Let's talk smallbore, just for S&G

Discussion in 'Firearms' started by ghrit, Nov 19, 2009.


  1. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    Last weekend, I headed off to a gun show fully intending to pick up a used 22 for plinking. Maybe a 10/22 or bolt gun, hadn't made up my alleged mind. Anyway, I came across a dealer that had a H-a-m-m-e-r-l-i S-por-t 22-SA, NIB that called out loudly to me. Well she's now in the collection. (All those dashes are to defeat bots.) (I have a Kimber target 22, but that isn't in the fun catagory, it is a serious one holer, not particularly suited to general pine cone destroying. There is a very disappointing, long story, Winnie M77 along side the others.)

    The Hammerli trigger is smooth, but very long. The sights are flimsy, but appear to be useful, if very difficult to regulate (I have more to do with that.) Manually supported off a table, groups run less than an inch at 50 feet. Feeding of three brands of cheap ammo produced no malfs of any kind. If I ever get the sights sorted out, there isn't a safe pinecone in three states out to at least 50 yards. Hammerli is well known for good barrels in Olympic level shooting, so the limitations will be me or the sights. Might put glass on it sometime down the road if the irons leak me off.

    Name your poison and tell us how it tastes -- :D
     
  2. Seawolf1090

    Seawolf1090 Retired Curmudgeonly IT Monkey Founding Member

    Rimfires are my favorite overall type of guns. I have everything from basic little el cheapos and most major American manufacturers on up to good mass-market target rifles. The really exotic stuff is out of my wallet range though. My most interesting and best shooting rifle is a BSA Mk.II International Martini rifle, once used for match shooting by the Brits. Their gun clubs being shutdown was a boon for us - I paid less than $500 for mine. Put a good set of multi-aperture sights on it - PH Mk.VII (no idea what gun it was for originally) and an Al Freeland designed globe front sight. This baby is a fourteen pound single-shot .22LR rifle! It has put five rounds of CCI Greentag into an inch at 100 yards consistently, with the peep sight! If I had to sell most of my rifles, this one would go last.
    Sometimes I make the other range shooters wonder - shoot Aguila Colibri out of it....... They hear the 'tink' of the firing pin and the 'twack' of the bullet hitting paper - but NO "bang!" ;)
     
  3. Brokor

    Brokor Live Free or Cry Moderator Site Supporter+++ Founding Member

    Ghrit, I usually check out the gun shows listed at Cheaperthandirt and I still can't locate any within the NE/Central PA area. The closest I found so far was in Carlysle, and I don't plan on heading that way until next month (maybe) for my military physical.

    Where was the gun show at that you went to? It might be close enough for me to attend next time running. I still have to pick up another .22, possibly a bolt action for field cleanliness.
     
  4. Tango3

    Tango3 Aimless wanderer

    Love a good.22, cheap to shoot, little noise( yadda-yaddda), I would really like an anshutz or something adult. I toy with the idea of hotrodding ( re-barrelling and re-stocking) my rifle length 10/22 but the look and feel of a cz or even remington model 5 bolt appeals.Many a family got through the great depression because there was a singleshot.22 and a few boxes of ammunition in the shack...
     
  5. Seacowboys

    Seacowboys Senior Member Founding Member

    .22s rock!
     
  6. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    There are several each year in Allentown and a big one in Reading. Ive not been to either, but have been to the one at the Split Rock Resort near Mt. Pocono (actually Lake Harmony) a couple times now. November, usually. I just put "gun show" into Google and cruise what comes up within 100 miles or so.
     
  7. Tango3

    Tango3 Aimless wanderer

  8. Seawolf1090

    Seawolf1090 Retired Curmudgeonly IT Monkey Founding Member

    I like that Remmy Model 5! Funny how it shot much better with Federal BULK ammo than with PMC or Wolf MACTH ammo. Like to see it's performance with CCI Minimags and Standard.
    This may well be my next .22 rifle.
     
  9. Seacowboys

    Seacowboys Senior Member Founding Member

    I am searching for a Winchester model 63. I have way too many .22s already but got to have a 63.
     
  10. tacmotusn

    tacmotusn RIP 1/13/21

    I read a great true short story once about a young man in alaska canoeing a tidal stream that disturbed a hungry griz after salmon. he shot these rapids and hit a deep pool just below them. the griz splashed into the pool after him and made for the canoe. the guy had a takedown 63 in 2 pieces but sticking out of his pack. he grabbed both halves, jammed the thing together, and proceeded to empty the tube magazine in this monster bears head. the gun and the bear ran out of gas at the same time. yes Virginia there is a Lord up there, and prayer works!
     
