Match Calibres

bullets

Not that I am ready to enter matches any time soon
I do find it unfair that all of the rimfire matches
ran here in Ireland (that I know of) seem to be all .22LR
and your not allowed to use any other calibre.
(I have no interest in entering any matches until I gain
some confidence and get better.)

There is an article posted in Varmint Al's website that
mentions matches that allow all types of rimfire.
Now that the .17 is becoming more and more popular
maybe some day we can do the same here in Ireland.

http://www.varmintal.com/17hmr.htm

I know psittacosis and Kramer both have 17's similar to myself,
Anyone else here own a rimmy thats not a .22 ?
(I'm not trying to organize anything (maybe in the future) I am just curious)

~B

Umiq88

There are online matchs where you scan in your target nothing formal though

rrpc

bullets wrote:

Not that I am ready to enter matches any time soon
I do find it unfair that all of the rimfire matches
ran here in Ireland (that I know of) seem to be all .22LR
and your not allowed to use any other calibre.

There are a number of reasons why the .22LR is used for matches

If you are shooting ISSF short range disciplines, they specify .22LR only
Match ammo is mostly .22LR
High velocity ammo is actually less accurate than standard velocity
HV ammo is a lot noisier
It's hotter, causing barrels to warm up quicker and lose accuracy

Plus HV ammo will punch through the normal .22 backstops..

flight93

original_psycho wrote:

Plus HV ammo will punch through the normal .22 backstops..

Either you have a backstop made of paper or you have a much more powerfull .22 HV ammo than the rest of us!

Umiq88

Why is low velocity more accurate once it remains over the speed of sound before it hits the target surely there isnt a problem.

rrpc

psittacosis wrote:

Why is low velocity more accurate once it remains over the speed of sound before it hits the target surely there isnt a problem.

Low Velocity is under the speed of sound. Wind is one of the factors that makes HV less accurate, recoil is another. The faster the round the greater the effect wind has on it. HV rounds take longer to 'settle down' in flight after they leave the barrel hence magnifying the effect of the wind.

Greater recoil will also affect the accuracy as recoil effects will tend to transmit to the round before the bullet has left the barrel.

newby.204

just a thought bullets but you could go out and get a .22lr?? might be a bit on the expensive side for you but hey thats shooting

flight93

I dont think there will ever be very many competitions for .17
This calibre makes little sense to me. Sure it has more range than a .22 and is more accurate. But it does not have the knock down power of a hornet or accuracy yet it is more expensive to buy ammunition for. I know the rounds are very fast, but so what? The light weight and speed means that even a light wind can blow your bullet off by a long way. If you want cheap fun "plinking", target shooting, shooting bunnies etc. buy at .22 and you can enter lots of competitions and a silincer works fantasticaly. If you want more range, more accuracy and you want to hunt for something like foxes get a hornet, it will be so much better than a .17 and cheaper! Or go for an even larger calibre. But why a .17???

flight93

flight93 wrote:

Either you have a backstop made of paper or you have a much more powerfull .22 HV ammo than the rest of us!

I meant centre fire rounds!! HV .22 ammo is ok, most ranges have signs saying not to use them but RWS is supersonic and I've never seen anyone get in trouble over it..

mickeyr1

are there competitions for .22wmr or is it only .22lr

Sparks

Only R100 is supersonic o_p, RWS R50 (and all the other RWS match ammo) is subsonic (and I've not seen anyone using R100 here so far). And R100 is all of 25 fps over the speed of sound at room temperature (though that's closer to 40 fps at normal irish outdoor range temperatures and closer to 70fps in Rathdrum on a cold day ).

There is at least one regular shooter on the circuit with R100.. and from the sounds of the Rathdrum last week there is another!

flight93

original_psycho wrote:

I meant centre fire rounds!!

Most people think .22LR when you say .22, not 22 swift or 22.250

Sils can get boken when they are shot with HV rounds, that is why many clubs insist on sub sonic

bullets

the point I was trying to make is there should or could be matches that allow you to use different calibres regardless of the advantages or disadvantages.
Having the shooters ability/skill used to score points and having his/her
choice of calibre.

Or at least an extra or open event for all rimfires.
like With the F-class you have loads of different people
using different calibres, different barells equipment etc
They find whats best for them as a shooter.
Regardless of there set up at the end of the day the winner
is the person that scores the highest.

Maybe the HV round may destroy backstops in an indoor range where
wind is not a factor but on an outdoor range backstop damage would not
be a factor as there are bigger things than the 17 being fired on them
in places.

At the 50m range I have never noticed the wind effecting this round at
all. (That I can tell) also If I can hit something the size of a bowling pin at 190 yards being a complete newbie with very little shooting skill it should in theory be just as good as the .22.

~B

I disagree... having limited quipment really measures the shooter and not the gun. Its a measure of talent rather then of gear.

In my mind thats the nature of a competion - to measure yourself against other competitors, not measure your gear against theirs.

For the craic, in my club, I challenge people to knock in a better score with a scoped .22 sporter on NSRA targets, benchrested at 25yrds vs. me with my FWB.. not a fair comp but good fun.
However, to me this is just a laugh, and not a real comp.

And Sparks, to validate the 'challenge' I put five rounds through the bull with the sporter (benchrested), result was a hole just marginally bigger then the round. Those things are bloody accurate!

bullets

bullets wrote:

(That I can tell) also If I can hit something the size of a bowling pin at 190 yards being a complete newbie with very little shooting skill it should in theory be just as good as the .22.

I don't get this.......

bullets

original_psycho wrote:

I don't get this.......

Met up with some of the board members last week, and one
of them brought some bowling pins to hit for some fun.
So Hit one at 190yards with my .17hmr last week which
surprised me as I am a newbie.

I got that bit.. not sure what you meant about .22!!

Thats impressive though! Well done!

bullets

original_psycho wrote:

I got that bit.. not sure what you meant about .22!!
Thats impressive though! Well done!

Luck more than skill!
I just ment if the 17 can do what the 22 can do then
I would have thought there would not have been a problem
using it in a match along side .22'rs
(of course if it did not damage the range equipment such
as backstop etc)

It seems to work with the F-Class some people use .308's others 6.5's and others
some other calibres. Having a rimmy match based on similar practices
could add variety/fun or a cheap mans F-class on a smaller scale.

If I was to buy another rifle it would be a centre fire as
I can use my friends .22 when we are at the range. (Its just
not the same when the rifle is not yours though) Got the .17
to add a bit of variety so both of us could swap and change.
Also I liked the idea that if I ever got good at 100m I could
start to push it a little bit further on the range 140 even out
as far as 200 with no wind.

~B

Sparks

ISSF 50m and NSRA 25yd, 100yd and NRA 50yd matches all use .22lr bullets, but ISSF 300m just says anything up to and including 8mm. But there aren't too many matches for .17 because it's a very new round, relatively speaking. Maybe in 20 years you'll be hearing people complain of the lack of matches for the new .12 round and how there are far too many .17 matches...

sidneyreilly

Sparks wrote:

for the new .12 round ...

.12?? Tell me more?

Sparks

Number from a hat Sidney. Though I was reading a while ago about lower calibres than .17 being apparently quite good, just not mass-produced yet. And there is that 2mm Kolibri round...

sidneyreilly

Thought you had something new! After googling the hell out of it!

2mm Kolibri, now there is a rare machine, on the wish list this long time, even great to have an empty case for the collection but hens teeth isnt in it:(