Rimfire Rant

This rant is about those folks who look down on us lowly rimfire shooters.

Most of my shooting is with .22 caliber firearms. The ammunition is much less expensive (10%-20% of center fire ammo), the firearms are generally much less expensive and shoot more "accurately." There is less recoil. The combination of price of ammo and low recoil means that I can shoot a lot more. Shooting more means more practice, maybe more improvement and more fun shooting. At least that's what it means to me.

I keep running into folks who let me know that I'm not shooting "real guns" because I'm shooting pop guns. Usually, the groups I'm shooting and am not happy about, would be a great day on the range for these folks. I loved the comment when I was using binoculars to check shot placement at 15 yards that if I shot something that made bigger holes I could see them easier. The guy who was commenting on my .22" holes was shooting all over the target at a shorter range with his .45. When I swtiched to my PT1911, I fired 8 rounds that looked darned good for a duffer like me. I asked him if the big holes were better than the little holes. He didn't say much.

I shoot rimfires because I enjoy shooting them. If you can't hit it with a rimfire, what makes you think you can hit it with a bigger gun. The low cost of shooting makes them great trainers. Most of the folks that are proud of their real guns and make cracks about pop guns could do well to spend some time with the pop guns learning to shoot better.

Saturday 8/4/07

Saturday was almost too hot to shoot. After messing around with the scope, I was sweating enough that I couldn't keep my glasses dry. The temp was working its way to 100. Shot the Hunter for the first time in a while with open sights. I had set up at 7 yards to adjust the scope. 7 yards is boring. Moved to 14 yards and blew out the upper center of the man sized silhouette Xring with the Hunter and the 22A.

At 25 yards I wasn't the great shot I was at half the distance, but did ok. The 22A, Hunter, 22/45 and Buck Mark all shot about 4" groups.

I did OK with the GP100 at 14 yards. Groups were relatively tight, but I can do better.

Yard Sale Leupold

I found a Leupold M8-4x pistol scope at a yard sale. Decided that, for the price, it would be a "no brainer" to drop into my Hunter. Stopped by Green Top on the way to the range Saturday, they recommended Burris scope rings. I bought them and went on to the range. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get the Burris Rings to work. I couldn't even get the screws that fasten the scope to the the rail to go back in. Took them back to Green Top and the clerk couldn't get any set of rings to work. The rings either didn't fit or the scope didn't fit on the rings. Guess my no-brainer turned into a major task.