Thread: This IS an accurate 22

I've been a 22 accuracy nut for a long time. My favorites are sporter weight, modestly priced jobbies i.e making accuacy not buying it!

Here is a target from the newest addition to the flock. Its a TC Contender but not your usual . . . I've had a few Contender barrelsets but long wanted a really accurate 22 one. So a long time ago @Scout sold me a used unknown brand "euro" barrel that had come off a target rifle. Its so long ago I forgot the price but it wasn't expensive - thanks Scout! It sat in the safe a long time waiting for the right project.

Recently @akaroa1 has been doing some very fine 'smithing with Contenders and allowed that he had a barrel that was available to "stub" - thats where a new barrel is fitted to an existing barrelset by drilling out the old barrel and fitting the new one. Sounds easy but is an exacting job.

Once offered the 'stub' it was a no brainer to try the "Scout" barrel. A bit of liason with one of NZ pre-eminent Bench rest guys saw Akaroa lent a match chamber reamer. Some magic later I recieved a beautifully built and deeply blued barrel.

I've been busy with family for a couple of weeks, my son shot it a bit and it went pretty well, despite the less than ideal ergonomics of the Contender and more wind than ideal.

Tonight was perfect for shooting here, just a wee occasional shower but who cares if ya have a covered firing point! Time to see what it would do!

Warmed it up with some S&B that shoots pretty good in another rifle . .. but not the Contender. Onto a decent batch off Norma Tac - hey whats wrong with a 0.486 group at 50 yards. Try another RWS eh R50 smoked into 0.281. Onto the Poms, Eley Club 0.499, Match 0.505 and holy smoke, Edge into 0.197!

Thanks Scout and Akaroa!

A Contender is gonna be a bit of a handicap at the PRS matches Tentman! Buts its rounds on target right? no point in missing fast. Look forward to seeing it next time your up here at Sparrowhawk

Haha - PRS, I don't think so, it's a very difficult little suckered to shoot groups with, short everywhere so you kinda have to curl yourself around it. However it's beautifully balanced for offhand shooting and soooo pointy! Just the ticket for a walking varminter! Yup see ya at Sparrowhawk soon.

Haha, I'm so pleased it shoots well for you, actually Akaroa tells me it was brand new as it wasn't chambered so hadn't been shot before !

I now have a Brno Model 1 action with no barrel that would of been a good home for it but I'm pleased you got it & it is of use.

Funny , I did the same thing 20 years ago with an old anschutz barrel on a rebarrelled contender stub. It was shootin pretty good as well.
I remember doing a 14x1 thread in the stub, because that was the only tap I had on hand at the time for the job.

That's a 22 barrel with expensive tastes
Only the best will do

I'm glad it shoots well because 22 target rifles are not my natural happy place

But Contender barrels are hard to find in the calibers you want
I got lucky and brought a factory Contender 22 LR match chambered barrel last year
It also shoots well for my needs with a Leupold 4x rimfire scope

I've never put a high magnification scope in any of my contenders
But they have all done vastly better than you would expect for what they are

As Tentman said they excell at walking off hand shooting

Has anyone tried the Limbsaver de-resinator , a basic barrel tuner of sorts . I wonder if this would be well suited to tune for different rimfire ammo or batches ?
Relatively cheap.

They do work but are a lot of phaffing around, I find it easier to just buy more ammo . . . and it's easy to lose the tune with the rubber ones.

A mechanical barrel tuner would work on a Contender because it has a parallel barrel
This one is clamp on and micro adjustable
But I like the " but more ammo And test " solution

Originally Posted by Tentman

They do work but are a lot of phaffing around, I find it easier to just buy more ammo . . . and it's easy to lose the tune with the rubber ones.

I'll be honest , I bought one to try and never got around to it . The rabbits were wiped out by VHD and I sold my 17HMR . Hence it now resides in a drawer, somewhere ?