I went to the range yesterday with my shooting buddy Joe. Joe is always buying a new gun so it was interesting to see what his latest goodie was.
It was a Martlin Model XT-22VR bolt action .22 LR. To me it was no big deal, in that between us we have 6 or 8 .22's. This just looked like another crummy plastic stocked .22 of little interest to me, but at about 7lbs it did feel like a "real" rifle. It had one of those new weirdo triggers like Savages & Glocks have, but it felt really good! He explained that he had bought it new at the sporting goods store for $215 out the door. It came with Weaver bases attached so he bought some cheapo rings for $10 bucks also. He mounted a Simmons 4x-18x scope on it.
He brought along blue box of 100 CCI Target .22lr's (he's got all kinds of ammo squirreled away). He asked if I would help him zero it. So we put up a target at 25 yards & shot one round. Holding the gun down tight, I moved the crosshairs over the bullet hole & it was done. Now we started shooting a few groups. I suddenly got a little more interested. Bullets keep doubling themselves on the paper so we moved the target out to 50. Same thing! Eventually we were shooting at 100 yard (I had to adjust the elevation up 6".) There was a slight variable wind, but a fun challenge to shoot during the lulls. At 100yds, wind is always a problem for the .22LR with drifting all the way off the target not uncommon. But that little plastic gun shot sub 1" groups with monotony! Yes, I was doing it & so was Joe. I'm talking 5 shot groups too!
I'm not a big Marlin fan & I don't know if this is odd-ball among the lot, but anyone looking for a .22 that's a real shooter, this one is worth checking out! A better scope, more ammo experimenting & a better marksman could probably cut that in half!
Gawd, I wonder if someone makes a wood stock for that ugly thing! Yes, I'm an old guy forced to learn new tricks!
...bug
It was a Martlin Model XT-22VR bolt action .22 LR. To me it was no big deal, in that between us we have 6 or 8 .22's. This just looked like another crummy plastic stocked .22 of little interest to me, but at about 7lbs it did feel like a "real" rifle. It had one of those new weirdo triggers like Savages & Glocks have, but it felt really good! He explained that he had bought it new at the sporting goods store for $215 out the door. It came with Weaver bases attached so he bought some cheapo rings for $10 bucks also. He mounted a Simmons 4x-18x scope on it.
He brought along blue box of 100 CCI Target .22lr's (he's got all kinds of ammo squirreled away). He asked if I would help him zero it. So we put up a target at 25 yards & shot one round. Holding the gun down tight, I moved the crosshairs over the bullet hole & it was done. Now we started shooting a few groups. I suddenly got a little more interested. Bullets keep doubling themselves on the paper so we moved the target out to 50. Same thing! Eventually we were shooting at 100 yard (I had to adjust the elevation up 6".) There was a slight variable wind, but a fun challenge to shoot during the lulls. At 100yds, wind is always a problem for the .22LR with drifting all the way off the target not uncommon. But that little plastic gun shot sub 1" groups with monotony! Yes, I was doing it & so was Joe. I'm talking 5 shot groups too!
I'm not a big Marlin fan & I don't know if this is odd-ball among the lot, but anyone looking for a .22 that's a real shooter, this one is worth checking out! A better scope, more ammo experimenting & a better marksman could probably cut that in half!
Gawd, I wonder if someone makes a wood stock for that ugly thing! Yes, I'm an old guy forced to learn new tricks!
...bug