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Just curious what distance people zero there rifles at, every day people tell me how they shoot rabbits at 100 yds , never missing, with there .22 subs, with a zero at 52yds the drop is 7 inches at 100 and in a 15mph wind the drift is nearly 4 ft.
As the bullet is only in the 1 inch kill zone between 10 - 60 yds I feel I need advice or a better range finder as mine makes 100 yds look a long way away.
I zero mine at 20M, which also puts me bang on at 50M, so covers most of the night missions on the rabbits. I have a drop chart for anything out past that.
Are you talking about rimfire mate? If so, 50 metres for me. It's good enough up to 60 metres. I'm also intrigued by what people say about longer range accuracy with subsonics. Drop aside, my groupings are bloody awful. Maybe it's just me?
Anyone who says they never miss is a liar ;)
Mine are zeroed at 70, BDC reticle helps further out but if not using a rangefinder you do have to be shooting a lot to keep your eye in for judging distance etc. Kill zone on a rabbit is bigger than 1" too unless you're only taking headshots.
Wind is trickier than drop though.
i zero at 70, find i can hit at 100 constantly on good days. its always best to try different ammo to see what works best with your rifle. i only use cci nowadays as i found it the most consistent. friend of mine swears by winchester power point.
we both agree that remington rimfire ammo is bloody filthy stuff in a semi auto though
I use 50m for my 10/22 with a bunny buster 10" over barrel suppressed barrel.
My trajectory chart is shown below. Through testing, I found that the CCI standard velocity ammo that I am using was more accurate than HV ammo at 100m. Although the drop was greater, the grouping was smaller, therefore the hit rate was higher. I still prefer to stay under 70m with the .22LR. Over that I get the .22WMR, .17HM2 or .17HMR out for a walk.
Attachment 70271
thanks for posting that hotbarrels. just a point of interest. CCI standard velocity are round nose. CCI subsonic are hollow point. they are both 40 grain subsonic rounds. i've always assumed the latter would be better at killing, so haven't tried standard velocity. has anyone compared the two in the real world? just wondering which to go for next.
hollows for bunnies, solids for hares
With standard velocity I zero at 75m, which is good with a little holdover out to 100m or a bit more. I was getting over 90% hit rates when there were rabbit numbers around out to about 100m. Now the rabbit numbers are way down it is harder to keep the eye in with distance judging so I tend to use a 223.
So what you zero at is more determined by how and how many you shoot.
Observant is he ..... on CCI SVQuote:
Originally Posted by MightyBoosh
That's why I have a Waltz tool :thumbsup:
Whats a Waltz tool? Waltz resizing die - RimfireCentral.com Forums
I bought a couple of slabs of .22LR CCI SV a couple of years back when it was retailing for $37 a brick, and bought the Waltz tool at the same time. I sized and hollow point a brick of 500 at a time for hunting. If plinking, I just use them as RN solids.
I used to shoot about 10k SV on targets and 1K subs on animals a year, far less now. I would use SV on birds and rabbits, but definitely subs on possums. Since I only load subs into my rifle when I go out hunting, I only end up shooting subs at animals. I have tried SV on possums, a lot, each time end up having to use more bullets because a few animal did not die or stop moving after 1 shot. Subs are definitely more humane.Quote:
Originally Posted by MightyBoosh
DDS the expert here, you need to get his opinion and the make of his magical range finder :D
I sight my .22 at 70 metres
I have shot hundreds of thousands of rounds of 22 over the years and have learnt that the best distance to sight your rifle in is 15 yards using standard velocity ammo. Note ,not 15m but 15yards. Accurate out to 80 yards and with alittle holdover 100 to 120 yards. The most consistant ammo Ive found is cci sv and still buy in lots of 5000. Shooting possums is always thru the right eye ,instant death ,rabbits upper body ,head with sv. No issues. Always try for head shots on hare,love the meat ,better than venison . If you want, flame away at me ,then go and test the 15 yard sight in. Its been one of my best kept secrets for consistent hits over the years. That and being a bloody good shot. Not in Dundees league tho.
any one that's done a lot of hunting with an air rifle will know its about shot placement sv solids will kill just as well as hp just got to put it in the right spot
What happens if you shoot them in the left eye?
Asking for a friend. :D
It's not the right one;)
Left eye shot doesn't always kill instantly and the bastards take off on ya. Right eye they fall outa the tree dead.
I think Driverman's method is the the point blank range method. Google it and have read. Basically it gives you a range in which the bullets trajectory/drop is within the kill zone of the target animal. For a rabbit within the point blank range aim at the vitals and the path of the bullet will only diverge from the line of site by 0.5" and your rabbit is dead. It does obviously depend on ammo, rifle and height of scope so needs to be tested at the range.
When I bought the Waltz tool, I did a lot of 'water barrel' testing of different ammo (ie shooting into the top of a 200L open top drum full of water) to verify the performance of different hollow point designs (depth of HP and how open they were at the top). What I found was that there were brands of ammo the performed (expanded) well, but there were others that did little more than flatten the tip a bit.
I tested CCI SV with progressively deeper and wider HP openings, finally settling on a good compromise.
The Waltz tool gives you the best of all worlds in my opinion. CCI SV is a very good ammo accuracy wise, and well priced compared to others, but they don't make it in HP. With the tool you can then HP your own, to your own liking, with the projectile in the case, so your centralisation of the HP is accurately done. Takes me about an hour to HP 500 rounds, with a dye clean after every 100 rounds to clear the excess wax out of the head of the dye.
