Tag Archives: rimfire

Bergara BMR 22 Long Rifle

Product review, Shooting hardware, , , ,

I never got to shoot a large amount of 22’s when I was younger, I kind of skipped towards centerfire stuff. So it has been very refreshing in the last year or so to revisit a good spread of rimfire rifles, and today I’m here to tell you about yet another one; the Bergara BMR.

The BMR
The Bergara Micro Rimfire (BMR) is a bolt action rifle in a synthetic stock, it utilizes either a five or ten-round detachable box magazine. The model I tested here is all steel, but there is also a carbon fiber barreled version. The BMR seems to have been designed with the competitive rimfire shooter in mind, and as such competitions rage across the countryside it should come as no surprise. It features an eighteen-inch barrel, threaded 1/2-28 at the muzzle and came with a steel thread protector installed. The magazine is released by a paddle type lever at the front of the trigger-guard, very reminiscent of centerfire competition rifles. It also utilizes a bolt-release similar to many centerfire competition rifles, built into the left rear of the bolt raceway.
The trigger on the BMR was outstanding, I was surprised at how clean and free the sear dropped. There was little left to do other than get this handsome little rifle to the range.

Action details clockwise: Bolt stop/release, five and ten round magazines, safety and cocking indicator, trigger and adjustment screw.

Optics Selection
If this BMR shot as good as I’d hoped, I wanted to give myself an edge with a great scope to go on top of it. I have a bunch of good scopes, but was torn as which one to use. I would feel almost silly mounting a two or three thousand dollar scope on a rimfire rifle with a street price between five and six-hundred fifty dollars (depending on what features you order). I ended up using my Vortex Gen2 PST 3-15X44, and I’m glad I did because they are a perfect match for each other.
I mounted up the Vortex into a one-piece mount and leveled it up on the BMR’s 30 MOA scope mount. A quick and dirty boresight job was all that was left before heading to the range. I also added a bipod to aid in steady shooting while I zeroed the rifle.

Time to burn some powder
With a fine selection of ammo from Federal, Winchester, and CCi in hand, I made my way out to the dry desert where I intended to shoot. My boresight had put my point of impact a foot or so high, so after making a few adjustments the rifle was hitting right where I wanted it to. Within the first few shots after confirming my zero, I was absolutely in love with this rifle. I was picking out smudges on my steel target, and covering them up with shiny lead circles. I could quite literally aim for the previous impact, and hit the same spot with amazing consistency. After leading up the steel at fifty-yards, I decided to take it out a bit further.
I know that there are plenty of people who shoot their 22’s to some incredible distances, but I figured that for my purposes a 22 would not really be utilized much beyond a hundred or so yards, and certainly not beyond two-hundred.

Shooting targets at two-hundred yards quickly made me reconsider my envelope. Even with some wind on the range, I found hitting pop-can sized targets pretty repeatable at the two hundred yard line. I knew that I was going to need to try some additional tasks with this little rifle, there were definitely some varmints that could use some diet pills.Continue Reading Here…



An average ten-shot group from the BMR, at fifty yards with bulk packed cheap ammunition

Magnum Research MLR 10/22

Product review, Shooting hardware, , , ,

Am I the only one that had no idea Magnum Research made a 10/22 clone? I knew they made more than the famous Desert Eagle, but was completely surprised to find out that they also make this handsome copy of the famous Ruger so many have learned to shoot with. I guess I have a bit of an excuse for my ignorance on the subject as I’m not particularly a big rimfire shooter. That said I wasn’t going to turn down an opportunity to shoot something new.

The MLR
The Magnum Research MLR claims to improve on the extremely popular 10/22 design, particularly with a significant focus on accuracy.
The forged receiver and quality barrels are likely to be the basis for this accuracy. The MLR also features an oversized charging handle, as well as an elevated sighting rail. The model I tested also featured a carbon wrapped barrel and a polymer stock reminiscent of some type of AR 15. The stock uses a pistol grip and collapsible butt with various length of pull settings, and in the butt itself there are two holes for storing extra ten-round magazines.
The controls were all very familiar, matching the Ruger models. Mag release, bolt stop, and safety are all in the same spots and retain the same function. The MLR did use an extended magazine release, which I found to be very handy.

