Well, if I only posted my good groups, there wouldn't be many target pics lately. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> As you may have seen in some of my pics, I have a front and rear rifle rest. I'll do another comparison with the Harris bipod next time I shoot the CZ.

Speaking of groups, I had a good news/bad news experience shooting my re-barreled/re-stocked Ruger 10/22 at the range today. Turns out the ammo it liked best was some old PMC Scoremaster. It was consistently shooting .5" groups at 50 yards so I have hope for 1" - 1.5" groups at 100 yards.

I have most of a brick of the old Scoremaster but what the heck am I going to do when its gone? Ugh. I guess I'm going to have to try a bunch more ammo to find a replacement...preferably something I can stock up on by buying a couple bricks.

The good news was that the Federal Gold Medal match was not its favorite ammo. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Know what you are talking about. My CZ452 sporter brl rifle loves PMC Sidewinder (not much left) and the Federal cheap Champion. I bought a few bricks of the Champion and need to get some more when the ammo grabbers decide to quite taking it all. It is nice when the cheaper priced ammo performs better than the expensive stuff.

Let us know how the bedding job turns out.

My 10/22 is standard barrel and in a Butler Creek folding pistol grip stock. I might shoot .75" to 1.00" @ 50 yds as is, but its my night time Diller Killer with a streamlight and 4X scope. It's for close in on animals of the night. I use CCI MiniMags in it. My Ruger 77/22 HB Target model will shoot <.5" groups at 60m with PMC Target ammo, and about the same size group at 40m with Remington Subsonic HP.

Your 77/22 is an excellent shooter Vic. I hope to be able to approach your results with some trigger work. The stock trigger on my 10/22 seems to break at 6-7lbs with some noticeable takeup. The break is pretty clean though. There's lots of options for improving 10/22 triggers I just need to get off my butt and get it done.

Here's the PMC Scoremaster groups:

Hi Vic, I doubt a bedding job will bring those groups in....usually that type of job shrinks tight groups but you need a tighter group than you are getting...looking at your pic of the barrel crown...is there a slight chip/mark on the crown at 4/5 o'clock? Does your gunsmith have a bore scope to check the barrel? If the crown has a ding it can cause grouping spreads like you are getting....re-crowning the barrel though is starting to get "expensive"....personally I might be tempted to move this one on....or indeed consider moving both of them...and rotate the money into a higher end spec .17 HMR which has a trigger to match the accuracy of the barrel from the off...what do you think? You certainly seem to like the calibre...

I don't know what a higher end 17 HMR would be. I had an Anshutz and my CZ 22 shot as well. The target crown looks good to me, but my gunsmith can recrown it if necessary. I am already at 1.5" average groups at 100m. Maybe the bedding will help some. If not, I'll go from there. Also, I have yet to try the 20gr bullets. CZs usually have good barrels. We will see.

Maybe I am just expecting too much from the 17 HMR. I never did find a 22 WMR that shot as well as my better 22 LRs. I mean, rimfires at 100m + with those light bullets cannot be expected to do what a good varmint rifle in .223 can do. I had a Savage Tactical years ago, with a horrible trigger and that long action, that would consistently do .5" at 100m off a Harris bipod all day long. But .223s are too loud to shoot in my backyard. If I can just get it down to 1" @ 100 yds consistently (not in the wind), I'll call it good. 1 moa is good enough for my purposes.

Speaking of the 452's, I ran across a deal in a hvy brl, rings, and 850 rds of ammo for 575. I wish I had the extra cash to snag it but oh well, I want steel first LOL.

Well I have been all over the internet learning as much as I can about 17HMR accuracy. The usual trigger, free foat, bedding, scope mounts, parallax stuff comes up. But those that seem to get the best results stumble upon it. It seems to be the ammo more than anything else. That jibes with my 22 rimfire experience, too. Until I have tried more brands, I am going to reserve judgement on the CZ. It did shoot much tighter at 50m with CCI than Hornady. And while CCI makes all of the 17 HMR ammo, they are loaded to different specs for each brand.

[color:"red"]05-12-09 Update. Got the CZ back from my gunsmith. In the process of bedding the action, he noticed two things that were not right:

1. The bolt did not completely close due to not enough inletting on the stock.
2. The trigger was striking the trigger guard.[/color]

He corrected these two defects and noted that either could cause fliers. He also inspected the bore and crown and found no defects. Both of these should have been corrected by CZ-USA, but since it was shooting to their sloppy 1.96" @ 50m specs, they would not take the rifle for warranty repairs. Another fine brand is going to lose their reputation if this kind of indifference to the customers continues. I hope to be able to shoot again next week to see if this latest bedding and other work helps make the rifle shoot more consistently.

Good Luck on the Range Vic! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

The bolt not closing fully and touching the stock would be a sure fire way to upset the harmonics and give fliers...the trigger contacting the guard less so...but once the bolt can lock down consistantly it should be able to come on song.