I finally had a nice day (73 degrees) to take dad out to the range with his new Marlin 917V and four boxes of assorted ammo.
We had boresighted the Tasco EXP 1.5-5 at Gander Mountain in January and the first shot was 6 inches high and 3 right @ 50 yards. (I'm not sure I'd call that 'boresighted' but it was free with the purchase of the rifle.)
I quickly got her 'dialed in' with hornady 17 gr v-max ammunition, dad and I both punching 1/2" 5-shot groups at 50 yards.
It was time to move out to 100.
Wow that is a long way with a 5 power scope.
Wow what seemed like an 'OK' factory trigger at 50 was awful at 100... even from a resonable rest, fliers were somewhat common due to 'oversqueeze.' It needs trigger job.
5-7 mph cross wind at 100 yards move a a 17 grain bullet 2 inches to the left. Ther's just not much mass there to buck the wind.
We had (3) misfires with the Hornady V-max. We inspected all three, each was positivly dented. Rechambered and fired (2) of the three. (I'd need a bigger sample to say if it was the rifle or this lot of ammo.)
There were no misfires with the Winchester 17 gr V-max. The Winchester seemed to have a higher point of impact at 100 yards, and the groups were not as tight.
We did not fire any of the Remington .17 gr V-max or Federal Premium 17 gr Speer TNT loads.
Overall:
Very satisfied with the rifle... probably could use a higher powered scope, given it's meant for varminting. Otherwise the EXP is a bright clear retical with 1/8inch clicks (this is a scope bought before tasco went under and came back, made for use on centerfire rifles with an OVAL shaped objectiv 32mm high by 44mm wide and a one inch tube.) Trigger needs work--what works at 50 isn't so good at 100.
No recoil, could shoot it all day if dad wasn't growling about lunch.
Shooting beats working.
Oh and my 995 still shoots pretty good.
Keep in mind these were some of our BEST groups, not our only ones.
Pics Follow:
We had boresighted the Tasco EXP 1.5-5 at Gander Mountain in January and the first shot was 6 inches high and 3 right @ 50 yards. (I'm not sure I'd call that 'boresighted' but it was free with the purchase of the rifle.)
I quickly got her 'dialed in' with hornady 17 gr v-max ammunition, dad and I both punching 1/2" 5-shot groups at 50 yards.
It was time to move out to 100.
Wow that is a long way with a 5 power scope.
Wow what seemed like an 'OK' factory trigger at 50 was awful at 100... even from a resonable rest, fliers were somewhat common due to 'oversqueeze.' It needs trigger job.
5-7 mph cross wind at 100 yards move a a 17 grain bullet 2 inches to the left. Ther's just not much mass there to buck the wind.
We had (3) misfires with the Hornady V-max. We inspected all three, each was positivly dented. Rechambered and fired (2) of the three. (I'd need a bigger sample to say if it was the rifle or this lot of ammo.)
There were no misfires with the Winchester 17 gr V-max. The Winchester seemed to have a higher point of impact at 100 yards, and the groups were not as tight.
We did not fire any of the Remington .17 gr V-max or Federal Premium 17 gr Speer TNT loads.
Overall:
Very satisfied with the rifle... probably could use a higher powered scope, given it's meant for varminting. Otherwise the EXP is a bright clear retical with 1/8inch clicks (this is a scope bought before tasco went under and came back, made for use on centerfire rifles with an OVAL shaped objectiv 32mm high by 44mm wide and a one inch tube.) Trigger needs work--what works at 50 isn't so good at 100.
No recoil, could shoot it all day if dad wasn't growling about lunch.
Shooting beats working.
Oh and my 995 still shoots pretty good.
Keep in mind these were some of our BEST groups, not our only ones.
Pics Follow:
