practicing with a rimfire

Coyotejunki

Well-known member
After reading some of the forums on other sites,like a rimfire forum, I believe I read that practicing with a good rimfire at 300 yards is about equivalent to shooting a 308 Win at 1000. I have never shot a 308 at 1K but I did shoot an older 22LR I have at 300, and well lets say it can humble you.

So, I went out and bought a CZ 457 Varmint in 22LR, and now I am in the finding out what ammo it likes, and mostly shooting at 50 and 100 yards. It is a lot of fun.

However I had a gunsmith friend tell me if I wanted to achieve major frustration and pulling hair out, or just plain old going crazy, then get into rimfire competition. So I don't plan on doing that, "right away"
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How many of you guys or gals get into rimfire shooting. Mostly I just took my little CZ 527 sporter to the range and shot at spinning targets at 50 and 100 yards for practice in my hunting stool while my centerfire barrels cooled.
 
Rimfire can be the most fun and the most frustrating shooting a man ever tried.
In my opinion center fire is easier mainly because of ammo.

Rimfire is a very challenging sport.A man can spend a fortune at it.
Lot's of fun though.
 
I've got a few Rimfire "trainers". An Anchutz, CZ, Ruger and Savage. I use them for reps, and my kids have been shooting almost everyday. I don't think training on a 22LR necessarily equals the distance your achieving on a 1000yard scale with a centerfire.

However, I do believe getting "quality" trigger time helps. Sometimes going with a lot of rounds that are cheaper, with the same type of optic helps maintain and keeps your shooting skills honed.
 
^^^^
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I shot HP competition for a lot of years before taking up outdoor smallbore competition. Let's just say I learned a lot from smallbore shooting. Probably the most beneficial was the value of follow through due to longer barrel lag time in the RF. Another benefit is the recoil of center fire rifle tends to mask small mistakes made that are revealed when shooting RF.

Regards,
hm
 
In my youth I shot rimfire targets with the ROTC shooters at Marquette University, one of my highschool teachers was the team coach. My wife was a smallbore shooter at the University of CO. I'm in the process of building her a an HB 22LR so we can shoot together.

In the 1960's in Taiwan I shot long range Highpower targets with the ROC Army and got to play/shoot with there international team. Free Rifles and Pistols in 22LR are hoot to shoot, I've never shot a rifle with a trigger like that before or since. Once set just raising the rifle at an angle will trip the trigger, you don't pull the trigger, you just think fire and it does.

I spend a lot of time shooting 100 yard targets from my chair with sticks, mostly for practice for the Egg shoot but it is pretty much how I hunt coyotes so it transfers.

I'd like to get into small bore silhouette shooting.
 
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Never done the rimfire competitions.
But I do believe that they have a very important place in practice shooting for beginning shooters. On of the best options for beginners to practice offhand shooting skills that frankly not many are good at anymore.
 
I don't get to shoot the .22 much since the great ammo grab/shortage.
The air rifle makes up for it with plenty of trigger time. This is very beneficial to stay in tune.
 
Originally Posted By: AWS Once set just raising the rifle at an angle will trip the trigger, you don't pull the trigger, you just think fire and it does.


Ahh, Jedi mastery with mind control.
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I'd like to get into a smallbore sillywet group here also, but they are all retirees and shoot in the morning when I am at work. Well, maybe that is another reason for me to retire early...
 
Quality trigger time on a rimfire definately helps build skills and confidence in your abilities. Especially snap shooting, freehand shooting tin cans and dirt clods, and jump shooting jackrabbits type of practice. Benchrest shooting doesn't hone those skills.
 
Yea, I set up just like a hunting stand except I shoot those little spinning targets. I think it's 2" and 3.5" round targets. Usually set up at 50 yds, but sometimes at 100. The 100 yard'r gets tough sometimes to hit with my 22 LR.
 
Today I shot my CZ varmint with the new DIP picatinny base on it. Held around .5" groups at 50 yards, some smaller some might have gotten to3/4. Luckily for me, the cheaper Aquilla shoots really well in my rimfire.

At 100yds, I was lucky to hold 1.5" groups. Will try it at 200 maybe later this week.
 

For a few years I put on a rimfire silhouette shoot.
Standard size 5 each chickens/pigs/turkeys/rams from the bench at 75-125-150-175 yards. then we set the half size silhouttes at the same ranges. Not very many 40's shot. Lot of humbled shooters though.
 
Personally, I thoroughly enjoy shooting rimfires out to 300-400 yards, or further when properly equipped.The low ammunition cost, exceptionally long barrel life, and high sensitivity to wind allow a shooter to practice a lot of critical long range shooting skills without breaking the bank, and without traveling to a safe range capable of 1,000yrds.

One of my favorite ways to spend a lazy evening is throwing 22LR to 325 in my backyard with a 10/22 Charger pistol.

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Here’s another picture from last spring when I was practicing off-hand shooting to stay prepped for the random offhand stages included in some PRS matches. I practice a lot by shooting my NRL22 competition rifle. It’s a restocked Mark II BSEV with Bushnell LRHS. This was a 10” plate at 150 yards, 10 shots slow fire, slung offhand.

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I also do quite a bit of plinking with 17WSM at 200-500 yards. Here, a full magazine fired in about 45 seconds on a 3” plate at 200 yards, grouping about 1.1moa. The Bmag, naturally, will reach a LOT farther than a 22LR.

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