A Gun That Works

August 11th, 2020

Money-Throwing Abates; Practice Begins

It’s a banner day. I shot a scoped rifle at something and actually hit it.

As noted in earlier posts, I put a new trigger spring and a Vortex Viper on my Ruger Venture in .204 Ruger. This was after some incredibly bad shooting with my AR-15. With the Ruger put together, I was ready for some redemption. Today I took it out to the pasture to zero it.

Apart from missing the paper entirely with several shots, due to a decision to turn a scope turret the wrong way, things went very well. Until the deluge started. I was only able to shoot one target before getting drenched. I’ll post a photo.

I know what you’re thinking. That looks pretty bad. Okay, yes, but it represents several groups.

I started way off to the right, turned the turret the wrong way and sent several shots past the target. Then I started bringing them in. I would love to say all the holes in the center are part of one group, but they aren’t. I startled myself by putting one there unexpectedly, and then I decided to improve the zero by giving the turret one more click.

After putting four holes in the center, I shot at a place to the left where two yellow lines crossed. I hit it square. By the time the 6th shot was off, the rain was getting out of control, so I quit. I didn’t measure, and the cattle will probably eat the target before I can put calipers on it, but I’m pretty sure that whole group is under 1 MOA. If not, it’s close enough for government work.

I can’t be positive, because the clouds will not let me shoot long enough to find out, but it sure looks like this gun and ammo will do sub-MOA pretty consistently at 100 yards, if I practice a little more. If not, well, 1 MOA is clearly doable, and that’s excellent.

It’s a major relief to confirm that I can shoot. It looks like I still have horizontal stringing, but there has to be a way to fix that.

The trigger is as good as it can be, within my ability to judge triggers. The scope is very nice. I need some way to tighten the bipod up a little; they sell aftermarket levers. Anyway, I can finally say I have a gun that will shoot well enough to let me focus on technique instead of equipment. For all I know, it would shoot even better with handloads.

This is a bad, bad day for coyotes and coons.

3 Responses to “A Gun That Works”

  1. ck Says:

    Congratulations, things are looking good..

  2. Vlad Says:

    I should get a scope mount installed on my Mauser 8mm. I used to shoot some incredibly nice groups using iron sites at 100 yards. Using surplus corrosive ammo! ( Wish i could find some pics) However, that was 20 years ago and my eyes are older.

    I used to love target shooting but haven’t done it in years. Bought an AR in 2016 ( thought Hilary would win.) and it has yet to leave the house. IDK if it even works, lol. Now I have no idea where I would even get ammo for it.

  3. Steve H. Says:

    There is always ammoseek.com.