Bullet drop on 10/22

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cowtownup

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I am shooting a Ruger 10/22 Target version with a Nikon Prostaff 4x12-40 using 36 grain CCI mini mags... I zero'd rifle at 50 yards then move target to 100 yards.. I am getting 18-19 inches of drop at 100 yards. If I remember correctly the ballistic data stated I should be approx 5" low at 100 yards...

I scoped my day's regular 10/22 last weekend and got the same results...

Any advice or help would be appreciated...
 
Maybe your ammo is miss labeled?, sounds like your shooting CCI quiets. Is it cycling the action?
 
I'm getting 4-5" of drop with the same ammo in the same gun. Maybe defective ammo?
 
Zero both rifles again with different ammo.

What are your steps to zero the rifle? Are you using a solid rest?

Are you sure on your distance?

Have you had someone else try and zero it and match it up with your results?
 
I measured the distance off with a measuring wheel so I feel pretty confident in the distances... I have shot 10 shot groups at 50 yards inside a 2" circle so I feel like the zero @ 50 is good.. I'm shooting from a solid rest.. I have tried winchester ammo also.. I have some Velocitor CCIs and some Federal that I have yet to try.. This is a stock gun with no mods except bolt buffer... It has the factory Ruger bull barrel and one thing I did notice was the v-block looks slightly "cockeyed". Anyhow, I am just before sending this thing back to Ruger because I've had probably 5 range sessions with the same results... I may dismount the scope and start all over but just not sure that will help... Any reccomendations????
 
Sight height above the bore line can do things like that to your ballistic table "facts" if you don't allow for the difference in scope mount height.

Iron sight height is usually 1.5", and scope height is usually 2.5" above the bore line in default ballistic program settings.

The difference makes a lot of difference at 100 yards with a .22.

rc
 
Irons are about 1/2", scopes generally 1.5" above the bore unless they are mounted exceptionaly high for some reason. An AR can often have the sights 2"-2.5" above the bore and that can make a slight difference at long range, and at very close range. That is not the issue here. Even if it were he would be experiencing less bullet drop than expected, not more.
 
You are right on sight above bore height.
Except irons are generally considered to be 3/4" not 1/2".

What was I thinking???

rc
 
Doesn't help, but nice looking stock!

Did you clean the gun? Was their any leading? I have had 22 ammo lead some bores heavily, but that is most likely not your problem if you we're able to sight it in at 50.
 
I'm wondering if you can determine at what two distances that bullet is passing the line of sight when fired at the same target at a set distance. Perhaps that, along with a chrony could give us some more detailed info.
 
Is it a rimfire scope or centerfire? It's not uncommon to have problems using centerfire scopes with rimfire rifles unless you have the adjustable objective type.
 
It is a centerfire scope without the AO... I went with a centerfire scope in case I wanted.to switch it to another rifle...
 
A number of years ago a friend of mine and I spent a few months testing a few different rifles and handguns with every brand of. 22 we could find. They were all a little different but I remember 48" of drop at 200 and 156" of drop at 300 was about average. 18" @ 100 sounds high like subsonic ammo but I don't remember any that were 4" flat to 100.
 
Could be parallax issues with a big centerfire variable on a rimfire. What are your group sizes at 100yds?
 
have you checked for excessive gravity at your range? I typically get 5ish inches of drop moving from 50yd zero to 100yds.

can you chrono your loads? are you moving 900-1200fps? or something much slower?

are you shooting up or downhill? that can do funny things for point of impact, but generally it shoots high when that is a factor.
 
Are you using the same sight hold at both distances? What type of hold are you using? Assuming center of target?

Making any sight adjustments after moving the target?

What is the group size at 100yd?

I agree that 18" of drop from 50 to 100yd is too much. Even with CCI SV, there should only be 7.5" drop with that change. Even moving the sight height from 0" to 3" doesn't get 18" drop.
 
Shooting my CZ 452 zeroed in at 50yds. with CCI SV @ 1060 fps. I get 8" of drop at 100yds. and sub-1" five shot groups. Most CF scopes w/AO will adjust down to 50yds. I don't think parallax is the issue. Try some different ammo the samething happening with your dads rifle. It looks like the ammo.
 
Forgive me but I have to ask, are you counting clicks on an MOA scope or did you zero at 50 then simply shoot at 100 without further adjustment? Second, on initial zero, how many clicks were needed to get on target? An approximate number will do, close to 10 or close to 40, etc.
 
I've taken this rifle out about 5 times since I bought it new.. Most of those outings I spent most of the time dialing in 50 yards then shoot just a few at 100 yards and then wonder why in the he** I'm getting that much bullet drop.. So, I've never really shot a group at 100 yards. I have a Vortex Crossfire scope with AO that I'm going to mount on the rifle and try this again. I'm gonna make a good effort on that range trip to document exactly what goes on so with everybody's help we can figure this thing out.. I don't have a chrono yet, but I do have several different types of ammo... Thanks for the help and suggestions so far...
 
I put PFI Rapid Reticle scopes on all three of my 10-22s. The bullet drop reticle is dead on from 25-200 yds! Bright, clear, great customer assitance, and reasonable prices. Hard to beat! A new illuminated version with HV and SS reticles for $399 are coming out this spring.
 
Sounds more like a problem with your scope. Try this, zero at 100 yards then go to 50 yards and see the results. I doubt you will be 19 iinches high at 50 yards.

Jim
 
Cowtown, we have no idea if this is your second or 50th scope so, what I'm asking is:

Did the scope take an inordinate amount of adjustment to zero?

Did you touch the elevation after zeroing at 50 yards?

There's plenty to go wrong with a scope from loose mounts and bases to broken tracking to parallax error. We must also eliminate human error. I'm wondering if you counted clicks (18 would be 4.5" @ 100 yds) rather than shooting the target and measuring the actual drop. Normally the targets I use for rimfire are printed on standard letter paper so an 18" drop would be off the page and unseen.
 
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