Build Me a .22LR Precision Bolt Rifle

[Cee Zee]

Serious benchrest shooters normally use 36X or 40X fixed scopes on their .22 rimfires

I use a T36 Weaver (36X) on my CZ 453 for shooting 50 yard targets. The better you can see the smaller the groups you will get.

I also use AO adjustments for every distance too. It makes a huge difference. If you aren't lining up the scope the same way every time you'll never get the rifle pointed the same way. And the only way to be sure of that is to adjust the AO so you see the same way every time. If you can move your head and make your reticle line up at a different spot then your AO isn't set right. People will tell you that it doesn't matter a lot under 100 yards with a scope that is under 9X but I think it does. I have made great improvements by keeping my AO adjusted according to distance. And those lines they give you to go by are just guesses. There a good place to start but only actual practice will tell you how to set the AO correctly.

 

[kludge]

You bet it does. Especially with my 24x scope and benchrest matches. Get that rifle in a vice and adjust the parallax out of it!

 

[Centurian22]

I'll cast a vote for the Savage Mark II heavy barrel (possibly FV). I'll also vote for a centerpoint scope in magnification of your choice. This is my plan for a good bolt .22 with similar purpose as yours.

 

[Captcurt]

Hard to beat a CZ 452. I have not shot a 455. CMP have Kimberly 52s for $500 with target sights. I'm sure others can recommend Savages and Vintage target rifles like the Mossberg US 44.

Got to go with d2 on this. My CZ 452 shoots as good as my Winchester 52B.

 

[Joshua M. Smith]

I have a Savage Mk II BTVS that I like... now.

As it came from the factory, the heavy match-type barrel was touching the stock due to the receiver having been installed crookedly, and the sear sloped after a few hundred rounds.

When they wanted me to ship the rifle to Canada on MY DIME (and were quite rude about it) after waiting for the build to come from the factory and paying good $$$ for it as it was supposed to be a semi-custom job, I just fixed it myself.

Additionally, the magazines tend to fall apart at the rivets after a bit.

Yes, it now does sub-MOA. However, the customer service I experienced from Savage Canada has soured me on all Savage products, including Savage USA.

My next .22 will be a CZ.

Regards,

Josh

 

[tuj]

Ok, guys, I shoot USBR50 (smallbore benchrest). You are not going to build a competitive rifle for $500. Won't happen.

I tried to build a benchrest rifle using a Savage MKII. Never got accurate enough.

Best effort I have had: Kimber 82G, replaced striker spring with stronger spring, replaced cocking stud, polished the bore with JB bore paste, NemoHunter 4oz trigger job, Winchester 52C EGW scope rail, Harrell barrel tuner, Weaver T36 scope. It will shoot around 0.3" 5-shot groups at 50 yards and will shoot high 230's on the USBR50 target (which has a 10-ring that is 0.1" wide). The only thing not done to the Kimber is to bed it. The Kimber tends to like Lapua Center-X. Adding the barrel tuner shrunk group sizes by about 0.1" at 50 yards. Going to a 36x scope from a 32x scope probably added 5 points to the score.

My best .22 is my highly modified 40X. It will shoot 0.2" 5-shot groups at 50 yards and will shoot high 240's on the USBR50 target. It has a Benchmark 2-groove barrel, Harrell barrel tuner, McMillian fiberglass BR stock, Jewell 2oz trigger, squared and trued action, bedded, T36 glass. I shoot Eley Black box or Federal Ultramatch UM22 with this rifle.

To get any kind of precision, you are going to want a T36 or better scope. You will also need to shoot high-quality ammo and buy your ammo by lot number and tune your rifle to the lot of ammo you shoot. You will also need a quality front rest. I use the Sinclair competition rest. You will also want high-quality front and rear bags with Cordura nylon ears. And work on your bench technique.

 

[MrBorland]

You are not going to build a competitive rifle for $500. Won't happen.

tuj - nice set-up, to be sure, but the OP said he won't be formally competing - just wants the most accuracy he can get for $500.

