Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Vudoo at the range

Have you tried other top end Target loads?

Lapua Center-X Ammo is fine stuff ,but your rifle is an individual just like amy other and is going to have ammo preferences. It might shock you what it shoots the best.

You are getting down to a level of accuracy where that really matters. Even lot numbers of the same loads do.

Looks to me like you are solidly around .6 MOA from a bipod in some wind.. Pretty darn good.

And yes- getting a benchmark level of accuracy off of bags on calm day would help clarify any questions about your bipod technique.

Not yet, but plan to do so. Thanks for your response.

Looking better Scott

I'm not a fan of bipods..have a few, don't use em. Bags or a mechanical rest is my preference.

Looks to me by the shift in POI you either have a parallax issue, wind or it's bipod/technique.

I rarely see folks verify parallax and it will make a big difference.

Ammo wise I've had good success with Federal UM22 (out of production) , Norma TAC and Match, Center X and Midas +.

I always shoot 10-20 foulers between each brand to settle things down.


Solid move going SWFA. You wont regret it.

Mechanically,I see improvement(round groups).

I hate bipods,for more than a "few" reasons.

Hint..............

Yep, spent the time getting reticle focused and verifying parallax. The 10x MQ is like the rest of them, the numeral indicators are just that-once I adjusted parallax for my eyes, here's where the "indicators" landed-see pic. It's unanimous, the bipod is the next variable for me to eliminate in my accuracy equation and if needed, ammo change.

OK, here's my $.02, FWIW. When I read your OP, I just shook my head. I've seen it before, repeatedly.

What I am going to say assumes that you want to wring out the ultimate that your Vudoo is capable of, not necessarily just good enough for the shooting you plan to do.

Pay close attention to what Stick has told you.

Lose, meaning set aside, that "tactical" orientation which is most of what the Vudoo is about. (I live in "Vudootown") Case in point, the bipod. You'll eventually come back to it. That's OK.

"Go to school" on .22 benchrest. Yeah, we know, you aren't interested in what anal mostly geezers do at 50 yards, but those folks are absolutely uncompromising in their pursuit of accuracy, and their equipment and techniques are proven. They've BTDT.

Get a good pedestal rest and bags. That doesn't have to be a $600 Sinclair or $1000+ SEB, but it needs to be rock solid, and the bags need to fit. Not one of those one-piece "sleds". There are good sales and used stuff if you're patient and shop around. Benchresters are always trading off and buying new schit. The contact between rifle and bags must be uniform and the rifle must move absolutely uniformly from shot-to-shot. Hint: .22s do recoil and the bullet is a long time down the bore. A cheap expedient is a baggie between bags and stock. When I discovered that, my groups shrank. These days I like the bags with the slick silver stuff. For the same reason, your hold must also be uniform. For example, varying cheek pressure will kill your groups, mostly laterally. You may find that your rifle performs better with firm pressure or maybe little to none. You have to experiment. Bottom line is that .22s are absolutely unforgiving of lack of uniformity when it comes to optimal accuracy. Hint: precision air rifles are even worse, but for the same reasons.

Note that I haven't said anything about your rifle and scope. That won't be where to look for significant improvement, at this point.

Once you've done enough serious testing at 50 yards, STOP. Take a deep breath and contemplate that 50 yards is seldom indicative of what your outfit will do at 100 yards, let alone beyond. Many a shooter has been vexed to find that groups at longer range are not proportional to the 50 yard results. 50 yards is a good starting point, but you really have to test at the longer ranges to learn what ammo is optimal. At least it's fun!

Wind. Did I mention wind? Look at a .22 benchrest match and you'll see a forest of colorful wind flags, each shooter deploying several. Shooting well in the wind separates the winners from also-rans. Go to school on it, learn to shoot the wind. Top shooters love the wind, it gives them an edge. Others fear it. Learn to love it. You'll never really know what your rifle and ammo will do until you can remove as much of the wind factor as possible. Absent a tunnel you can't eliminate it, just have to learn to compensate.

