Rimfire Benchrest?

[richhodg66]

CW's thread on uniforming ammo got me to post about something I have been interested in a while. How many here do this?

Two ranges within an hour of me have matches monthly while it's warm. One seems like it's not really a sanctioned match, but they held their first one of the year a few days ago and posted the results. Looks like they had 20 or more shooters, also looked like a small handful of guys who take it seriously and the rest are probably guys looking to have fun and "run what you brung".

I still have my old Remington 540X from my high school days. Got a nice old Weaver 10x target scope around here somewhere, some tip off rings and I'd have a set up that'll shoot way better than I can. I'd probably try that a few times before committing to a dedicated target rifle, but I honestly have a few guns I never shoot and those could be turned into cash for something that I would spend more time at the shooting bench with and less time at the reloading press.

Thoughts on this?

 

[RicinYakima]

Shot BR-50 for a long as it was around: 50 shots at 50 bullseyes in 30 minutes. The last five years was "run what you brung". In the end the five of us that were shooting good scores would show up. The guys who had tricked out 10/22's would come out for only a couple of matches and never return. Those that thought they were real shooters, did the same. A couple of matches and never return.

BR shooting with a 22 is a skill that takes a while to acquire, not so much the sighting and trigger, but technique on the bags and choosing ammo.

 

[richhodg66]

That sounds like what they shoot at Fancy Creek, 50 targets at 50 yards. I don't think it's an official sanctioned match, so they may do things differently. I should have gone out there and watched.

I'd like to try one of these with the rifle I mentioned, just would prefer to not go shoot in it and get humiliated.

Just curious, what kinds of rifles are the winners of these matches generally using?

 

[RicinYakima]

The most consistent winner, Harry Bird, shot a Remington Model 37 that he had cut off the chamber and shortened to 20 inches. Rechambered with a Winchester "D" reamer. On his passing, I bought the rifle from his estate as a keepsake.

Winchester Model 52's were popular and Remington 40X's. One guy shot a Winchester Model 75 and did very well. I started with my Springfield model 1922 with a 1937 barrel, but ended up with a BSA Martini Mk III. Only because it had a flat forend and was easier to shoot off of the rest.

If you shoot ten matches, you will either learn to read the wind, or give up!


PS. The gentleman that started this at our club, shot a Remington 541S in the early years. At the beginning, your rifle was weighted every match and your score factored by weight. Lighter rifle, higher score. Last years, weight was no longer a factor, so he went to a heavier rifle.

 

[Hightwelve]

That sounds like what they shoot at Fancy Creek, 50 targets at 50 yards. I don't think it's an official sanctioned match, so they may do things differently. I should have gone out there and watched.

I'd like to try one of these with the rifle I mentioned, just would prefer to not go shoot in it and get humiliated.

Just curious, what kinds of rifles are the winners of these matches generally using?

OK - here goes. I’ve never shot in one of these matches but I did coach smallbore rifle, both prone and 3 position or “3P” (including the PA state junior team at the National Matches) for over twenty years and held NRA Coach certification. I bench tested top of the line competitive rifles on plenty of occasions.

Top of the line if you plan to spend what it takes to win - Anschutz, Feinwerkbau or Walther rifles. Serious adult and collegiate shooters don’t hesitate to upgrade if an updated rifle comes out with, say, a slightly better trigger so these rifles do show up on Gunbroker.

Next tier would be a Winchester 52 or Remington 40X. Winchester went through the 52A to the 52D so the early models can be really old. Also, both of these rifles were supplied to high school teams and they can be pretty worn out, as much through over-cleaning with steel cleaning rods as anything else. BTW, never ever clean a match grade .22 with a steel rod and without using a bore guide in the receiver. Plastic coated rods are not that expensive.

Third tier - anything else.

Scope: 20X or better. Unertl or an old Lyman. Collegiate shooters shooting for collegiate records cannot use a scope in 3P. At the nationals the “iron sights” matches come first (3P and prone) followed by the scope matches. The scope shooters were mostly old geezers like me. Our ranks are thinning by the day and these beautiful old scopes show up on Gunbroker

Next point is ammo. Different brands and even lots of ammo do shoot differently in a top of the line rifle. The best shooters request lot samples from an outfit like Champion's Choice or Champion Shooters Supply, bench test them, then buy a couple of cases of that lot at $1000/case. The best ammo brands are Eley, Lapua, and RWS. Be careful that Eley has a zillion different grades as a marketing ploy and their really cheap stuff comes from Mexico, not England. You used to be able to get really good Russian ammo but no more and every once in a while Fiocchi match ammo shows up from Italy.

Federal made some really good ammo for the US Olympic team but once they sold what was on hand they didn’t make any more. “Not enough demand”.

My son’s own Feinwerkbau 2000 heavy barrel, with Unertl 24X scope on a benchrest, would shoot 1 & 1/4” groups all day at 100 yards with Lapua “Midas” grade ammo. There’s cleaning every so many shots depending on what the gun likes and firing conditioning shots but that’s a whole other topic. As is torquing the action into the stock. As is cleaning with Hoppe’s or Shooters Choice. As is choice of cleaning rod. Top competitive shooters are a very fussy and superstitious lot.

BYW - the Anschutz factory rep who came to the nationals cleans a gun just once with a brass brush then throws the brush away. Why? “It’s used and it’s dirty”. That’s German style fussy!

 

[Hightwelve]

The most consistent winner, Harry Bird, shot a Remington Model 37 that he had cut off the chamber and shortened to 20 inches. Rechambered with a Winchester "D" reamer. On his passing, I bought the rifle from his estate as a keepsake.

Winchester Model 52's were popular and Remington 40X's. One guy shot a Winchester Model 75 and did very well. I started with my Springfield model 1922 with a 1937 barrel, but ended up with a BSA Martini Mk III. Only because it had a flat forend and was easier to shoot off of the rest.

If you shoot ten matches, you will either learn to read the wind, or give up!


PS. The gentleman that started this at our club, shot a Remington 541S in the early years. At the beginning, your rifle was weighted every match and your score factored by weight. Lighter rifle, higher score. Last years, weight was no longer a factor, so he went to a heavier rifle.

Good Lord, I haven’t seen a 37 or a BSA Martini in years but both were great rifles in their day. I know where there’s a left hand BSA moldering in a high school team’s gun safe. It’ll probably be dropped off at the police station to be destroyed when the last few high school rifle teams where I used to live go out of business.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

Id shoot it if local to me.

We had quite a few shooting events in state but most shut down 2020. Only a few have gotten going again.