A lot of people are suggesting a CZ 452 but IMO a CZ 453 is a vastly superior rifle. It has several trigger adjustments the 452 doesn't have plus it has the set trigger if you want to use it. That means you can get the pull down to about 8 oz. if you want. I have mine set to about 12 oz..

Never been a fan of the set trigger myself. Admittedly, I haven't shot a lot of them, but IME, pushing it forward to set it lead to a lot of overtravel when the shot broke. I tuned my standard 452 triggers and replaced the single set trigger on my CZ550 with a Timney. Much improved, IMO. YMMV.

 

[tuj]

CZ's are good choices for accuracy-per-cost. Once you get the rifle, there are a few things you can do to get it as accurate as possible:

-slug the bore and use JB bore paste to polish any tight spots.
-bed the action.
-use a deresonator, they actually work, cheaper than a tuner.
-use the best scope you can afford with the highest magnification you can afford.
-make sure your scope has an AO (and you use it).
-polish the bolt, firing pin, sear. You can use felt and Flitz polish paste.
-use high-quality ammo (Eley, Lapua).
-get a solid front rest and rear bag.
-try to shoot 'free recoil' or as close to it as you can get.

 

[ironworkerwill]

I got a savage MkII TR in .22lr. I say its the most impressive 22lr I have ever shot. It likes most ammo, especially Eley and Federal match. Although, believe it or not, it also shoots the Remington "golden bullets" fairly well(when they don't misfire or go "poof" and fall 10 yards down range). My rifle has a Redfield 4-12x40 on top and shoots sub moa 5 shot groups at 100yds with Eley black box all day long.

 

[tuj]

1" 5-shot groups at 100 yards with a 12x scope from a MKII "all day long"?

I'd like to see that. Maybe so, but I have a MKII TR and I did everything to make it shoot and it wouldn't hold sub-MOA consistently at 50 yards, let alone 100.

Shooting .22 at 100 yards is more about reading wind than anything.

 

[ironworkerwill]

well let me rephrase: not on a windy day. My savage model 93r17(Canadian made Wal-mart gun) shoots even better than my mkII TR does. But too the wind makes all the difference.

 

[tuj]

Well since you bring up the 17HMR....my 93R17 will consistently shoot right around 1MOA at 100 yards from a bipod. I have done a lot of ammo testing with the 17. Below is the best group I was able to wring out of it, but rarely will it shoot a group larger than 1".

 

[ironworkerwill]

My 93r17 was without the accutrigger! I had to fiddle with it forever to get it where I liked it. I took the spring out of an ink pen to replace the Savage spring and drove the pin out that the trigger hinged on and polished everything. It still has more overtravel than I like.

 

[greyling22]

I'm running a cz452 with a mueller apv on it and a yodave kit. I also lightened the trigger spring by taking the nut off the strut (it makes sense if you look at it, but not when you type it out)

I now have about a 6oz pull with no creep. At 50yds off a sandbag it shoots under 1" with most ammo bulk ammo (2" with remington target and cci subsonics) and will do 3 shot cloverleafs and 5 shot ragged holes at with wolf match tagret.

I"m sure a savage would get you there for less money, but the savage action looks cheap. The cz looks like a real rifle.

You could also probably shoot real well with a quality free floated barrel in a 10/22 and a little trigger love.

 

[tuj]

You know, there are a lot of guys I see on the forums that claim 'one ragged hole' at 50 yards with low to moderately priced ammo with low to moderately priced rifles. Now I'm not saying it didn't happen, but I compete against guys who have put thousands of dollars and lots of effort and rounds into tuning their rifles and getting the most out of their setup and honing their bench technique, shooting off one-piece rests that cost more than several of the rifles mentioned in this thread combined. In other words, these guys have the best gear, and top notch technique.

They don't clean the USBR50 target.

I challenge those of you who think you have an accurate 22, get a copy of the USBR target (or you can get a 10-shot variant over at RimfireCentral that you can print out) and shoot it at 50 yards and post your setup/ammo and score.

