Who Is Going to Join Me? 22LR Know Your Skills Challenge

any scope power

As part of this the goal was as many participants as possible without people having to change much of anything it is about the FUN. Even virtual we can still get out and have a little fun.
 
Trying to keep the enthusiasm up; for me it has gotten a bit hard after all the time and money I've put into it--but I'm not giving up! :D

I printed 10 targets today and continued to have problems getting beyond 3 good hits on the top row. I fluster easy, so while taking the shots if 1 missed I got kinda angry and just tacked another target over it--or just concentrated on grouping on one target dot to reaffirm that I still knew how to shoot. This tended to have a bit of negative reinforcement, not to mention eats up your printer paper supply--and expensive 22lr bullets--pretty quickly.

So I had an idea that instead of abandoning the target and going for another, I would just "backsweep" the dots I missed and score the best I could in as few as shots as possible. Here's my best "backsweep" where I hit the two I initially missed, so 7 shots to get all five. Somehow that makes the notion of getting all 5 eventually seem more attainable rather than starting over again at the end of 5 shots.

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One of the interesting outcomes of my discovery of the joys of 22lr shooting--my rifle set-up is exceptionally sensitive to slightest variation of technique. It's the only rifle I've ever installed a trigger on that has less than 1.5 lb pull--and even at 8 ounces that seems quite heavy! It probably won't come as a surprise--but I found if I replicated everything precisely with each shot--the shot would hit almost exactly at the POA. If even the slightest variation in the trigger pull technique, pressure of cheek weld, change of weight distribution in the rests etc--then the following shot was absolutely not going to hit the POA. Another statistical curiosity--I can hit the 30 point dot more often than the 22 point dot. I haven't the slightest idea why that is.

On the subject of scope power--obviously I brought a bazooka to a knife fight in that respect with a 5 x 35 Leupold top tier scope, but what I found was even though I could zoom in with exceptional clarity on the target, as nice as it is the image was subject to shimmer and "dancing" at close range at the highest powers, all my best shots have been taken at 10x to 12 x power.
 

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Good shooting Stag. Also nice seeing the challenge continue. Were you shooting your custom .22lr reloads during this latest attempt?
 
thanks--I'm not doing any more work on the CURX reloads until I get my lilja barrel back--I've decided it's best to separate firing the lead bullets and the solid copper bullets in dedicated barrels.
 
Stagpanther says "Another statistical curiosity--I can hit the 30 point dot more often than the 22 point dot. I haven't the slightest idea why that is."

Same reason a dinner plate is easier to hit than a pop bottle cap. But on a smaller scale.
 
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Same reason a dinner plate is easier to hit than a pop bottle cap. But on a smaller scale.
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I'm not the sharpest pencil in the box--could you put that in terms of optical physics that makes it easier for me to understand?;)
 
There is no understanding that. Just smile and shoot targets.
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I was being serious--it is much easier for me to acquire and hold on the 22 point dot than the 30 one but for some reason I tend to hit the much smaller target dot more frequently than the bigger one--I'm wondering if some kind of focus adjustment would alleviate that if it's an optical phenomenon of some sort (?). Or maybe I'm just imagining things--won't be the first time.
 
stagpanther said:
I was being serious--it is much easier for me to acquire and hold on the 22 point dot than the 30 one but for some reason I tend to hit the much smaller target dot more frequently than the bigger one--I'm wondering if some kind of focus adjustment would alleviate that if it's an optical phenomenon of some sort (?). Or maybe I'm just imagining things--won't be the first time.
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I might suspect some variation on natural point of aim might be involved.
For giggles try rotating the paper 90 degrees clockwise so the 30 is at the top and shoot down the page to the 22.

When I was competing in small-bore rifle where the targets had 10 bulls for score I found that the amount of movement shooting in the number sequence (across the target 1 2 3) was more work, especially when shooting prone, and lower scores than shooting the score bulls in column order (1 4 6 8) on the NRA A-17 or A-36 targets.
 
I might suspect some variation on natural point of aim might be involved.
For giggles try rotating the paper 90 degrees clockwise so the 30 is at the top and shoot down the page to the 22.

When I was competing in small-bore rifle where the targets had 10 bulls for score I found that the amount of movement shooting in the number sequence (across the target 1 2 3) was more work, especially when shooting prone, and lower scores than shooting the score bulls in column order (1 4 6 8) on the NRA A-17 or A-36 targets.
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I thought about turning the target upside down--might try that--but 90 degrees I wouldn't do because even the slightest change in elevation would force an adjustment in sighting between each shot is what I've experienced shooting 22lr at 50 yds.
 
I obviously do not have the details of your set up. Range is usually the factor I run into that makes elevation changes necessary, not where on a target I'm shooting.

You might try seeing what happens with either inhaling or letting out a bit more breath and watch where your sights go.
 
stagpanther said:
I thought about turning the target upside down--might try that--but 90 degrees I wouldn't do because even the slightest change in elevation would force an adjustment in sighting between each shot is what I've experienced shooting 22lr at 50 yds.
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I am sighted in for 50 yards. I shoot one sighter on a 1/2 dot I stick up for my wind call and get to shooting. I just alter my squeeze bag for moving up and down the target. I was getting a little more bounce that I thought on bench and prone. So I loaded the bi-pod and got a tad of group shrinkage last week. Will see how that plays into a score tomorrow. :)
 
Aim small miss small, if you focus your aim on a small part of your target, you have a better chance of hitting it. Buddy of mine practices by using 1/4 - 1/3 MOA dots for targets, all the way out to 1000 yards. Swears it helps
 
Smaller dots do help to a point. Matching the reticle to the power to the distance is part of it. The rest is mental, trigger control and fundamentals.
 
The 30 point dot is smaller than the 22 point dot. That's why it's worth 8 points more.
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It's an extraordinarily small target--about .04"--and very hard to focus on well even with a very good scope. I think there is something to be said for the "aim small miss small" observation--for whatever reason the smallness of the target, while harder to acquire and hold steady, "forces" a better technique on an almost subconscious level for me.
 
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