My .22 Magnum - How it shoots after 3000 rounds

[JAS-SH]

Hi all,

Thought I would post new report on my CZ 457 based .22 magnum rifle (only thing CZ made that's left is the action), which is now about 3-years old. I shoot the crap out of this thing. It has somewhere ~3K plus rounds through it. And it's shooting better than ever. I use it as an inexpensive trainer for my centerfire 6mm PRS rifle. I always post a picture of the rifle on these posts and you'll find one below.

I installed a Lilja barrel early on. It's a 23-inch .900 straight barrel with a 15:1 twist. It prefers 30 grain VMAX rounds in both CCI and Hornady flavors, with Hornady having a slight edge in precision. It is an outstanding barrel. Not bad at all for a .22 magnum.

So, I'm posting targets below from my last 3 outings. I normally shoot 50-100 shots in a session and the targets below are the better ones. The worst targets I get are still quite less than 1-MOA and those are mostly my screw ups. All are shot at 52 yards onto an ARA sized target. I always shoot 5-shot groups.

So here's a bunch of them - please remember that the MOA measurements are calculated for 100 yards. I shoot at 52 yards. So, group size in inches are ~half the MOA size. It shoots great. Not only the groups, it's the accuracy - very consistent.

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And the Rifle:

 

[Tomiboy]

That's fantastic. I always thought 22 magnums were not very accurate

 

[justin amateur]

The rifles aren't the problem.

It's the ammunition that suffers from inconsistent results.

But since it's intended to be hunting ammo, not for benchrest competition,
the velocity variations and odd strays can be ignored.

For offhand use and center of critter out to 100 plus yards,
the 22 wmr gets the job done, right?

 

[JAS-SH]

That's fantastic. I always thought 22 magnums were not very accurate

It will surprise you to know that the accuracy and precision I get from this rifle is less about the rifle and ammo, except for picking the best ammo for the barrel. That of course happens first and it takes time, and money.

It's all about spending 3-years behind this rifle - shooting thousands of rounds, which in turn transfers to all other rifles, and then learning what works, and what doesn't - from behind the rifle. I tested all different kinds of things when it comes to human/rifle interaction, and yes, it always came back to - me. The rifle and ammo were always capable of doing better than I could.

And then, it all came together by just following a very few - hard to learn on your own - set of rules. I paid that price and it was worth it.

And it not only works, it now works most all of the time. Do I still screw up behind the rifle? Certainly. But I have distilled that whole thing to what makes a difference and what doesn't (so many examples). And there are not a lot of things that make a difference! I can tell you it comes down to very few fine adjustments behind the rifle, and rifle setup, to get excellent repeatability.

This is not the same as PRS. This is benchrest accuracy. And it is not as hard as most people believe it is if you follow about 5 or so rules (haven't counted them). The end result is a high degree of repeatability. I worked hard on this, and it's paying off on my 6mm rifle as well.

So, rimfire practice helps, and it helps a lot, if you can spend the time and apply it correctly...

 

[acudaowner]

here's to many more 3k rounds .

 

[TmisterE]

I have been looking for something to replace my Winchester model 9422M for a while and this could be the answer. I need something to go with my Smith model 48 22MRF, I think I need a CZ 457 Varmint.

 

[45cal4life]

When it comes to critters inside 125 yards, suppressed 22mag for the min

 

[Boatninja]

I have a Lilja barreled CZ setup very similar to yours with around 600 rounds downrange that shoots very nicely, almost as good as yours with 30 Gr. loads also seeming to be the preferred load. It is consistent enough that when I don't seem to be getting the results with my centerfire rifle that I like to see, I shoot a few with the CZ to see if it's the rifle/my loads, or me. It gets duty in the fall and winter doing Cormorant control on bass-stocked ranch ponds and tanks where it really excels. I tried the same setup in .17 HMR but they didn't seem to go through the heavy Cormorant feathers at similar ranges. It is great sport.