Here's even a link: http://www.southpondcottages.com/metaleer/10Joe-.pdf

 

[d2wing]

Tuj, it is good to have input from an actual benchrest shooter. I too am skeptical of some the claims. I would be interested in picking your brain on this topic. What would be a rifle to learn on?
Sorry, missed post #33 about the CZ. Sounds like a good project. My Lux shoot a tad better then my American. Maybe I can tighten them both up. They are both more accurate than I am.

 

[tuj]

d2wing: If you're interesting in benchrest, not just a rifle that shoots good (which the CZ and Savages certainly do), then the best advice I can give you is to head over to the Benchrest Forum classifieds (http://benchrest.com/class/index.php?a=5&b=199) and buy a used dedicated benchrest rifle.

If you want to go new, good rifles (as starters) include:
Anschutz 54-series action
Remington 40X action
Suhl150 action
and a number of custom actions out there like Turbo.

Then you'll want a good barrel, and while some rifles shoot really good from the factory, the quality control isn't tight enough to guarantee a shooter. Can you imagine, rebarreling a new Anschutz? People do it.

Add a custom stock, a bedding job, and of course a top quality trigger and stick a tuner on the barrel and *hopefully* you have a benchrest rifle! (Which is why it's better to buy your first one used and have all this already done to it). Then you need a good front rest and rear bag.

So anyway, if you're not competing, you don't need to do all that. Instead, focus on getting the most out of your setup. To do this, you'll want to buy a good rifle, of which the Savage or the CZ are good suggestions, as is the Kimber 82G. Get the trigger as light as you can safely. Tune the rifle by shooting groups and measuring the sizes, experimenting with:
-ammo
-torque on the action screws (get a FAT or better torque screwdriver)
-hold of the rifle

Try to be as consistent as possible and shoot at least five 5-shot groups to prove anything works better than another. Do your testing at 25 yards to minimize the wind, but when you think you have something, take it out to 50 for final testing.

My bench gun, which is not what I would call a top-notch gun, would shoot 0.25" 5-shot groups at 50 yards (measured center-to-center using OnTarget software) using pretty much any decent ammo (Eley yellow box or better) and it would do so *consistently*. Now that it's been tuned, it will do a little better than that with Eley black box of the slower lots or Federal UM22.

 

[greyling22]

I consider 1 ragged hole to be all the shots touching. Not necessarily a round ragged hole. And my cz won't do that every grouping every time with wolf mt. But it will 40% of the time. The other 60% is 3 or 4 in a cloverleaf and 1 or 2 fliers. I don't know if it's me, the ammo, or the gun. Groups with the mt open up to about 1.5" at 100 yds. That is probably me and my 14x scope and crappy rice filled sand bag.

The claims I am always skeptical of are the guy s who shoot 1" groups at 100 with irons. My be their eyes are just better than mine, but I can't even SEE a 1" circle on white paper at 100, much less hit it multiple times.

 

[Cee Zee]

I don't believe the OP even mentioned a competitive BR rifle tuj. Read his post again. No one is claiming you can win a benchrest shoot with a $500 rifle and that's $500 including the scope. That would just be silly to even consider and no one is doing it.

My suggestion for a $500 bolt action rifle that shoots as accurately as possible (and remember this includes the scope) would be a Savage Mk with anything other than a Savage synthetic stock and with a bull barrel and I'd add something like a Nikon ProStaff scope with Burris Zee rings. I believe you could come close to coming in under $500 for that setup. And it would shoot quite well for the money you have invested. Sure there are some Savages that won't shoot all that accurate but a lot more do shoot well at least according to the reports I see here and my own experience.

BTW I don't let over travel scare me away from the set trigger. It's just a matter of learning to expect it IMO. Besides you don't have to use it. I just know that mine shoots very well and the added adjustments over the 452 trigger more than make up for anything the set trigger might take away. I've shot both and I much prefer the set trigger. If I was using the rifle as a hunting rifle then maybe I wouldn't but I use it for plinking and informal target shooting. I have won my share of contests with that rifle though. Of the last 10 contests I shot with that rifle (none against true BR rifles - that wouldn't be fair) I managed to win 8 of them. I'd like to have a good BR rifle but I like having a rifle that is more flexible to be honest. Between the two I am going to buy the more flexible rifle first. YMMV of course.

