this is a 2 part question. first, i was wondering about my scope. i have a ruger 10/22 carbine with a bsa scope (i think 4x32 bit im not sure) chambered for .22 LR ammo.im kind of a begginer, ive been shooting for about 6 months. im pretty big on capping squirells in my backyard, but ive always been a bad shot i realy cant keep the gun steady, i have had loads of situations where i have had a good shot at a squirell and i miss. but lately ive noticed i have had the scope right on the target when i fire and i still miss. hmmm... when im setting my scope, i center it and im positive it is dead on after ive set it. then i put it away in my closet, laying on its side in the gun case, the scope is a bit wider than the gun, so i think most of the wieght of the gun is on the scope, and ive had plenty of situations when i was positive that my scope was right on a squirell when i fired but i miss. does prolonged pressure on the scope make it move a little? (ive tightened it pretty good)

also, tell me about how to steady my aim, and ballistics if u can

second question (dont worry, much shorter) im trying to convince my friend to buy a .22 (we love to hunt togethere with pellet rifles, but now his pellet rifle is obsolete compared to my squirell pelting beast. he wants it cheap. what is the best .22 caliber rifle for a very low price (like near 100 dollars or less, maybe higher if the rifle is exceptional). he doesnt care if its bolt action or semi auto, sort or long, accuracy is somewhat important tho.

thanks to anyone who can answer these very specific questions.

oh yea one more thing, i cant set my scope or take a practice shot to make sure it is centered becasue the bang scares away all the squirells (i use the stalking method instead of waiting, and the squirells can hide pretty good when alarmed, the ones in my backyard are easily frightened).

Hey cheezbag I just bought a .22cal Marlin auto loader in stainless steel with scope at Wal-Mart for $129.00 As far as your scope problems I will leave that to the experts.

Have you ever sighted your scope in? I.e. go to a range and fire three shot groups to make sure you're actually hitting where the cross hairs are pointing? If not, then you're not just "kind of beginning", and that IS your problem.

If that isn't your problem, make sure you're not getting shadowed...if you shift your eye side to side in the scope you will see a shadow, similar to shadows on the moon, if you shoot with a shadow, you're not actually "aiming" at what the cross hairs are on...I forget at the moment which direction the shot moves relative to the shadow, I believe it is away from the shadow, i.e. if your shadow is on the right side, you're going to shoot left of your aiming point.

Or it could be that you've got a BSA scope that isn't worth much. Have you tried hunting without it? just using the open sights?

i have sighted in my scope before, once i had it centered i was shooting very accuratly ( with a benchmount) i made a little clay squirrel for practice shooting, i could shoot a penny out of his hand at about 40 yards. i know how to use my scope. as for open sights, yes ive tried useing them, but for the longer shots its difficult to line up the sights perfectly and its just alot harder to tell where the bullet is going to land precisely, i like the scope because u dont have to make sure the sights are lined up exactly, its just alot easier when you know exactly where the bullet will go with a scope. and as for the shadowing thing, i know what your talking about and i dont do it, my scope is a bit far forward though, but there isnt any shadowing. just today i fired at a squirrel on a log at about 15 feet away, the bullet landed right below him. his side was facing me and i aimed a tiny bit above his arm. he was in that weird squating position that they often do. i also shot at one that was quite a ways away, like 60 yards. i didnt hit him either. i have no idea why. the scope i have came with the rifle, it doesnt seem cheap, the clamps fit on the scope rail tightly and it doesnt budge if i mess with it. at least i dont think.

The key to shooting unsupported is strengthening the supporting muscles. Your large muscles hold the rifle up, but the small muscles around the larger muscles are the ones that give you support and balanced. The best analogy I can give is watching someone who handles large and bulky items at work. The person maynot be very big, but handles the objects with ease while you will struggle moving the same objects. The worker has toned his supporting muscles through doing the work over time.

The best way to accomplish this is through dry firing. Check the owners manual to see if dry firing is ok for your rifle, or else get some .22 snap caps. You will need a place to practice- I use my basement and put a dime sized piece of tape on a wall and stand back 25-30 feet. Triple check to make sure the gun is unloaded, also make sure there is NO ammo even in the same room as you are!

Bring the rifle up and set the stock on your shoulder so you can see through the sights without craning your neck- the butt of the stock can stick up above your shoulder- this is OK. If you are right handed, make sure you don't drop your right elbow- keep it at least parallel with the floor. Place your left elbow against your ribcage to make an open ended triangle with your support arm with one side of the triangle being your upper arm against your body. Support the rifle on your finger tips, knuckles, or 'Y' made between your thumb and index finger- don't bend your wrist if you can help it, and dont grab the rifle stock.

At this point the rifle is going to be incredibly wobbly. Take aim at the tape on the wall and slowly increase the pressure on the trigger, ideally you want the trigger to break as the sights cross the target, but this isn't going to happen as often as you like until your support muscles are built up. After the trigger breaks, you need to follow trhough- hold your position and try to imagine where the shot went- Follow through is a very important fundamental that most people don't even know about.

