Thread: Ode to the Humble .22LRF - range report

I slipped out for a couple of hours today to shoot my beloved Anschutz. This rifle is nothing flash, I paid $1000 for this rifle second hand. I probably got ripped off, but if you offered me $2000 I would not part with it. It has two specialties. Hitting what you are aiming at, and killing scopes. It killed whatever it came with, then it killed a Leopold rimfire I bought and it just killed my early model 4x32 Nikon, and I am pretty careful with scopes. I never rest them on hard surfaces and if I am on my bike, they go on a sling, not on a rack.

I broke the elevation cross hair. There is an abandoned house on the property. My great Uncle would not let anyone maintain it, because everyone who lived there went mad or got sick. Its a big old weatherboard villa. Haunted as all hell. I avoid the place as it has an uncanny ability to ruin your day. On this occasion I was after cat food and there was a fat hare sitting next to it. I got it with three shots but it was messy. The rifle was shooting very low. Looked at the crosshairs and there was a wee curly hair hanging off the right hand side and a visible break.

As of today it wears a late model Nikon 4x32 Rimfire, with the new lift and zero turrets, which is good, because I have lost the windage and elevation covers for this scope, so it has exposed, zeroed turrets. Very tempted to dial it, but I am running out of scopes. It has very positive solid clicks and tracks flawlessly.

Scrounging through my tupperware container of mangy, miscellaneous gun parts I found a set of dubious looking rings. On closer inspection they were good rings that had something horrible on them. They were also lower than my old rings.

Scope mounted it was off to my new range. I will be back tomorrow and I will take some photos. It is a long V shaped gully with a fork in it and many places to shoot, right out to 700m. Not all off one shooting position, but I exclusively shoot prone, so it is a non issue. Once I have all my positions sorted out I will attack it with an excavator and make it pretty.

I found a nice mound to shoot from on a flood bank I built and started at 25m. I was bang on, or a hint low and left, but I seemed to be stuck between adjustments, so I moved out to 50m. I was under the 50m mark by about an inch. I should have been shaving the top of the 25m dot, not the bottom, but one forgets these things. Wherever the old Nikon was, it was perfect for me for years without losing zero till the crosshair snapped.

I moved out to 75m and did a wee exercise. On a plain, non marked reticle, shoot for the dot on the target (I use sticky dots from the stationary shop). You should be able to see the group. I could see the .22 holes through the 4x Nikon. Now measure the the gap between the point of aim (the dot) and the point of impact (the group). Fix in your mind the amount of reticle between the two. Now use this to hold over like you would with a MIL dot, ignoring the fact you have no dots. At 75m I was bang on. At 100m I was miles off.

I shot slightly to the left all day. I needed 1 click right at 25m, but you don't know this till you shoot 50m and 75m, so I never corrected it till I was back at 25. Now my intention here, and the purpose of this thread, is to get her really shooting. Before the cross hair broke, I was very very familiar with a zero than never moved and had some success. The boss has put a $5 bounty on pigeons as he hates them with a passion. As half my pay goes to the tax man and the other half to wife and daughter, that is real money. I am surrounded by pigeons (the bosses hatred is not unjustified).

The Anschutz has a fantastic trigger, but after 60 rounds I was starting to feel the creep in it. A while ago I found the long lost 5 round magazine and today I got it working. 4 rounds instead of 5, but it goes. I shot 4 round groups. Now an Anschutz .22LRF is a fantastic little rifle, but it is a very little rifle. I am not little, and I had a hard time keeping a good cheek weld, and getting my right hand comfortable while squeezing the trigger was awkward. The first two changes will be a strip of grip tape along the cheek piece to keep my beard from slipping and adjusting that trigger. All my groups had (minor) horizontal stringing from my awkward face/palm grip. Look at an Anschutz .22 target rifle. All those adjustments at there for a reason, but we make do.

Now an hour of web research indicates this is a 1415/1416 model made in Ulm, West Germany in 1983. One year after I was born.

