Zeroing my .22

[Empty Quiver]

What do you find as a good zero for typical rabbit, and squirrel hunting?


I've taken the Reddot off as it was pretty far over the bore and seemed to affect accuracy on small targets at variable ranges.  Any suggestions?

[hillbill]

i like 30 yrds. in my area you wont really shoot a rabbit much farther than that where i find them.squirells also. you will be good to 50 yrds which is about as far as i can shoot such a small target with iron sights

[Ken ONeill]

With iron sights, dead on, to 1/2" high at 25 yds., which will put it dead on at 50', and dead on to 3/4" low at 50 yds., depending upon the gun and barrel length.
With a scoped handgun, also dead on to 1/2" high, but may go as high as 1/2" up to 3/4" high if hunting prairie dogs - which would be good out to 75 yds.

[cwlongshot]

I site mine to zero at 25, then shoot with the taper of the bottom reticule at 50 and see what I get. I am lucky with the Leupold as the taper is close to the center and its just ablout right for a 50ard shot... in any event, with practice its a good referance point...
 
 
 
CW

[chefjeff]

Most regular bullets,can zero@22yd. and be dead on again@50 yd. with about a one inch midrange height. Lighter,faster bullets ,second zero is about 60yd. Just a ballpark rule of thumb.

[coyotejoe]

I'm just glad to see this post. This forum seems almost entirely about big guns and big game. Thanks for reminding us there probably is more handgun hunting done with .22's than with all the big bores combined. I have an S&W 22A and an AMT .22 WMR which see far more actual hunting use than my .44 even though I spend far more time trying out loads with the .44. That's the only downside I find with the .22, once I've decided on a brand of ammo and get it zeroed I seem to just put it aside, knowing it's ready to go when I need it. With the centerfires there is always some new handload I want to try out and that keeps me interested in playing with it. LOL

[Empty Quiver]

I appreciate the input. I had problems with the reddot being so high over the bore as to give me fits. It really helped me diagnose some trigger and milking the grip issues though. Watching that dot move at the moment of trigger break was very revealing.


I'll give 25 yards a try. That was about as far as I figured I needed, I can shoot the snot outta soda cans at that distance. Things deteriorate fast after that though.

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

  EQ, Just shot some cottontails with my old K-22..before the hunt, I shot it in about dead on at 20 yards...worked very well..many times I have my pistols sighted in too high for 20-25 yard shots, and that is the range I take most of my small game with a handgun...these .22's are soo  much fun..we often forget how much when becoming wrapped up in larger calibers.....

[Old Syko]

Seems to be a circle of life for most of us.  The first handgun I ever bought for myself was a 22.  As time went on I went to bigger and bigger centerfires and now that I'm getting older and don't really care for heavy recoil that much I'm more and more going back to the 22s.  The one thing I've hung onto is the need to shoot longer distances even with the 22.  I zero to start with around 50 yards but then shoot extensively at shorter distances and make sure I know how to hit at much longer distances.  I practice regularly on 3" swingers at 100 yards and even farther but consider 100 or thereabouts to be my accuracy limit.

[Empty Quiver]

Seems to be a circle of life for most of us.  The first handgun I ever bought for myself was a 22.  As time went on I went to bigger and bigger centerfires and now that I'm getting older and don't really care for heavy recoil that much I'm more and more going back to the 22s.  The one thing I've hung onto is the need to shoot longer distances even with the 22.  I zero to start with around 50 yards but then shoot extensively at shorter distances and make sure I know how to hit at much longer distances.  I practice regularly on 3" swingers at 100 yards and even farther but consider 100 or thereabouts to be my accuracy limit.

100 yds? I'm happy to get 75%hits on 55gal drum lids out there.

[coyotejoe]

Indeed the high line of sight from most red dots can cause some problems and that is just one of several drawbacks to their use, to me they just seem to make the gun awkward and unwieldy both to carry and to shoot. But I do shoot much tighter groups with a red dot than with iron sights. So I have gone to a compromise in the form of the Burris or Trijicon "open red dot" or "tubeless red dot" or "holographic" or whatever you want to call them. I like to mount them over the original rear sight location, although sometimes that requires making my own mounting plate. Thus located the center of the lens is only a bit higher then the original iron sights while the weight, balance and handling is unaffected. They also can still fit a normal holster with just a bit of leather cut away. I attach the sight hood to the holster with a leather thong so that it pops off when the gun is drawn, nothing to turn or or adjust. Except for a concealed carry gun I have similar sights on all of my handguns and really can't imagine anything better.

[cwlongshot]

I have had two Auto mag 22Mag pistols....  I really liked the longer barreled model like yours Coyote Joe. It was adaquitely accurate say 2-3" at 25 yards. It accounted for a couple "varmints" before it blew holes they the wall of a case and then ripped the rim off...  I had it removed but it was never the same. I bought a short barreled model but it had feeding and accuracy problems.

I would like another I have had two Kel-tecs in my hand and did not buy either.... I like my 651 allot! But would like a auto...

CW

[cwlongshot]

My buddie is pushing me pretty hard for us to buy a couple of the Kel Tec's...
 

CW

[coyotejoe]

Sorry to hear of your problem with the Auto Mag, what brand of ammo caused that? I initially tried out ever brand and bullet weight I could find. I had some failures to feed with the huge hollow point of the TNT bullets and the low cost Winchester lead bullet rounds didn't have enough power to cycle the action but it worked fine with all others. The Remington 30 grain plastic tip gave me the tightest groups but the Fiocchi 40 grain JSP's grouped only a fraction larger and I preferred the 40 grain weight, plus they cost considerably less than the "premium" Rem ammo. With the Burris FastFire red dot and Fiocchi ammo I get just about 2" at 50 yards from bench rest.

[cwlongshot]

IIRC it was Winchester 40g HP. But it was a while ago.... I remember a note from the factory cautioning about not using one brand of ammo. I don't rem which one...

Not so may of the premium bullets where when Avalible. Fed had just come out with the excellent 50g.

CW

[chefjeff]

I got rid of my early automag,due to jam issues,even after sent back.Loved the gun,but couldn't trust it. Looking to try the Kel Tec PM30.

[coyotejoe]

I just saw the test fire report on American Rifleman TV and it sounded pretty good but ascetically OMG that thing is ugly. It also is very light. Light is good to a point but when it comes to actually firing a shot without a bench rest a very light gun tends to wobble a lot more than one with a little heft. It seems that the high magazine capacity is the major selling point for many people. I guess I'm lucky that my AMT is one of the good ones but since I do have it I certainly would not swap it for the Kel-Tec.