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target shooting with a .22

5K views 27 replies 14 participants last post by  Regular Joe 
#1 ·
What range do y'all shoot with your .22 iron sites and scope? With iron sites we have been shooting at 50 meters with decent results moved target to 75 meters not so good, think 75 meters with iron sites might be too much for a .22 or do we just need more practice.
 
#3 ·
Jackman, I don't "target shoot" which to me is associated with a skill level I will never have. I just "plink" with pretty stock Win. 9422, Marlin 60, and Ruger 10/22 bull barrel. If I am not grouping around an inch at 50 yards and two inches at 100 yards I feel I am having a bad day. All three rifles are scoped as old eyes take some of the fun out of iron sights these days. It is just a heck of a lot of fun for me and I don't worry much as to my skill level.

Todd
 
#5 ·
What's decent results?
 
#6 ·
jackman,what i want to know is what size bulls eye is on target,if your shooting from a solid rest ,are you shooting from prone position what?the other thing is your sight picture.to target shoot open sights you want the impact point to be directly above frount sight,meaning that you dont cover the bulls eye with the sight.you should be able to shoot two inch groups at 50 yards.im an old man now so i am partial to scopes,i expect one inch groups from the bench with a rest.most of my target 22s wear 6x24 or 8x36 power scopes.i hope this gives you some kind of answer. old semperfi
 
#7 ·
i used to have a spot i shot on the farm... from the barn to the coke cans was just over 100 yards and i could hit them with a 22 rifle off hand. not every shot. but once i seen where the bullets were hitting i would adjust. the rifle was a remington 41 targetmaster and the front sight has been modified so that it came to a point instead of having a bead. made for some dern fine aiming. now..... a henry lever 22 with a front sight the size of a grapefruit is a different story.

my point is, accuracy is a factor of 3 things. firearm, shooter, ammo. if any of the three are not up to snuff, the other 2 cannot, and will not compensate.

with my ruger single six... when i am on, i can clean off a row of .5 liter water bottles at 50 yards offhand. when im off..... i can hit a coke can at 10 feet.
 
#8 ·
Well put John with the 3 factors as described and so very true. Right now I'm having a problem that I cant put my finger on with pistol shooting. As of late...I'm having all sort of problems with larger caliber hand guns..But as you said about good days and bad days, you can be on or you can be off and when I'm having a bad one, I might as well save my ammo and pack it up. But, I'm trying to "overcome" my bad days and be more consistant every time...I was going to get a thread going with "In Need of Help!", just a bit embarrassed to post my shooting group!:eek: But something has changed in my shooting...:confused:, and may just go humble to get some advice to resolve the problem I'm having. Sorry to drifted so far off the OT.
 
#9 ·
Thanks all I'll fill in the details,,,

New shooter hes 14 years old been shooting 4 months on weekends.
Winchester model 63.
Remington Thunderbolt ammo.
Shooting on a measured range from a bench position no barrel rest.
Large paper target about 15 inches in diameter.
At 50 meters he always hits the target and has some grouping but they spread from the 9 o'clock to the 3 o'clock position (I call that decent since hes a new shooter), at 75 meters he hits the target but its all over no grouping ,at 100 meters he hit the target but mostly missed it, when I tried shooting the 100 meter target I was surprised I missed it but my close up vision is terrible the sights to me are a blur but still I was not sure if it was us the shooters having trouble with the 100 meter target or if it was too much range for a .22 cal.

The full plan here is to get my son shooting well at the at 75 or 100 meters iron sights and then get a scope and see how he likes the scope.
 
#10 ·
If you are shooting Remington Thunderbolt that could be a lot of your problem. Try different ammos, Federal bulk, and Federal auto match seem to work good in my 10/22's and Marlin 60. My CZ's enjoy a diet of Wolf MT, but it is a little more expensive, really too expensive for plinking. My eyes are too old to get good results with iron sights so I use scopes.
 
#11 ·
if he's got horizontal "stringing" then i would say his strong hand grip and or his trigger control is inconsistent. im guessing grip.

a 22 should have no trouble getting out to 100 yards. unless there is a lot of wind or something you should see at least a 3" goup if not better.
 
#12 ·
Jackman, there are some real marksmen around here (not me) that can give some good advice. From my experience trigger control has been the single biggest factor in hitting the target. Especially with a new shooter. We all seem to have the tendency to jerk that darned trigger and anticipate the shot and develop the dreaded flinch all of which will get us off the bullseye. Practicing the old basics of squeezing that trigger applying pressure when on target stopping but not releasing when drifting off and then applying more pressure when back on and letting that shot be a surprise will pay big dividends, but have to be monitored all your shooting years. Don't get frustrated and quit, this has to be fun. Move to a closer range so you have some success and then move to longer distances. I second what others have said about the Rem Thunderbolt ammo being low on my list of choices. Keep shooting, squeeze that trigger and enjoy the fun.

Todd
 
#13 ·
Thanks all I'll fill in the details,,,

New shooter hes 14 years old been shooting 4 months on weekends.
Winchester model 63.
Remington Thunderbolt ammo.Shooting on a measured range from a bench position no barrel rest.
Large paper target about 15 inches in diameter.
At 50 meters he always hits the target and has some grouping but they spread from the 9 o'clock to the 3 o'clock position (I call that decent since hes a new shooter), at 75 meters he hits the target but its all over no grouping ,at 100 meters he hit the target but mostly missed it, when I tried shooting the 100 meter target I was surprised I missed it but my close up vision is terrible the sights to me are a blur but still I was not sure if it was us the shooters having trouble with the 100 meter target or if it was too much range for a .22 cal.

The full plan here is to get my son shooting well at the at 75 or 100 meters iron sights and then get a scope and see how he likes the scope.
Theres your main problem right there. If you like i can take a crap in a box and send it to you for free;) Its about the same quality and mine stinks less:D
remington T-bolts are poop ammo based on my personal experiences and from what I have read here and witness elsewhere.

I shoot my .22s at 100, 150 and 200 all the time and do it with winchester bulk pack ammo, at 200 you can really see the effects of wind drift on the little ol .22. But with good ammo and a little practice 100 yd shots iron sighted should be relaitvely easy.
 
#14 ·
heres an example of what a good .22 (my serbian import remington model 5) with a good scope (at the time a burris rimfire) will do with good ammo (aguila golden eagle match rifle) at 50 yds (scope zero distance).
 

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#16 ·
guess you can say remington puts their name on good rifles, notsomuch for good .22 ammo;)
 
#19 ·
Regarding ammo; after reading this thread I went to the gunsafe and looked to see what I had.....a brick of Remington Target is what I have. Is this stuff as useless as the Thunderbolt?
Ive never tried the Remington Targets, but with my experiance with the Thunderbolts, the ONLY remington ammo I will shoot is "centerfire" ammo.
I still have some thunderbolts left in the gun safe from years ago (the last time I fired them) and is FREE to anyone that will please take them off my hands...I'll take that back, I wouldnt shoot them through any gun I have and wouldnt recommend them to anyone else...they are about the most crapiest excuse for ammo I have ever seen, I wouldnt even go as far as to call them .22 ammo.....:eek:
 
#20 ·
heres an example of what a good .22 (my serbian import remington model 5) with a good scope (at the time a burris rimfire) will do with good ammo (aguila golden eagle match rifle) at 50 yds (scope zero distance).
As I think Byron "Furgeson (?)" might say..."Eeeewww, hurting a perfectly good target that way".....:D
That's some good shooting!:)
 
#22 ·
A Caldwell dead shot bag is real nice for holding the barrel steady to minimize the horizontal stringing. Part of the problem is with your iron sights if you are using the traditional bead and notch sight. A search for aperture sights for your rifle will help considerably. Changing the front sight for a post sight is a good idea too because then you can have more control over where you want the shot to go. The bead on a 100 meter target will put you all over the place just because it's so big it obscures your target. At 50 meters you should be shooting about the same size groups as you do with the scope.

