At least as far as I was concerned. I have been shooting Contenders for 20 years, and up until last week I had never owned a .22 LR Contender Barrel. Last Tuesday I fixed that problem with the purchase of a new Super 14 Match Grade .22 LR Contender Barrel. To this I added a 3x12x32mm Burris LER Fine Plex-PA Handgun Scope.

The purpose for this Contender Barrel and Scope is quite simply Bench Rest Shooting at our local club. I have been competing with a Ruger K77/22VBZ .22 Rifle, but now wanted to try something different. The course we shoot is a 25 round course on the USBR Target, resulting in a possible score of 250-25x. The 10 rind on these targets measure .10". Touching the 10 ring yields a "10", but to get an X the 10 ring must not be visable at all. For the E-Mail Competition these targets are shot outdoors at both 25 & 50 yards. However at our local Indoor Shooting Range the most distance I can get is 58 feet. (The match director allows us to shoot Indoors at this reduced range the months of December, January, February & March, the rest of the year we have to shoot outdoors at 25 or 50 yards or both).

Ever since I obtained this barrel I have been breaking it in, and doing some accuracy testing. Satisfied with the way it was shooting, Sunday I went to the range to shoot 4 targets for the E-Mail Competition. I was having a little trouble with the scope. I have a little parallax at this reduced range (and the artifical lighting doesn't help either). At any rate I was able to get it clear at 10x, but at 6x it had hardly no noticable parallax.

So to experiment I shot the first two targets at 10x, and the last two targets at 6x. Here are the results;
1st Target = 247-9x (scope set at 10x)
2nd Target = 246-10x (scope set at 10x)
3rd Target = 243-7x (scope set at 6x)
4th Target = 247-7x (scope set at 6x)

NOPE I didn't shoot a "250", but am pleased with the way it shoots anyway. I also noticed the trigger felt a little heavy, so after I got home I scaled it. It was 2 1/2 pounds. Our club rules say a Trigger can not be lighter than 2 pounds, so I took it all apart and tweaked it a little. Now it is exactly 2 pounds. Hopefully this will get me a little closer to the elusive "250" Score.

I have had a great time shooting this .22 LR Contender, and only wish I would have discovered one of these barrels years ago.

Thanks for listening.

Larry

hey, sd handgunner. why don't you just buy me one for christmas? i hope to get one sometime in the future. with a mounted riflescope maybe. i think it'd be dandy for bench shootin and squirrels in the timber.

KYODE

I tried a Rifle Scope on the first .22 LR Striker I had and really didn't care for it. I much prefer a Handgun Scope. Must be a personal thing I guess.

Larry

well, it could possibly end up that i think that too. don't know for sure yet. when i mounted the 4x12 riflescope on the .223 barrel, it felt good and i could get a good sight picture.i can hold it resting on my left arm joint with my left hand over my right wrist. i'll just have to shoot it some to see. hope the .223 recoil with 40gr bullets will be light enuff to let me do that.

SD Handgunner,

I have enjoyed using a T/C 22lr Match barrel for years now, and especially prefer to use it with a rifle scope and rested in a Harris bipod under a heavy free-floated forarm. Very accurate setup, and wonderful on Varmints

SD Handgunner;

Great Shooting!! But, you left out some details! What ammo are you using? Yes, I know each barrel can have a different taste for ammo, but for someone that has not shot .22 LR much for competion, they may not know where to start. What type of rest did you use? What type forarm did you use? Are you using a Bellm oversized hinge pin? How did you break in your barrel?

Your article is of great interest to me, as I have just added a new 10" .22LR Match SS barrel to my collection. I am torn between a Swift 4X or a Bushnell Trophy 2X-6X. The rig will be used mainly for NRA Hunter Class Pistol, but will also see some BR duty.

I wish their was a club shooting USBR here in central Pennsylvania. I shot a postal match one time using USBR targets using a friends 14" barrel with a 2X scope. Let's just say that it was great fun, and let it go at that.

