Shooting past 100 yards with a scoped 10/22.

[dodging230grainers]

Just wondering, how feasible is it to get consistent hits past 100 yards with a scoped .22lr in general? My setup is a stock ruger 10/22 with a 2.5-10x mil dot scope, and I plan to use Eley 40 grain@1080fps subsonic match ammo for the longer shots.

Looking at a basic trajectory calculator with the above load and a 50 yard zero, it looks like I can holdover less than 6 mils all the way out to 175 yards. Assuming a non-windy day, or almost no cross-wind, couldn't I make at least consistent torso hits from 150 to 200 yards?

From what I hear, you can forget any level of accuracy past 125 yards with the high velocity .22lr loads, as when the bullet goes transonic it messes with the accuracy.

 

[taliv]

sure you can, but wind makes it a lot more fun

 

[Ballistic Mule]

Winchester super x 1280 fps. works for me

 

[ArmedBear]

Part of it depends on what your Ruger will shoot.

Mine wouldn't shoot worth a hill of crap. Even with everything perfect, 4" groups at 100 yards would have been miraculous.

Others, it's reported, shoot a lot better.

 

[jim147]

Wind is not your friend.
I used to shoot at 100 yard with open sight when my eyes were better.
Don't pick your ammo before you go and try several at that distance. It's hard to guess what your rifle will like.

jim

 

[jmr40]

Never tried my 10-22's at that range, but I have a target saved I shot with my CZ 452 American with 5 shots inside 1" at 100 yards.

 

[Smith357]

It's pretty easy to shoot at 100+ yards with a 22lr as long as you have your scope numbers for dialing in you elevation, and you can dope the wind.

You will find that those nice tight groups you got at 50 yards will open up quite a bit at 100 yards and will start looking like shotgun patterns at 200.


My Kimber shoots bugholes at 50 yards but the groups really open up at 100. Here are a few 100 yard tagets I shot last week using cheap target ammo. I have yet to try 150 - 200.

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

I have been sniping at a groundhog at about 200 yards, with my rifle sighted at 100. I have "walked" the bullet up by holding at a lower point on the stadia wire of the crosshair, and am getting pretty close, but the wind, even slight, blows my bullets off. He keeps coming out, and I keep trying. Sometimes I can see where my bullet hits, othertimes its in the grass. One day I even saw the bullet path as the sun was hitting the base of the bullet as it flew. That was pretty neat, and showed me how much the sun was curving the path of the bullet. Good luck!

 

[ArmedBear]

It's hard to guess what your rifle will like.

It's easier if you don't have a junk rifle. And "junk" doesn't mean cheap. There are cheap rifles that shoot well, and more expensive ones that don't.

If "what my rifle likes" is more specific than, say, "high-velocity .22LR" or, maybe "subsonic .22LR", that rifle gets sold. Ditto if half the magazines don't work right, it doesn't eject or feed reliably, or it gets too dirty to cycle in less than a brick.

Let's just say I sold my 10/22. For all those reasons. Won't buy another.

But .22LR is perfectly fine past 100 yards with a rifle that shoots decently. Doesn't have to be an expensive rifle, either. Just did some shooting like that the other day, with a Marlin 60. I wouldn't shoot at 300 with .22, but 100-125 is still doable.

The transonic thing is overstated. AFAIK it's only a huge issue if you're shooting for benchrest competition accuracy, and/or right at the transonic zone.

 

[krs]

Sharpdressed..........put a high power scope on your .22 and watch a bunch of your shots flying. At .22 rimfire velocities it should be easy to follow them with a 36x glass.

When I was doing benchrest 36x Leupold was the scope to use and I frequently could watch my .222 and 6ppc bullets flying and they were going over twice as fast as a .22lr.

It's fun, but it's also educational because it'll give you a graphic of the wind gusting at various distances downrange. Bullets do not fly straight to their strike. Instead their path looks like a wigglyworm.

It's why benchrest shooters use windflags all down the range - to try to dope the winds at various distances to the target. Sometimes you can see a wind going left across your bullet path at 50 yds, maybe, and blowing across to the right at 75. That's really extreme but in some parts of the country it's not all that unusual.

ArmedBear - you CAN make 10/22's shoot, but they seldom shoot out of the box. Buying a new one is just the beginning of quite a hobby. But if you just want to shoot the CZ rifles are the best shooting reasonably priced rifle going.....if they don't make Marlin 60's anymore.

 

[ArmedBear]

I know you CAN make 10/22's shoot, but I have plenty of hobbies already. The 10/22 felt more like flushing $20 bills down the toilet. Not a fun hobby. Okay, $100 bills.

Too many fun .22LR rifles out there, to spend time and money polishing that turd. Now my Volquarsen'd-up Mark II Target with a Leupold on it, that's a different ball of wax... I have nothing against Ruger.

I keep wanting a CZ 452 but never buying one. Last time I was seriously thinking about it, another 39 appeared, a rare variant that I really liked...

Now I've finally worked up a great handload for my primary big game rifle, and shooting a .22 isn't as fun any more. Popping balloons at 300 yards off sticks is a blast. Sporting Clays is even more fun...

No money in my budget to waste on trying to get a 10/22 to shoot straight... I need to sell a few things off, as it is.

I mean, go with whatever floats your boat, but my stock Marlin 60 with a decent scope really does shoot as well as a .22LR needs to (1/2" groups with Mini-Mags at 50 yards is fine with me, I didn't have to spend much on the thing, it feeds well, and magazine problems are a thing of the past).

 

[1shot3kills]

i would say

take it to the range and shoot it at whatever distance you want to know,then ask if this is good or bad