For general plinking I just use the Remington Golden Bullet in the boxes of 100, I find them more consistent than the bulk pack Golden Bullets. For competition level shooting at 100 yards I switch to Winchester Super X because they work well in my gun. Your gun may disagree, every time you go to your favorite toy store buy a different brand and when you shoot them take notes. That's how I found out what works best in my guns. The Thunderbolts will keep you on target alright but I prefer 40 gr bullets for anything over 60 yards because they maintain their velocity and accuracy better against the wind.

I also tried some experiments where I just grabbed a handful of miscellaneous bullets and tossed them in a plastic baggie then loaded them without regard for what brand weight or bullet style they were. At 25 meters and to a lesser extent at 50 meters there wasn't a lot of difference between one and the other. To much over thinking about ammunition. Most of our guns and most of the ammo will shoot better than we will till you get down to serious bulls eye shooting.
 
#24 · (Edited)
Sorry Old Grump...I have to disagree on ammo.


Jackman,

22's can be very picky about the ammo they like. Years ago I tested all of my 22's with all the different 22 ammo that I could find.

My testing showed a few things of interest. All (about 12 at the time) of my rifles shot certain ammo real well and shot terrible with other ammo. They all did poorly accuracy wise with the Hi velocity stuff like Thunderbolts. They all liked certain standard and target ammo, but they had had their favorites that they shot their best groups with. One exception was my 1939 Remington 513T, it shot almost any ammo good. And the oddest thing was the two Remington 541T's each liked different ammo. ???

The only way to get the most accuracy is to buy a box of all the 22 ammo that you can find and shoot it. Your rifle will show you what it likes.

As far as your son and his shooting...

Forget the 100 yard range for now. Start him close, 25 yards is a good distance to start a new shooter. Let him master the 25 yard range first then move to 50 yards. There's a lot of info online about proper shooting setup and techniques. Have him read and study that a bit too, it will help. Breathing, grip, trigger release, sight picture and so on.

It takes time and practice. I shot for my high school rifle team back in the early '70's and that was a real help for me, I learned a lot. Shooting all the positions and not just from a bench is a good thing. Too bad that is a thing of the past.

And don't worry about cleaning the bore a lot, my 22's shoot best dirty. I clean mine only when their accuracy falls off and that can be after many thousands of rounds. Then it takes some fouling for it to come back. I used to have a hard time with this because I like all of my guns clean inside and out.

I think you are correct for having him use open sights first. Too many today start with a scope and never master open sights. My dad taught me with open sights and a single shot, but good rimfire scopes were rare back then. The single shot taught me to be accurate when we went hunting. My brother bought his son a 1022 with a scope, that kid is a terrible shot and depends too much on blasting away...and still misses.:D

I taught my daughter to shoot and really enjoy watching her outshoot her husband when we go shooting. But he doesn't enjoy that very much.;)

Good luck, and enjoy your time with your son...they grow up real fast.

Here's what a good 22 rifle with ammo it likes can do at 50 yards. It will shoot almost as well at 100 but I don't have any pictures, just this target when I added the scope and zeroed it in at 50. The bottom two are sight in, top two were shot last. It likes Wolf MT ammo.


 
#26 ·
Sorry Old Grump...I have to disagree on ammo.
What disagreement? I said and I quote:
Your gun may disagree, every time you go to your favorite toy store buy a different brand and when you shoot them take notes. That's how I found out what works best in my guns.
Some guns will shoot anything, some are picky. My old 46 year old Savage doesn't care what I put in it, My Marlin 60 is a bit fussier and my (2) 10/22's are real fussy. I have a notebook I bought when I bought my first match 10/22 because my old standby, standard velocity Remington just weren't competitive and I ended up spending over $1,000 finding the best bullets for it. Lo and behold the best bullets were not the most expensive ones so my suggestion to try a different brand or type every time he gets ammo till he finds what his gun likes. At 25 meters it doesn't make a lot of difference. At 50 quality shows up and at 100 meters it shows up a lot.

For close in plinking, 50' to 50 meters anything the gun will shoot and eject reliably will work. Instead of sweating ammo choice I would buy small bore targets and reduced targets. By the time he gets to making one hole groups at 25 meters he will pretty well know what ammo his gun likes and then he just keeps moving those targets back. Nothing happens overnight.
 
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