Sighting in problems, precise but not accurate!

[toopercentmlk]

First off I would like to praise the build quality and accuracy of my Zastava produced, Remington Model 5. The rifle is all steel and wood minus the butt plate on the stock, smooth and solid action and a really good overall feel to it.

I started off with some Federal Bulk for initial sighting in, using my Simmons 4-12x40 Prohunter at low zoom (4-6), with a very rough rest at 25 yards. Right off the bat, my first 5 rds were on the paper! I'm new to this so I don't know if that is as surprising as I thought. I did the quick MOA math to figure out how many clicks to get it zeroed and it seemed to work. Here's a scan of my first ever shots fired. I believe I put maybe 3 magazines worth into the bullseye, with my attempted good technique, my lousy bag/towel rest and the Model 5s factory 50lb trigger pull, thank god that things adjustable!


I shot all day with the Federal Bulk stuff out to 50 yards, maybe 200 rds worth with just a couple bore snake brakes to make sure It was running in peak shape. I was hitting everything I wanted, making good groups on multiple targets when I decided it was getting late and I should do a precision test on a clean target. I decided to use federal bulk AND some Wolf Match Target. Here is the scan of my test.


Here'e the problem, the Federal Bulk made good groups as far as I'm concerned at this point, and the Wolf was wanting to go in the same hole as it's friends if I did my part! But here's the problem, the Wolf stuff was shooting CONSISTENTLY left about 3 inches at 50 yards but making good groups. I am concerned about this, but I don't know if it's the ammo, the sighting in or the rifle not being broken in! Help?

[fusionstar]

Good shooting. Now that you know you have an accurate rifle.

Feed it Filet Mignon and see what that baby can do.

Wolf Match Target / SK Standard Plus
Wolf Match Extra / SK Equivalent

[polygunner]

It's the ammo.
Different ammo can and will shoot to a different point in the same gun.
It's not uncommon.
Pick the ammo your gun likes best and sight it in for that ammo.
Buy lots of it.
Nice shooting.
pg

[toopercentmlk]

It's the ammo.
Different ammo can and will shoot to a different point in the same gun.
It's not uncommon.
Pick the ammo your gun likes best and sight it in for that ammo.
Buy lots of it.
Nice shooting.
pg

I think as of this far it loves the Federal Bulk, it's not tack driving accurate with it but I was touching everything I wanted to with it. I'm going to try to get my hands on some different stuff and see what happens.

[22popnsplat]

try as many different kinds of 22s as you can stand , usually the more exspensive the ammo the better it shoots so set yourself a price limit and shoot away . When you find the one it likes best as stated above buy as much of as you can and stash some and shoot some .

[brassburnz]

You will find that most standard velocity (1050 fps) .22 ammo produces tighter groups than high velocity ammo (1250 fps) because the variation in velocity from round-to-round is less. Also, most people who use standard velocity ammo want accuracy, not footpounds of energy. They are punching paper, not critters.

Wolf MT, Jager SK, Winchester T22, Federal 711B, Remington Target and other standard velocity target loads are a good compromise between accuracy and price. The upper end Eley, Nobel, Federal Gold Medal, and other match ammo shoot consistently better groups in most guns, but at double, triple and quadruple the price. Most people don't have guns that are accurate enough or shoot well enough to notice the difference.

I try to keep a stash of various .22 rimfire ammo just for testing purposes. Once you've got your pistol or rifle dialed in, you can tell within 10 rounds or so whether or not a particular gun likes the ammo or not.

But you need to be careful because even the same ammo may shoot differently when it comes from different runs. The stores that cater to bullseye shooters (Larry's Guns, Champions Choice) will often let you pick a box of the same ammo from different lots to test. Then you stock up on that lot. If I found a particular lot of ammo that shot well, I'd buy at least one case (5,000 rounds) , sometimes two (10,000 rounds) just so I wouldn't have to go through the selection process again for a while.

[mastadonn]

Another issue is that typically switching between one ammo and another changes the barrel characteristics themselves due to changes in the lubes.

We shoot a lot of Wolf match target and can even notice changes after cleaning the barrel, until you shoot enough to re-season the barrel.

Don't over clean a .22 LR barrel.

Wolf is a bit dirtier on the action, especially in a semi-auto and especially in the summer. We have had some shooters keep a hand towel handy just to clean their fingers after loading a mag with Wolf ammo. With 10/22's you need keep a small brush handy to preiodically clean the bolt face and barrel face.

That being said, Federal is less expensive than Wolf.

[Fjold]

Don't worry about the Wolf shooting left of the bull if it's the most accurate. Find the ammo that you want to use (affordability, accuracy) and sight your gun in (adjust the scope) so that it groups where you want it to.