Range Day - Preferred Ammo

I finally had a chance to get out yesterday and put the Ruger American Rimfire to use this month. As a result, it appears that I have found my preferred ammo for this gun; CCI Mini Mags HV 40 grain part# 0030.

 

The last time I had shot the RAR was a few weeks ago and at that time I was trying to get the gun zeroed for the CCI 0030's. After getting all set up, yesterday, I tried something a bit different. Instead of running 10 rounds of junk ammo at a warm-up target, I went straight into shooting 5 shot test groups. The first group of the day has 2 sub-groups with three 3 rounds close in one and 2 close shots in the other. The larger hole you see to the left of the large group is from a a previous shoot that I had covered up with a sticker. The sticker got knocked off removing the black material with it. I had opted to re-use the 12 inch target since I didn't have extras with me. I was happy with that group.

After shooting that first group on the 12 inch, I ended up shooting the rest of the 6 inch targets. By the time I had gotten to the last target, I had made a few adjustments to the scope to bring it in a little tighter.

You can see that those last groups are pretty decent. The middle target I had reset with black dots to test out an Axis XP with Remington Core-lok 180 grain. I'm not impressed with the rifle but to give it a fair test I will try out different ammo.

All in all, I feel that the RAR is running good with the CCI 0030's. I will see about making that my preferred ammunition with this rifle after a few more runs with it. Midway USA had it in stock this week but I missed the opportunity to buy any. It goes very quick.

Long Range Range Day - Ammo Testing

Today's shoot was actually pretty fruitful. I was able to acquire a 100 round box of CCI Mini Mag 40 grain CPRN to test earlier in the week and finally got a chance to try them out. I would have to say they seem to be just as consistent as the Eley Club Xtra I shot a few weeks back. Every group I shot today ended up in around 2.5 inches exactly. It's kind of freaky. 

Several of those groups have three rounds right next to or touching each other (one group has 2 rounds through the same hole) with 1 of the other 2 rounds being a flier and the last being closer to the main group. However, one of the groups seemed to be complete BS. Half the shots weren't even on the 6 inch target... IDK what happened there because the next group had the shots through the same hole. Go figure.

I had another box of this ammo I had bought a few years ago so I have a little over 100 more rounds to test with. I will see if the groups stay the same. If they do that means I can use these as backup ammo to the Eley Club Xtra. The Club Xtra seem to produce groups around 1.8 inches from my rifle but it's expensive at around $13 for 50 rounds. These CCI 0030 seem to be around $20 for 100 rounds and it appears to be easier to find. 

I also took the Air Hawk out for zeroing. It didn't go as well as I was hoping. The scope will need to be replaced as none of the adjustments had predictable outcomes. I found a spot that was close but the gun shot high left. Any adjustments would bring one round close to zero but the second shot would go right back to were I started from. The rings are also junk. I will need to get some rings specific for 11mm dovetail mounts and not these 11mm to 13 or 14mm multi-use rings the gun came with.

I really like the stock on the Air Hawk, BTW. It is SOO much better than the stock on the American Rimfire. I will DEFINITELY be replacing the stock on my American. I will add pics later.

Update: I chose one of the targets for my record book. A rough measure of the group shows the first 3 shots I took produced a group of approximately 5/8 inch. The next shot totally ruined the awesomeness, giving me a total size of approximately 2.5 inches from a distance of 100 yards. The fifth round land about half an inch from the small group between the small group and flier. I tell you, I wanted to stop SOOOO bad after shooting those first 3 rounds. If I had though, that would have been cheating and I can't accept that.