For almost 2 years I've wanted to be able to post this somewhere, and finally thanks to Rob at Cooper I can. As I've mentioned in prior posts my first foray into the sub calibers has been with a CZ .17 HMR which shot like crazy right out of the box, and a Cooper Varmint in .17 Mach IV that didn't. The Cooper averaged 3/4 of an inch to 1 1/4 inch with everything,kinda vague nondescript groups and seating depth, components etc didn't seem to matter. Long story short Rob at Cooper says they had a bad run of .17 barrels he finally called and said they had one from a prior run, how'd I feel about a 26 inch tube? All I wanted was for it to shoot, so he slapped it on and sent it back. I worked up a cursory load to shoot some varmints before summer was over but really didn't do any serious range work until the last couple weeks. Ok guy's here's the carrot. Yesterday at the range using 25 grain Bergers, 7 1/2 Rems, and H335 my problem child Cooper put down the following groups, 5shot at 100 yards. .204, .252, .178, .370, .363 and a .242 that had 4 shots in .094. Those are center to center out side in the elements no bs groups. I came home so happy my wife was sure I'd bought a new rifle. My thanks to Rob at Cooper, we've all delt with companies who'd say 3/4 inch, "go away". Yes the rifle had trouble, yes I'd buy another Cooper in a heartbeat, in fact I suspect it'll be a .17 AH, or a Tactical .20.
New question, any experience with 22grain Bergers? My rifle likes both the 20's and 25's with the accuracy edge going to the 25's, thought the 22's might be the best of both worlds accuracy and velocity. Thanks.---Shoot Safe---montdoug

[ 08-16-2003, 05:15: Message edited by: montdoug ]

Montdoug: I am so happy for you! Those are some impressive groups to say the least! What scope do you have on your MachIV? I have a custom built MachIV on a Remington 700 action. It has a Leupold 6.5X20 on it. I built mine with a heavy, long barrel and added a Jewell trigger. Just thrilled with its accuracy and performance. I use the Beger 25 gr. MEF's in mine for accuracy and lethality on Varmints.
Save that barrel for Varmints from now on! It sounds like you have the paper conquered!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Hi Varmintguy, I'm using a 6X20 Grand Slam Weaver with an 1/8th minute dot. I really like the scopes, objective and power adjustments read from the left side of the scope, and their repeatability is excellent. A lot of glass for the money I think.---Shoot Safe---montdoug