Henry Rifle Forums

Guess some will have already seen a bit on this, seems like a lot of youtube shooting channels have been discussing it or even having a go. If you havent here is a link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM3SHvYosSs
I have 4 rifles I class as genuine moa rifles, my standard isnt as tough I am happy with 5 shot groups provided they do it consistently. 2 of them dont make the weight limit. My sako quad switch barrel in 17HM2, 17 HMR, 22LR & 22WMR does, with ammo it likes I class it as a MOA rifle in all 4 chamberings.
It is my rabbit rifle, in 15 years it has never worn anything other than a 3-9x scope and hunting thickness duplex reticle even though I have used it at the range a bit shooting 200m rimfire matches and benchrest a few times.
Over the weekend I looked through the safe and pulled a 4-20x scope with 0.25moa dot reticle off another rifle and fitted it to the sako. I needed to go hunting for a bit of dog food monday and as it had the 22WMR barrel fitted dig though my ammo locker to see what I had on hand. Found 5 packets of old winchester super X silver box ammo that I need to use up so decided to sight it in with it.
First thing that became obvious was how much movement the extra magnification was showing up compared to the 3-9x even from a solid rest. Shooting off a bench using a bipod and the stock supported by my off hand I could see my heart beat moving the rifle about 1/8moa.
Got the rifle sighted in dead on at 50y and proceeded to shot a 5 shot group. About what I expected from the ammo 4 shots into 1/2" with a flyer opening it up to 3/4" decided I might as well shoot 10 and see what happened again 4 of the shots went into the same group and another flyer made the group just over 1" so 2moa at 50y.
About what I expected from the original 40gr WMR loadings, I did have a box of 30gr V-max ammo with me. it has always shot around moa for 5 shots and I was interested to see what the difference in point of impact was between the 2 loads so shot 5 with it and was rewarded with a ragged one hole, thought I might as well put another 5 down range and see just what it would do under the rules for this moa challenge. End result was my one hole group increased in size a little but as near as I can measure it 0.41" so 0,8moa at 50y.

As I said previously with the 3-9x scope the V-max ammo has shot around moa for 5 shots it certainly looks like a bit more magnification and more precise aiming of the 0.25moa target dot has improved group size. Some time in the next month I will actually shoot the challenge in accordance with the rules videoing the attempts and using software to measure groups. Intend to do it with all 4 chamberings, the HMR barrel has previously shot multiple groups around 3/4moa one after the other with ammo it likes, the 22lr has no trouble averaging under moa for multiple groups and with quality ammo like Lapua X-Act gets into the 0.8's. 17HM2 will be the hardest to achieve very limited ammo choice so it will depend on if the batches I have on hand agree with the rifle.

Interestingly over the weekend a hunting forum I am a member of held their annual range shoot, with all the recent discussion over moa factory rifles they decided to do their own MOA challenge, 5 shots from a factory sporter at 200m, 5 shooter achieved moa with the best of them shooting 0.62moa with a factory 308 hunting rifle.

Moa challenge, your going to need a BIG gun for this one!

John M wrote: ↑

Tue May 28, 2024 9:28 pm

Moa challenge, your going to need a BIG gun for this one!

Actually don’t even need a gun maori hunted them to extinction in a very short time without rifles.

I bet ol RR can do it with his smoke pole!

Interesting stuff. I'm not going to take the challenge - I'm already behind on my shooting projects - but I do have a number of rifles and even some specialty hand guns that I regard as true MOA guns, based on what they have consistently done for me.

The accuracy of things like 50m pistols and some of the specialized rimfire silhouette pistols would put a lot of rifles to shame.
Would certainly make an interesting entry, even my most accurate handguns I would only class as 2-4moa shooters I no longer have a specialized 50m pistol.

My Anschütte Exemplar 22 LR and my XP-100 Varmint in 223 will both shoot under half inch at 50 yards, no sweat. No revolvers that can do that, of course. Be a pretty amazing revolver that could, of course.

Nevertheless, I enjoy shooting revolvers a lot more. It's partly sentimental because a Ruger Single Six was my first ever handgun, shot my first deer with a revolver and so on. Guess I've never gotten over shooting wheel guns. To this day, a good session with a revolver means more to me than a good session with any other kind of gun. I even pick old movies to see what revolvers are being used. How crazy is that? Yup, still my favorite after all these years.

I also love pistols. I once had a Ruger .357 that I tuned. I could hit five out of six milk jugs hanging from
a line at one hundred yards and do it all day. I gave shooting exhibitions and impressed a lot of folks about
the accuracy of pistols.
Yes, it can be done.

My 686 will shoot the occasional 10 shot group around 1" at 25m off a bench and bags. I think it is outstanding for a revolver but even that is around 4moa, my Hämmerli 22 will do about half that.
Have a friend that has been on the state team for 50m pistol for over a decade, one day when he was shooting a practice match I shot beside him using a scoped 22 rifle for a bit of fun. Pretty humbling to be outshot by someone using an open sighted pistol at 50m when your using a scoped rifle.

I've had some great S&W 357s, too. Yeah, very impressive 50m shooting. Tough competition. You don't see a lot of those shooters these days.

Do you all understand the concept of tuning a firearm? Pistols can be astonishingly accurate if tuned properly.
Rifles even more so.