A personal note, OK a brag. I shoot local .22 benchrest in Factory class with my CZ American, and my groups are pretty close to the ones you have posted. I won the annual aggregate a couple of years ago. I can't beat the high scores in Unlimited with my lowly CZ sporter, but I usually shoot in the middle of the Unlimited pack. Point being, it's not just the equipment. You and your Vudoo can do better!

Good shooting, and have a fun trip.

Paul

Solid advise, Paul, Very well stated and very much appreciated. You've provided me pointers that I should re-visit and visit. And yes, I still have my old Sinclair front rest from a years back-pre Brownells. I really like what you said re: wind-that got my attention the most. I believe I've underestimated it's effect on .22 rimfire at 50 yards. Gotta love CZ's and congrats on your accomplishments with yours. Again, many thanks.

You're very welcome. Obviously, I just offered a few high points.

Another "wind story". A few years ago .22 benchrest was included in our annual state sport Games. Several shooters got bitten by the benchrest bug, and ran out and bought Anschutz .22 target rifles. For the most part, they didn't buy scopes that were of the same level as their rifles, but that's another story and there has been a learning curve. At the time most didn't realize that Anschutz isn't a go-to brand for serious benchrest, but that too is another story, having to do with the learning curve.

Anyhow, with that as background, I was on the range one day and a guy was shooting his brand new Anschutz and frustrated with his groups. His 50 yard vertical was little more that a bullet diameter but his horizontal was around 3/4". So he's going on about that angle adjustment of the Anschutz trigger, wondering if he should move it. Meanwhile, I'm watching the wind, and noting that it is light but shifting from side to side. The poor guy was oblivious. In the years since then that whole group has learned a lot, but a lot of them still underestimate the importance of wind. BTW, if you search online there are some nice little "clock" charts showing the effects of wind speed and direction on bullet impact, nice to print out and take to the range for reference.

You're on the right track. Keep having fun.

Paul

Paul, thank you for your post. That is some solid advice and I appreciate it.

A little thing, by way of example.

Yesterday I had RSO duty at our range. I watched a very experienced BR shooter coaching a relative newbie. The newer guy asked about the peg at the front of the front rest, the forearm stop, and why the other guy pushed his rifle against the stop, then moved it back a smidge. The experienced shooter explained that he shoots his .22 with a bit of shoulder pressure on the butt, and he doesn't want the rifle stressed by being "sandwiched" front and back. I never thought of that, and I can't say whether it matters or how much, but it makes sense. I do know that it's important to reposition your stock in exactly the same place after each shot. Something as simple as a piece of tape on your stock works. Not all shooters use a forearm stop, I don't.

Optimal accuracy is about reducing variation, from whatever source. No variation, all the bullets go through the same hole. Simple, right?

Just like the OP, Mr. Scott. Everybody has to have their own goals, and decide how anal they are willing to be, how much of their money, time, and effort the accuracy chase is worth, while recognizing that there are diminishing returns.

My opening comment in my original response was not intended to be a put down, but came from having watched many shooters spinning their wheels, and going down rabbit holes chasing better accuracy, That's what I mean about "going to school", studying the issue and going about it systematically.

As for me, I'm not a dedicated BR shooter. I'm not interested in pursuing the ultimate in accuracy, although I respect and learn from those who do. I could afford better stuff, but I just enjoy getting the best from my "working class" guns like my CZ, and making the top dogs sweat a bit as I nip at their heels!

One thing more that bears repeating. Don't be overconfident about your scope, and don't put blind faith in a brand. If accuracy falls off, especially suddenly, check your scope. Best test is an immediate swap. Yesterday I watched another shooter as his 36X target scope took a dump. The brand debate rages here on the Optics forum.

Paul

Stick is right on ditching the bipod, and get a rear bag that the shoulder pad is past the pad (doesnt’ hook it).

The rifle needs to be in a “natural aim” or “neutral aim” - meaning when you release the pressure from the rifle with you hands it shouldn’t move... if it does you and or the bags and bi-pod are putting energy into it and if that isn’t done exactly the same way every time it will move where the impact occurs.

