Showing posts with label Chuck Hawks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chuck Hawks. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Zeroing in the Ruger American .17HMR


Don't get me wrong, I like open sights, especially the bright fiber optic front sight that comes with the Ruger American rimfire series. Still, I wanted to scope this beast up, on a budget, so I mounted a cheap but clear Hawke Optics 4x40 onto the ready-to-go grooves on top of the receiver.



By some strange quirk of providence, the act of mounting the scope seemed to count as boresighting too and the rifle wasn't too off from the get-go at 25 yards.



Using a tool box as a rest, for tip-top ultimate accuracy, I moved out to 50 yards and shot away at a silhouette until the little .17 HMR (Hornady, 17 grain) zingers were hitting pretty much where I wanted them to. Then I fell back to 100 yards and repeated the process. I used Chuck Hawks as a guide for zeroing at 145 yards. Here's what he has to say:

"A better way to zero a .17 HMR rifle is to put the 17 grain bullet 1.5" high at 100 yards, for a zero range of 145 yards. It would then hit about 0.9" high at 50 yards, 0.3" low at 150 yards, and 5.5" low at 200 yards. The maximum point blank range (+/- 1.5") of the cartridge would be about 165 yards, at which range the bullet retains about 90 ft. lbs.of energy, enough to remain effective on the smaller varmints."



I was impressed by the accuracy of the gun and the round and it obviously shot better than I do, but did it pass the Arizona Ice Tea test at 100 yards? Sure it did.



I enjoyed that so much that I think I'll have to do it all over again. Soon.

Shoot straight,

LSP

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Tikka?


Round about the end of the year, with the thought of presents looming, my mind turns to rifles. One rifle in particular, the Tikka T3. It gets great reviews, it's comparatively cheap, everyone says, "LSP! Get a Tikka!." Then, just as I'm about to leap into the world of Tikka, up comes Churck Hawks' damning review. Here's a bit of it to refresh the memory:

"To add insult to injury, the Tikka T3 is a cheap rifle to produce, but not an inexpensive one to purchase. (Ditto the I-Bolt!) These things cost as much or more than some higher quality, better designed, and better turned-out hunting rifles. The T3's success is a tribute to the ignorance of the modern American sportsman--and the connivance of the sporting press upon which they rely for information."

Maybe I'd be better off browsing the 2nd hand racks...

Good shooting,

LSP