CZ457 Synthetic & Max.Distance For Vermin Control

[Perlogalism]

Odd you should ask this as yesterday my local RFD has a little .22LR friendly competition at his home range. I've never even tried using mine over 70yards so it was interesting (and shocking) to see what we could do at 100.
Safe to say none of the 6 of us could have had more than a 50% chance of killing a bunny at that range and there were a couple of good shots amongst us.

What surprised me most was how the grouping opened up between 50 and 100 yards. It wasn't twice as bad, more like 4 times!

We'll be doing it again as everybody has a great time and I used less than £10 of ammo Next time though, I'll try a variety of ammo and see what happens. Regardless, the .22 will stay in the safe when I'm out on the bunnies.

 

[Rimfires Rifles The Field]

Odd you should ask this as yesterday my local RFD has a little .22LR friendly competition at his home range. I've never even tried using mine over 70yards so it was interesting (and shocking) to see what we could do at 100.
Safe to say none of the 6 of us could have had more than a 50% chance of killing a bunny at that range and there were a couple of good shots amongst us.

What surprised me most was how the grouping opened up between 50 and 100 yards. It wasn't twice as bad, more like 4 times!

We'll be doing it again as everybody has a great time and I used less than £10 of ammo Next time though, I'll try a variety of ammo and see what happens. Regardless, the .22 will stay in the safe when I'm out on the bunnies.

 

[Rimfires Rifles The Field]

Odd you should ask this as yesterday my local RFD has a little .22LR friendly competition at his home range. I've never even tried using mine over 70yards so it was interesting (and shocking) to see what we could do at 100.
Safe to say none of the 6 of us could have had more than a 50% chance of killing a bunny at that range and there were a couple of good shots amongst us.

What surprised me most was how the grouping opened up between 50 and 100 yards. It wasn't twice as bad, more like 4 times!

We'll be doing it again as everybody has a great time and I used less than £10 of ammo Next time though, I'll try a variety of ammo and see what happens. Regardless, the .22 will stay in the safe when I'm out on the bunnies.

Ah right, a .22LR comps. sounds like a lot of fun and definitely enlightening when pushing the distance out to 100 yards.

I see you have a Lithgow LA101in .22LR, very nice.I recently shot four groups at 100 yards with my 457.This was with standing with rifle rested on the car roof, with the forend on a front bag and a flat cushion as a rear bag.This was using two different ammo brands and no fouling between brands as I wanted to see what the effect would be without fouling.
The worst group 100 yard group was two inches and the best was 1.5 inches.The four group average was 1.7 inches, which I am very happy about,lol. .I was just happy to be able to put everything at two inches or under.

Yeah, as you know at 100 yards ammo choice will determine absolutely good results or not so good results.I think with a nice rifle like the Lithgow and good match ammo you will be surprised at how well it will shoot.

Yup, love .22LR.A bit of a fanboy really,lol.

 

[Rimfires Rifles The Field]

@Perlogalism P.S.These were the worst and best groups when I did the 100 yard testing.The orientation of the shots in both groups is vertical, not left to right as it appears in the photo as this was just the angle I took the picture at.
Actually there was one group at two inches, but these were the typical groups on the day with the 1.7 inch average.

 

[Skid]

Of all my rifles .22 rimfires would be the last to go, used them for so long and they are so reliable and just keep on working with minimal maintenance, unlike the pcp air rifles I’ve got/had. I use them out to 100 yards or just over, much further and I use magnum rimfire or centrefire. So versatile with different ammo, but so many nay sayers these days, they’ll never sway me….

 

[2506sendero]

So versatile with different ammo, but so many nay sayers these days, they’ll never sway me......

Same here.
FAC air has its place, but will forever be overshadowed by the LR for most small vermin control applications IMO -
130 + years of history, and millions of rifles, and rounds of ammunition purchased, says it all really, it's still the King and doing what it was designed to do all those years ago
The fantastic HMR came along many years later, and added the icing & cherry to the rimfire cake for those who wished/needed to shoot out further

 

[3595wilk]

I have FAC air and .22LR. .22LR is what I always seem to reach for....

 

[Perlogalism]

Ah right, a .22LR comps. sounds like a lot of fun and definitely enlightening when pushing the distance out to 100 yards.

I see you have a Lithgow LA101in .22LR, very nice

Thanks, it is a nice rifle and I don't use it half as much as I should. It was one of those Forum bargains from AGF1

 

[Rimfires Rifles The Field]

Of all my rifles .22 rimfires would be the last to go, used them for so long and they are so reliable and just keep on working with minimal maintenance, unlike the pcp air rifles I’ve got/had. I use them out to 100 yards or just over, much further and I use magnum rimfire or centrefire. So versatile with different ammo, but so many nay sayers these days, they’ll never sway me….

100% agree with you @Skid, .22lr is also my favorite calibre, am bit of a .22LR fanboy,lol. Love my 457. 100 yards in very calm conditions would be for me fine also. Agree, whack some H.V. rounds in a .22lr and the trajectory flattens considerably.