Addendum.

When the guy's scope failed, I watched while another shooter loaned him a scope, and the two worked feverishly for over an hour and through a box or more of match .22s (Center X) trying to get it zeroed.

While I watched, they slipped mounts on and off and cranked away on their wrenches. Meanwhile, I'm thinking stresses!

Point is, learn to mount a scope properly or find someone who is competent to do it. It doesn't take a degree in mechanical engineering or special tools, but you do have to have a sense of geometry and be able to visualize potential sources of stress.

Poorly mounted scopes are a major source of vexing accuracy problems, and many a shooter is oblivious. As Stick would say, Hint.

Paul

Tougher wind today and yes, the Sinclair front rest took some more of me out of the equation. I'm smiling...for now.

Looks like you are definitely getting somewhere. For a windy day that is some pretty good shooting....

Bob

Do you need to clean it all that often? I've got Bill Calfee's book (The Art of Rimfire Accuracy) and he mentions the build up of a lead ring at the start of the rifling that is supposed to aid accuracy, at least for a while until it eventually will adversly affect it and need to be removed. I don't have an accurate 22 yet (in he process of getting an Anschutz 1710) but have seen the lead ring in other 22s, not that it seemed to make a difference to the ones I saw it in but they weren't top of the line shooters.

You're fortunate to have Calfee's book. That seems to be the bible of .22 rimfire accuracy. I've never read it. Of course you have to get past his unique writing style, which for me is like fingernails on a blackboard, as I recall from reading his stuff in Precision Shooting magazine.

I pretty much do what mauserand9mm cites, following what Lilja recommends on their website. Very light cleaning of the bore, and considerable attention to the leade area. I use a good quality but worn .22 bronze pistol brush on a non-rotating rod in the chamber area, per Lilja, and others. This assumes a decent quality barrel; sewer pipes require a different approach.

I hate leading, and it's always better to prevent it, or at least stay on top of it, than having to get it out of your barrel later.

That assumes that you're not shooting Thunderbolts out of your Vudoo, Cooper, Anschutz, etc., are you? Don't laugh, I've seen it, and more than once.

Paul

More good stuff.
Paul, you can be my coach, any day.

Just a suggestion, the Harris bipod is not your friend when it comes to shooting good groups. The Harris seems to add some degree of bounce that you do not experience with the Atlas bipod.

Myself and about six to eight others have been shooting long range 22LR matches throughout the spring/summer/fall for the past two years with targets out to 300-yards. Shooting prone off of a shooting mat with a rubberized front section, the Harris bipod can be "loaded" with shoulder pressure and the bounce factor seems to be minimized, the Atlas doesn't seem to need the preloading. However, when shooting off bare concrete the Harris rest slides and the bounce is there.

I also have a BR-50 Cooper benchrest rifle (no longer a competitive rifle in BR circles) and it is much easier to shoot off of a Bald Eagle front rest than any bipod.

Lots of good info in this thread...

Bill Calfee's book is still available on Amazon.

CraigD-thank you. The group I posted yesterday was off of my old Sinclair rest. Groups improved somewhat b/c of it's stability and it was that stability that helped me see/realize the little things I need to correct with my technique. Which as we know, little things can be huge things when shooting rimfire. Consistency comes to mind for me Again, thank you.

Thanks to CraigD for sharing his experience and explaining the issues with the bipod better than I did with my suggestion to set aside the bipod during initial testing to establish optimal accuracy. Obviously a good bipod and using it correctly are essential to practical long range shooting.

Good to know that Bill Calfee's book is available, at a price. The Amazon reviews of the book are interesting. Seems to come down to how much of Bill's "I'm an ol' country boy" BS the reader is willing to sift through to get to the golden nuggets that he offers in his book. If I were closer to the beginning of my shooting journey rather than winding down, I'd sure get it. Come to think of it I should ask my son. He's an accuracy looney, and I wouldn't be surprised if he has it.

Paul