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Old 08-05-2021, 01:00 PM
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Nomercy448
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kansas
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Default Rimfire Fun: Long Range 22LR

I’ve struggled to decide where to start this topic, and I certainly can’t pretend to know where it should end, so I’m just going to start this ball rolling by dumping some thoughts, and I’ll be back in here to add pictures and musings over time.

Personally, I’ve observed the 22LR to be the victim of “the soft bigotry of low expectations” from many shooters. Recurring on forums like this, we see questions like, “what’s the useful range of a 22LR?” or “How far can a 22LR be shot, accurately?” Seemingly inevitably, a significant proportion of respondents express extremely low expectations, touting limits of 25-50 yards, 75 on a great day… Pretty low expectations… And if a shooter’s only experience with 22LR is attempting headshots on squirrels with iron-sighted rifles with bulk back ammo, it might be apt. But knowing there’s more which can be done with a 22LR, I try to share as often as I can some of the things possible even with relatively low cost rifles and ammunition.

Reasonably, long range precision is built upon short range performance – if we can’t shoot small when close, we can’t shoot small when far – but given a few specific advantages, most 22LR’s can shoot smaller than many folks give them credit. I’ll acknowledge here that quality ammunition shrinks the target size considerably – even though I do a LOT of my shooting with cheap, bulk pack ammo. Of course, firing from rests, sticks, bipods, or other supports also helps shrink groups compared to offhand shooting as well. And naturally, magnified scopes will shrink groups smaller than what can be fired with the conventional semi-buckhorn irons of most rifles, or allow smaller or farther targets to be engaged. Below is a target I fired a few years ago for an online forum “challenge” with a Savage Mark II BSEV at 50yrds with Eley Club ammunition. Conceding the BSEV is an upgrade over the standard sporter model, and I had replaced the factory Boyd’s Evolution stock with a ProVarmint to better match the fit and feel of my centerifre rifles, this was an otherwise standard factory rifle with relatively inexpensive ammunition – just a grade above bulk pack ammo, delivering 4 groups under 1MOA.



Not so surprisingly, “Long Range” happens pretty quickly for a 22LR, much sooner than conventional bottleneck centerfire rifles. It’s commonly said that shooting a 22LR at 200yrds is analogous to shooting a 308winchester at 800 yards. Which in terms of drop, that’s fairly apt – but in terms of wind drift, the 22LR actually drifts MORE at 200yrds than a 308win at 800, about twice as much.

Recently another user on another forum posted a target from his “walk-back“ DOPE development process, and has been gracious enough to allow me to share the photo for this kind of illustration. His rifle is zeroed at 50yrds, represented by the yellow circled groups. For the walk-back ranges, every 25 yards from 50-150, he denoted the point of aim with an X with a dangling dashed line leading to the circled group below. His 75yrd groups are circled in Green, the 100yrd group in blue, 125yrd group in orange, and the 150yrd group in black. His load dropped ~3.8moa at 75yrds, ~7.2moa at 100, ~12.6moa at 125yrds, and ~17.2moa at 150yrds. Comparatively, my 6 Creed load only reaches 17.2moa of drop out around 850yrds!



Despite the steep trajectory of the 22LR, given the appropriate optic set up (see thread: HNI Thread: LR Fundamentals - matching optic capacity with trajectory), a 22LR can commonly reach 300-500yrds with common and relatively inexpensive optics, bases, and rings.

For example, I bought this Savage Mark II FSS for my son when he was 2 yrs old for $220 rifle after rebate, plus a $97 Boyd’s stock and a $30 cheek riser. I added a $50 Winchester branded Harris knock off bipod and a discounted $50 Bushnell Trophy 3-9x40mm scope with Mil-Dot reticle mounted in a set of $50 Burris Signature Zee rings with 40MOA inserts (+20 in the rear and -20 in the front). This allows a 100yrd zero with either sub sonic or super-sonic ammunition, with ~50MOA of adjustment to reach downrange. This kind of scope is FAR from optimal for this type of shooting, but it can be employed to work. With a witness mark on the adjustment screw to align the graduated wheel, we can keep track of our adjustment when dialing up and down, and the top end of the adjustment range acts as a zero stop, since his 40MOA inserts bring him within 5-10MOA of the top for his 100yrd zero, depending upon ammo. Here, he’s pictured with his 66% IPSC (12”x18”) target, fired at 300 yards; his hair gives an indication of the wind conditions in which he was shooting.



Comparatively, to illustrate the challenges brought by offhand shooting (and share a better photo of my BSEV), I fired this group on target at 150yrds standing off hand for another challenge on another forum a few years ago with the same rifle as used to print the 50yrd groups above – a factory Savage Mark II BSEV and shelf grade CCI Minimags. I’m rarely well practiced at offhand shooting anymore, so I employed a target size I usually would shoot from a bench at 300-350yrds for this 150yrd game, but I was reliably able to keep all of my shots within the edges of this 10” circle from standing off hand with a sling. Another 25yrds, and I start slipping off of the edge of the plate.



From support – defending my ego – the following photos show some use this same target, but fired from a bipod and rear bag on a bench, with a cheap Nikon Buckmaster on a 10/22 Charger at 325yrds – even with cheap Remington Thunderbolt ammunition.







After rejoining her pre-motherhood career in veterinary medicine, and starting two new businesses in the last couple of years to boot, my wife doesn’t get as much range time as she used to, but she enjoys mid and long range 22LR shooting as well. Here’s she’s practicing an “extreme” version of the PRS Speed Skills Stage – a standard stage design used as a tie breaker for matches. We use range-scaled targets, but arranged just as wide as the real deal: three 3” targets (although mine are round instead of square) at 100yrds (opposed to 12” targets at 400yrds), hung 25 yards between 1 and 2, with 50yrds between 2 and 3. Start standing, go prone behind the rifle and engage 1, 2, 3, 3, 2, 1, hitting to advance – as fast as possible. For top level shooters on the full-scale centerfire course, this might only take 25-30 seconds, whereas I typically fall around 30-35seconds. Since this scaled version actually pans four times wider than the standard course, it’s a little slower, but I typically run 40 seconds or less, and my wife, pictured here, would deliver clean runs in under 45 seconds.



My son also gets some PRS-ish practice when he accompanies me to the range for my practice days. Since he’s still a little too small to handle the full weight of centerfire rifles, and even full weight PRS-Rimfire/NRL-22 rifles, he practices transition stages with a Ruger Charger. Pictured here, he’s shooting a 12” plate at 408yrds, 2 shots from each of 5 windows, only supported on the bag – a stage which rankles even experienced adult shooters at the PRS matches hosted at this range (he’s shooting a 2.5min par time, rather than 90sec and not fighting as much recoil).



As stated initially, I can’t readily perceive where this thread should end, as it’s really an unlimited pastime for my family and I, and I'll come in and out to add photos (and maybe some video if we can get Premier figured out), but hopefully these examples might spur some questions or spark some interest for others to challenge their 22’s to stretch their legs and see what they can do.
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