Bought An Annie Today

[Czechnologist]

I think walnut.

Yes, walnut.

 

[28Shooter]

That is beautiful Z man!

 

[Czechnologist]

Under normal circumstances I'd never attempt to sight-in a new rifle/scope when the wind was gusting 10-15 MPH, but by 2:00pm I couldn't take it anymore.

These are the first 15 shots at 50 yards using SK Standard Plus. I bought a couple of bricks from CMP last year when it was relatively cheap. It consistently performs well in my rimfire rifles. It's better than most, but not as good as others.

The first five landed in the five o'clock position on the paper, so I adjusted the scope 4.5" up and 4" left to correct. The next 5 hit the top of the orange dot and I made a .5" adjustment down and .5" inch adjustment back to the right. The next 5 shots were very close to the center and had the wind not been a factor, I dare say it could've been a one-holer or darn near it.

Keep in mind, too, that I wasn't using a front bag/bench rest. I was shooting off my bipod with only a small rear bag for stability. I like to get as close to simulating how I actually hunt the first couple of times I shoot a new rifle, just to make sure I got everything the way it should be. Plus, today was just for fun. I had never shot an Anschutz 1710 rifle until this afternoon. Never. This afternoon was really a getting-to-know-you session more than anything.

I was pretty stoked about it only taking 10 shots to get it close to zero'd, so I shot another 10 at the other target I taped right next to my sight-in target. Wind started whipping so I waited a few minutes and shot another 5.

This was my best 50 yard, 5 shot group of the day. If this rifle shoots this well on a windy day with cheap ammo, I can only imagine how it'll shoot with good ammo and calm winds.

I just ordered two boxes of Lapua Midas + and two boxes of Eley Match from Midway USA to try-out.

 

[outrider58]

Schweet!

 

[teratos]

Sweet Lord! That’s with wind?

 

[28Shooter]

That's a keeper!

 

[DeadInside]

As noted that is a beautiful gun and great shooter right out of the box! When I got my Anschutz (1761) I was amazed by how good the trigger is. For me it made a big difference in shooting tight groups. I have a number of other rimfires (Remington, Savage, Marlin, Ruger, S&W 15-22, and a recent Steyr Zephyr). Granted they are all significantly less expensive then the Annie but not even close when it comes to the quality of the trigger and action. Also nice “upgrade” on the glass, can’t go wrong with Zeiss.

Congrats on shooting some great groups and a successful first outing with it in windy conditions!

 

[Uncle Duke]

Good work Zzzzz!

 

[Czechnologist]

Sweet Lord! That’s with wind?

And it was gnarly! Swirling, unpredictable gusts. One minute it was coming from the West and the next it was coming from the East. When it was too much, I backed-off and waited for it to calm down.

That's a keeper!

Oh yeah, it's gonna be a fun one. I can already tell.

As noted that is a beautiful gun and great shooter right out of the box! When I got my Anschutz (1761) I was amazed by how good the trigger is. For me it made a big difference in shooting tight groups. I have a number of other rimfires (Remington, Savage, Marlin, Ruger, S&W 15-22, and a recent Steyr Zephyr). Granted they are all significantly less expensive then the Annie but not even close when it comes to the quality of the trigger and action. Also nice “upgrade” on the glass, can’t go wrong with Zeiss.

Congrats on shooting some great groups and a successful first outing with it in windy conditions!

Thank you! I wasn't sure how I'd feel about a two-stage trigger, given that all my long guns have single stage triggers. This one is different. There's maybe 3mm of take-up before it breaks like glass. Probably the best trigger I've ever had on any rifle.

 

[Czechnologist]

Time again for...Holes In Paper! Yay!

I decided at the last minute to leave the Eley Match at home and concentrate on the Lapua Midas + and I took a box of SK Rifle Match to compare instead. I want to do a dedicated Eley range day since I have so much of it. I have a good supply of Target, Club, Team, Tenex, and Force, plus two boxes of Match to try-out the next time I go.

Here we go! 50 yards! Light breeze, 72F. I started with the Midas + and since I didn't have that much, I shot only half as many 'fouling' shots that I usually shoot. Ten in the center target, five each in the corners going from bottom left, top left, top right, bottom right.

Considering I'm shooting off my bipod, as opposed to a front bag/rest, and using only a rear bag for stability most of the flyers you see are not the rifle's fault. I'll own them. By shot #20 (top right) the Lapua was doing really well. I wish I was able to get more of it, but...

SK Rifle Match performed nearly as well, which is a good thing considering how much of it I have in my stash. Same thing as the Lapua...took about 20 shots to season the barrel and the last two five-shot groups were probably the best of the bunch.

 

[Augie]

Time again for...Holes In Paper! Yay!

