At the request of our readers, we have launched a “Deals of the Week” feature. Every Monday morning we offer our Bargain Selections. Here are some of the best deals on hardware, reloading components, and shooting accessories. Be aware that sale prices are subject to change, and once clearance inventory is sold, it’s gone for good. You snooze you lose.
Quite simply, this is a steal. This Sightron 10-50x60mm SIII scope originally retailed for around $1250.00. You can grab it now for well under $800.00. If you want a high-magnification scope for Long Range Competition, this is a good choice. It has been used successfully by many top competitors. There is also a Fine Cross-Hair (FCH) model ($1039.00) and a Mil-Dot model ($960.00).
2. CDNN Sports — Baikal MP161K Rimfire .22 LR Rifle
Here’s a very cool semi-auto rimfire rifle from Russia. The modern design of the Baikal MP161K is very ergonomic, making it useful for off-hand shooting. It has an adjustable comb and adjustable LOP. We tried it for some informal silhouette shooting and the testers like it. On the bench the flat “toe” in the rear of the stock works well in the bags. At $229.99, this rifle costs less than a Ruger 10/22. Out of the box we think it’s a better rifle — with a better stock and better trigger. It also comes with a scope rail AND iron sights. A 10-round magazine is included.
3. Cabela’s — Herter’s Range Bag $9.99
Range bag for under ten bucks — this $9.99 Herters Range Bag measures 15″ long x 9″ wide. Along with the main compartment, there are four additional zippered pockets suitable for muffs, ammo, safety glasses, and more. There is a removable shoulder strap. If you order other items from Cabelas.com, you can even get free shipping. Use Coupon “5JOLLY” for Free Shipping with orders over $49.00.
4. Midsouth — $100.00 Off All Leupold VX-3 Scopes with Rebate
Click Image to Zoom for details
No doubt about it — this is one of the best deals going. This $100.00 rebate offer applies to Leupold’s entire line of VX-3 Optics. And Midsouth has sweetened the deal by offering FREE shipping on VX-3s purchased this month. The Leupold $100 cash-back program is good through December 31, 2015. CLICK Here for VX-3 scopes with $100 Rebate and Free Shipping.
5. Grafs.com — Federal .22 LR Ammo $48.99 for 500 Rounds
You can’t have too much rimfire ammo… particularly when you can get quality, American-made .22 LR ammunition for under $50.00 a brick. This Federal HV Match ammo is good for varminting, cross-training, and general plinking. Graf’s price includes shipping after a single $7.95 handling charge. Buy while you can — this will sell out fast.
6. Amazon — Kowa 60mm TSN-601 Spotting Scope Body
If you are looking for a rugged, reliable, and affordable spotting scope to watch flags, mirage, and shot spotting discs, this angled-body Kowa TSN-61 will do the job. These Kowa spotters have been used successfully for years by prone and High Power competitors. Sure the glass is not as sharp as the latest top-of-the-line HD spotting scopes, but the TSN-61 is a small fraction of the price of high-end models which can run $2000 or more. The money you save can buy four premium hand-lapped barrels. NOTE: This item is the scope body only. Eyepieces are sold separately — expect to pay about $250.00 for a Kowa 20-60X Zoom eyepiece.
Safety eyewear for two bucks. That’s right, you can get ANSI Z87.1-rated safety glasses (clear or amber lenses) for just $1.99. At that price you should pick up a half-dozen sets, just so you have extras for friends and family. We strongly recommend that shooters wear eye protection at all times when handling firearms. You only have one set of eyes folks — take care of them. This eyewear special is offered by CDNN Sports in the latest catalog (pp. 101-102). Call 800-588-9500 to order.
8. Amazon — ShotShell Thermo Bottle
Looking for a perfect, last-minute holiday gift for a shooter in your family? This is a great gift item that is as useful as it is clever. Verified purchasers of this 25 oz. Shotshell Thermo bottle give it high marks, saying it is a great gift for a hunter or sportsman.
