My intention for posting this is for any new folks out there who might be having trouble dialing in a new rifle. I'm not new to shooting, but I am new to benchrest/target shooting, and I figured I'd share a few things I've learned with my new Ruger. I'll keep adding to this thread as I make more progress.
So I put together a new Ruger 10/22 this winter, and I've just be itching to get out to the range with it. The local range doesn't plow out the road, so its either wade through 2' of snow, or try to drive through it. We finally had some warm weather and enough snow burned off that I could walk in. Here is a picture of the Ruger, along with my Remington. I liked my setup so much with the Remmy, I decided to copy it with the Ruger. I installed a 16.5" Tactical Innovations bull barrel, a Hogue Overmold stock, DNZ rings, and a Mueller APV 4.5-14 scope. This will be a dual purpose target rifle, and small varmint rifle.
So my first trip in was not a very good one. After I got her "sighted in" at 50 yards, I had a hell of a time getting any sort of decent group. I was using bulk pack Federal hollow points for the cardboard below. I've never had a problem with the cheap stuff in my old Ruger, but most of my shooting with that was at clay pigeons and beer cans. The new one doesn't like it at all, and groups like the ones below are not what I was looking for when I started this rifle. I shot 10-20 rounds at each circle, and to be quite honest, any groups I managed to get were really out of pure luck.
Yeah, that is ugly. I probably would have had better luck using a slingshot.
I figured I had two issues to deal with. The first being ammo. So I picked up three different kinds from three different manufacturers. The second issue I had was the trigger. That thing was gritty and heavy, and I knew it had to be affecting my groups. So with the help of the THR, I found this video:
http://www.greatwestgunsmithing.com/1022 trigger job high.html
Last night I took apart the trigger and did some work. This morning I headed back out to the range with a significantly better trigger and my new ammo, and this is what I got.
I shot 20 rounds at a separate target to zero in the scope for each brand, and then threw 10 rounds at each circle. You can imagine that I was a little worried after my first set with the Winchester 40 grain Super Speed RN - things were still looking ugly. Then I loaded in the CCI 36 grain Mini-Mag HP. What a difference! I could tell when I was zeroing in the scope that things were looking up. The next brand was Remington 40 grain Target RN. I had just about as much luck with these as I did with the CCI.
You'll notice I only did 4 sets with the Remington, as many of you know, time flies down at the range and I realized I was late for a prior engagement, so I had to pack things up. I planned on doing another set with the Federal bulk ammuntion as a control group for my progress with the trigger, but that will have to wait for another day.
Even with the new ammuntion, the groups aren't as nice as I'd like to see. I have three issues that could be contributing to that. One, there was a 15-25 mph crosswind that was kicking up and down during my session. Two, the trigger still needs some more work - while it is a night and day difference from before, it is still a lot heavier than my Remington, which is set at 2.5lbs of pull. I was also very conservative when stoning it last night because it was the first time I've ever done a tigger job. The final factor is me. I've only got about 500 rounds through her, compared to the thousands I've put through my old Ruger - I just really need to just spend more time with the rifle.
I'll dig back into the trigger tonight and do a little more work, and hopefully the weather holds out so I can do some more testing tomorrow.
So I put together a new Ruger 10/22 this winter, and I've just be itching to get out to the range with it. The local range doesn't plow out the road, so its either wade through 2' of snow, or try to drive through it. We finally had some warm weather and enough snow burned off that I could walk in. Here is a picture of the Ruger, along with my Remington. I liked my setup so much with the Remmy, I decided to copy it with the Ruger. I installed a 16.5" Tactical Innovations bull barrel, a Hogue Overmold stock, DNZ rings, and a Mueller APV 4.5-14 scope. This will be a dual purpose target rifle, and small varmint rifle.
So my first trip in was not a very good one. After I got her "sighted in" at 50 yards, I had a hell of a time getting any sort of decent group. I was using bulk pack Federal hollow points for the cardboard below. I've never had a problem with the cheap stuff in my old Ruger, but most of my shooting with that was at clay pigeons and beer cans. The new one doesn't like it at all, and groups like the ones below are not what I was looking for when I started this rifle. I shot 10-20 rounds at each circle, and to be quite honest, any groups I managed to get were really out of pure luck.
Yeah, that is ugly. I probably would have had better luck using a slingshot.
I figured I had two issues to deal with. The first being ammo. So I picked up three different kinds from three different manufacturers. The second issue I had was the trigger. That thing was gritty and heavy, and I knew it had to be affecting my groups. So with the help of the THR, I found this video:
http://www.greatwestgunsmithing.com/1022 trigger job high.html
Last night I took apart the trigger and did some work. This morning I headed back out to the range with a significantly better trigger and my new ammo, and this is what I got.
I shot 20 rounds at a separate target to zero in the scope for each brand, and then threw 10 rounds at each circle. You can imagine that I was a little worried after my first set with the Winchester 40 grain Super Speed RN - things were still looking ugly. Then I loaded in the CCI 36 grain Mini-Mag HP. What a difference! I could tell when I was zeroing in the scope that things were looking up. The next brand was Remington 40 grain Target RN. I had just about as much luck with these as I did with the CCI.
You'll notice I only did 4 sets with the Remington, as many of you know, time flies down at the range and I realized I was late for a prior engagement, so I had to pack things up. I planned on doing another set with the Federal bulk ammuntion as a control group for my progress with the trigger, but that will have to wait for another day.
Even with the new ammuntion, the groups aren't as nice as I'd like to see. I have three issues that could be contributing to that. One, there was a 15-25 mph crosswind that was kicking up and down during my session. Two, the trigger still needs some more work - while it is a night and day difference from before, it is still a lot heavier than my Remington, which is set at 2.5lbs of pull. I was also very conservative when stoning it last night because it was the first time I've ever done a tigger job. The final factor is me. I've only got about 500 rounds through her, compared to the thousands I've put through my old Ruger - I just really need to just spend more time with the rifle.
I'll dig back into the trigger tonight and do a little more work, and hopefully the weather holds out so I can do some more testing tomorrow.
