Tale of the tape; RF vs. my DS Safari

[tommyb]

Went to my local outdoor range today. I shot a couple of NRL22 cards with my Anschutz 64 MPR .22 LR in a lot of wind, for me anyway. Also shot some Air Rifle ( Safari ) cards last week in very little wind, no flags. Normally, my RFs will always beat my RAW HM1000x or Safari .22 rifles. In this case, the Daystate Safari easily won against the Anschutz .22 LR.

First, let me get my weak excuses out of the way.

I am out of Lapua Center-X ammo, which the above gun likes a lot. I tried RWS Special Match and was not that impressed, but honestly with this much wind, I could not be 100% either. Shot a 236 and 239 - not great.

I left my Pro Class Anschutz 1907 with tuner home, so I already knew I wasn't going to shoot 245+. I did previously shoot a 250 with the 1907 and can normally shoot consistently some high 240's with this gun. i.e., have shot 247, 248, 249 and only ONE 250. 

Lastly, I also found out after I shot my first card that my scope was not level. Silly me, I was sitting down the whole time and I should have stood up and looked behind the gun and down range. I got my level out and adjusted scope and I did shoot better on the 2nd card. I must have not totally tightened down some screws when I recently put another scope on this gun. 

Rookie mistake, but this hobby is always about learning for me.

Last week, I shot the Red Wolf Safari .22 HP and had better results, no flags and this was on purpose. Just wanted to see how I could do in light wind.

 

[klentz]

Tom,

We’ve gone down similar paths. Had a daystate mct that I put up against a few target rimfires back in the day. Decent rimfire Amos was easier to acquire back then so not a fair fight. Liked the accuracy of the mct but dIdn’t care for the electronic trigger. Sold the mct.

Recently shot my cricket mini carbine off the same bench with my anschutz 1712. Sporter vs sporter benched out to 100 yards. No flags, winds variable 5-10 mph. I’m going to sell a few rimfires and buy a few more pcps. Thinking about a RAW in 30 cal since I shoot with a guy that has one of Martin’s early guns and casts slugs for it. Amazingly accurate setup.

Thanks for your post. It helps me realize that I may not be crazy after all these years spent chasing ultimate accuracy in rimfires.

 

[tommyb]

Tom,

We’ve gone down similar paths. Had a daystate mct that I put up against a few target rimfires back in the day. Decent rimfire Amos was easier to acquire back then so not a fair fight. Liked the accuracy of the mct but dIdn’t care for the electronic trigger. Sold the mct.

Recently shot my cricket mini carbine off the same bench with my anschutz 1712. Sporter vs sporter benched out to 100 yards. No flags, winds variable 5-10 mph. I’m going to sell a few rimfires and buy a few more pcps. Thinking about a RAW in 30 cal since I shoot with a guy that has one of Martin’s early guns and casts slugs for it. Amazingly accurate setup.

Thanks for your post. It helps me realize that I may not be crazy after all these years spent chasing ultimate accuracy in rimfires.

Kevin

I tried the RAW in .30 caliber for a couple of months for 100 yard BR casual shooting. Martin tuned it for me, but I wasn’t getting the accuracy I expected. It was good, but not as good as with my HM1000x .22 HP. To be fair, I probably needed more time with making slight HST velocity adjustments with the JSB 44g pellets. And, at the time I didn’t use wind flags. 

In any case, I switched back to my .22 HP Poly barrel ( Martin worked on my barrel, set the regulator and installed the .22 pellet probe) and did better with the JSB 25g redesigns. I don’t think you can go wrong with buying the RAW in either caliber. Fantastic gun.

re. RF vs. Safari - in my testing, a vast majority of the time, either RF ( 64 MPR or custom 1907) outshoots both the RAW and Safari HP .22’s at 50 and 100 yards. However, if you follow the NRL 22 matches, there is a RAW ( Dennis ) who shoots some very good scores in the mid to upper 240’s at 50 yards. There are also some seasoned Air Rifle BR competition shooters ( both NRL22 and EBR) that can and do post some good cards that give the RFs a run for their money. 

I love both RFs, the Safari and RAW.

 

[klentz]

Thanks Tom. I'm not planning on selling all my rimfires but some just sit since my airguns are cheaper to shoot and allow me to shoot in places that rimfires aren't allowed. The guy I shoot with has an early Martin RAW in 30 cal and casts his own slugs. I've seen him take out prairie dogs at around 250 yards with that gun. Heavy gun, bench gun. Your post makes me think that a RAW in 22 would get shot more by me since I really don't need 30 cal and not sure I'd find the time to cast slugs. Hmmm..... Thanks for the information

 

[tommyb]

Sounds good Kevin. Makes sense to sell some RFs if you have easier access to shoot air rifles. I only have 2 RFs, so will keep both as they are very accurate. I enjoy having both the Anschutz 64 and 54 action platforms. 

I think getting either a .22 standard or high power RAW will give you very solid accuracy. I think ( but don’t know for sure) that the High power .22 Poly barrel is a better fit for distance BR shooting for me then if I had the standard. This is especially true for 100 yard accuracy. Mine shoots the MRDs at an optimum 930-945 FPS range and has been very accurate.

btw, in your original post you mentioned you shot the Cricket vs. your RF at 100Y. How did that go?

 

[klentz]

Tom,

Sorry for the delay in responding. Really appreciate your insight into the appropriate setup for the RAW. To answer your question,

my cricket mini carbine was more consistent with the following caveats,….took more time with the cricket to shoot between gusts since it’s a new gun to me (prejudice at play?) and I didn’t have any wolf match ammo with me that the 1712 prefers so shot Lapua that also does well in the 1712. Honestly I didn’t intend for that range trip to be a contest but since I had reasons to shoot both guns that day. It was an eye opener. Wish we could spend time on the range together. Be well 

 

[tommyb]

Thanks Kevin.

Heading out to the range this morning with my RAW and 1907.