 

[JTW Jr.]

I got a Savage GBXP "Dicks Special" for $259 ( sold the package scope for $20 , it sucked) , added a Mueller APV and bipod / monopod setup...great casual shooter.


IMG_4265_Savage by the45guy, on Flickr

I also have a FV-SR , I like it , shoots well , but the stock sucks.... if I recall I paid $270 for that , but had the SS 10x scope leftover from something else , replacing with a Mueller Target dot soon.

IMG_4269_2_Savages by the45guy, on Flickr

 

[tuj]

I want something more precision and accurate

I don't believe the OP even mentioned a competitive BR rifle tuj.

I know the OP didn't state he wanted a benchrest rifle. I just wanted to put in a reality check with how good a Savage, CZ, or Kimber will *actually* shoot. I know, I have shot all three and I've worked on all three to get them to shoot.

What I'm also trying to do is introduce the OP and anyone else to the awesome sport of rimfire benchrest. If what you are after is accuracy and precision, there is no other shooting sport like benchrest.

So my question to the OP is this: Do you just want to shoot tiny groups and post pretty pictures of them? Or do you want to go to the next level of precision shooting? Because if your goal is the former, yes, a Savage or CZ or Kimber will all get you there. But if your goal is the latter (and maybe you don't know what your goal is, that's ok, that's part of the fun), to feel like a master of accuracy and precision, then benchrest is where it's at.

I still encourage everyone who thinks they have an accurate rifle to give the USBR50 target a try and post your score. They don't call it the 'Green Monster' for nuthin'.

 

[MrBorland]

You know, there are a lot of guys I see on the forums that claim 'one ragged hole' at 50 yards with low to moderately priced ammo with low to moderately priced rifles. Now I'm not saying it didn't happen, but I compete against guys who have put thousands of dollars and lots of effort and rounds into tuning their rifles and getting the most out of their setup and honing their bench technique, shooting off one-piece rests that cost more than several of the rifles mentioned in this thread combined. In other words, these guys have the best gear, and top notch technique.

They don't clean the USBR50 target.

I challenge those of you who think you have an accurate 22, get a copy of the USBR target (or you can get a 10-shot variant over at RimfireCentral that you can print out) and shoot it at 50 yards and post your setup/ammo and score.

"One ragged hole" can certainly be bigger than USBR50 10-ring (or even 9-ring) standards. "Accurate" in many cases is relative, and I don't think anyone could expect a CZ/Savage "ragged hole" to be in the same league as a BR ragged hole. I've never made the ol' "one ragged hole" claim, but I do love a good challenge, so I may try that USBR target on my next range trip.

In the meantime, I'll offer a NRA Smallbore target I shot with my CZ452 Lux. I'm definitely not a smallbore shooter, and the 452 isn't a smallbore rifle, but I'm posting this just to give the OP an idea of the accuracy one can expect from rifles in this price point. The thrown shot, BTW, was called and the result of an "idiot thought" entering my head just as the shot broke (I did mention I'm not a smallbore shooter )

CZ452 UltraLux, front & rear BRNO aperture sights, 50 yards, prone, with a military sling, & CCI SV ammo. 0.9"/0.4" 10-/x-ring, respectively.

 

[tuj]

MrBorland: that's some good prone shooting! I think if I laid down to shoot, I might never be able to get back up!

 

[Mr.Revolverguy]

Savage vs CZ 452 vs Kidd Build 10/22 Platform with different brands of ammo

50 yards
http://www.dayattherange.com/?p=2384

100 yards
http://www.dayattherange.com/?p=2554

 

[redneck2]

Anybody here ever use an Eabco HP tool to make hollow points on match ammo?? Read about it on another forum. Supposedly helps in some cases.

The wind drift chart above is pretty neat. 5" of drift at 100 kinda makes you think...