My granny used to shoot coins - she would tape up a half-dollar, quarter, nickel, penny and a dime on a 2x4 and would hit each one almost every time. I wish I knew what she was shooting back then - it was a six-wheel but not sure what make. She did shooting demonstrations with the Michigan State Troopers back in the 40's. Last time I saw her shoot I was 3 years old in 1970 and it had a huge impact on me! May she rest in peace at the Great Range in the Sky!

Soda cans, tin cans, an old orange Gatorade cooler, driftwood, you name it. Make friends with someone who owns acres of untouched land and you can plink just about anytime at just about anything.

Gophers

Lots of gophers

Steel spinners, golf balls, balloons, playing cards.

Full pop cans, metallic targets, possums.

My daughter has a rack of swinging metal plates that is fun with the .22 rifles. We also play "chase the tennis ball to the berm." The kid usually wins. One of the ranges we used to go to had steel animals set up at various distances. It was fun to ring those.

I'm not much of a plinker, so mainly I do this on the very rare occasions when my daughter - now 15 and way too cool for shooting - agrees to tag along.

Empty soda cans, full soda cans, fallen branches, twigs, dirt clods, anything that's of interest across the pond, turtles, 'possums, snakes, and an angry momma 'coon.

WM

I don't know if they're a local thing or if they are available nationally, but I used to shoot at those NECCO wafer candies. They were a quarter sized candy with the consistency of chalk. I'd pick them up cheap in bulk and they'll explode like a clay pigeon if you can hit the little buggers.

Eggs, clays, cans, golfballs, and some home made steel targets.

how accurate in general are .22lr rifles at 100 yds, are they fun to shoot at that distance, ive never shot mine much over 50 yds

Originally Posted by cbrgator

how accurate in general are .22lr rifles at 100 yds, are they fun to shoot at that distance, ive never shot mine much over 50 yds

In general they're pretty good. .22LR however poses an interesting physics problem at long ranges; through a rifle, a standard-velocity .22 is supersonic at muzzle, but at 100 yards it has slowed to subsonic. As the bullet slows through the sound barrier, the shock wave catches up and can disrupt the bullet mid-flight. The solution is to use either subsonic rounds which are subsonic at muzzle (they can also be silenced) but have a more ballistic trajectory, or high-velocity rounds which stay supersonic longer and thus aren't affected as much accuracy-wise by the transition to subsonic. If you're looking for the best rimfire rifle for 100yd targets, I'd recommend a 77/22 in .22WMR, or a 77/17 shooting .17HMR. The rounds are more expensive, but still affordable, and both produce muzzle velocities in excess of 2000fps from a rifle and thus are still supersonic at 100yds. All that said, the .22LR is an accurate cartridge, when fired from an accurate rifle. At 100yds from benchrest (or sandbags) with high-speed cartridges it is possible to shoot groups less than 2".

Just realize that 100yds is a long way, and the shooter or sighting is often more at fault than the rifle or cartridge. Here's some fun trigonometry; At 100 yards, a 1-degree derivation in aim from the center of a target produces a 62.8-inch derivation in impact point. You're five feet off-target. If you're off one MOA (minute of angle, a sixtieth of a degree) at 100 yards you're off approximately one inch (1.046" mathematically). To cloverleaf a .22 (shoot a ragged hole) at 100 yards you'd have to produce a group in which each shot is no more than one-fifth of an MOA in error. That's three thousandths of a degree maximum error. That kind of shooting is why you buy $250 precision benchrests, .22 ammo that approaches a dollar a cartridge, $1500 worth of gun and a $3000 scope, and practice deep meditation techniques to control breathing and involuntary muscle movement. That's serious paper punching. I'd declare victory at 2 MOA; If you're producing consistent 2-MOA groups at 100 yards, whatever your equipment and skill level, you have a very high hit probability on any rabbit or possum-sized varmint, and a decent chance for squirrel.

Excellent post. Thanks Liko.

Ah, found one.

Download this target: (1" Bulls-eye rifle target). Trust me it's clean and SFW. Hit the bulls-eye and you're within .5MOA. Each ring outside the dot is approximately 1 additional MOA (e.g. first ring is 1.5 MOA). Also look at this one: (1" grid rifle target - PDF) which is good for sighting in a scope. One MOA each line further from center.