Now a little more web research indicates I get rid of this creep by an adjustment on the side of the trigger, with a hex screw. Tomorrows job.

Most interesting of all to me, the old 40gr PowerPoint that is my go to ammo and the only thing I use, shot pretty well. I am sure it shot better, or I did, in the past. I shot a box of it, then right at the end I switched to a couple of mags of 42gr PowerPoint to see how it went. This stuff seems virtually the same, but 2gr heavier and 40ft/sec faster (on the box). It shot to the same point of impact, but tightened the groups up big time. Something to play with tomorrow.

You can't beat 22LRF. 60 rounds fired while waiting for the girls (cows) to finish their first course of the day. Something delightful about that puddle of empty cases.

I should get my .22 our more. It is a 1950's Soviet Toz. It is a bloody good rifle and quite accurate with Minimags in particular. I can feel a Hare Safari coming on.

may I suggest you try an airgun scope....they HAVE to be built solid to protect against the double recoil of a springer....
the 42grn winchester stuff has really impressed me and my norinco prefers it too.

After it has eaten this one I will look hard at decent air gun scopes. I have a 1-5x V-X111 coming (maybe) that is only stuck due to couriers being awful. I may put it on the .22 if the Nikon does not make it.

Originally Posted by Carlsen Highway

I should get my .22 our more. It is a 1950's Soviet Toz. It is a bloody good rifle and quite accurate with Minimags in particular. I can feel a Hare Safari coming on.

Already planned. You may not like it, but you are coming anyway.

oh NO.....a bush hobbits wet dream scope....... find a good short carbine to place it upon...C.H. may even find a home for it on a BLR (match made in heaven)

I do wonder if your scope rings arent crooked in relation to each other,thus putting scope under strain........ normally a .22lr doesnt have any scope issues.

Picked up a JW15 with a wee 4x Sharp Hunter scope for $140 recently. Nice trigger, smooth worn action. Chopped it to 16". Out to range test today and needed only one ammo type - Fiocchi HV for it to go straight to 0.5" group at 50m. Fine little sharpshooter and cycled perfectly. Hmmm.. $140!!

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

oh NO.....a bush hobbits wet dream scope....... find a good short carbine to place it upon...C.H. may even find a home for it on a BLR (match made in heaven)

I do wonder if your scope rings arent crooked in relation to each other,thus putting scope under strain........ normally a .22lr doesnt have any scope issues.

I feel if the Anschutz mounts are not straight there is not much hope and I have changed rings every time I changed scopes.

I can't figure it out. Neither the Loopy nor the Nikon were shit scopes. Loopy was probably the lesser of the two, just not in price.

Buy one of Brian's Burris scopes, sorted.

I have the same Nikon fixed 4 power rimfire scope. Its pretty good for its price range. I'd like an anshutz to put under it.

My $140 jw15 ,chopped and suppressed shoots as well as my $500 Brno..

maybe lap the rings???? just a wee bit to see..... cant hurt really,it will eliminate that posibility if nothing else.

So the little Anschutz had another big day. The boss was out early and gave me an extra hour off in the middle of the day, so I tackled this trigger. The manual, downloaded from Anschutz gave me nothing, except a nice picture of the rifle showing I had the year and model right, and that the trigger came set to "the safest" and not to mess with it. A forum gave another gem, which was that the adjustment screw is on the side of the trigger. I messed with it extensively. After much fiddling I got the feel of it and it now has a very light crisp trigger. I no longer notice any creep. Feels the equivalent of my Sako triggers.

I decided a clean was in order and put a few patches of fuelite through. No carbon at all. The barrel has a mirror finish and lovely crisp rifling and lands. Not bad considering it is 36 this year. I try to stick to clean .22 ammo with no grit in the wax.