  11. JeeperSean

    JeeperSean Monkey++

  12. gunbunny

    gunbunny Never Trust A Bunny

    Although I too am a fan of the infamous model 63, they are priced out of my range for a rimfire rifle. I have been lucky, as to stumble upon two of the model 63's cousin- the Winchester model 69.

    They were basket cases, both of them. I picked them up a couple months apart at my local gunshop. I loving repaired and reblued them, making one my summer bi-athlon match gun (globe sights from Lyman) and the other a precision (6-24 power scope and bipod) rifle.

    Now, I'm always on the lookout for another, as I would like to have one in it's original setup.

    I've never worked on a real, hard walnut stock before these two rifles. When cutting or sanding, the grain is so dense that it feels like it is stabilized wood. The sawdust smells like freshly cracked walnuts. There is truly no compairison to the wood stocks of today.

    The bores of these rifles are amazing; they are mirror polished with sharp grooves. This was in contrast to the exterior of the rifles, which had lot to be desired, but they functioned wonderfully.

    One last neat thing about these rifles are that the action sepparates from the stock with a single thumbscrew. You can break the rifle down into a much smaller package for transport.
     
  13. Brokor

    Brokor Live Free or Cry Moderator Site Supporter+++ Founding Member

    Hey thanks for that link. Some of those gun shows aren't too far from me. [winkthumb]
     
  14. tacmotusn

    tacmotusn RIP 1/13/21

  15. Seacowboys

    Seacowboys Senior Member Founding Member

    That Taurus looks like a fine rifle; I might try to find one at the gunshow tomorrow. I still want a Winchester 63, its a Winchester thing.
     
  16. fwilliam1

    fwilliam1 Monkey++

    Speaking of smallbore rimfire rifles has anyone tried a .17HMR ? I am also a fan of the .22 having 5 in the gun cabinet but I couldn't pass up the deal for a Mossberg model 817 with a Bushnell 3X9 scope and 200 rnds or ammo for under $200.00.

    Just wondering if anyone else has some experience with the caliber?
     
  17. Seawolf1090

    Seawolf1090 Retired Curmudgeonly IT Monkey Founding Member

    I have the Marlin 17V - bought it the first year they came out. The newer 917 series offers a better trigger, but a little basic work onthe older triggers can work wonders!
    My 17V is set up identically to my slightly older Marlin 25MN - same birch stock, same magazines used, same Bushnell 4-12X40AO scopes - this means reduced training curve between the two rifles.
    Accuracy is superb! I once literally 'swatted' a fly on my target at 100 yards - as a called shot! A buddy witnessed it by spotting scope. He was so impressed, he bought the same rifle that week. I have been well pleased. The only thing is, the polymer tipped rounds are explosive! You hit a small critter - don't plan to be eating it......
    There are solid and SP bulleted ammo available now, but this defeats the entire reason for the .17HMR - light bullet at hyper velocity giving explosive performance. The solids give up that, without enough mass to offset the loss. So the .22WMR is better if you need SP loads or if you want to eat the critter. Both have similar effective range - about twice that of .22LR. Both can be easily sub-one-MOA rifles. [winkthumb]
     
  18. tacmotusn

    tacmotusn RIP 1/13/21

    I definately am getting old..... hell, I can't see a damn fly on a target at 100 yards on 12 power let alone hit it. Time for the blunderbuss! Supposedly military minimum standard is 4 moa or 4 inch groups at 100 yards. I still bang out 2 moa all day long, rapid fire, off bipod or improvised rest (ie; cover and concealment with benefits) at 100 yards.
     
  19. magnus392

    magnus392 Field Marshall Mags Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    I run a Greenfield (Marlin) Model 60 and Love it:) Can be had around here for under $100 all day long.
     
  20. Capt. Tyree

    Capt. Tyree Hawkeye

    Just for variety, consider the Hornady 17 Mach II. The Mach II is basically the 22 CCI Stinger length brass necked down to 17 cal. You can see 2000 fps out of most rifles and come out 30-40% cheaper in ammo costs when compared to the 17 HMR (22 Mag brass necked down to 17 cal.). If the extra 500 fps from the 17 HMR is desired, then enjoy that option.
    Still, the frangible nature of the 17 cal. V-Max plastic tip bullet, and 17 gr. lightness (compared to the 22LR's 32 to 40 gr.) on both of these cartridges make them more likely to break up once anything is hit, and less likely to travel unintentionally far due to richochet. The 17 rimfires do have a tremendous aerodynamic advantage over the 22 rimfire bullet design and feature a warning range of 2 miles, exceeding the 1 1/2 mile warning posted on most 22LR boxes.
     
survivalmonkey SSL seal        survivalmonkey.com warrant canary
17282WuJHksJ9798f34razfKbPATqTq9E7