Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires long range .22 rimfire

Does anybody else shoot .22 rimfire farther than the traditional 300 feet? Since most high velocity rounds have a 7,000 foot range, would 3,500 feet be out of the question? I Use Remington 500 series rifles with iron sights to score hits at 1000 feet and with sub 4 inch groups. Groups at 600 feet are less than 2 inches with only a 42 inch drop. How about it , any long range shooters?

Long range .22 matches are gaining popularity, but so far most involve vintage-style single shots, as the .22 events are a spinoff or miniaturization of black powder cartridge events such as silhouette and Creedmoor. Most .22 "mini-BPCR" matches are shot at 50-100-150-200 yards or meters under BPCR rules, meaning offhand at the 50 yard chicken, and prone off cross sticks for the other three critter targets. Our club has started .22 Creedmoor matches with targets from about 260 to 330 yards. Also, some Schuetzen matches include .22s at 100 and 200 yards, the latter being a real challenge. Shooting .22s at longer ranges is a hoot.

Paul.

Experienced shooters do not express distances in feet. They either use yards, or meters.

Before I would believe those claimed groups, at those yardages, with a 22LR and iron sights..., I would have to witness the shooting...!

1000 feet is 333.33 yards and your claiming a sub four inch group at that distance, with iron sights? Why aren't you shooting at the Olympics?

Groups at 600 feet (200 Yards) which are less than two inches? You're going to get a lot of skepticism with those unproven claims...!

Bill

Well, I for one would absolutely love to witness rimfires scoring those groups at 200 plus yards, rimfire competitions are enjoying a renewed popularity, and I believe that more organized rimfire events may well offer opportunities to retain and get more novice shooters involved with the shooting sports. The economics of owning a quality rimfire and the ammo cost make alot of sense these days. On that note, can you please elaborate on exactly how you have managed to accomplish those groups at those distances with iron sights?

Experienced shooters do not express distances in feet. They either use yards, or meters.

Before I would believe those claimed groups, at those yardages, with a 22LR and iron sights..., I would have to witness the shooting...!

1000 feet is 333.33 yards and your claiming a sub four inch group at that distance, with iron sights? Why aren't you shooting at the Olympics?

Groups at 600 feet (200 Yards) which are less than two inches? You're going to get a lot of skepticism with those unproven claims...!

Bill [/quote]

I for one believe Stillwater, I put on a monthly "Buffalo League" shoot ......Little 7 5/8" wide Steel Slhouettes, At 200M

With quality standard Vel ammo, and a quality rifle it's pretty amazing as to just what one can do at the ranges he's discussing........

And dittos to it being a HOOT !

GTC

This is pretty polite group of men and women shooters however, perhaps you need to invest in a new tape measure, rangefinder and calipers. I own thirty or forty .22s and I can't imagine shooting groups like that at those distances without glass. But it sounds like you're having a lot of fun shooting and that's all that really matters. Good luck, Gregory

ps: sub 4" at more than 300 yards?

Well Guys.. Ya know, I would question someone whom made a claim like that, until I participated in a 200 yd 22 LR shoot at our range a couple of years ago...

It was set up for those with Optics and those with open sites or peep style sights...

We had a couple of guys who showed up with vintage Win Model 52s from the 1950s or so.. with Peep Sites and Globe Sights on them...

I watched these guys turn in groups of 2 inches at 200 yds with them, and then like 4 inch groups at 300 yds, just showing off...

They were feeding them special spendy ammo.....

their groups were so small in ratio to the other shooters... the club finally had to ban Model 52s from the matches... to give everyone else a chance...

I watched in awe a couple years ago when a buddy's kid shot 2 pr. dogs off a mound with 4-5 shots using a little Marlin 22/3-9X Simmons scope/bipod applying the plex reticle in the scope at about 18 MOA x-hair to plex post tip @ 3X (no wind, of course). We have a good pic of it, and it'll soon be published. Couple years ago there was an article in Precision Shooting Publications (1 of them) about a guy that converted a centerfire XP-100 handgun to rimfire. I'm gonna dig it up again, because on 1 of the ranches i hunt coyotes, the jackrabbits have come back, and it'd be fun to play at LR with a LR handgun chambered in one of the rimfires (probably the 17 HMR, most likely).

When Stillwater used the term "Irons", .....one would more or less invey that he meant Competition Grade "Peep Sights"

UMmmmmm,......these are precision instruments that are absolutely repeatable (Usually in 1/4 MOA increments), over Generations of shooters lifetimes (Properly tuned / lubed / maintained)...and cost more than a case of good Whiskey, on the cheap end.

"Special Spendy ammo" is more or less the norm, for a dedicated RF loonie.

Trophy Hunter, .....if your in Az., .....I'd be more than happy to set you up an a bench or Sticks, and let you shoot some groups in the categories discussed.

The advent of "Bulk Pack" and 50 round plus magazine capacity for the "Spray and pray" set is not a good thing, and the degradation and clear loss of quality in commercial ammo is more than evident......we DO need to reverse this trend, with gentle and supportive pressure on the Manufacturers.

