I picked up this Gene Davis built Remington 40X benchrest gun today from my FFL. It is a 40XB .22LR with a Shilen Ratchet barrel, Jewel trigger (3.8 ounces), Rotex stock and Harrels tuner. Mr. Davis has been gunsmithing champion benchrest rifles for over 40 years. He is also a super nice guy to talk with. Hope it's a good one.

Love those precision 22 LR rifles. Looking forward to the range reports.

should be a one holer if you have the right batch of 22 and a good rest to lock it down in,

quote:

Originally posted by lyman:
should be a one holer if you have the right batch of 22 and a good rest to lock it down in,

I've got the rest (Sinclair) and Ransom. Ammo ... we'll see. Reportly, (from Gene) it likes Midas +.
I have 14 boxes of it, but not sure if it's a lot number it prefers. Hoping to get it out tomorrow, mount the scope and shoot some rounds.

THAT is gorgeous!

quote:

Originally posted by got2hav1:

quote:

Originally posted by lyman:
should be a one holer if you have the right batch of 22 and a good rest to lock it down in,

I've got the rest (Sinclair) and Ransom. Ammo ... we'll see. Reportly, (from Gene) it likes Midas +.
I have 14 boxes of it, but not sure if it's a lot number it prefers. Hoping to get it out tomorrow, mount the scope and shoot some rounds.

Does anyone ever say, "This $4,000 rimfire rifle really likes the Remington Bulk Bucket ammo from WallyWorld. Stay away from that expensive Finnish stuff?"

quote:

Originally posted by huskerlrrp:

quote:

Originally posted by got2hav1:

quote:

Originally posted by lyman:
should be a one holer if you have the right batch of 22 and a good rest to lock it down in,

I've got the rest (Sinclair) and Ransom. Ammo ... we'll see. Reportly, (from Gene) it likes Midas +.
I have 14 boxes of it, but not sure if it's a lot number it prefers. Hoping to get it out tomorrow, mount the scope and shoot some rounds.

Does anyone ever say, "This $4,000 rimfire rifle really likes the Remington Bulk Bucket ammo from WallyWorld. Stay away from that expensive Finnish stuff?"

Nope they never do. To many wild flyers in the bulk stuff. Here is my first batch of groups playing with ammo and the tuner. The best group came with Lapua X Act. Midas + was good also and I shot several 5 shot groups in .3s outside diameter all from 50 yards. It certainly has some potential.

I have no idea what you are talking about, you didn't even come close to the bullseye. Let me do you a favor and take that poor shooter off your hands.

Nice groups. I was really hoping you found a unicorn rifle for trash ammon

I still have hopes it will shoot some of the easier to find and cheaper ammo from my inventory. But I'm not going to bet on it. It has a fantastic trigger and rides the rest really well. Very pleased with it so far.

quote:

Originally posted by Loswsmith:
I have no idea what you are talking about, you didn't even come close to the bullseye. Let me do you a favor and take that poor shooter off your hands.

Thanks for the offer to take it off my hands! I surely did miss the bulls

quote:

Originally posted by got2hav1:

quote:

Originally posted by Loswsmith:
I have no idea what you are talking about, you didn't even come close to the bullseye. Let me do you a favor and take that poor shooter off your hands.

Thanks for the offer to take it off my hands! I surely did miss the bulls

I'm just nice that way. It's a great rifle, you are super fortunate to have one so nice.

quote:

Originally posted by huskerlrrp:
Does anyone ever say, "This $4,000 rimfire rifle really likes the Remington Bulk Bucket ammo from WallyWorld. Stay away from that expensive Finnish stuff?"

I was really hoping you found a unicorn rifle for trash ammo

As with any rifle, if the shooter variable is removed, much comes down to the ammo/chamber/barrel interaction.

22lr ammo producers rarely state it, but it's commonly believed that some levels\lines of match ammo are determined by quality metrics of a given production run. If all goes swimmingly well with muzzle velocity consistency and tested-range accuracy for a given run, the lots might become their uber premium line. If the accuracy or muzzle velocity SD is good, but not the best, the lots will likely be sold as a slightly less expensive option in their match line.

The same situation might occur with mid-grade sorta/kinda-match ammo. The factory might sub-divide production runs into various product lines. Lapua, Eley, and RWS have broad enough product lines to exhibit this situation. So can be said for Wolf's smaller product lines.

Less consistent ammo may still produce some outstanding results. Smaller groups, or a smaller aggregate of groups -- Woohoo! And then a few shots go well into the WTF category.

*****
And then there's the ammo/chamber/barrel interaction. A true match chamber -- like the ones in a 40X -- is short and tight. It won't play well with ammo that isn't sized for that chamber -- say like CCI Mini-Mag. Many of the higher-velocity 22lr rounds have a relatively longer case and a shorter bullet, and thus they don't seat well in a true match chamber.

Now something like a 10/22 has a longer and less precise chamber. This allows for more reliable semi-auto feeding/extraction, especially with dirty ammo & a heavily fouled chamber. It also results in reasonable accuracy in ammo such as CCI Mini-Mag. But a 10/22 may not get any more accurate results from Lapua Midas than it will from CCI SV, because the chamber isn't built to exploit the potential accuracy of Lapua Midas.

****
The web is rife with folks who reveal a stellar 5-round group at 25 to 50 yards, here or there. IMO the true test of 22lr ammo accuracy comes from consistent, multiple groups at longer distances. 100 yards minimum, but really at 150-200.