Range time cut short

[bandit1250]

Went to the range yesterday. It was decent weather with lower temps than we have had for quite a while. I took four rifles and the MKII Ruger hand gun. The rifles were two Savage 112 single shot 220 Swifts(my favorites) a CZ FS 222 Remington my wife just recently bought and my CZ 452 FS 22 LR. Everything was going well and then it got pretty dark and the rain moved in and rained very hard for at least 1/2 hour or more. The gravel road looked like a muddy stream in just a few minutes and I just stayed under the range roof and waited it out. We having been having down pours almost daily and it is getting hard to get any out side work done at home. I did get most the shooting in before it hit so all was not lost. All I did with her 222 was get it on paper with some factory loads so she can do some break in shooting with it. The factory loads are quite old and not as accurate as they should be but she can shoot them up and I will load the cases back up. I would say these were at least 20 years old or more. I have some recent made factory stuff to shoot also that were given to me. Then on to the two Swifts. I bought some Speer 50 gr. spitzer bullets and some Speer 52 gr. Match HPBT bullets at a very good price and some Berger 50 gr. HPT moly coated bullets. I will not shoot a moly coated bullet in any of my rifles due to how much bother it is to get it out of the barrel when cleaning. So I put all 200 of them in the ultra sonic cleaner and got 98 % of the moly off and then put them in the Lyman tumbler with rice in it for about three hours. The rice does a great job and you don't even get your hands dirty getting the bullets out after tumbling. The bullets looked like new after tumbling. My Swift I bought first is a non-finicky super accurate rifle so I shot it first. I had 25 Norma brass ready to load so I loaded four for each rifle with three different bullets. The 50 Spitzer was the worst of the three at .562". The Bergers I had the first three that went in the same hole and the fourth was out of that hole for a final group of .376". The Speer match HPBT were the best with a single hole that came in at .144". RL 15 powder for all loads. Good stuff in a Swift. Swift number two didn't fare as well with the Speer bullets but still stayed under 3/4". This rifle is a low round count rifle that still needs some load work done. The Bergers came in at .380" which was about the same as rifle #1. I feel this rifle has potential to be as good as the other one after sorting things out with it. Both rifles are factory stock other than the trigger work I have done on them. They are quite heavy and rest well on sand bags. The groups were measured OTO and then subtracted bullet diameter. By the way the Berger bullets cost double what I can get the Speer bullets for. The 452 FS shot great at 50 with the Geco bolt action ammo. The guy next to me was very impressed with the accuracy of the Full stock rifle after he at first said Mannlicher rifles can't be accurate. I also sent some Blazers down range and the guy sat there and watched and said his heavy barrel 22's don't shoot that well. But it was a still day for shooting so that was a good time to shoot the 22. He said that rifle would be a winner at a match he shoots at where they shoot Blazer ammo at 40 Yds. I told him it still comes to down to lot numbers on 22 ammo. No shooting the MKII Ruger with all the rain. I think I am back to shooting my bolt rifles more than my lever rifles and may put some of my Marlin's up for sale and just keep a few. Overall it was fun a day even with getting soaked before leaving the range.

[BigAl52]

Ive looked at the CZ Mannlicher 22 more than a 100 times thinkin I need one. But I havent ever bought one. But lately 22 has been my go to caliber for range trips because of the high rated fun factor with it. No brass to pick up and no reloading to be able to shoot again. Not to mention I get enough stress at the work environment that the fun factor is important. What powder are you using in your swifts? I always had the best luck with 4064 in mine and a sierra 52 boatail and the 53 gr bullet. Al

[bandit1250]

What powder are you using in your swifts? I always had the best luck with 4064 in mine and a sierra 52 boatail and the 53 gr bullet. Al

BigAL, I am using Reloder 15. I am using it because it has always performed well in every Swift I have owned and I have several cans of it just sitting there waiting to get used up. The 4064 load you used in yours and the bullets you used if a Swift won't shoot well with that load maybe it should be made into a corner lamp. All jokes aside 4064 is like it was made just to make the 220 Swift really shine. 38 grs. when I use it is tough to beat.

[North Country Gal]

All the full stock (FS) CZs I've owned, either rimfire or centerfire, have been at least as accurate as the half stock versions and often even more accurate. CZ FS models have this rep and it is legit in my experience. Only issue I've had with the centerfire FS models is that they heat up, fast, and take a long time to cool back down. That full stock makes for a very effective heat trap. Can be a bit of a handicap for a range gun.

[BigAl52]

All the full stock (FS) CZs I've owned, either rimfire or centerfire, have been at least as accurate as the half stock versions and often even more accurate. CZ FS models have this rep and it is legit in my experience. Only issue I've had with the centerfire FS models is that they heat up, fast, and take a long time to cool back down. That full stock makes for a very effective heat trap. Can be a bit of a handicap for a range gun.

I try to pass this heating up theory along to my wife when I want to buy another gun. You just need to take a couple more with you to the range so ya can keep shooting. She just gives me that blank stare. Does that me no?

[Mags]

... Does that mean no?

Probably, along with the blank stare meaning 'I'm not that gullible'.

[North Country Gal]

Hey, good work, guys. Sounds good, anyway. It is true, though. I often run another rifle alongside a rifle I'm testing, to let the test rifle cool down as needed. Have to be careful on how the guns are chambered, though. I prefer both rifles to be chambered the same as to to not have an Oops! moment.

[rwortman]

As an interesting aside concerning CZ .22's I was reading the rules of a national .22 target shooting competition. The CZ's aren't allowed to participate in the stock class. I guess that means they are so good that, if they let them in, no one will shoot anything else.

[bandit1250]

As an interesting aside concerning CZ .22's I was reading the rules of a national .22 target shooting competition. The CZ's aren't allowed to participate in the stock class. I guess that means they are so good that, if they let them in, no one will shoot anything else.

I have some very good shooting CZ 22's but I don't believe there is any thing magical about their accuracy over other quality made 22's from manufacturers that build good rifles. The funny thing with the CZ is it is quite common for the full stock model to the be best shooter and the Varmint can be the least accurate. Mine are all 452's and I prefer the 452 personally over the 455 but both shoot well and are easy to tune them up sometimes to even do better than factory. Then again I have old 5-teen Remington's that shoot as well as the CZ's even with an inferior trigger compared to the CZ. My 5-teen X model Remington's from the final few years of production shoot every bit as good as any other 22's in my house any will blow all my Ruger rim fire bolt rifles away quite easily. The CZ with out a doubt is the most rifle in the rim fire category for the money. I have seen Marlin's and especially Savage 22 bolt rifles shoot just as well but fall short to the CZ on workmanship and materials. No comparison on the tangent sight models to other manufacturers that have open sights on their rifles. Using the tangent sights is a great experience in shooting with out optics. Just ask NCG.

[North Country Gal]

Amen to the tangent sights shooting. Was shooting our 455 UL, just this week, with the tangent sights. On a good day, these open sights don't give up much to a scope.