Lower the rifle, and rest your arms for a moment, then repeat. Its boring, so only do it a dozen or so times a day so you don't get into any bad habits- remember perfect practice makes perfect. Eventually your muscles with strengthen, and the wobblyness will settle down- it will always be a little wobbly but with good trigger control, it doesn't matter much.

If you have access to a shooting range, take a couple of soda cans to shoot at- they are reactive targets and will instantly tell you if you hade a hit or miss, and gradually work down to smaller targets such as golf balls.

Don't expect miraculous results overnight- it might take several weeks to see a good amount of improvement. Shooting offhand is not easy, is discouraging, and has a long learning curve, and doesn't give nice cloverleaf groups to hang on the wall or post pictures of on sites like this, that's why very few people practice at it or ever become proficient at this skill.

I would bet my next paycheck that you are flinching/jerking the trigger/anticipating the shot or a combination of the three. If you don't have good trigger control, your body will start reacting to the shot before it even goes off, most often pulling the gun low.

Rule of thumb, scopes that come with new guns are cheap, and most often, scopes that you buy on used gun are too, guys don't leave a great scope on a rifle when they sell it.

Your BSA is cheap, i know this from experience. They are NOT good quality scopes, .22lrs' don't usually have much recoil, so you can occasionally get away with a cheaper scope, but I have known them to be fairly poor quality and for the zero to shift even on a .22lr. Go to walmart and look around, the fixed 4x32mm like yours would sell for around $20, if it's even that expensive, and it's certainly not worth that!!!! I've got a BSA .22lr scope in a drawer somewhere that the recticule lens broke loose in, tip it up and it slides to the eyepiece, tip it forward and it slides to the front again. A scope body doesn't have to move for it to shift zero, the internals are the problem...you can have the tube clamped so hard you're warping it and it doesn't mean that the scope isn't shifting...Are you using the Ruger rings that came with the rifle? If not, what mount did you use?

If your problem is flinching, you're likely in trouble, since you're learning it so early, and the fact that you're doing it with a .22lr doesn't speak well for what you WILL do with a rifle that actually recoils.

Knowing the 10/22, and that you're a beginner, it's not the gun, and assuming that the scope ISN'T moving, it's most likely you. Practice a bit and you'll improve, but you've got to practice correctly. 300rnds isn't even a day's worth of shooting for a .22lr, let alone 6mo's worth.

What ammo are you using? Any given bulk bullet isn't made for 40-60yrd shooting at squirrels, this range with that kind of accuracy is a pretty good reach for a beginning rifleman, I've hunted squirrels since I was 4 and I don't know that I've ever HAD to take a shot that far...I get about $20 worth of free fishing lures every year from Mepps from selling the tails, $0.18 a tail, you do the math, you don't have to take long shots, and asking that much from a beginner with a 10/22 with a bad scope and poor ammo, 25yrds is asking a lot.

thanks for the advice guys. briman your probably right, i am a very scrawny guy. i will follow up on your advice. but i actualy have a little more riflery experience then you guys think. about 1 1/2 years worth. i only bought my ruger about 2 months ago. before that i had a pellet rifle (daisy powerline 1000s, break barrel) which i recieved last christmas. and before that i was using my firends multi pump pellet gun ( he actualy used bbs in it even tho its chambered for pellets so that didnt work to well) the daisy break barrel was much heavier than my 22, and most of the weight was centered toward the front of the gun. seemed to be alot less wobbly than my 22, i used the stance that you suggested briman when i had the pellet rifle, i leaned back and rested my support elbo on my chest becasue the gun was so front heavy. i guess i got used to it. but the powerline sucked compared to my 22. it had crappy accuracy, the sights were screwed up, the works (i took good care of it to). as for my scope, it isnt that bad. when i had it sighted in the bullets would land right where i wanted them to, the ammo i use is CCI standard velocity 22lr. i just bought a new pack of ammo (CCI 22lr "Blazer") i havent used them yet because i have my scope set for my standard velocity ones, but i doubt there is a difference (the only difference between the 2 is that the blazer ones are more "silvery"

when i bought the gun, the scope was already mounted on the gun, i did take it off to try open sights (wasnt good for the longer shots) so i put it back on, but i didnt mess with the rings at all. (i also recentered it of course). but the biggest problem is that when im hunting squirrels, they are usualy on the run, so i have to aim quickly and fire when they puse for a short period of time. but to the best of my knolledge, i do flinch sometimes, but i can remember plenty of times when i was absolutely positive that my crosshairs where on target when i fired, and missed. my gun has very smooth recoil. i also pull the trigger slowly like u said.

as for my scope, i could just do an experiment, i could set the sight right on, and purposly bump the scope lightly and lay it on its side the rest of the day, and test accuracy the next day. i guess i need practice like u said. i kind of piked up riflery on my own and i wasnt taught marksmanship tips.

one more thing i want to know. does the distance &or angle of the shot affect where it will land (i know distance will, but will it change that much with a difference of 10-20 feet)

im gonna go shoot some stuff now.

this is sort of unrelated, but where do you live? cause i would think if i went in my backyard and tried to shoot squirrels my neighbors would complain a 22 isn't THAT loud but still, constant noises. And i live on a hill so if i missed theres no telling what the bullet would hit.