GTC

"Experienced shooters" who use "Yards and meters" as measuring might be that same group who think within the box. Thinking outside the accepted norm seems to be one of my greatest pleasures in life. Over six decades (I considered the use of three score also) I began my shooting career by lighting kitchen matches that I had placed into the edge of a carboard box. The range? About 12 feet, or 4 yards, or 0.3048 meters, so our international shooters can relate. I used a single shot Daisy model 36 air rifle and copper BBs.

I expected some would sense a great deal of doubt to my claims, but only those who do not realize the potential of their own firearms and are content to continue to limit their own abilities. Members of the many clubs I belong to appreciate lessons on how to improve their long range scores by simple illustration and little talk. I could talk in terms of barometric pressure, temperature, altitude, lighting and many other variables that effect bullet placement, but I choose not to dazzle, only demonstrate.

Consider this: If your rifle, ammo and you can repeatedly place a .223/.224 lead bullet into a .250 circle at 75 feet (25 yards,etc.), and most things being equal except the distance, why are your shot groups not into proportion of a mathematical equation?

You are correct to be dubious as to the prowess of an invisible claim. Me too! That is why I do what I do. I read once that a man used a .38 special revolver and shot holes in a six by six target at 600 yards. I recall missing that same size target at 25 yards (pre metric days) in the military with a Remington .45 auto. I was sceptical right up to the day that I duplicated his claim.

Practice does not make perfect, but it will make you better.

Thanks for the reply,
yelligin

Throw away your rangefinders, tapes and other gadgets and just SHOOT! While you are wasting time trying to figure out if its centimeters, inches, or low battery level, you will miss some good practical shooting.

Listen to one of your friends gripe about his/her .44 mag.,454 , or .500 not grouping well at 50 yards (call it 150 feet, or use inches , or foot steps if you like). Then borrow my .25 Browning auto with its tiny, ancient barrel and blast holes in the target at the same distance. So much for "belly guns".

ps. That same .25 will shoot farther and still stay on paper. But I did not know that until I tried.

A scope might be nice but who makes one that will permit a mid-range trajectory that measures in FEET?

yelligin, your example is geometry, not shooting. You're thinking angles and lines. With geometrey, you're working in two dimenstions on a flat peice of paper and a pencil line that draws a line at a constant and unchanging speed.

With a bullet, you're working in three dimensions, and a bullet is subject to wind, weather, humidity, air density, etc. Plus, once it drops below sonic, it starts to wiggle.

A bullet when it drops from sonic, to subsonic will develop a rotational instability. However, it will quickly restabalize it'self.

It is just like an airplane that acellerates through, or decellerates through the sound barrier. The airplane will have a tendency to roll to the right.

Bill

I wonder if that isn't because or the twist imparted to the rifle in the rifling.

I have some old magazines that talk about 200 yard rimfire competitions in the early 1900's; there may have been longer matches, and I'm just not aware of them.

Current Olympic rimfire prone is 50 meters, and the targets are very small. The NRA has 100 yard silhouette matches for rimfires, but the usual distance I see at NRA bench rimfire matches is 50 yards or meters; course, I don't get out much.

I have a 52D, and if I fired a 2" group from the bench with it at 200 yards, I'd be posting a picture of it on every gun forum I know of; it would require a windless day for sure. But, that may be saying more about my ability than the gun!



I also have at least three of the Remington 5 series that I can think of right off; if I fired a 2" group at 200 yards with the standard open sights of one of those, you'd be able to hear me from wherever you are now, without electronic aid:

BB,

You mention shooting a single group, and I'm not sure that would prove anything. If a .22 rifle (and shooter) could do that repeatedly, I'd sit up and take notice too.

My son has a replica Winchester 1885 low wall .22 that has shot at least one five shot group close to one MOA at 200 yards. I have the target somewhere, and if I could find it I'd take a picture and post it. It was shot with iron (aperture) sights. I won't say that rifle can make such groups consistently, but it is extremely accurate, and that is with the factory barrel. He has been very lucky, because the quality of the barrels in those Japanese replicas is all over the place. I have one that was miserable, and had to be relined.

Paul

I presume you are shooting 3-shot groups.

I shoot a lot of 200 yds bench rest and I don't get much better than 1.5 MOA for 10 shots on average with the best barrels and the best ammo.

I should add that Unertl, Fecker, Lyman are just a few makes of scopes that will reach out to 200 yds and more.

Brent

there's a club of schuetzen enthusiasts down around davenport ia that will open some eyes...
it would be silly of me to try and set a standard, or detemine a limit, for something i had not tried... ...

I know Brent and I know the .22 of which he speaks. I also know that his profession involves analyzing and reporting data. You can take what he says to the bank.

Shooting I mean. Politics? Hmmmm.

Paul

I went down in the basement and scrounged up four .22, 200-yd, bench targets from local matches. The scores were all in the 240s and thus in the money but not necessarily winners. They had an average group size of about 2.75" or titch more (10 shots per target).

I tried to dig out a few of the best 50BR .22 shooters over on benchrest.com. Those guys almost never shoot beyond 50 yds, but a few of them gave it a go. It was sort of hard to decipher what each of them did exactly (how many shots per group, how many groups, etc), but I would say that they were out-shooting me by a little with their $5k fully tricked out benchrest rifles. So, I would call BS on anyone that claims to be averaging MOA or better at 200 yds with factory rifles.

As for politics - there are NO good politics. None.

Brent