9. Amazon — 8x30mm Military Marine Binoculars
Your Editor uses these Steiner 8×30 binoculars. For most duties, they work great. They are compact, light-weight (18 oz.) and easy to hold. The best feature is the focusing system. Once you adjust each eyepiece for your eyes, everything from about 25 yards to infinity is in focus — honest. The $202.49 price at Amazon.com is $30-$50 less than you’ll pay at other vendors. NOTE: If you want better dawn/dusk low-light performance, spend more money on premium binoculars. But for basic daylight duties, these will do the job. NOTE: Steiner offers a 10x50mm version, but the 8x30mm is HALF the weight. Verfified Purchaser Review: “I bought these binoculars for a recent hunting trip. They are…very clear at any range. I have very different eyes, one is 20/200, the other is nearly perfect, 20/30. The sports auto-focus on this is GREAT. Once I set them for my eyes, they were perfect.”
We congratulate Rebecca Richards of Australia for her incredible shooting in the recent RBA Benchrest Grand Prix at the Sydney International Shooting Centre. Consider this, out of the five (5) benchrest classes competing (two air rifle, and three rimfire) Rebecca won four classes outright while placing third in the fifth class. Wow — that represents complete and total domination. Remarkably, Rebecca dropped only 10 points in four days of shooting.
Rebecca’s amazing 4-day performance was near perfection. Overall, she scored 2740 out of a total of 2750 possible points. She shot four of 11 targets with perfect 250/250 scores, and six more with 249/250. Over the course of the event she hit 152 “dots” (center bulls) out of a total possible 275. That’s pretty amazing if you understand how small those center bulls really are. Take a look at the target photo below — the center dot is tiny.
All in all, this was a performance for the ages — one of the best combined airgun/rimfire benchrest performances in Southern Hemisphere history. Kudos to Rebecca for her brilliant performance.
Here’s the modern Sydney International Shooting Centre…
Report based on Story inNRABlog.
It’s official — Indiana is IN and Ohio is OUT. The Chief Wa-Ke-De Range in Bristol, Indiana, is now the permanent home of the NRA National Smallbore Rifle Championships. The Smallbore Championships will no longer be contested at the historic Camp Perry facility on the shores of Lake Erie near Port Clinton, Ohio. After the Smallbore Nationals were relocated to Indiana for the past two years to facilitate the 2015 World Long Range Championships, many competitors expected a return to Camp Perry. However, the NRA Smallbore Committee has decided to make Bristol, Indiana the permanent venue for the Smallbore Championships.
Situated about three hours west of Camp Perry, the Wa-Ke-De Range has some advantages over the Camp Perry facility. First, the 100-point firing line is covered in asphalt instead of grass. In addition, the range sits in a large grove of trees that provide a beautiful setting and shelter from the wind — practically the opposite of Camp Perry’s notorious wind and open fields.
Despite this, many smallbore competitors wished for the Nationals to return to Camp Perry. One poll of shooters ran roughly 3:1 in favor of returning to Perry. On his personal website, Bill Dutton has posted an Open Letter to the NRA which states many reasons why the Smallbore Championships should be returned to Camp Perry. Among other things, Bill notes: “The facilities are perfect for a large Regional but The Chief Wa-Ke’-De Rifle Range lacks the grand scale which a Camp Perry provides. Competitors and parents look forward to browsing vendor row at Camp Perry in order to replenish supplies for the coming season… in addition to trying out the latest shooting equipment. The nearest hotel [was] in Elkhart, about 15 minutes away. Camp Perry has sufficient onsite lodging for hundreds of competitors and their families. I personally had a bill for $1,400 for the hotel I and my daughter stayed in. Compared to a Hut at Camp Perry where four people can sleep for $12.50 per night, translating to equivalent cost of $175 per person for two weeks.”
View Photo Gallery from 2014 Smallbore Championships
2016 Championships Scheduled for July 10-18, 2016
The 2016 Smallbore Championships will be held 10-18 July, 2016, with registration opening on April 1, 2016. As before, the Metric and Conventional Position Championships will fall under the umbrella of the NRA Smallbore 3-Position Championship. Note: The Metric Prone Championship was removed but the 50-yard match was added to the NRA Smallbore Prone Championship. From these two main championships (3-Position and Prone), an overall NRA National Smallbore Rifle Champion will be crowned.