Rangetime
I shot the rifle in a couple different configurations, one was with a Trijicon red dot, and the other was using a Crimson Trace 3-12 riflescope. The red dot configuration was obvious a shoot fast and dirty kind of setup, like something I would use hunting jackrabbits out in the desert. For accuracy I knew I would see much better results using the riflescope, I mounted up a Crimson Trace 3-12 scope on the rifle and headed back to the hills to zero it.
Zeroing took a few shots, but once I had it dialed in I was in business. I tried a couple different types of ammo, I didn’t have a huge selection because beggars can’t be choosers nowadays. The rifle seemed to prefer the CCI Mini Mags over the CCI Tactical AR ammunition, which at fifty-yards produced ten shot groups around an inch pattern. With accuracy like that, I found that shooting clay targets out to two-hundred-fifty yards pretty easy. I’d imagine if you used higher quality ammunition it would shoot even better. The MLR was very predictable, and shooting it became very addicting.

I used the rifle for several hikes on the mountain with my dog, the lightweight rifle was a perfect little hiking companion. The collapsible stock made it more compact to carry, and the readily available magazines made quick loading a breeze. Using the rifle for plinking random little targets was a great way to enjoy a sunny afternoon.

Pro’s and Con’s
There are a plethora of benefits to making a clone of a very popular rifle, one of which would be all the aftermarket support you can take advantage of. The 10/22 market is probably the largest rimfire aftermarket, which gives you all kinds of options for stocks/chassis, triggers, barrels and so on. Today’s gun owner is as much a tinkerer as anything, so it’s nice to have so many options for tinker fodder. I could easily see myself swapping out some parts on this rifle, the stock for example was very useful, but not exactly what I would have chosen. The trigger is fine in my opinion, but it never hurts my feelings to have a better trigger, so it wouldn’t hurt to install the best option available. Continue Reading Here…

Tikka T1X MTR

Product review, Shooting hardware, , , ,

Tikka has made a great name for themselves here in the US firearms market. Ask the question in most any forum about what is the best buy for a sharp shooting rifle, and many of the comments immediately start coming back with: Tikka, T3X, and so on. Today we are taking a look at another popular model, the Tikka T1X rimfire. The T1X maintains a great deal of Tikkas popular design and features, some of them just downsized to fit the rimfire sized action.

Opening the box

I have to admit, I was quite pleasantly surprised when I opened the box containing the T1X. The handsome little rifle had come to me married to a Boyd’s At-One hardwood stock, in a bright red color. The handsome curves of Tikka actions flow very well with the aesthetics of the stock, and the fit was good and tight as well. Of course after checking the rifle I had to get it to my shoulder and see how it felt. The thumbhole-stock was not what I call a good fit to my hand, but it was not an issue at all as I generally run my thumb parallel to my trigger finger.

Handsome polymer sections were placed at all the likely ground contact points, and dual front sling-studs for both a sling and a bipod. The polished finish of the T1X bolt-knob was reminiscent of every T3 rifle I’ve ever shot, and ran similar as well. But I was so expecting to feel what my T3 does, that it caught me off guard to have such a short bolt-throw and stroke. The trigger in the T1X is a great little single stage trigger, the clean break also reminded me of the trigger I fell in love with on my T3. The rifle came chambered with a twenty-inch .17HMR barrel with a one-in-nine twist, and as it should be, the muzzle was nicely crowned and threaded 1/2-28 which is exactly what my host-less rimfire cans need. The detachable ten-round magazine fits neatly into the bottom of the stock, and the forward mounted release tab is easily manipulated for loading. At the back of the stock, there are depressible buttons to adjust both the comb height and length of pull. This feature made the rifle easily fitted to a new shooter in just a few seconds.

