I took my new Ruger M77VT MkII 22-250 out today and shot it for the first time. I have to say that this rifle is GREAT! I have to thank many of the contributors here for their help, both direct and indirect, in choosing a good rifle and scope. I' ve been reading this board for awhile and I' m been intrigued by the idea of a super-accurate target rifle for a long time.

I was using fairly cheap factory loads (Winchester white box 45gr. JHP varmint which are advertized at 4000fps) as I have not yet put a handloading setup together. I selected this ammo mostly because I wanted the Winchester brass and I wanted its first firing to be in the chamber of this rifle. I shot 40 rounds today, which took most of the afternoon, and I might go back out and shoot 40 more tomorrow!

I will admit that I was surprized by the accuracy of the rifle with the inexpensive factory ammo. It was a pretty breezy day today with variable winds measuring probably 5-10 gusting to 15mph, so I wasn' t expecting any miracle groups. The best group I shot measured 1.28" c-to-c, and that was because I jerked one shot and fired another right a a bigger gust came up. In that group I had three shots together in a 0.47" group. Heck, 1.28" isn' t bad at all for factory ammo, but 0.47" shocked me. The rifle is definately a shooter, probably a lot better than I am. If it weren' t for the idiot behind the trigger it' d probably be a one-ragged-hole shooter!

Now I can' t wait to start handloading!! I' d like to see the entire group inside 1/2MOA and I' d be happier than a clam. I' m thinking about trying Hornady V-Max bullets in 55 grains with Moly. The V-mav bullets seem to be known for their accuracy and performance on varmints and predators.

I had a little problem with copper with these light bullets, and I' m not sure if it was the speed that cause some copper buildup or maybe just the cheap bullets. I cleaned the bore every 5 shots after the first 10. For those I used a pyramid cleaning scheme (1 shot, clean, 2 shots, clean, etc...). I noticed that If I tried to fire more than 7 or 8 shots without cleaning the groups would open up. Once I cleaned the groups would settle back down. I was thinking that shooting moly coated bullets and slowing the velocity a tad with a heavier bullet would eliminate that problem. I' m going to shoot it some more and see if the copper buildup issues go away as the bore smooths out. Having only five or six accurate shots before cleaning won' t make this a very good rifle for shooting varmints in the field.

Once again, thanks to everyone for their guidance.

Mike

Below is a pic of the above mentioned target.