My new benchrest rifle...

[dickw]

I did the adjustments on the mounts and, also, seated the bullets so I jumped them .020" rather than the hard jam that I always use. The results were spectacular. My last four test groups ranged from 2/10" to 4/10" which is better than a No. 1 is supposed to shoot. Keep in mind that this is an 8-1/4 lb. gun with an 8X scope.

Old friend, Jim Hutchison, who has a ton of experience with a duece told me they always shoot better if jumped around .020". From my results, so far, he sure knows what he's talking about.

I am now in a big hurry to shoot it another match to see if I can redeem myself after the last one.

 

[Louis.J]

DickW did you find the scope needed some slight adjusting and if so how did that process work out for you. I will be looking forward to your match results and you sure do have your #1 shooting as good as it looks and it is one beautiful rifle. And to shoot it that well with an 8X scope is trully remarkable.

JLouis

 

[dickw]

DickW did you find the scope needed some slight adjusting and if so how did that process work out for you. I will be looking forward to your match results and you sure do have your #1 shooting as good as it looks and it is one beautiful rifle. And to shoot it that well with an 8X scope is trully remarkable.

JLouis

I started BR in 1977 in Hunter Rifle matches at the Saginaw Field & Stream club. Hunter Rifle restricted scope power to 6X. I found that if you carefully quarter the black ring with the crosshairs that you could actually aim the rifle very precisely. Whoever designed that target had their head screwed on straight.

In my last years of serious BR competition I used a 45X Leup Comp scope with Gene Davis's optical booster that took the power up to 60X. This is a big difference but you really can do it with a low power scope. It helps if the crosshairs are in perfect focus and that you have totally eliminated any parallax.

Funny story about my first benchrest match... back then I heard they were having matches for hunting rifles at the club. At that time I had had an NRA Master classification in smallbore rifle for eight years. I took my little Sako .308 deer rifle and went to the match thinking, "These phouls have no idea what's gonna happen. They got a tiger by the tail and don't know it."

Thank God, I didn't share these thoughts with anyone else. Everybody else was shooting funny looking guns with plastic stocks and shiny barrels. I took last place by a considerable margin.

"Them ain't hunting rifles. They're cheating."

"Hunter Rifles, fool."

At that time the company I worked for was doing business with Shilen Rifles. The next Monday I got on the horn and told Doug Shilen, "Doug, I gotta problem."

Doug told me where to buy a Shilen DGA rifle in .222. I did so.

I won the next match.

 

[dickw]

Your welcome just becareful with that little screw. I have done several that way and so far its worked out very well. If the screw is to loose and quite typical the adjustments get very erratic. It might jump .010 with one click and then non the next etc. it will also stiffen up the clicks making them very positive. I hope it works as well for you as it has me and if to tight you won't be able to turn the thimble sort of a fine line as it does not really take that much to adjust it from being to tight or to loose the indicator will let you know when its just right.



JLouis

This is a very early Unertl from back in the days when Unertl bought the mounts from Lyman. There is no screw like the one that you are talking about. I have a good set of the Unertl mounts and, if I do send it out for the bump and the crosshairs next winter, I will probably have them install the Unertl mounts simply because I like the looks of them better. It's easy to tell if the mounts came from Lyman... they are black rather than the polished aluminum Unertls. Like I said, this scope was made in 1940.

 

[dickw]

I shot the gun in a score match at Tawas yesterday. I improved my score by about forty points over the last match and could shoot tens at will as long as the wind was consistant.

After properly securing the scope I had tried 2015 powder at home and found it worked very well in the duece. However, yesterday the shooter was woefully lacking. After shooting very little the last few years I simply couldn't cope with the wind which must have been at least 20 mph a good deal of the time and which was constantly switching. My fourth group was the perfect example... My sighter was a good ten. I had to hold on the inside edge of the black at 4 o'clock to shoot it when the wind was at full bellow... No problem. Three of my five shots for record were the same... good tens. However, I missed a let-up on two shots and they went straight up and hit the inside edge of the black at 3 o'clock. If I had been shooting group that two would have been in one hole. Ditto the three tens. They would have all touched.

Me... I'm immensely relieved. I have been afraid that the darn thing wouldn't shoot after I had spent the last two years making it. For a competition benchrest gun my goals and expectations are very modest... I just wanta shoot tens. Repeating myself, this is a 8 lb. 4 oz. .222 on a Ruger No. 1 with an 8X Unertl. It's shooting better than I've been told it can.

I don't know what velocity I am getting but will get out the chronograph and find out soon. I do know that, if I go up half a grain, it starts to crater and the primer gets kinda flat. I won't be able to go up much. FWIW I am using 24.0 grains of the old Isreali 2015 which is forty-one and a half clicks on my Jones.

The shooter needs to shoot in the wind a lot or quit and go fishing. Thank God I have a lot of good .22 bullets.

 

[glp]

Dick, If you decide

to try for the X dot, a higher X unertl would be the ticket.

 

[pikedrop]

Dick,

You managed the 20 mph switching wind the best you could and you shot GREAT with your new deuce! However, you are not allowed to go fishing on match days!

Matt

 

[dickw]

to try for the X dot, a higher X unertl would be the ticket.

I'm thinking seriously about sending the scope out this winter for a bump to 12X and a 1/2" dot. This, obviously, is a dual purpose gun and that would be about as far as I would want to go. The Unertl is extremely clear, the crosshairs are sharp and you would be surprised just how precisely you can aim it with the Hunter target. Ask the Hunter Rifle shooters of the world who are limited to 6X.

In spite of my score I'm happy that the gun will now shoot. In contrast, the shooter needs a lot of bench time... my performance was woefully lacking Saturday. No way could I cope with the wind velocity and the switches. Practice, practice, practice.

Dick

 

[dickw]

Dick,

You managed the 20 mph switching wind the best you could and you shot GREAT with your new deuce! However, you are not allowed to go fishing on match days!

Matt

What a handle like "Pikedrop" you must be interested in pike fishing... I just happen to own most of a lake which has good pike fishing. Hitch your boat up and come on up and we'll catch some. The State of Michigan owns part of the Eastern shore of the lake (I own the rest) and they have a boat landing over there.

Not on match days, of course.

I wish I had a couple of hours to shoot on that range and in that wind before the next match. I might be able to figure out how to handle it better. It was a fun match and it was good to see some folks I haven't seen in years. I really appreciate Eric and all his help.