Team championships in both position and prone will still be awarded. 3-Position team matches will be shot as “paper matches,” meaning the scores will be taken from a shooter’s individual performance in the 3-Position Championship. Prone team matches will still be shot on their own and will be held following each day’s individual prone matches.
The late Bill Myers was recognized as one of greatest rimfire smiths who ever lived. Myers crafted many match-winning, record-setting rimfire benchrest rigs. Here we feature one of Bill’s most interesting creations — a clamping action that allows a rimfire barrel to be indexed (rotated) around the bore axis.
Bill was a creative thinker, and his own exhaustive testing has convinced him that barrel indexing can enhance accuracy in rimfire benchrest guns. Myers did acknowledge that, particularly with a very good barrel, the advantages of indexing may be subtle, and extensive testing may be required. Nonetheless, Myers believed that indexing could improve rimfire accuracy.
Indexing with the Myers’ Clamping Action
To index the barrel, Myers simply loosens the three clamping-bolts and rotates the barrel in the action. Because there is no thread to pull the barrel in or out, the headspace stays the same no matter how much the barrel is rotated. In other words you can rotate the barrel to any position on the clockface and the headspace remains unchanged.
The Challenge of Barrel Indexing With a conventional barrel installation, employing a shoulder with a threaded tenon, it is difficult to index the barrel. Even with a cone breech (photo right) that eliminates the problem of extractor cuts, you’d have to use shims to alter the barrel index position, or otherwise re-set the shoulder each time you screwed the barrel in further.
Clamping Action Allows Barrel to Be Rotated to Any Position
Bill has come up with a masterful solution to barrel indexing. He designed and built his own prototype custom action that clamps the barrel rather than holding it with threads. The front section of the action is sliced lengthways, and then clamped down with three bolts. A special bushing (the gold-color piece in photos) fits between the barrel and the action. By using bushings of different inside diameters, Bill can fit any barrel up to an inch or so diameter, so long as it has a straight contour at the breech end. To mount the barrel, Bill simply places the fitted bushing over the barrel end-shank, then slips the “sleeved” barrel into the front end of the action. Tighten three bolts, and the barrel is secure.
People are still complaining that affordable .22 LR rimfire ammo can’t be found. Well folks, we found some. Just call Bullets.com or Midsouth Shooter’s Supply and get yourself some Norma Tac-22 or Match-22. This is good stuff, at reasonable prices. Check out this review of Tac-22 by rimfire specialist .22 Plinkster. This Norma ammo won’t win rimfire benchrest matches, but it is plenty good enough for fun shooting, offhand practice, and tactical rimfire games.
.22 Plinkster Review of Norma Tac-22 Ammunition
Summary by .22 Plinkster (see 4:30 time mark): “I’m pretty impressed with it … I think it’s a really good deal. For six dollars and fifty cents [per box] you can’t go wrong with a box of this ammo. Out of a good bolt gun, this ammo will drive tacks.”
For centerfire ammo, you can choose from dozens of flip-top boxes, storage bins, or milsurp-style ammo cans. For rimfire ammo, there are not so many good choices. Our preferred rimfire ammo carrier is the MTM SB-200 Small-Bore Fitted Ammo Box. This flip-top plastic box holds 100 rimfire rounds in 10×5 black grids on the left and right. In the center is a storage area that will hold another 100 rounds in factory boxes. MTM’s SB-200 box was recently re-designed so it will now hold 17 HMR rounds, as well as 17 Mach 2, 22 short, 22 Win Mag Rimfire, and of course 22 Long Rifle (.22LR)
MTM Case-Gard 200 Round Smallbore Box
This is really the only product of its kind on the market. It allows you to conveniently and securely hold 200 rimfire rounds, and also segregate your ammo by brand or bullet type. These boxes fit all types of popular rimfire ammunition. The vertical clearance of the lid is sufficient to hold the longer .22 WMR Rounds, and 17 HMR (as well as .22 LR naturally). The lid fits securely so you don’t have to worry about your rimfire ammo spilling out on the way to the range.
If you don’t have one of these boxes yet, we recommend you order one or two. They cost less than $15.00 and are available in Blue or “Rust” (a brick color).