Right, pcps,lol.I had an S510 that went bad withing weeks.I also had two second hand HW100s that had issues.One HW100 went back to the distributors to be fixed but cam back equally bad as when it left.I do love pcps when they work, but have had much woe with them.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Rimfires Rifles The Field]

I have FAC air and .22LR. .22LR is what I always seem to reach for....

I do like pcps generally, but have had issues with two second hand HW100s and one new S510, so this made me not want to own one, but am now considering a nice sub 12 pcp.
.22LR is my favourite calibre full stop.Use H.V. and you get a much flatter trajectory.You want subtle and quiet use subs.

 

[keithy]

Thanks confidis.Really good information.The scope in the photo above is a Hawke x2-x7 Vantage.A great field scope and I also hunt on x 7 mag.Yes, holdovers are something I would need to work on past 80 yards - with my zero of 50m I know what to hold up to 80, but no further and as you mentioned with subs., one needs to know this.

I have an excellent hawke Endurance Oled range finder which is brilliant for being able to easily see the distnce read out in difficult lighting conditions.

Shooting off the wing mirror sounds interesting and also seems very stable.

Hi i dont have a rimfire yet but have a 7x mag scope I have found if you use a higher mag scope your groups will improve at upto 100 yds and they are much easier to do. At 7x you dont see the shake. I use an ffp scope and krank up the mag until the high mag creates its own shake i usually end up at around 16-18 x magnification. Try it, for me it definitely makes accuracy easier. I am using fac air.

 

[Skid]

100% agree with you @Skid, .22lr is also my favorite calibre, am bit of a .22LR fanboy,lol. Love my 457. 100 yards in very calm conditions would be for me fine also. Agree, whack some H.V. rounds in a .22lr and the trajectory flattens considerably.

Right, pcps,lol.I had an S510 that went bad withing weeks.I also had two second hand HW100s that had issues.One HW100 went back to the distributors to be fixed but cam back equally bad as when it left.I do love pcps when they work, but have had much woe with them.

Thanks for the reply.

Yerr, pcp’s are great (when they’re working)….

 

[confidis]

Very true Kev, H.V. rounds can make life a lot easier.I am sometimes surprised that more .22LR shooters do not use them because as you say, .22LR is versatile when you have the option of a high velocity round.Yup, 17 HMR is a great flat shooting round.I am a bit of a .22LR fanboy though,lol.

I have tried the HVs but haven't practiced enough with them as I have hmr I'd have to swap between HV and subs and compare the poi's it would be nice if the HV zero was 100 without fiddling.

 

[Rimfires Rifles The Field]

Hi i dont have a rimfire yet but have a 7x mag scope I have found if you use a higher mag scope your groups will improve at upto 100 yds and they are much easier to do. At 7x you dont see the shake. I use an ffp scope and krank up the mag until the high mag creates its own shake i usually end up at around 16-18 x magnification. Try it, for me it definitely makes accuracy easier. I am using fac air.

Thanks keithy, I have long felt a higher power mag. scope would really help the distance shooting.I keep the Hawke Vantage x2 x7 I currently use as it works well as a field scope.

 

[Rimfires Rifles The Field]

I have tried the HVs but haven't practiced enough with them as I have hmr I'd have to swap between HV and subs and compare the poi's it would be nice if the HV zero was 100 without fiddling.

Have not used H.V. much, but I believe the drop off is approx.1.5 inches at 100 yards using a 50 yard zero versus about 6-7 inches with subsonics also using a 50 yard zero.

 

[keithy]

Thanks keithy, I have long felt a higher power mag. scope would really help the distance shooting.I keep the Hawke Vantage x2 x7 I currently use as it works well as a field scope.

Yes 7x is easier, a great depth of field and no need to focus. However for 60yds plus and strictly head shots only for my air rifle i need the precision more than you, so i make my target bigger.

 

[One on top of two]

Have not used H.V. much, but I believe the drop off is approx.1.5 inches at 100 yards using a 50 yard zero versus about 6-7 inches with subsonics also using a 50 yard zero.

What sort of groups are you getting ? I always found them to be shocking at pretty much any distance beyond 50m , for typical example 50mm + at 100m

 

[Rimfires Rifles The Field]

Yes 7x is easier, a great depth of field and no need to focus. However for 60yds plus and strictly head shots only for my air rifle i need the precision more than you, so i make my target bigger.

S

What sort of groups are you getting ? I always found them to be shocking at pretty much any distance beyond 50m , for typical example 50mm + at 100m

Sorry keithy I meant that at 100 yards I could do with more magnification.

 

[Rimfires Rifles The Field]

What sort of groups are you getting ? I always found them to be shocking at pretty much any distance beyond 50m , for typical example 50mm + at 100m

Have not done enough testing to quantify group size with the high velocity ammo yet.

 

[One on top of two]

Have not done enough testing to quantify group size with the high velocity ammo yet.

Ok buddy great stuff would be genuinely Interested in your results. I have spend half a lifetime playing /testing .22lr at all ranges, out to ELR distances .