Over the 4th of July weekend, I purchased a MKII-BTVS rifle for several reasons. First and foremost, I love thumb hole stocks. My three Model 12’s and my Rem 700 Varminter all wear them, along with my Ruger 10/22 and 10/17. They just fit me and are comfortable to shoot. I also wanted to step into a Rimfire rifle that was more attuned to accuracy, yet affordable. I chose the Savage brand because I like Savages. They’re like “the little train that could” brand. Like my other Savages, the bore got a good scrubbing with JB compound before the first shot ever left it. Judging from the flecks and slivers that came out, it was time well spent. It also did the standard trigger job, leaving it for the moment at 1.5 pounds. I didn’t want to take too much off of a trigger with no mechanical wear yet. As my barber is fond of saying, “I can always take more off, but I can’t put it back on.”
I do read before venturing and unlike the centerfire calibers which a reload for, I went in understanding that I was at the mercy of the ammo manufacturer when rimfire is involved. Aside from general attributes of quality (or lack of it) associated with some brands, each rifle is an island that needs to be charted as to what ammunition works best with it. I posted on a local forum, what I was up to and a local member contacted me to get me some of the broken boxes he had left over from when they did the same thing. Combined with the few I already had, I wound up with 24 candidates to experiment with. For me, this is the ultimate form of enriching my shooting experience.
Here’s the candidates:
As I have said before, shooting from a vise or Lead Sled is as far from fun as you can get. I like to shoot my rifles, not operate a machine that does it for me. However, I wanted to test my rifle and the ammunition, not my shooting skills. There’ll be plenty of time for that later. So, I utilized my Dad’s Lead Sled with a Velcro strap that fit over the rear of the stock, to keep the setup as reproducible as possible after cleaning the bore.
Here’s a view of my lash-up:
Nothing professional to see there. Just making the best of what I had available.
The scope I used was a Bushnell Elite 4200 6-24x40 because it sits as close to the bore as possible without the adjustable objective scraping when I turn it. I did employ a cant indicating level, again, to minimize another variable.
Though I knew that a seasoned barrel typically shoots better, I elected to clean the chamber and bore and shoot three foulers through it every time I changed ammo. While that got old quick, I had no other way to maintain a level playing field for all the different ammo involved across 240 shots. While not the best environment for noteworthy groups, returning the barrel to the same starting point at each ammo change was a good compromise. My logic being that if a particular kind of ammo shot well in a freshly cleaned barrel, it would only do better later when shot through a seasoned one. I also elected to shoot 10-shot, 50 yard strings instead of 3 or the more common 5. I was more interested in discovering trends than producing brag-worthy target porn. I also did not change the scope zero once I began testing to give perspective to how groups move around as a function of velocity. That’s a common phenomenon in centerfire shooting.
While I was more interested in groups, I set up my chronograph also, mostly to see the velocities my rifle produced versus the manufacturer’s claims. Messing with that as the sun arced across the sky wound up being a distraction at times, but luckily, the Lead Sled cannot feel frustration.
Here’s my downrange view of the 50 yard target box:
The first days weather was picture perfect. The temperature started out at 66 at 9 AM, but by the time I finished around 3 PM, it was 83. Humidity was comfortable and it was still enough for the mosquitoes to hover around my insecticide covered carcass like smoke at a card game.
For those of you with a short attention span, here is a quick ranked list of how they performed. The 10-shot, 50yard group size in inches, is at the end of each entry in <brackets>. The particular target associate with the group is at the front.
Updated 7/20/13
T5-4 SK Standard Plus <.422>
T6-1 Winchester Subsonic HP <.493>
T2-1 CCI Standard Velocity <.524>
T7-4 Eley Black Box Match <.526>
T4-2 Remington - Eley Target Rifle <.547>
T1-1 Aguila Golden Eagle Target <.591>
T4-1 PMC Match Rifle <.631>
T7-2 CCI MiniMag 40gr <.777>
T1-3 Aguila Match Rifle <.789>
T5-3 RWS Target Rifle <.801>
T3-3 Fiocchi MAXAC <.816>
T7-3 CCI MiniMag <.862>
T5-1 Remington Yellow Jacket HP <.868>
T2-4 Federal Premium HV Match <.886>
T4-3 Remington Subsonic <.894>
T7-1 Remington Govt Match <.940>
T6-3 Remington GB Bulk (Sorted) <.973>
T1-2 Aguila Match Pistol <1.02>
T6-2 Winchester M22 Bulk (Unsorted) <1.108>
T2-3 Federal Champion 40gr (Unsorted) <1.132>
T2-2 CCI Stinger HP <1.141>
T3-2 Federal AutoMatch Bulk (Unsorted) <1.142>
T1-4 Aguila SuperExtra Standard Velocity <1.444>
T8-1 Federal Champion 36gr (Unsorted) <1.472>
T6-4 Remington HV <1.497>
T3-1 Federal Premium Target <1.716>
T4-4 Remington Viper <1.76>
T5-2 RWS Subsonic HP <1.978>
T3-4 Fiocchi SuperMatch SM320 <2.156>
So, it looks like my rifle is a “cheap date”!
Here is a spreadsheet of their performance for those who enjoy a good spreadsheet:
At certain times of the day, the sun angle caused the chronograph to not pick up the bullets. The sun is accepting complaints at this time, but there is a backlog due to it being summer.
What follows are the target images. For bandwidth purists, I apologize for not cropping them down to just the groups. I felt that seeing where the groups fell was equally as interesting as how tight (or not) they were.
Being a “Walter Mitty”, scientist wannabe, the effort was enjoyable despite being tedious. It wound up taking two days at the local range to complete. I have four remaining types of ammo that arrived after the big range sessions. This coming Saturday promises to be a carbon copy of the first outing. Though it’s been stifling hot all week, the weather gods are giving us an uncommon nice weekend. I will update my results from that third outing. I’ve pretty much decided and ordered ammunition that will last me into the foreseeable future based upon my tests. Whether that ammo performs like the example of it that I used in testing, remains to be seen. That too will provide an educational opportunity about lot variations. Hopefully I will not be pouting with buyer’s remorse. I will report on that as well.
Though not in the scope of this test, my 10/22 heavy barrel with the Volquartzen trigger has gotten incredibly jealous of all the attention that the new girl has gotten. Since I have many of the broken boxes of test ammo still available, I will give the old (1981) girl a dinner out at the bullet buffet in a little while. Gotta keep the peace in the safe y’know.
Respectfully submitted,
Hoot
