LiveLife
Member
One of many retirement projects I have pursued now going on a few years is over 40,000 rounds of 22LR testing.
And to better isolate ammunition/firearm specific factors, I bought new 10/22 Collector #3 and T/CR22 then proceeded to capture every 5/10 shot groups to test ammunition accuracy and firearm reliability at 50/100 yards while firearms were broken in over several thousand rounds.
With near 100% reliability of around 25 different brands/weights/lots of ammunition with the exception of Winchester M-22, accurizing of 10/22 and T/CR22 commenced to see how small group sizes could be but after 6500 rounds through 10/22, a surprise ensued.
I didn't expect much from factory 10/22 barrel and anticipated greater accuracy from T/CR22 with KSA bull barrel yet after Vorquartsen trigger upgrade, 10/22 continues to produce around 1/2" groups with CCI SV and Blazer 40 gr and 3/4" groups with Aguila 40 gr ammunition at 50 yards consistently that my work on T/CR22 and KSA bull barrel took a pause.
I recently picked up enough new lots of 22LR to conduct 30+ ammunition comparison testing particularly old/new lot comparison of most popular bulk 22LR out of 10/22 before calling this aspect of retirement project finished.
However, there's more. (I am finding this out with my wife's neverending "Honey do list"
... Never worked so hard in my life ... grrrrrr ... But after 28 years, what am I to do other than say "Yes, honey"? )
A recent trip to the LGS introduced me to Winchester Wildcat. Like T/CR22, Wildcat is 10/22 compatible rifle that comes in 18" and 16.5" barrel lengths. What's interesting is that Wildcat was specifically designed around 10/22 10 round rotatry and various aftermarket magazines - https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/winchester-wildcat-22-sr-a-21st-century-rimfire/
But here is my concern ... Americanrifleman accuracy testing showed smaller 1.2" to 1.8" groups and larger 1.3" to 2.0" groups at 50 yards. I understand that only Winchester ammunition were tested and for me other brands of ammunition produced smaller groups like CCI and Aguila.
I am thinking about getting the shorter 16.5" model for less barrel harmonics but Americanrifleman tested the 16.5" barrel model ...
So, should I buy the Wildcat? I do have a lot of 10/22 and Butler Creek magazines and that's one of the draw towards the Wildcat. But there are other rifles that are 10/22 magazine compatible.
What has been the accuracy experience of THR members who bought the Wildcat?
And to better isolate ammunition/firearm specific factors, I bought new 10/22 Collector #3 and T/CR22 then proceeded to capture every 5/10 shot groups to test ammunition accuracy and firearm reliability at 50/100 yards while firearms were broken in over several thousand rounds.
With near 100% reliability of around 25 different brands/weights/lots of ammunition with the exception of Winchester M-22, accurizing of 10/22 and T/CR22 commenced to see how small group sizes could be but after 6500 rounds through 10/22, a surprise ensued.
I didn't expect much from factory 10/22 barrel and anticipated greater accuracy from T/CR22 with KSA bull barrel yet after Vorquartsen trigger upgrade, 10/22 continues to produce around 1/2" groups with CCI SV and Blazer 40 gr and 3/4" groups with Aguila 40 gr ammunition at 50 yards consistently that my work on T/CR22 and KSA bull barrel took a pause.
I recently picked up enough new lots of 22LR to conduct 30+ ammunition comparison testing particularly old/new lot comparison of most popular bulk 22LR out of 10/22 before calling this aspect of retirement project finished.
However, there's more. (I am finding this out with my wife's neverending "Honey do list"
... Never worked so hard in my life ... grrrrrr ... But after 28 years, what am I to do other than say "Yes, honey"? )A recent trip to the LGS introduced me to Winchester Wildcat. Like T/CR22, Wildcat is 10/22 compatible rifle that comes in 18" and 16.5" barrel lengths. What's interesting is that Wildcat was specifically designed around 10/22 10 round rotatry and various aftermarket magazines - https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/winchester-wildcat-22-sr-a-21st-century-rimfire/
But here is my concern ... Americanrifleman accuracy testing showed smaller 1.2" to 1.8" groups and larger 1.3" to 2.0" groups at 50 yards. I understand that only Winchester ammunition were tested and for me other brands of ammunition produced smaller groups like CCI and Aguila.
I am thinking about getting the shorter 16.5" model for less barrel harmonics but Americanrifleman tested the 16.5" barrel model ...
So, should I buy the Wildcat? I do have a lot of 10/22 and Butler Creek magazines and that's one of the draw towards the Wildcat. But there are other rifles that are 10/22 magazine compatible.
What has been the accuracy experience of THR members who bought the Wildcat?
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