Photo shows Bryan Litz (on right) and tester Mitchell Fitzpatrick. Bryan said: “Only 2,445 rounds to go! We’re testing over 50 ammo types in five different twist barrels… science can be exhausting!”
Do you know the actual BC (Ballistic Coefficient) of your rimfire ammunition? Well Applied Ballisitics will soon have answers for you. Bryan Litz and his team of testers have been working on a Herculean project. They’ve been testing over fifty types of .22 LR ammo, using five different twist-rate barrels.
The 17 Winchester Super Magnum Rimfire (aka Win Super Mag or WSM) is the fastest, most potent modern rimfire round you can buy. This cartridge, which uses a modified nail gun casing, drives 20gr bullets at 3000 fps. The 17 WSM offers superior ballistics to all .22 rimfires, and is a clear step ahead of the 17 HMR. That makes this round a potential “game-changer” in the varmint fields. To guage the capabilities of the 17 WSM, Varminter.com tested the cartridge in the new Ruger 77/17 bolt-action rifle. Click HERE for Varminter.com Ruger 77/17, 17 WSM Review.
17 WSM shoots faster than the 17 HMR, so the 20gr bullets don’t drift as much in the wind:
Varminter.com reports: “The much-anticipated Ruger 77/17 chambered in the 17 Winchester Super Magnum (17WSM) has been released. Our Review Editor, William Chambers, put it through a full range test with all four currently-available ammunition loads. Afterwards, he took it on a short groundhog hunt[.] We put a lot of rounds through the guns we test, at targets, through chronographs and out in the field. This report includes all currently available 17 WSM ammunition and a sneak peek of the really nice Nikon Prostaff 5 riflescope.” READ REVIEW.
GUNS Magazine has just released a 180-page Special Edition dedicated to .22 Rimfire products — guns, accessories, and ammo. Rimfire fans may want to pick up the latest .22 Rimfire Book which covers all .22 rimfire types, from CB caps to the .22 WMR. The cover story features the new .22LR Charger handgun from Ruger. Varminters will enjoy the discussion of the .22 Magnum, a versatile round that is effective on squirrels and other small critters. Other features in this Special Edition include a review of the Volquartsen Custom Deluxe pistol, Dave Anderson’s take on the top .22 target pistols, and an article on Sig Sauer’s newest silencers.
Our favorite story was a history of High Standard’s .22 Match Pistols by contributor Robert Kolesar. High Standards are lovely guns, with a well-deserved reputation for accuracy. “Unlike a number of classic guns from the past, the High Standards I remember fondly are still in production,” Kolesar writes. “And they haven’t changed to keep the liability lawyers or bean counters quiet. Arguably, it’s a better pistol, with tighter quality control, sight upgrades not available previously and a good factory trigger — just too good a pistol to be forgotten.”
Any experienced varmint hunter knows the value of a good .17 HMR rifle, particular when used inside 150 yards on small critters such as ground squirrels. The .17 HMR is a great round, but for general plinking and target practice, we prefer shooting the venerable .22 Long Rifle. The .22 LR has less recoil and less noise. Importantly, .22 LR ammo (even with today’s shortages) remains much less expensive than .17 HMR ammunition.
Wouldn’t it be great if a single, affordable varmint rifle could shoot both .22 LR and .17 HMR? Well, CZ offers just such a rig — the CZ Model 455 American Combo, a versatile switch-caliber rifle priced at about $485.00 (MSRP is $531.00). The American Combo comes complete with both .22 LR and .17 HMR barrels, easily interchanged with a simple Allen wrench. As CZ explains: “The CZ 455 eliminates the need to spend the extra expense on a second rifle when you want to add another quality shooter to your rimfire battery”. For a bit more money, you can even purchase a .22 WMR barrel, making your CZ a triple-threat varmint-slayer.
With a conventional barrel installation, employing a shoulder with a threaded tenon, it is difficult to index the barrel. Even with a cone breech (photo right) that eliminates the problem of extractor cuts, you’d have to use shims to alter the barrel index position, or otherwise re-set the shoulder each time you screwed the barrel in further.
