I finally took my new 111 to the range yesterday. It's the FCXP3 with the detachable magazine and standard (non-accutrigger) trigger. I only brought one box of ammo with me - 20 rounds of American Eagle .30-06 (150 gr. FMJ). I wanted to see what the factory mounted and bore sighted Simmons Blazer could do, so I left it alone. I started out at about 25 yds - seated position on a bench. I had the stock resting on my lumpy range bag and had my arm in a hasty sling.
I put 4 rounds down range. All shots were on paper. That initial salvo grouped 3 hits within 1" of each other and a fourth "flyer" just a little more than a quarter inch beyond that. Being pleased with this, I switched over to a 100 yd lane (the longest they have at this particular range and set up a silhouette target.
I put 11 rounds into the 9 and 10 round rings, and one "flyer" into the 5 pt shoulder area. My hits were generally 2-3 inches high of center. Does this mean that it should be pretty close to center at 200 yds? BTW - for the 12 shots at 100 yds, I used a block of wood as a front rest (this pretty much sucked). Being a total novice to scoped center fire rifles and long distance shooting, and speaking as someone who has had frustrations with cheap scopes in the past - I am incredibly pleased with this initial outing. It's not stellar shooting, but it aint retarded either. I did it on the cheap, and with no hassles whatsoever. Most importantly, I had lots of fun. I am totally looking forward to finding another range or place where I can shoot still farther. I think with a proper front rest and with a little more practice on my part, I could pull off 1 to 1.5 inch groups at a 100 yds. I'm going to hold off putting that Loopie on at this time.
So now I'm thinking what kind of front rest do I want - a Harris bi-pod? A front rest bag? What are your thoughts?
One day (but not sure when) I want to try my hand at reloading, and this weekend was the first time I've ever saved brass with this purpose in mind). I've got reloading gear on the mind!
I'm also thiking of some other tools that could be useful, such as a chrono, a trigger pull measuring tool, and a range finder.
All in good time I suppose.