I use the same technique as driverman. It works.
I haven't fired as many shots as him but personally think that .22 use sharpens your hunting skills significantly.
One year I fired over 10,000 shots at animals as a recreational hunter. Mostly off the shoulder, to say that my centre fire shooting ability increased as a result of that would be a massive understatement; using a rifle just became automatic...
Like so many of you, I really rate rabit shooting as a precursor to deer hunting.
I now exclusively use CCI subs.
https://scontent.fakl2-1.fna.fbcdn.n...58&oe=593C8E3F
Maybe we should ask her
i zero at 50yds . . . if im shooting a rabbit at 90yds i dial up for a 90yrd zero or use a mildot if i am in a hurry . . . holding over with a guess is so old school
R.
When I was on pest board we sighted 10/22s zero at 20m when you started to get out over 50m we just aimed just over the top, once you get to know your riffle you know were to aim the more you have to shoot the easier it is.
I am old school and the holdover becomes ingrained. Instant target acquisition and experience tells you where to aim. Don't have time to fiddle with thingsQuote:
Originally Posted by rossi.45
My right or the possum's right? Assuming the possum is looking at me.Quote:
Originally Posted by Driverman
rifle might be shooting to the left
Looking at the possum with its eyes lit up in the spot ,shoot the eye on the left which makes it the possum's right eye, listen for the thump as it hits the ground dead.
I only ever head shot possums , used to shoot them out as far as the spot would light them up.
I used to have a bit of string measuring 15 yards that I used to sight in before a shoot. Put a blank target, an old ammo packet or some such , up and put a shot into it, Use the hole as a point of aim and put a few rounds through that hole to check alignment and warm the gun.
Yes, practice, practice practice.Quote:
Originally Posted by craigc
My younger brother and I used to do a lot of 3-gun. The rifle stages definitely rubbed off on hunting.
One day we were walking down hill on an old farm track through some native hunting for goats. We spooked two cunning old nanny's that jumped down onto the track in front of us and fled at high speed around the corner 30m ahead. We sprinted off after them at full noise hoping to get them on the next straight away. The track was on a cutting, and as we rounded the corner, on the top side of the track, sunning them selves on the cutting no more than 5m from us were two young goats. We were running down hill and way to fast to try and stop to shoot. My brother shouldered his Mini-14 and double tapped both of them at full flight as we ran past them. Neither even got a chance to get to their feed.
We were both so astounded that when we managed to stop running, we both ended up on the ground in a heap of laughter. At the end of the day it was instinctive double tap shooting, as per all the practice we had been doing, only the targets were live (well, they were .....)
Yes, practice, practice practice.Quote:
Originally Posted by craigc
My younger brother and I used to do a lot of 3-gun. The rifle stages definitely rubbed off on hunting.
One day we were walking down hill on an old farm track through some native hunting for goats. We spooked two cunning old nanny's that jumped down onto the track in front of us and fled at high speed around the corner 30m ahead. We sprinted off after them at full noise hoping to get them on the next straight away. The track was on a cutting, and as we rounded the corner, on the top side of the track, sunning them selves on the cutting no more than 5m from us were two young goats. We were running down hill and way to fast to try and stop to shoot. My brother shouldered his Mini-14 and double tapped both of them at full flight as we ran past them. Neither even got a chance to get to their feed.
We were both so astounded that when we managed to stop running, we both ended up on the ground in a heap of laughter. At the end of the day it was instinctive double tap shooting, as per all the practice we had been doing, only the targets were live (well, they were .....)
i've shot a lot of rabbits at extended range with holdover and standard crosshair. you get to know the sight picture a various distances, so no guess work involved. mind you, I'm old, and learned to shoot with a flintlock and a scope with no aiming aids but the centre cross hair.:P
Undoubtedly correct on all accounts. You're right on the money Craigc.Quote:
Originally Posted by craigc
The humble rabbit is an underrated game animal. They teach you so much, not only about shooting but about hunting and about yourself.
I have my .22's set for 30m. Quite simply this is because 90% of the rabbits I shoot are around that range. I see no point sighting my .22 at 50m just because everyone thinks that's a good distance for a .22 when, in the places I hunt, the rabbits are all sitting closer. Yes I can shoot them at 100m and occasionally I do but quite frankly I prefer to stalk in and get close. This way I miss fewer rabbits and it hones my stalking skills.
I recently put a Burris .22 Droptine Scope on one of the 10/22's and after just one season I can see the advantages but I'm still getting used to it. I've probably not shot any more or any less rabbits for having it but it does seem to make the 60m to 80m shots more accountable because it definitely helps with holdover. Putting a $400 scope on a .22 took some mental reconciliation but at the end of the day I figured I shoot more rounds from my .22's per year than any other calibre, so why have not have a half decent scope?
As for improving your abilities on big game...? Really it's all about being current. When I'm out shooting rabbits 3 times a week, month after month, eventually I can pull off some surprisingly good shots. You can't substitute hands-on time with anything. Experience counts. When the roar comes around in March/April, those last 6 months of rabbit hunting with a .22 bring about confidence in yourself and your abilities that can't be bought from any shop. You're current, you're on top of all your skills, you're practiced. Seeing a deer and putting it down cleanly unfolds instinctively.
CCI subs are doing it for me. They seem to be much better than any other subsonic ammo I've tried.
Can still get tricked by rabbits that are bigger or smaller than you thought, looking closer or further away though! Catches me sometimes at least.Quote:
Originally Posted by Growlybear
