Advice on 200 - 400 yards

[Biscuits]

So, I took my Tikka T1x (22LR, 16 inch barrel, suppressed) out to 200 yards and got something passable, which should get better with a bit more work on my side.

Looking for tips to get better at 200 yards and stretch it to 400, both in technique and ammo selection.

The best effort at 200 yards today was in a light variable crosswind, maybe 5 mph, with a 10 shot group measuring 2 inches vertically and 4 inches horizontally. I also shot a 6 x 5 card and the first 3 groups of five were reasonably tight, but the last 3 turned to crap. Really crap. I'm wondering if my barrel heated up or if it was just me. Was a warm day and direct sun and I was firing as fast as I could get a stable aim point. There was mirage and heat haze coming off the ground and I couldn't see jack even through a spotting scope so did not reassess my shooting once the last half of the 6 x 5 card headed south.

I have been using RWS Special Match which was producing the best groups at 50. Have tried Lapua Center-X which has tight groups, except it gives me frequent flyers impacting several inches below the rest of the group. No windage flyers, just low elevation.

This guy has been using CCI Velocitors to shoot a 22lr to 1000 yards. I'm wondering if I should try the Velocitors or stick to the subsonic ammo.

 

[littlepod]

What are you trying to do? Tight, consistent, repeatable groups, or just spraying and praying at 1000 yards? If you're going to only be trying to hit things at 400-1000 yards, then sure go to velocitors... but then again why not just get a centerfire?

Ammo in general is the biggest factor in spread at 200 and beyond. Generally .1" per FPS is the general size at 200 yards. So if you have an ES of 20, your group size will be 2". This isn't handloaded centerfire ammo with an SD of 2 and an ES of 4.

If you're curious if it's you or the rifle, get a chrono and chrono every shot. If it shoots low, and the FPS is low, then you know it's the ammo. If it's shooting random flyers low, and the ammo MV is spot on, then it's you or maybe your rifle not liking that brand of ammo.

 

[Biscuits]

What are you trying to do? Tight, consistent, repeatable groups, or just spraying and praying at 1000 yards? If you're going to only be trying to hit things at 400-1000 yards, then sure go to velocitors... but then again why not just get a centerfire?

Tight and consistent groups. A low cost trainer compared to my 308. Also I like the idea of seeing what a 22LR can do

 

[PAYDIRT]

Tight and consistent groups. A low cost trainer compared to my 308. Also I like the idea of seeing what a 22LR can do

223 for the win.

 

[littlepod]

Tight and consistent groups. A low cost trainer compared to my 308. Also I like the idea of seeing what a 22LR can do

Low cost trainer, I would do 100 yard 1.5moa sized drills. Or 50 yard .5" drills. Just like how I would do a 308 100 yard drills.

And there's 2 types of training... using my 22, I can do good training for PRS like drills, positional barricades, tank traps etc. Shooting a 22 in prone, I find that it really did nothing in terms of exposing my poor fundamentals on my 308 in terms of proper fundamentals of recoil management. As in I could shoot tiny little groups on my 22, and then when I get behind my 308 I was terrible.

So I'd still practice recoil mgmt on the 308 every once in a while, but for the most part all the drills like drop down and get behind the rifle on target in < 10s are great drills to run on the 22.

 

[justin amateur]

Tight and consistent groups.

Optimist.

If you think finding rimfire that does well at 50 yards is difficult,
expect it to be 9 times more difficult to find 22lr that does well at 200 yards.
I've been trying for 2-1/2 years and it's been a roller coaster of cartridge quality.