Originally Posted by Liko81

In general they're pretty good. .22LR however poses an interesting physics problem at long ranges; through a rifle, a standard-velocity .22 is supersonic at muzzle, but at 100 yards it has slowed to subsonic. As the bullet slows through the sound barrier, the shock wave catches up and can disrupt the bullet mid-flight. The solution is to use either subsonic rounds which are subsonic at muzzle (they can also be silenced) but have a more ballistic trajectory, or high-velocity rounds which stay supersonic longer and thus aren't affected as much accuracy-wise by the transition to subsonic. If you're looking for the best rimfire rifle for 100yd targets, I'd recommend a 77/22 in .22WMR, or a 77/17 shooting .17HMR. The rounds are more expensive, but still affordable, and both produce muzzle velocities in excess of 2000fps from a rifle and thus are still supersonic at 100yds. All that said, the .22LR is an accurate cartridge, when fired from an accurate rifle. At 100yds from benchrest (or sandbags) with high-speed cartridges it is possible to shoot groups less than 2".

Just realize that 100yds is a long way, and the shooter or sighting is often more at fault than the rifle or cartridge. Here's some fun trigonometry; At 100 yards, a 1-degree derivation in aim from the center of a target produces a 62.8-inch derivation in impact point. You're five feet off-target. If you're off one MOA (minute of angle, a sixtieth of a degree) at 100 yards you're off approximately one inch (1.046" mathematically). To cloverleaf a .22 (shoot a ragged hole) at 100 yards you'd have to produce a group in which each shot is no more than one-fifth of an MOA in error. That's three thousandths of a degree maximum error. That kind of shooting is why you buy $250 precision benchrests, .22 ammo that approaches a dollar a cartridge, $1500 worth of gun and a $3000 scope, and practice deep meditation techniques to control breathing and involuntary muscle movement. That's serious paper punching. I'd declare victory at 2 MOA; If you're producing consistent 2-MOA groups at 100 yards, whatever your equipment and skill level, you have a very high hit probability on any rabbit or possum-sized varmint, and a decent chance for squirrel.

Great post. Learn something new every day...

Originally Posted by Liko81

In general they're pretty good. .22LR however poses an interesting physics problem at long ranges; through a rifle, a standard-velocity .22 is supersonic at muzzle, but at 100 yards it has slowed to subsonic. As the bullet slows through the sound barrier, the shock wave catches up and can disrupt the bullet mid-flight. The solution is to use either subsonic rounds which are subsonic at muzzle (they can also be silenced) but have a more ballistic trajectory, or high-velocity rounds which stay supersonic longer and thus aren't affected as much accuracy-wise by the transition to subsonic. If you're looking for the best rimfire rifle for 100yd targets, I'd recommend a 77/22 in .22WMR, or a 77/17 shooting .17HMR. The rounds are more expensive, but still affordable, and both produce muzzle velocities in excess of 2000fps from a rifle and thus are still supersonic at 100yds. All that said, the .22LR is an accurate cartridge, when fired from an accurate rifle. At 100yds from benchrest (or sandbags) with high-speed cartridges it is possible to shoot groups less than 2".

Just realize that 100yds is a long way, and the shooter or sighting is often more at fault than the rifle or cartridge. Here's some fun trigonometry; At 100 yards, a 1-degree derivation in aim from the center of a target produces a 62.8-inch derivation in impact point. You're five feet off-target. If you're off one MOA (minute of angle, a sixtieth of a degree) at 100 yards you're off approximately one inch (1.046" mathematically). To cloverleaf a .22 (shoot a ragged hole) at 100 yards you'd have to produce a group in which each shot is no more than one-fifth of an MOA in error. That's three thousandths of a degree maximum error. That kind of shooting is why you buy $250 precision benchrests, .22 ammo that approaches a dollar a cartridge, $1500 worth of gun and a $3000 scope, and practice deep meditation techniques to control breathing and involuntary muscle movement. That's serious paper punching. I'd declare victory at 2 MOA; If you're producing consistent 2-MOA groups at 100 yards, whatever your equipment and skill level, you have a very high hit probability on any rabbit or possum-sized varmint, and a decent chance for squirrel.

Thanks! I always like it when someone does the math for me.

I guess this makes me feel good about mine! I've been testing my factory barrel on my Buck Mark at 25yds, off the bench. My Buck Mark has a 4MOA red dot scope. So by the above math, that is a 1" dot at 25yds (which seems right, since it blots out most of the center of my target). With the 1"-4MOA dot, I'm averaging 1.25" groups with my factory 7.25" barrel. And this is with crappy Walmart $10/550 ammo. I'm getting a Tac-Sol 7.25" barrel, hopefully tomorrow.

I'm getting some target-grade 22LR ammo, and testing both the factory 7.25 barrel vs the Tactical Solutions 7.25" when it comes in.

Honestly, I don't expect a lot of improvement off the bench. But the aluminum TS barrel is supposed to be 60% of the weight of the factory unit, and a bit better. Advantage TS barrel, target to target, for Steel Challenge style shooting.

Tragets posted next week!