Anyone here shoot 22 rimfire benchrest in Oklahoma, Texas or Kansas? Thought it might be something I'd like to do. If so where and when is next match...want to visit one first if close to N.E. Oklahoma.

Steve, go to this forum. They will help you out. It is a serious 22RF BR forum.
http://rimfireaccuracy.com/Forums/

Thanks Butch, I'll look into it.

Check out Rimfireaccuracy.com like Butch suggested and this site too... has IR 50/50 and ARA match locations conveniently mapped: http://www.killoughshootingspo.../index.php/rangemap/

Closest match I've been to in your area was an ARA club shoot in Lincoln, Nebraska. I'm glad I don't have to deal with that kind of wind on a daily basis.

Thanks Evan K.
I'll bet on your wind comment and the location...that would be some tough conditions.

No activity on this post for a while, but there is a group that shoots rimfire benchrest near Horton, KS (NE part of state). Also regular benchrest (not rimfire though) at Mill Creek Range SW of Kansas City.

Richard Gorham is as good a competition rimfire gunsmith as you will find. He is also one of the best competitors.
rgorham71yahoo.com or 918.231.7716

Hadn't heard of this discipline. Looks very intriguing.

BR 50 has been around for quite a while. Similar accuracy requirements to rimfire Metal Silhouette. Unfortunately things go to hell at 100 yards!
Peter.

BR50 has long been dead!

Butch, agreed, as an official event, however, a fairly large group of folks at my club still shoot it for fun! I have shot MS at my club, but that doesn't mean that I want to travel around and shoot in matches at other clubs! I shoot 50 yard slow fire and 25 yard timed and rapid fire by myself, every week, at my local club. The NRA sanctioned matches could go away tomorrow and not affect me one little bit! I shoot for fun!
Peter.

I understand. I shoot my Remington 37s and 40X at the range for my own gratification. Short Range CF is my only competition now.

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:
BR50 has long been dead!

ARA Rimfire is still going, and there is an NRA version locally as well. A little Sunday morning entertainment...

RBA, ARA, and the PSL are going strong. PSL was set up to pay the shooters prize money. It was started by Dan Killough of Killough Shooting Sports. Dan has one of the 3 Eley test centers around the World. Great guy!

My friend Todd Kindler came over to visit a few weeks ago, and he brought along some ARA and PSL targets.

We have a weekly league going on right now shooting ARA targets.

Great fun, and frustration, as everything with 22 rim fire ultimately rests on the ammo.

Shooting a perfect score is sheer luck!

Saeed, I believe that, in collaboration with Walter, you are just the man to launch a new rimfire ammunition company in U.A.E. that will remove the ammunition variability factor from .22 ammunition. I will be happy to buy one of the first cases!

I am not sure there is a technical solution to the 22lr ammo accuracy problem. The ISSF standards are extremely high but no one has met them yet, not to mention the various BR rimfire disciplines.
Peter.

quote:

Each barrel favors different lots of the best ammo made.

And that is what I do not understand. Despite the best efforts of gun rag writers, match barrels will shoot every thing well, but some things extremely well. I have not come across a barrel yet that will shoot 2 inch groups with some ammo and suddently shoot 1/2 inch with the "magic" load! Bench rest loads for 222rem, 6mmbR etc. are pretty standard. Match loads for 50 yard 45 acp slowfire is almost always 185gr. cast lead SWC and 4.0 grains Bullseye! 25 yard 45 acp is almost always 200gr. SWC and 3.8 grains Bullseye. 25 yard 38 special is almost always 148gr. WC and 2.8 grains of Bullseye. Match barrels, standard twist, what else is there??!! There is NO magic here! The solution has to be standardization and tolerances.
Sorry about the venting! Just my 2 cents!
Peter

Well, if what you are trying to say is the best is good enough for all top quality rimfire rifles, you're wrong. Dan Killough has one of the 3 Eley test centers in the World. Killough Shooters Supply is just outside San Angelo. You can either go yourself or ship your rifle to them. He has machine rest and can match ammo to your rifle.
As far as short range centerfire BR is concerned several different powders, powder loads, bullets, primers, and brass prep used. Loads change with temp, altitude, and humidity.

there is no such thing as "good enough".

The BR-50 rifle Alan Hall built me with gauged Eley or Wolf Match would fire 5-shot groups at 100 at my old indoor seed barn range that you could usually cover with a dime.

These days, serious competitors use different lots based on temperature and humidity. Imagine carrying around a couple thousand rounds of different lots...?

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:
RBA, ARA, and the PSL are going strong.

A puzzle, there are not many clubs shooting sporter-class ARA. Why not?

I don't have an answer for that as I don't shoot rimfire competition.

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:
I don't have an answer for that as I don't shoot rimfire competition.

Wise man!

quote:

Originally posted by TomP:

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:
RBA, ARA, and the PSL are going strong.

A puzzle, there are not many clubs shooting sporter-class ARA. Why not?

Check this out.



posted May 29, 10:33 AM
A MUST READ! An IR50/50 Sporter Shooting Feat That May Never Be Beat

Ok, rimfire benchrest shooters, imagine this if you will:

9 Sporter Targets shot at 2 different venues, over a 2 week period.

Result, 8 - consecutive 250s in a row.

2248 out of 2250 points over 9 targets, with a sporter and a straight 6X scope.

Yes, he did it again! Ed Hosier shot another 750 today with his sporter, with 54X at the Wawarsing Club's Sporter Match. And if you are thinking, it must have been near perfect conditions, think again. A very switchy wind was blowing for much of the match. He has a death grip on the sporter scoreline and has the rest of the season to just keep improving his X count. That's 200 10s shot in a row and counting. I don't think that has ever been done with any IR class by any shooter.

And - - - it could just get better. I've never seen anything like it. I would have bet $10K that it would not be possible.

For those wanting to know, he used a sporter he built on the 2500X sporter action with a Muller 4 MI, shooting Lapua Midas +.

Those who witnessed this feat are gobsmacked. To say, "Well Done Ed" seems inadequate. This has to be the most amazing RFBR feat in BR history

Butch, not being familiar with this game I had to look up the 2500 X action and MullerWorks barrels. All I can say is "Holy cats that's great shooting!"

Yeah, it is beyond great. The 2500X action is built by Jerry Stiller in Wylie, Tx. Dan Muller provided the barrel. I was first aware of Dan when he was working at Rock Creek.
Believe it or not Dan's degree and first job was as an artist.

I have had wonderful luck with Lapua Midas, but in a comparatively crude CZ 452 Varmint. I haven't had the chance to see a real rimfire BR rifle up close.

The 452s have 2 problems. Receiver screw arrangement and their triggers.
One of my prototype triggers


Trigger worked good down to 2oz., but couldn't get the bolt release to work. Gave up and sold all of my 452s. Nice reasonably priced tin can shooters.

If I'd already dropped the money for a top class ARA rifle, I might have a hard time putting the cash and effort into getting a second rig running- much less a sporter. I only shoot one rifle that can make the 10.5 lb class. Thought about turning my CZ 452 into a sporter class rig but decided it is best as a squirrel rifle.

I got really lucky with the barrel on my Suhl 150, it is a factory 16.5" twist barrel that has been through several owners and does well. If I couldn't make the stocks and cobble the rifle together myself, I wouldn't be able to get into it. I am very lucky to have been able to test ammo and shoot different rifles in private indoor ranges too and learned a lot through that.

Stiller makes some very nice actions. The most accurate .22s I've shot were a Copperhead with a Shilen octagon rifled barrel and a 2500X with another Shilen barrel. If I was building a .22 benchrest rifle today it would start with a 2500X.

Left port right bolt Copperhead:


Left port right bolt 2500X:


My local competition here is very good, but seeing all of the rifles and rigs at the ARA Nationals in St. Louis a couple of years ago (and getting my butt handed to me by some very good shooters) was fun:

We have two clubs that have small informal .22 shoots in this area. The Bay City club has a weekly league shooting the NRA 50 yd. target. It's an easy target but there are people there who I have shot with since the 1960's. Since it's weekly, you can do a lot of shooting.

The Isabella County Sportsmans Club has a monthly 100 yd. egg shoot and a 50 yd. BR shoot most months in warm weather. They have good turnouts for the egg shoots. As silhouette shooters found out years ago, people like to see something happen when they pull the trigger...

They've been letting me shoot my 17 HMR in the egg shoots this year. Hitting an egg at 100 yds. with a .17 HMR is fun.

These matches are about what I can manage this year what with old age and health problems. I keep a set of shooting equipment in the back of the Porsche all summer. Both ranges are less than an hour away thru country two-lanes. This I can handle.

I've been shooting competitively since college days... Sometimes it seems that it was back in the Roosevelt administration. I've been known to go to a match and just hang around if I don't feel up to shooting. Haven't been kicked out yet.

FWIW the top gun is my match rifle this year. In the fall it will get a smaller scope and become a squirrel rifle. I spent years accurizing it before I stocked it.

The bottom rifle is an identical gun I made for a friend.

My rifle, as shown, weighs 7-1/4 lbs. A smaller scope would take it under seven lbs. A nice carrying weight. Kyle's gun (bottom) weighs one ounce less than mine. Must be the wood.

Dick that is a very fine pair of .22s. Bravo!

This is the target I shot last week at the Bay County club with the 17 HMR. The number one target is the smallest group I have shot with a .17 and was shot in still conditions, no wind. The fourth group was shot in a six o'clock and turned out O.K.

Groups two and three were shot when the wind picked up and switched constantly. A better shooter would have shot small groups under those conditions. I'm just not that good anymore. It was still the best score by a sporter that anyone shot that day. The three shots on target three that don't look like X's all plugged in.

FWIW this is my range at home. I shoot up a small valley that leads down to our lake. Twenty some years ago I cut a path thru the woods and put targets at 50 and 100 yds. I shoot thru thick woods and am protected from most conditions. This is a good place to test ammo and tune rifles.

This has turned out to be an illuminating thread. A few years ago I bought a Cooper TRP-3 in 22LR, scoped with a Weaver T36 and then got busy with other things and let it sit. I started shooting it recently at 50yd with CCI Standard as a starting point. While impressed with its accuracy, I have discovered that shooting a BR is more touchy than shooting a hunting or tactical rifle. More to learn.

I shot ARA for a while. There were good matches nearby and I had a Calfee rifle. It is a very demanding sport and it just got too expensive. If you want ammo that will not give you flyers, you have to spend about $20.00 a box. With sighters, I shot about a box per card. The matches were for either four or six cards. Add fuel to get there, food, etc, etc... Do the math.

My rifle, with the right lot of Red Box would shoot wonderfully but I was always dismayed by what the wind did to .22 rimfire bullets. I have shot short range centerfire BR for forty years and the hold-off required for rimfire just boggled my mind. It got to be too much for a really old guy and I said to 'ell with it.

I shoot a sporter rifle in local matches nowadays at much less demanding targets and eggs. I'll be eighty next spring and that's all I can handle.