Basically it is a STOCK GUN. About the only modifications I have done is to fine tune the trigger (it is now exactly 2 pounds, the minimum allowed at our club), and free float the factory Rynite Forend. As soon as my other frame gets back from T/C, that is the frame that I plan on using on this barrel. It is a Blued Frame that I just sent in to have the Easy Open COnversion done to it. It has the older style Herrett Finger Groove Grips and matching Forend.I may Free Float that forend also, and add pillars to it also, but will see how it shoots first.

Yes I did break in the barrel. I cleaned it up super good, and then ran a patch coated with Flitz Bore Polish end to end in the bore about 10 strokes. I did this with 4 patches coated with Flitz, and could actually feel it got smoother. I then cleaned it again to get all of the Flitz out, and went to shooting.

I shot 20 rounds and then I ran 3 patches soaked in Shooters Choice through the bore followed by 3 dry patches. I did this for 100 rounds. Then I tested 15 different brands / types of .22 LR ammo. No I didn't test any real high dollar stuff. Here is a list of the ammo I tested so far.

Wolf Match Target
Remington Thunderbolts
Winchester Dyna Points
Winchester Power Point Hollow Points
Eley Practice 100 (White Box)
Remington Bulk Hollow Points
Federal Bulk Hollow Points
C.C.I. Blazer
Remington Target
Federal Lightning
Winchester Hi-Velocity Hollow Points
Winchester X-Pert Hollow Points
Winchester WildCats
Winchester Hi-Velocity Solids
Winchester T-22

I should not that I fired 5 - 5 shot groups with each of the brands / types of ammo listed, and the ammo is listed in order of the most accurate to the least accurate.

Some of the groups with the Wolf Match Target were almost too small to measure. The average for the Wolf Match Target for 5 - 5 shot groups was .077". Granted this was all done Indoors at short range, and I will wring it out more thoroughly outdoors at greater distances when the weather cooperates.

So far I have been totally pleased with this Handgun / Barrel Combination. It seems (at least so far) to be at least as accurate as my Ruger K77/22VBZ that I have been using in this competition. Now that I have finally aquired a Rimfire Contender Barrel I really wonder why I overlooked this choice for all those years.

I hope everyone has a safe and joyous Holiday Season, and that you all get what you want, and want what you get.

Larry

Welcome to the club. There are those of us on the board and at many silhouette clubs across America that enjoy the .22LR in the Contender. Actually I own 5 .22 rimfire barrels at the moment and absolutely LOVE to shoot them. When it comes to putting holes in paper, there isn't anything more fun that a good ol' .22! I haven't done the amount of ammo testing that I should have with my 10" .22LR match Bullberry barrel, but I've still managed to put 5 shots into 5/8" @ 100 yards. I have no doubt that I could find other ammo that would shoot better. This was shot with CCI Green Tag which was the second "flavor" of ammo that the barrel has seen after Eley Standard. I figured that kind of group was plenty good for the standing shooting that I do, but now I'm interested in shooting the postal matches and some bench target work so I am more consumed by accuracy. It's nice to know that accuracy like this is available from a round that I've grown up shooting.

I have to say that a 10" Match was the second barrel i bought and have used it off and on for years now! It has been great fun for small game huntin, plinkin, Woods Walks (kinda like standin sillywet) and recently paper punchin. Mine currently wears an older Burris 2.5-7 and works great. I have been shootin Win Power Points as they have shown the greatest accuracy in MY barrel over the years.

This is a barrel that i believe is a MUST for a Contender!!

[ 12-24-2002, 22:00: Message edited by: MSSmagnum ]

Let's see here...my current combinations in .22 rimfire are...

11" Virgin Valley .22short match w/4-16x Tasco World Class Airgun/Rimfire scope

10" TC .22LR w/open sights

10" Bullberry .22LR match w/6-24x Tasco World Class Airgun/Rimfire scope

15" Virgin Valley .22LR match w/B&L 4000 Elite 36x scope on a Ken Light mid-rise mount

11" Bullberry .22WMR w/Tasco 6-24x Tasco scope

Okay...I'm done now...(thinking to myself) I wonder how long it would take me to get a MOA in .22LR! LOL

[ 12-24-2002, 22:11: Message edited by: B_Koes ]