Today I took out one of my safe queens, a .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire (17 HMR), and went to the range. I hadn't shot this rifle in about four years. I grabbed two different boxes of ammo and loaded up my stuff to head out. My destination was the public rifle range on the Ameilia Wildlife Management Area. The range is provided by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries as a sight-in range. All shooting is done from the bench, so no position shooting or field position shooting. I am fortunate that I can practice position shooting on our hunting lease of the Greenbrier Hunt Club. But today, my shooting was from the bench using homemade sandbags as my rest. I made initial windage and elevation adjustments that had me roughly zeroed between the two different rounds. The first load was Hornady's 20 grain XTP bullet. The second was CCI's 20 grain FMJ bullet. Both list 2375 fps as the muzzle velocity.
My rifle is a Savage 93R17 GVL and has a Nikon Prostaff 4X32 scope.
Looking back at the firing line from the 50 yard line. Yep, you have to shoot through the "tubes".
Three of the 17HMR rounds and the rifle's magazine. The round reminds me of a miniature 5.56mm round.
My targets. The three round groups on the squirrel targets were fired using the Hornady 20 grain XTP bullets. My groups could use work. The head bulls were covered by the Nikoplex reticle, so getting a consistent point of aim was a challenge. The reticle subtension at 50 yards is .29 of an inch, for the fine cross hair. When the bull was a bit larger, the group was a tad tighter. The black bull on the right target was fired using the CCI 20 grain FMJ bullet.
I re-fired the squirrel targets using the CCI 20 grain FMJ bullet. One additional three round group per bull. The Hornady bullet seemed to group just a bit to the left of center and the CCI bullet seemed to group just a bit to the right of center.
All in all, a fun time at the range and good feedback on what to work on for the future. Thanks for looking.
Gordy
My rifle is a Savage 93R17 GVL and has a Nikon Prostaff 4X32 scope.
Looking back at the firing line from the 50 yard line. Yep, you have to shoot through the "tubes".
Three of the 17HMR rounds and the rifle's magazine. The round reminds me of a miniature 5.56mm round.
My targets. The three round groups on the squirrel targets were fired using the Hornady 20 grain XTP bullets. My groups could use work. The head bulls were covered by the Nikoplex reticle, so getting a consistent point of aim was a challenge. The reticle subtension at 50 yards is .29 of an inch, for the fine cross hair. When the bull was a bit larger, the group was a tad tighter. The black bull on the right target was fired using the CCI 20 grain FMJ bullet.
I re-fired the squirrel targets using the CCI 20 grain FMJ bullet. One additional three round group per bull. The Hornady bullet seemed to group just a bit to the left of center and the CCI bullet seemed to group just a bit to the right of center.
All in all, a fun time at the range and good feedback on what to work on for the future. Thanks for looking.
Gordy
