Rimfire Long Range Trainer

Wait what? Long range rimfire? Hashtag - oxymoron.

I know it seems a bit strange but let me clarify. I'm not using a rimfire rifle to shoot long range. I bought a .17hmr to use as a practice gun for precision rifle competition. And before I get into my thoughts about this, the target above was shot from a bench off a bipod with relatively unstable rear support. (I forgot my rear sandbag) The circles with numbers measure approximately 3 inches. So when I say that my best group of the day measured roughly 1moa for 10 shots, please don't crucify me. I'm leaving out other variables like altitude, pressure, and wind just to simplify.

Recently I read an article about what the top PRS (precision rifle series) shooters use during their training sessions and I was intrigued by the concept.  Most of these folks are using .22 long rifle, .17hmr, or .223 training guns.  It makes a lot of sense that they don't use their competition rifle due to the wear and tare and the price of quality match grade ammo.  This resonated with me instantly because I have been contemplating getting into long range competitions this year, and the thought of ammo cost and barrel wear are real issues.  This is not a cheap hobby, and so when I hear that the pros are using a $400 gun and ammo that costs next to nothing for their training, you better believe I'm taking notes.



I bought the Savage 93R17 TR.  TR for tactical rifle. It has a heavy fluted barrel, oversized bolt knob and a stock that very closely resembles the Manners T4 on my competition gun.  Besides the obvious things like lack of recoil and a longer trigger press, I should be able to get the same level of training with this gun as I do with my comp gun.  I will be able to put a lot more rounds down range and not break the bank.  For example: I shot 100 rounds yesterday and it cost me $28.00 total.  One hundred match grade rounds for my 6.5x284 competition gun would have cost me $250.00!  Enough said right?

I know what you're thinking, "but you can't shoot that .17hmr out to 900 yards." This is true, but I can shoot it out to 400 yards.  The interesting thing about ballistics is that often you can find close enough parallels to make one bullet just as challenging to shoot as another.  The .17hmr requires a 23moa elevation adjustment at 400 yards.  My 6.5x284 requires a 23moa adjustment at 900 yards.  Get the picture?  The ballistic corrections I have to perform with the .17 are almost identical to the ones I make with my competition rifle at these ranges.  This make training with the .17 very similar to the big gun. It won't always work out this way of course because the bullets and their ballistics are very different overall.  It works well in this particular case though.

It's all about efficiency.  I have X amount of training time and Y amount of training dollars, and I want to maximize what I get out of both those investments.  Buying a precision rifle trainer accomplishes this for me.  And a 1moa group (top left, just outside the head) at 100 yards, in a stiff wind, out of a cheap .17hmr, is a pretty stellar result in my book.

-ME