Hello fellas...I am a long time reader and decided to post on occasion to you guys who have provided so much information to me.
I own a .44 handi, .223 with bull barrel and just aquired what looks like a new but second hand .243 handi, all with wood stocks.
I had a new Mueller 4.5x14 APV scope laying idle so I decided it needed to live on the .243 as my coyote/light whitetale rifle here in East Texas.
As this board suggests, I took time and cleaned the heck out of it and used JB paste for about 100 strokes as well. I read the tips on "trigger work" but decided that it was close to good and llikely would "get there" if shot occasionally.
I removed the furniture and spray painted these wooden parts with what Rust-oleum calls their mulit-colored textur and allowed 24 hours to dry. I forgot to mention that I removed some wood at the front of the fore end to make a more rounded look and also tapered the stocks where they meet the action, so there is a more fitted look. Next I sprayed all metal parts with Rust-oleum flat black cammo and waited 24 hours and added a second coat of the same. All of this of course was done after tapeing off the parts needing protection. Once all the parts were dry, the next step was to put the o-ring on the forend, as your posts suggest, and then assembled. I went to the back yard and collected a couple of carpet grass samples to use for making the patern with the next paint. Again I used Rust-oleum but in the flat nonreflective cammo green. Two weeks later with some handling,there is no sign of a scratch in this paint work and I am well pleased.
Today a friend and I drove to a local range where I bore sighted and sighted in for 100 yards to start. One of the many Handi positives is the easy bore sighting that can be accomplished with a sand bag and a 25 yard+- target. I had no .243 brass to load myself so I had gathered some Federal 100 grain Vital Shock rounds that worked well in the end. After about 10 rounds I was only getting a 3-4 inch group. I removed the o-ring looking for a solution and that did not seam to make a difference either. I cleaned the bore and shot another 5 and cleaned again. The groups were now comming together at about an unmeasured inch. I suspect that as the trigger improves and the bore gets some of the irregularities smothed out I will have one bargain coyote shootin iron, I am a happy camper. My inexpensive second hand handi and $100 scope shot every bit as good as my partner's $1,000+ 25-06 which did not have this o-so-cool cammo job. I will attempt to attach photos once the computer child comes home.
As a side note, this is my first Mueller scope and it has impressed me so far. I have had scopes at five times the price that did not please me as much.
Thanks to all you guys who lead the way on this forum!
