a couple matches an hour and a half away that I might be able to make.
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This is the most important thing any prospective shooter should do. It will help guide you to spend your money right going in, and you can get valuable feedback on equipment that is working for the discipline. You might even get to try a few rifles out. Folks get friendly when you show the right kind of interest.
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I did a little research on this competition in California and didn't find anything. It sounds interesting. It has been many decades since I did any competitive shooting. That was small bore prone at 50 yards, 50 meters, 100 yards, and 100 meters. Just about everybody was shooting perfect scores with the number of X's determining the winner. I didn't have a scope so I was only competitive in the iron sight matches. My son-in-law has one of my old Remington's in his safe. Maybe I should get it back from him and see how I do with my old fart eyes.
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Look up the NRL Precision Rimfire series (NRL22.org). Locally, they call it "Rimfire PRS".
Here’s the website for the series. They also have a centerfire series where the targets go out to 1,000+ yards. I would like to try that out too, but need another rifle
Precision Rifle Series - Central Rimfire Region
The Precision Rifle Series is the preeminent rifle organization in the world, structuring a yearly points race for both the PRS Pro Bolt Gun Series and the PRS Regional Series. The PRS Championship Shooting Series is synonymous with precision rifle shooting.
www.precisionrifleseries.com