Went grocery shopping on Friday and they had my gun in! They couldn't figure out why nobody had called to tell be but it's cool. The scope I ordered from Cabela's that wasn't supposed to get here until Monday showed up 20 minutes after I got home from wally world. So I got to go to the range today which made me very happy.
The gun seems very nice from a machining perspective. That is, it locks up very well, the trigger has absolutely no creep, the action release is easy and smooth. The fit and finish is about what you'd expect for a $108 gun, it's ugly, but that doesn't really bother me.
On to the shooting. I know I should have disassembled it and cleaned it and all that before going to shoot it but I didn't. No time. Off to the range with just enough time to mount the scope and wipe it down with an oily cloth once. Things started out a bit rough accuracy wise. I don't know if it was me not having shot in the last 5 years or the gun just settling into it's new life, but it started grouping at around 2-3 inches at 25 yards. 200 rounds later and I'm smiling so big you can't believe it. End of the day groups are as follows, all at 25 yards, all measured c-c.
10 shot - 1 inch by 1/2 inch
5 shot - over 1/2 by a little bit
5 shot - just barely under 1/2
3 shot - right at 1/4
3 shot - one ragged oblong hole, group had to be under 1/4
That last group is the smallest group I've ever shot with any rifle at any distance. It really made my day. Point of aim was pretty constant, I think any shifts had to do with me playing with where the bags were on the forearm. Right at the end I put the bags under the hinge pin as was suggested on here. The small 5 shot and the tiny 3 shot were shot back to back using this method. It was quite exciting.
I'm going to just keep shooting and working on my consistency for the next 1000 shots or so and get the gun broken in. Then I'll see about trying the o-ring trick and all that. So far this is the best I've ever shot any gun. I think I should easily have a 1/2 inch 50 yard gun when it's all said and done. Quite good enough for the squirrels it's going to be chasing. I'm a very happy man.