I decided at the last minute to leave the Eley Match at home and concentrate on the Lapua Midas + and I took a box of SK Rifle Match to compare instead. I want to do a dedicated Eley range day since I have so much of it. I have a good supply of Target, Club, Team, Tenex, and Force, plus two boxes of Match to try-out the next time I go.

Here we go! 50 yards! Light breeze, 72F. I started with the Midas + and since I didn't have that much, I shot only half as many 'fouling' shots that I usually shoot. Ten in the center target, five each in the corners going from bottom left, top left, top right, bottom right.

Considering I'm shooting off my bipod, as opposed to a front bag/rest, and using only a rear bag for stability most of the flyers you see are not the rifle's fault. I'll own them. By shot #20 (top right) the Lapua was doing really well. I wish I was able to get more of it, but...

SK Rifle Match performed nearly as well, which is a good thing considering how much of it I have in my stash. Same thing as the Lapua...took about 20 shots to season the barrel and the last two five-shot groups were probably the best of the bunch.

Beautiful rifle and good shooting, looks like a winner. If you can find any try Lapua Center X, shoots as well as Midas in my Cooper, equaled the factory test target at 50 yards with Center X. All the SK stuff shoots well in my rifle, almost as good as the Lapua, even the relatively cheap SK Magazine.

 

[Czechnologist]

Cooper builds some very nice rifles, that's for sure. You practically duplicated the group on your test target. Wow!

Center-X has been scarcer than hen's teeth. It sells-out almost as soon as it goes on-sale. Same with Midas. Midway USA is rationing it out, two boxes at a time every two weeks.

I did find some RWS Rifle Match at a place in TX today. Ordered 6 boxes @ $10 a-piece + shipping.

 

[Czechnologist]

Finally got her back out to the range today. Between the lousy weather we've had during the last month and my work schedule changing on a weekly basis, I started to wonder if I was gonna get out again...before June. So, before my boss could call and tell me I had another last-minute assignment, I grabbed two boxes of SK Standard Plus and two boxes of RWS Rifle Match to shoot some 50-yard groups.

I was rooting around inside the rifle's box the other day and came across its 10-shot, 50-meter test target using RWS 50 ammo.

I didn't even know it was in there because it was on the back flap of the CD-ROM cover that Anschutz provides as an owner's manual. Unfortunately, I haven't owned a computer with a disc drive since 2017 and I downloaded the owner's manual off anschutzusa.com without opening it to see if anything else was in there. Duh...

Shooting off bags today, instead of the bipod, produced some of the best groups I've ever shot. I got real close to duplicating my test target with RWS. Wind was being weird. Real intermittent and gusty.

10 shots, 50 yards, RWS Rifle Match, 18x Magnification

5 shots, 50 yards, RWS Rifle Match, 20x Magnification

I thought those were pretty decent groups. It started getting breezy, so I kind of rushed thru a box of SK Standard Plus but got a couple of good 5-shot groups with it after taking 15 fouling-shots to season the barrel after shooting RWS.

5 shots, 50 yards, SK Standard Plus, 18x Magnification

And this is one of the best 5-shot groups I've ever shot with any rifle.

5 shots, 50 yards, SK Standard Plus, 18x Magnification

I didn't measure it but, it looks like it's definitely under .25" or so.

I'm glad I left the bipod at home. I need to do that more often.

 

[DeadInside]

Obviously a very accurate rifle and great scope setup but that is some really nice marksmanship when shooting in variable wind conditions. Nice day at the range!

 

[Czechnologist]

Obviously a very accurate rifle and great scope setup but that is some really nice marksmanship when shooting in variable wind conditions. Nice day at the range!

Thanks! I had a great shooting instructor in basic training. He was able to take a civilian with very limited long gun experience and in less than 9 weeks turn them into a decent marksman with an M-16A1 that had definitely seen its better days. His name was, Duenas and he was a native Guamanian. He was a trip and by God, if he told you to do something, you either damn well did it or suffered the consequences for not doing it.

Whenever I shoot a rifle it's like I still can hear his voice, 44 years later, bellowing my last name and coaching me on what I'm doing wrong. He taught me how to 'read' wind speed and direction using target flags and later, using the surrounding environment to make an educated guess on where to aim. We're talking Oklahoma, where the damn wind is always blowing. Back then, the Army gave recruits two chances to qualify with a rifle before threatening to 'recycle' them back thru basic training again and that proved enough motivation for me to listen carefully and qualify on the first attempt. The last thing I wanted to do was to spend another two months in lovely Fort Sill going thru basic training again.

 

[Czechnologist]

I didn't plan to wait a month between range trips. It just worked-out that way. Every time I had a day-off and time to shoot, something always threw a monkey-wrench in the works.

