Match vs. Hunting Ammo - Ruger 77/22 VBZ - 12/19/11
Christmas came early to me here in SW Montana this year.
I helped Santa by picking out a dandy rimfire Rifle to be used specifically for Ground Squirrel Hunting come spring.
The Rifle was purchased last Saturday morning and it is a Ruger K77-VBZ (heavy 24" barreled bolt action laminated stock Rifle in caliber 22 L.R.) then I mounted a brand new Leupold 6.5x20 EFR scope on it on right away.
The wind has been howling here for at least a week and when I woke up this morning to dead calm air I completely canceled previous plans for the day and headed for the range with my new Christmas "present".
My plan was to test for accuracy 5 kinds of hollow-point ammunition and 3 kinds of "target ammo".
The Rifle was quickly "sighted in" and I began testing immediately thereafter, fearing the winds from hell would return at any minute.
It was dead calm and 26 degrees when I fired my first "test group" with Winchester 40 grain Super-X hollowpoints the five shot group at 50 yards measured a pleasing .501".
I then fowled the barrel with some CCI Green Tag solid point target ammo and fired one group with it that measured .354"!
Believe it or not I could see minor heat waves rising up from the barrel then in the dead calm air - and this after only 25 shots or so!
Next I fowled the barrel again and then fired with Winchester 37 grain Super-X ammo - the resulting 5 shot group was the biggest of the day at .695"!
Hmmm... I thought.
Then I tested some Wolf Match ammo and the 5 shot group at 50 yards measured .394".
Pleasing this, with one shot nearly doubling group size!
Then I realized I had forgotten to pack up some Federal bulk pack hollow-point ammo that I really like for Ground Squirrels as this bullet is VERY lethal on them!
Drat I was thinking about this oversight and cursing myself when on the back of my neck I felt the wind starting up.
This spurred me to run the shortened second round of my tests starting over with the ammo I had already shot.
I only made one more group before the wind cancelled the rest of my shooting and that group was with the Winchester 40 grain Super-X hollow-points - it measured .552".
Again pleasing me with this good Hunting bullet.
As I sat there in the blazing sun (freezing though still) waiting for the wind to quit I decided to "re-test" the adjustable objective on the 6.5x20 Leupold scope.
At 50 yards the parallax (with the scopes A/O sat at exactly the 50 yard marking) there was NO parallax!
Dittoes at 100 yards.
Good work Leupold.
I will say this though - with the adjustable objective sat at 100 yards the 50 yard "image" IS somewhat blurry there at full 20 power.
So the adjustable objective will need to be adjusted to near correct range for clearest image and aiming in the field.
If the wind dies down tomorrow morning I will head back out to the range to test some Eley ammo and for sure I will have my Federal hollow-point bulk pack ammo along for thorough and careful testing as this Federal ammo is less than half the price of the Winchester Super-X ammo's I tried today.
I simply can't wait to bonk some 150 yard Gophers with this new Rifle and scope!
I was impressed with the distinct improvement in accuracy of the Match ammos I tried today, as compared to the hollow-point Hunting ammo.
I was also impressed with the accuracy right out of the box with the heavy barreled Ruger - good job Sturm-Ruger on this.
Have you all noticed a similar improvement in accuracy of the target ammo vs top quality hollow-point Hnting ammo?
Roughly, I experienced about .200" better accuracy there at 50 yards with the match ammo.
I have never tried match ammo on the Gophers - I imagine if I tried for head shots instead of chest shots (like I normally go for) the match ammo would humanely render the Ground Squirrels DRT?
Any thoughts or suggestions in this regard would also be appreciated.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
I helped Santa by picking out a dandy rimfire Rifle to be used specifically for Ground Squirrel Hunting come spring.
The Rifle was purchased last Saturday morning and it is a Ruger K77-VBZ (heavy 24" barreled bolt action laminated stock Rifle in caliber 22 L.R.) then I mounted a brand new Leupold 6.5x20 EFR scope on it on right away.
The wind has been howling here for at least a week and when I woke up this morning to dead calm air I completely canceled previous plans for the day and headed for the range with my new Christmas "present".
My plan was to test for accuracy 5 kinds of hollow-point ammunition and 3 kinds of "target ammo".
The Rifle was quickly "sighted in" and I began testing immediately thereafter, fearing the winds from hell would return at any minute.
It was dead calm and 26 degrees when I fired my first "test group" with Winchester 40 grain Super-X hollowpoints the five shot group at 50 yards measured a pleasing .501".
I then fowled the barrel with some CCI Green Tag solid point target ammo and fired one group with it that measured .354"!
Believe it or not I could see minor heat waves rising up from the barrel then in the dead calm air - and this after only 25 shots or so!
Next I fowled the barrel again and then fired with Winchester 37 grain Super-X ammo - the resulting 5 shot group was the biggest of the day at .695"!
Hmmm... I thought.
Then I tested some Wolf Match ammo and the 5 shot group at 50 yards measured .394".
Pleasing this, with one shot nearly doubling group size!
Then I realized I had forgotten to pack up some Federal bulk pack hollow-point ammo that I really like for Ground Squirrels as this bullet is VERY lethal on them!
Drat I was thinking about this oversight and cursing myself when on the back of my neck I felt the wind starting up.
This spurred me to run the shortened second round of my tests starting over with the ammo I had already shot.
I only made one more group before the wind cancelled the rest of my shooting and that group was with the Winchester 40 grain Super-X hollow-points - it measured .552".
Again pleasing me with this good Hunting bullet.
As I sat there in the blazing sun (freezing though still) waiting for the wind to quit I decided to "re-test" the adjustable objective on the 6.5x20 Leupold scope.
At 50 yards the parallax (with the scopes A/O sat at exactly the 50 yard marking) there was NO parallax!
Dittoes at 100 yards.
Good work Leupold.
I will say this though - with the adjustable objective sat at 100 yards the 50 yard "image" IS somewhat blurry there at full 20 power.
So the adjustable objective will need to be adjusted to near correct range for clearest image and aiming in the field.
If the wind dies down tomorrow morning I will head back out to the range to test some Eley ammo and for sure I will have my Federal hollow-point bulk pack ammo along for thorough and careful testing as this Federal ammo is less than half the price of the Winchester Super-X ammo's I tried today.
I simply can't wait to bonk some 150 yard Gophers with this new Rifle and scope!
I was impressed with the distinct improvement in accuracy of the Match ammos I tried today, as compared to the hollow-point Hunting ammo.
I was also impressed with the accuracy right out of the box with the heavy barreled Ruger - good job Sturm-Ruger on this.
Have you all noticed a similar improvement in accuracy of the target ammo vs top quality hollow-point Hnting ammo?
Roughly, I experienced about .200" better accuracy there at 50 yards with the match ammo.
I have never tried match ammo on the Gophers - I imagine if I tried for head shots instead of chest shots (like I normally go for) the match ammo would humanely render the Ground Squirrels DRT?
Any thoughts or suggestions in this regard would also be appreciated.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy