icebear
Sako-addicted
Had a good day at the range with two Sakos, a Tikka, and a CZ. I recently upgraded the scopes on all four of these guns and I had sighted them in at 25 yards. Today was to dial in a 100-yard zero and do a few quick groups for accuracy with various kinds of ammo. Test groups were mostly 3 shots each.
First up was an L461 Mannlicher-style carbine in .222, with a Zeiss 3-9x Diavari-C. This is rapidly becoming one of my favorite rifles. Best group today was 1" with Lapua 50-grain JSP ammo. The gun has shot better - best group so far was half an inch - but I'm still happy with anything an inch or better. I bought a couple hundred rounds of the Lapua ammo on sale at Graf's and I wish I'd bought twice as much. Now the only Lapua .222 ammo I can find online is 55-grain. I haven't had good results with 55-grain bullets in the past with Sakos, but maybe I'll give it a try.
Next was the first rifle's near-twin, an L461 full-length rifle with a Mannlicher stock and a 10x Zeiss Diatal-C. This one was the surprise of the day, as I have generally had mediocre results with it, even with Lapua ammo. Today the waves of quantum uncertainty must have converged, because I got a 5/8"group. I'll have to do some more testing to see if that group was a fluke or if the gun is going to settle down and deliver that kind of results consistently.
I got another surprise with the Zeiss Diatal scope, which has an adjustable objective. On most American AO scopes, including Leupold and Burris, the adjustable objective only adjusts parallax. The Zeiss, however, has a focusing objective that adjusts both parallax and focus. I was shocked when I looked through the scope and the 100-yard target was way out of focus - but then I realized that the objective was set for close range. Turned it to 100 yards and bingo - razor sharp.
Having gotten the two Sakos sighted in the way I wanted, I turned to my Tikka 695 in 6.5x55 Swedish. Scope is a 3-9x Swarovski. This one has always been kind of an "almost" shooter, turning in groups around an inch and a quarter to an inch and a half with various factory ammo. I did once manage to put together a handload that would shoot under an inch, but I don't have any left (or maybe it's just been misplaced). Got the Tikka zeroed and it shot just a hair over an inch with 140-grain Remington JSP ammo and 1-3/8 with 139-grain PPU. One of these days I'll have to load up some more handloads, but current performance is adequate for hunting deer, etc. I was kind of surprised at how well the Remington ammo shot, as I've never found Remington to be synonymous with great accuracy.
Last on the menu was an older, Brno-built CZ 527 in .22 Hornet with a Leupold 3-9x compact. This thing has given me fits since I bought it, with feeding problems and erratic accuracy. I traced most of the problems to bad ammo, and shot it today with 45-grain factory loads from Hornady and Prvi Partizan. About the PPU ammo the less said the better. It shot lousy groups, didn't seem to want to feed smoothly (might have been the magazine), and ejection was sticky. On the other hand, the Hornady worked perfectly and shot a 5-shot, 1" group and a 3-shot, 3/4" group. So, perhaps there's a better future in store for my .22 Hornet.
For those of you who have Sako or other .22 Hornet bolt actions: how well does your rifle feed? The design of the cartridge, which was originally designed for single shots and lever guns, would seem to be sub-optimal for use in a bolt gun. The CZ 527, which has a Mauser type action, was apparently designed for the .222 cartridge and the (detachable) .22 Hornet mag is just a single-stack .222 mag with a filler at the rear. The bullet noses tend to move around under recoil and don't always line up well with the feed ramp. Sometimes the noses will drop down a bit. The bolt must be worked vigorously; if you push it slowly it will jam every time.
Two Sakos and a Tikka with their newly installed scopes:
Targets from the pair of .222's
And the Tikka
And the CZ
First up was an L461 Mannlicher-style carbine in .222, with a Zeiss 3-9x Diavari-C. This is rapidly becoming one of my favorite rifles. Best group today was 1" with Lapua 50-grain JSP ammo. The gun has shot better - best group so far was half an inch - but I'm still happy with anything an inch or better. I bought a couple hundred rounds of the Lapua ammo on sale at Graf's and I wish I'd bought twice as much. Now the only Lapua .222 ammo I can find online is 55-grain. I haven't had good results with 55-grain bullets in the past with Sakos, but maybe I'll give it a try.
Next was the first rifle's near-twin, an L461 full-length rifle with a Mannlicher stock and a 10x Zeiss Diatal-C. This one was the surprise of the day, as I have generally had mediocre results with it, even with Lapua ammo. Today the waves of quantum uncertainty must have converged, because I got a 5/8"group. I'll have to do some more testing to see if that group was a fluke or if the gun is going to settle down and deliver that kind of results consistently.
I got another surprise with the Zeiss Diatal scope, which has an adjustable objective. On most American AO scopes, including Leupold and Burris, the adjustable objective only adjusts parallax. The Zeiss, however, has a focusing objective that adjusts both parallax and focus. I was shocked when I looked through the scope and the 100-yard target was way out of focus - but then I realized that the objective was set for close range. Turned it to 100 yards and bingo - razor sharp.
Having gotten the two Sakos sighted in the way I wanted, I turned to my Tikka 695 in 6.5x55 Swedish. Scope is a 3-9x Swarovski. This one has always been kind of an "almost" shooter, turning in groups around an inch and a quarter to an inch and a half with various factory ammo. I did once manage to put together a handload that would shoot under an inch, but I don't have any left (or maybe it's just been misplaced). Got the Tikka zeroed and it shot just a hair over an inch with 140-grain Remington JSP ammo and 1-3/8 with 139-grain PPU. One of these days I'll have to load up some more handloads, but current performance is adequate for hunting deer, etc. I was kind of surprised at how well the Remington ammo shot, as I've never found Remington to be synonymous with great accuracy.
Last on the menu was an older, Brno-built CZ 527 in .22 Hornet with a Leupold 3-9x compact. This thing has given me fits since I bought it, with feeding problems and erratic accuracy. I traced most of the problems to bad ammo, and shot it today with 45-grain factory loads from Hornady and Prvi Partizan. About the PPU ammo the less said the better. It shot lousy groups, didn't seem to want to feed smoothly (might have been the magazine), and ejection was sticky. On the other hand, the Hornady worked perfectly and shot a 5-shot, 1" group and a 3-shot, 3/4" group. So, perhaps there's a better future in store for my .22 Hornet.
For those of you who have Sako or other .22 Hornet bolt actions: how well does your rifle feed? The design of the cartridge, which was originally designed for single shots and lever guns, would seem to be sub-optimal for use in a bolt gun. The CZ 527, which has a Mauser type action, was apparently designed for the .222 cartridge and the (detachable) .22 Hornet mag is just a single-stack .222 mag with a filler at the rear. The bullet noses tend to move around under recoil and don't always line up well with the feed ramp. Sometimes the noses will drop down a bit. The bolt must be worked vigorously; if you push it slowly it will jam every time.
Two Sakos and a Tikka with their newly installed scopes:
Targets from the pair of .222's
And the Tikka
And the CZ
