nuclearmeltdown
New member
After 6 or 7 years of wanting one of these, I finally found a fair price on a used one and got to take it out to the range yesterday. I paid $500 with included Burris rings, 60 rounds of Winchester CXP3 soft points, and 32 rounds of S&B brass-cased soft points. I shot first with open sights, and then with an old Weaver K2.5 steel-tube scope.
First of all, let me say how pleased I am with the weight and handling. Bathroom scale says 5.6 pounds unloaded and without scope, but the steel-tube scope and rings seemed to add a bit of weight and definitely changed the balance.
Ammunition was Wolf FMJ that I picked up from Midway in December 2004 (for $1.60/box plus shipping -- 8 cents per round!). My used rifle came with some S&B and Winchester soft-points, but I tried the Wolf first and was pleased enough with it that I'll save the nicer stuff for hunting or making water jugs explode.
First shots were at 50 yards with the iron sights. Five shots:
For size reference, it's on a sheet of standard office paper.
Next were three shots with open sights at 100 yards on an Outers target:
Iron sights seem to hit a hair low and to the right, but this was with only one ammunition type. Previous owner said the ammunition he tried hit to point of aim.
Satisfied with the open sights, I went on to mount the scope. The rings, which came to me with the used rifle, are unmarked but seem to be Burris brand. They were easy to mount to the integral bases with a supplied Allen wrench, and the rings held the scope using Torx screws. It may have been simpler, though, to use either Allen or Torx instead of both. Scope is an El Paso Weaver K2.5 that I got about five years ago at a flea market for $20 and never used until now. See my next post below for the sight picture at 100 yards.
The low magnification makes precision aiming more difficult than, say, a 3-9x40, but I think this scope is more appropriate for the rifle. Furthermore, I didn't have any issues with bolt handle clearance like some others have had. I couldn't say what height the rings are, though, because no packaging came with them.
Another thing to mention with this scope is how much eye relief it has. I tried setting it into the bottom half the rings with the adjustment knobs between the rings, but my eye was much too close. As seen in the first picture, my adjustment knobs are forward of the front ring. As it is, my eye lines up perfectly each time. Just not what I'm used to. I assume it's because the receiver is so short, combined with relatively long eye relief.
Anyway, after getting on paper at 25 yards, adjustment was easy at 100 yards. Adjustment clicks were 1" at 100 yards, which made counting easy. My 100 yard group came out like this:
It must be noted that I could hardly see the square Sharpie box I was shooting into. It was more like lining up between the bottom of the bull and the words at the bottom of the target. Not so bad, though. If I had a more visible target, it may have improved a bit. I was happy with this group and moved out to 200 yards for three shots:
The three shots at 200 yards are the ones with triangles around them. I was VERY pleased with this accuracy, especially from Wolf. I only tried this once, though, so whether it is repeatable is yet to be known.
It's interesting to find that some people do very well with Wolf in these rifles, while others get four or five inch groups with it. Mine seems to do well, and hopefully current-production Wolf does as well (this ammunition is almost six years old). I did have one issue with my Wolf ammo, though:
On this shot, I just heard a "click" of the firing pin. I ejected the round after a 30 second wait and saw no primer in it. A while later, I found the indented primer on the shooting bench. Not sure what was going on here, but the primer appears (it was blackened) to have been ignited, even if I didn't hear it. None of the powder ignited, and the bullet was still in the case. Strange.
Overall, though, I'm very happy with the rifle. It seems to shoot pretty well. The scope is a bit heavy and throws off the balance a bit, but I think it will be durable and certainly makes shooting past 100 yards easier. Plus, it can be removed in a second with an Allen wrench. I can recommend this rifle to prospective buyers.
First of all, let me say how pleased I am with the weight and handling. Bathroom scale says 5.6 pounds unloaded and without scope, but the steel-tube scope and rings seemed to add a bit of weight and definitely changed the balance.
Ammunition was Wolf FMJ that I picked up from Midway in December 2004 (for $1.60/box plus shipping -- 8 cents per round!). My used rifle came with some S&B and Winchester soft-points, but I tried the Wolf first and was pleased enough with it that I'll save the nicer stuff for hunting or making water jugs explode.
First shots were at 50 yards with the iron sights. Five shots:
For size reference, it's on a sheet of standard office paper.
Next were three shots with open sights at 100 yards on an Outers target:
Iron sights seem to hit a hair low and to the right, but this was with only one ammunition type. Previous owner said the ammunition he tried hit to point of aim.
Satisfied with the open sights, I went on to mount the scope. The rings, which came to me with the used rifle, are unmarked but seem to be Burris brand. They were easy to mount to the integral bases with a supplied Allen wrench, and the rings held the scope using Torx screws. It may have been simpler, though, to use either Allen or Torx instead of both. Scope is an El Paso Weaver K2.5 that I got about five years ago at a flea market for $20 and never used until now. See my next post below for the sight picture at 100 yards.
The low magnification makes precision aiming more difficult than, say, a 3-9x40, but I think this scope is more appropriate for the rifle. Furthermore, I didn't have any issues with bolt handle clearance like some others have had. I couldn't say what height the rings are, though, because no packaging came with them.
Another thing to mention with this scope is how much eye relief it has. I tried setting it into the bottom half the rings with the adjustment knobs between the rings, but my eye was much too close. As seen in the first picture, my adjustment knobs are forward of the front ring. As it is, my eye lines up perfectly each time. Just not what I'm used to. I assume it's because the receiver is so short, combined with relatively long eye relief.
Anyway, after getting on paper at 25 yards, adjustment was easy at 100 yards. Adjustment clicks were 1" at 100 yards, which made counting easy. My 100 yard group came out like this:
It must be noted that I could hardly see the square Sharpie box I was shooting into. It was more like lining up between the bottom of the bull and the words at the bottom of the target. Not so bad, though. If I had a more visible target, it may have improved a bit. I was happy with this group and moved out to 200 yards for three shots:
The three shots at 200 yards are the ones with triangles around them. I was VERY pleased with this accuracy, especially from Wolf. I only tried this once, though, so whether it is repeatable is yet to be known.
It's interesting to find that some people do very well with Wolf in these rifles, while others get four or five inch groups with it. Mine seems to do well, and hopefully current-production Wolf does as well (this ammunition is almost six years old). I did have one issue with my Wolf ammo, though:
On this shot, I just heard a "click" of the firing pin. I ejected the round after a 30 second wait and saw no primer in it. A while later, I found the indented primer on the shooting bench. Not sure what was going on here, but the primer appears (it was blackened) to have been ignited, even if I didn't hear it. None of the powder ignited, and the bullet was still in the case. Strange.
Overall, though, I'm very happy with the rifle. It seems to shoot pretty well. The scope is a bit heavy and throws off the balance a bit, but I think it will be durable and certainly makes shooting past 100 yards easier. Plus, it can be removed in a second with an Allen wrench. I can recommend this rifle to prospective buyers.
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