Now I've done it, a Cooper rifle 17hmr

Unsupervised, again. I came across a very nice Cooper today I was lusting over, in 17hmr, used. Got to talking with the gunshop owner who mentioned an unfired stablemate in the back. Well, being a gun-sucker is born every minute, I asked to see it. Out comes a new in box Cooper that he'd sold a few years back, along with 10 or so other Coopers, to a well-healed customer. The buyer just never got around to shooting this one. He and I agreed on a price and she's in my safe tonight. If it shoots anything like the test target, this should be a good one. I don't know anything about Cooper rifles but it sure seems to be well made, with a considerable amount of attention to detail, and an eye for flair, as much as can be assembled for a bolt-action rimfire. Will post a picture or two tomorrow.

It get's worse

So, instead of getting pictures today of the 17hmr, I went back to the gunstore to investigate a Cooper in .223. It has been shot, I've been assured <200, mint condition, with an old class (Japan) Tasco scope mounted,. I had a good long talk with the shop owner who'd sold these fine rifles to the gentleman who, upon reaching 84 years, could not longer use this many and decided to consign them for sale.

The .223 is in my safe tonight. I'm flat broke in my gun budget, and I traded a few rifles I either didn't use much, or didn't care for much.

Range and pictures tomorrow

Sorry about the cellphone picture, it's all I have available. That's my trusty gun dog k.d. keeping watch over the merchandise, she doesn't know they aren't shotguns

Frostbite said:

Those are very good looking rifles. How do they shoot?

Click to expand...

Well, the foreground one is the .17hmr, that's not the scope it will end up with but it's what I had easily available. It's a tack driver with 17 grain Hornady V-Max. The trigger needs tuning though, it is a hard pull right now. I felt the trigger on a used stablemate in .17hmr with a tuned trigger, it was a dream.

The .223 rifle really had me worried as it would not shoot anything resembling a group using my favorite Black Hills 69 grain SMKs. I'd brought along a box of American Eagle 50 grain varmint tip, that's when she woke up and started grouping. I've since learned the .223 barrel most likely has a pretty slow twist, like 1:12 or 1:14. I sent an email to Cooper inquiring about that.

Both rifles were easily under MOA at 100 yards, I know I can do better. It was frustrating not being able to use a bipod as that's how I shoot all my rifles. I do plan to add sling studs so I can outfit them with a bipod.

Yesterday was a bad day to be at the range, very cold (for the NW) and lots of newbies running around with Christmas rifles. I'll be out of town next week so it'll be the following week I get to spend some quality time with these new ones.

Happy New Year all!