.22 for Appleseed

[alemonkey]

I just signed up for my first Appleseed event and I'm trying to decide what rifle to bring. Apparently this one is primarily a 25 meter even so it sounds like it will be mostly .22's. I have 3 .22 rifles to choose from, a Stevens Favorite (which although accurate is probably far from ideal for this), a Marlin 60, and a bull barrel 10/22.

The Marlin is stock - it was the first gun I ever bought - but it has some problems with light primer strikes that I'll need to sort out first. It hasn't been shot in years and is residing in my parent's basement. I've been meaning to fix it up for years and I guess this is a good opportunity. I'm wondering how the tube magazine will work though, as I understand there are some magazine change drills involved.

The Ruger has a Green Mountain bull barrel, so the iron sights are gone and I have it scoped. Tech Sights has a receiver peep sight plus a slip on front made for .920 bull barrels, which would make for an awesome setup. I have a hard time justifying spending almost $100 just on sights for a two day event, though.

I'd really like to use the Marlin since it would be a lot cheaper, especially if I could pick up a cheaper receiver mounted peep sight for it somewhere.

 

[41magsnub]

Having an unreliable gun at an appleseed would be more than $100 annoying to me...

 

[elmerfudd]

When you do mag changes in Appleseed you're supposed to have one mag of 8 and a second of two. A lot of people do Appleseeds with bolt action rifles. In those situations they allow them to do two clips of five shots each. In your situation I imagine you could put 9 in the tube and then load one by hand.

 

[P.B.Walsh]

What's an Appleseed??

 

[Maverick223]

What's an Appleseed?

That would be a seed from the fruit body of an apple tree. http://www.appleseedinfo.org/

 

[alemonkey]

Ok, I'm reversing course here...I've found a few suitable receiver mounted peep sights that are quite a bit cheaper than the Tech Sight. I think I can still use the bull barrel adapter and come out with a nice setup for a lot cheaper. I think I'm going to go with the 10/22.

 

[Geneseo1911]

Take the 10/22. - Get the Tech-Sites.

Appleseed is structured around battle rifles, which the 10/22 replicates better than the Marlin. The actual qualification test requires a mag change. That said, they will make the tube-fed guns work, but it's not ideal. You won't be able to shoot Rifleman with a bolt gun due to time constraints. It is hard enough with a semi-auto.

I too was leery of spending the money on the Tech-Sites, but I love them now. I actually removed the scope from my 10/22 for the Appleseed, and have since given it away. I've learned to enjoy shooting iron sights, and definitely want to keep the .22 set up that way so I can keep my skills polished.

If you really can't spend the money, consider keeping the scope. You'll still learn the fundamentals of natural point of aim, position, trigger control, breathing, etc. Shooting Rifleman is a lot harder than you'd expect. I shot next to a guy with a scoped bull barrel 10/22 who just barely missed it. I think his ammo wasn't agreeing with his gun.

The most important things are finding an ammo brand your gun likes, and having it zeroed before you get there. At least half the group I shot with spent all day Saturday trying to get their guns to hit POA.

 

[chris in va]

Good choice. You definitely want something with peep sights and detachable magazines.

 

[Maverick223]

I think I can still use the bull barrel adapter and come out with a nice setup for a lot cheaper. I think I'm going to go with the 10/22.

Sounds like you found your ticket. I need to sign up for an Appleseed shoot one of these days. Good luck, Mav.

 

[paintballdude902]

why not use the scope?

 

[Bill B.]

why not use the scope?

From what I have been told Appleseed is all about skill building with iron sights from various shooting positions. I have personally never been to a shoot but 10/22's & tech sights dominate.

 

[StrawHat]

Tech Sights has a receiver peep sight plus a slip on front made for .920 bull barrels, which would make for an awesome setup. I have a hard time justifying spending almost $100 just on sights for a two day event, though.

Good sights will last forever, long after the cheap ones are replaced.

 

[elmerfudd]

I have personally never been to a shoot but 10/22's & tech sights dominate.

Judging by the Appleseed I attended, there really wasn't anything that dominated. People were using everything from Saigas to AR15's to Mosin Nagants to single shot rimfires. The folks that shot rifleman generally used scoped 10/22's.

Therein lies one of the flaws of Appleseed. There aren't any rules regarding what gun you can use, because Appleseed is set up to train civilians to shoot what they've got. Needless to say it's much easier to shoot rifleman using a scoped 10/22 than it is using an iron sighted M1A or in my case an iron sighted PSL.

The other flaw IMO, is that it's almost entirely shot at 25m so you don't get much exposure to adjusting for elevation or wind.

 

[elmerfudd]

Just to give you a little more info on it, Appleseed is really old style military marksmanship training. It stresses position shooting, using a sling and iron sights at longer distances than the military emphasizes today. The ideal rifle for it should have a sturdy one piece stock, because you are going to be shooting using a tight sling. Rifles with two piece stocks or slings attached to the barrel will change their point of impact depending on how tightly you hold the sling.

Although the idea is to teach you to use iron sights, scopes are allowed and will give you an advantage. The question is do you want to score high or learn everything you can? Personally, I recommend that you bring a scope. You'll shoot several AQT's over the weekend. Do a couple of them with the scope so that you can get the highest score you can and shoot the rest with iron sights for the learning experience.