"Never assume that simply having a gun makes you a marksman. You are no more armed because you are wearing a pistol than you are a musician because you own a guitar."
― Jeff Cooper
Alright, so y'all know by now that precision rifle shooting has become a tangential interest on account of my job at Vortex Optics. My latest project is the above pictured Vudoo .22LR in a MasterPiece Arms Matrix chassis, dressed with a Vortex Strike Eagle 5-25x56 FFP rifle scope and Evolution Bipod.
Why .22LR? Several reasons, really. Shooting can be an expensive activity and the ammunition is vastly less expensive. For example, my Tikka 6.5 costs around a $1.50 per trigger pull, whereas .22LR rounds are more like 15 to 25 cents depending on the brand. Secondly, there is virtually no recoil, noise, or flash from a .22 rifle, so one's shooting technique is stripped down to the execution of fundamentals. Shooting .22LR gives one an opportunity to focus on breathing, trigger pull, and follow-through―all essential for accuracy down range. Lastly, learning variable holds and dialing elevation can be studied and practiced on shorter ranges, even 100 yards.
That's my MPA chassis prior to getting my Vudoo Barreled Action.
At 50 yards there was virtually no challenge with 3-shot groups―a total tack-driver. I could do this all day long.
But then I took it to the 100-yard range ...
Definitely opened up a bit with ~1.5 MOA groups, so there's room for improvement. Addressing the errors in fundamentals here will make me more accurate shooter when moving back to higher caliber rifles. Ammo is a little harder to get ahold of right now on account of the tremendous increase in firearms sales in the US. So far I've tested Lapua's Center-X and SK Standard Plus .22LR ammo, but there are many others yet to try. One has to experiment a little and find out which particular ammo achieves the most accurate results on a given rifle. The gadgetry, skill, and relaxation techniques are all appealing aspects of precision rifle shooting.
All images © 2020 Mike McDowell