I won a $50 Midway USA gift card last month, so I blew it on three boxes of Lapua Center-X and three boxes of SK Long Range Rifle with free shipping. Having high hopes for both, I wanted to wait until I had a (relatively) wind-free and slightly overcast day to test them both. I just didn't expect it to take a month.

Pre-pandemic, Lapua Center-X was around $10-12 per box. Then, March 2020 happened, and suddenly it was nowhere to be found. Whenever some did pop-up on ammoseek.com it usually sold-out within minutes and cost x2 as much. A lot of 22 enthusiasts swear-by Center-X. I had only shot it once previously in a completely different rifle. It performed well but it didn't knock my socks off.

These were the two best five-shot 50-yard groups with Center-X I could shoot. I had others that were almost as good but, consistently threw one flyer out of five. Could've been either the light, 5MPH East-West breeze or (more likely) me spazzing after a month of no practice. Not sure. Perhaps both were to blame. Conclusion: I would buy Center-X again but not for $20 per box. It performs well in this rifle but, more like, $9-10 a box ammo, not $20.

I wanted to wait until I could drive down to Elite Shooting Sports to test the SK Long Range on their 100-yard indoor range, but it was closed on the one and only day this week I had time to make the 75-minute drive from Frederick. Curiosity got the best of me.

SK Long Range Rifle, 50 yards, ten shots in the center target to season the barrel and five shots on each corner target. Once again, SK proves it's the ammo that performs the most reliably. It doesn't seem to matter if it's either Standard Plus, Rifle Match or Long Range, it's all capable of better accuracy than yours truly.

Here's hoping we get out of this funky pattern of April-like weather around here and just go straight into Summer. I'm ready.

 

[Uncle Duke]

Rimfires especially, even more so than centerfires IMO, have distinct ammo preferences.

Great rifle and acope combo there.
One that looks great and shoots great. And shooting groups like those is FUN!

Were that my rig, I'd have a try an experiment of a somewhat different sort. I'd have to buy a box of anything I could get my hands on that cost less than say, 15 cents a round. Just to see what happened.

Now there's no substitute for good ammo. And great consistency gets expensive with rimfire ammunition, cuz they say it's the devil to make. But my guess is that there's a much less expensive choice out there that will also shoot lights out.

Now I could be wrong. But I'd sure have some fun testing that theory.

 

[Czechnologist]

Rimfires especially, even more so than centerfires IMO, have distinct ammo preferences.

Great rifle and acope combo there.
One that looks great and shoots great. And shooting groups like those is FUN!

Were that my rig, I'd have a try an experiment of a somewhat different sort. I'd have to buy a box of anything I could get my hands on that cost less than say, 15 cents a round. Just to see what happened.

Now there's no substitute for good ammo. And great consistency gets expensive with rimfire ammunition, cuz they say it's the devil to make. But my guess is that there's a much less expensive choice out there that will also shoot lights out.

Now I could be wrong. But I'd sure have some fun testing that theory.

I tried some CCI SV and it didn't like it much. A friend has offered to give me some CCI Blazer .22 the next time we go to the range and I'm looking forward to trying it just for fun.

So far, the only premium ammo it really shoots well is Lapua Midas +. Eley Tenex and Eley Match were both kind of mediocre the first time I tried them.

 

[Uncle Duke]

I tried some CCI SV and it didn't like it much. A friend has offered to give me some CCI Blazer .22 the next time we go to the range and I'm looking forward to trying it just for fun.

So far, the only premium ammo it really shoots well is Lapua Midas +. Eley Tenex and Eley Match were both kind of mediocre the first time I tried them.

I would think that SV CCI would have shot pretty well, and Blazer would shoot less well. And by golly, watch......it'll prove to be just the opposite.

Time and again, for me at least, rimfire proves to be fickle as all hell.

My last such outing, the best performer in a particularly finicky rifle of mine was Aguila HV. Straight out of Mexico. Now do tell me, who in the hell would have figured that? Tequila maybe. But .22lr ammo?

Anyway, Enjoy!

 

[Czechnologist]

I would think that SV CCI would have shot pretty well, and Blazer would shoot less well. And by golly, watch......it'll prove to be just the opposite.

Time and again, for me at least, rimfire proves to be fickle as all hell.

My last such outing, the best performer in a particularly finicky rifle of mine was Aguila HV. Straight out of Mexico. Now do tell me, who in the hell would have figured that? Tequila maybe. But .22lr ammo?

Anyway, Enjoy!

It's the truth, UD. The only way to know, for sure, is test it like everything else.

CCI SV is one of the most accurate loads I've shot in the Sako Quad Varmint, but the Anschutz didn't like it one bit. Go figure. That's why I won't be surprised at all if the CCI Blazer shoots sub-MOA 50-yard groups. There's just no way to predict how rimfire ammo will perform from one rifle to the next.