Reassembled the first round went wild, I guess due to the absence of wax in the barrel, but the second was back on the zero from the day before. I switched to the 42gr powerpoint and tweaked it for an inch an a half high at 50m which was bang on at 75m, going back and forwards so I knew where everything was. The 42gr was an inch and a half higher at 75m than the 40gr powerpoint. Looking closer at the scope, it is 1/4" at 50 yard clicks, which explains the debacle sighting in, and the inability to get a fine zero. By change, the 42gr shot just a hint more to the right and was zeroed perfectly.

Now I had it set up just how I liked it and it was time to go move cows. Because I had the range still set up I left everything there and slung the rifle over my shoulder while working.

I shot a hare for the cats. All very tame cats but also wild stock. We have 5 big males. I like to throw a hare whole in the yard and then watch them tearing at it like a pride of miniature lions. Takes them three days to completely finish one. I shot a pigeon at ~80m and then things got interesting.

I saw four more pigeons at extended range and slunk in behind some large square bails that was stockpiled ready for feeding out. They made a nice benchrest, but the pigeons lifted off and settled further away. I had no range finder but I know the dimensions of the paddock. I estimated it was a long way away, and I would need a lot of reticle hold. I puzzled out what that might look like, took a punt and let strip. To my complete surprise I folded it up and looked in awe at the wee Anschutz. Shots like this are not unusual with this rifle. I ranged it later in the day at exactly 170m, my longest shot with a .22LRF. I will include a pic of the exit wound, the projectile was far from spent. Very impressed with this 42gr PowerPoint.

Back to my range and I looked over my targets from the afternoon. Every group at 50m was around 3/4" for four shots. Pretty good for zeroing, but not really doing the rifle justice.

I took my time and shot a nice 4 shot group of a cloverleaf with one in the middle to join them, which measure 1cm. Much more like it.

Now out to 125m. The light was fading but I shot for a big black dot I could barely see and came away with two functional groups. I shot two more but now I really could not see and they were shit. Still minute of Rabbit though. I had placed one dot to aim at and a second dot where I thought the point of impact would be, and got it bang on, give or take an inch. It shoots 13" low at 125m, or exactly half the fine part of the cross hair. I measure between the two visible dots with the scope and fix the elevation hold in my mind. Seems to work well if you don't overthink it.

All up, I'm very happy. You can't beat practice and you can't beat .22LRF for ease of practice.

The screw on the side of the trigger is the one you want


Exit wound on a 170m pigeon


A half decent 50m group to do the rifle justice. I am rusty and need more range time where I concentrate harder. Dots are 13mm


A nice puddle of empty .22 shells to leave behind. Note the wedge for my left arm, the little hole dug for my right elbow, complete with pointed stick, and my wifes yoga mat. I always dig a wee hole for my right elbow. Left arm under but stock, squeezing the round bag. I prefer to rest the weight of my head on the but stock, but it is varnished and slippery and my beard slides. Hoping to shoot better with some grip tape on there.


White square to the right of the poplars is 125m. Need finer cross hairs or bigger dots. A black dot can vanish under the fat cross hairs at this range.


The box was not vertical so the round in the center is the flier. What did I do here? This is my first 125m group. I would love to get groups like that with this thing consistently, which it is capable of, if I can shoot well prone with such a tiny rifle.


Actually 120m and then I moved the box. I'm happy with this. Still got that horizontal stringing.


Epic blood red full moon on the way out the gate.


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Never had my 22LRF Annie 1400 M54 single shot target rifle outside, but these stories give me hope.
Plus an old 8.5-25x50 Mueller fine crosshairs with centre dot scope (bought off a forum member), using target ammo - I'm the handicap
Or the Stirling M1400 shoots well too. 2-7x33 air rifle scope - once again operator issues.
It seems to digest most stuff I feed it and keeps most inside 10mm at 25 yds, so the operator is clearly not in your guys class.

I still think more magnification is better. I have 2-7 and 3-9 and a bunny at 100 yds on 7 power is a gimme not so much on 4x shooting a BRNO mod 2 and Browning SA. I would like an Annie though.