Time to burn some ammo

With rifle and ammo in hand, I headed to my shooting spot to get this Tikka warmed up. I had mounted my Kahles 318i on the rifle, which is much more scope than this rifle needs. But the high quality scope made an excellent addition to the rifle and was sure to give solid confirmation on the accuracy of the T1X.
I adjusted the stock to get the best eye relief and feel, the adjustments on the stock only required that you push in and then adjust the height of the comb or length of the recoil pad. A simple depressing of a button seemed a little too simple and potentially easy to accidently move, but to my surprise they were quite stiff. As a matter of fact, I had quite a time getting the recoil pad adjusted due to the force required to push the button. This is a small concern for me, as its not something I expect to adjust frequently.
Next was bore-sighting the rifle. I’ve never seen the need for bore-sighting tools, my Grandfather taught me his method learned through an artillery sight in Korea. I simply set the rifle up on a Harris bipod, and centered an easily identified object at the center of the bore. The key here is to ensure that your eye is perfectly aligned behind the breech. The circular shapes of the action, bore, and muzzle should all be concentric, and then your distant object centered in the middle of the bore hole. That’s the easy part, once you’ve got that, you need to very carefully and without shifting the rifle in any direction adjust your scope turrets until the crosshair is centered on the same distant object in the scope. I’ve done it this way for decades now, and its always on paper, and occasionally dead nuts on target. Continue Reading Here…

Dead Air Mask 22Lr Suppressor

Product review, Shooting hardware, , , ,

Life is so much better with a suppressor, and the more suppressors you have the better in my opinion. Suppressed shooting brings a new level of enjoyment to the shooting sports, whether it be hearing your bullets impact on the target or just not having to wear ear protection and being able to speak with each other without yelling. Rimfire’s are already quiet compared to their centerfire counterparts, and when you put a suppressor on them they are even more quiet. The Dead Air Mask 22 rimfire suppressor has been in my inventory for over a year now, and I can certainly say it has made the year more pleasant. And if you are looking for one yourself, I’m here to give you my opinion on it.

The Mask
The Dead Air Mask is titanium and stainless steel rimfire suppressor, it is rated for everything from 22LR up to 5.7×28 cartridges. It is just over five inches long, and has a diameter of 1.070 inches and weighs in at 6.6 ounces. The Mask is disassembled using the provided tool for the muzzle cap, and the threaded breach of the can also threads out making cleaning the suppressor very easy.

All Season
The Mask has been with me for some time now, through the summer heat and the cold of winter. I think I’ve gotten a good handle on how it performs.
The Mask was easily installed on an assortment of host rimfire weapons, and in every instance it made everything better. I use my firearms mostly for hunting and practice prior to hunting. A good portion of the summer time was spent using the mask on several 22 pistols to hunt small game such as squirrels and marmots.

Using suppressed rimfire hosts can get you up close

The Mask made a perfect companion for that purpose, allowing me to take multiple animals without spooking them with muzzle reports. And it was easily threaded on and off of my firearms, and had what I consider minimal shift. The stainless mounting threads and square cut breach cap provide an excellent interface with the host.
Through the winter time the mask stayed with me and my rimfires, providing the children with all kinds of fun. All while not adding a bunch of length or weight to the host rifle.
The Mask was perfectly suited for this Tikka 17 HMR

Why the Mask?
With so many admittedly good options out there, what would make you choose the Mask over something else? Its a subject I’ve often thought about, not just with the Mask but all kinds of products. I have other rimfire suppressors, and to be perfectly honest there is not a huge disparity between them all. Which again begs the question, why pick one over the other? Obviously there is a commercial aspect to the answer that has some validity, if there is only one suppressor in stock when you go to purchase one then it pretty much answers your question. Dead Air has done a great job at keeping up with demand, even during the darkest days of the last supply crisis I could still find an assortment of Dead Air suppressors in stock.

Pretty much all of the US suppressor market is domestically manufactured mostly if not wholly. So buying American is easy as far as that goes, but its nice to know that parts for my Dead Air cans were made just down the road a piece by some of my friends.
I don’t consider myself married to one particular manufacturer, as I have cans from several of the larger manufacturers. But if you are one of those people who likes to stick to one brand, you certainly wouldn’t go wrong picking Dead Air as that brand.
A pair of Marmots, one of which was not threatened by the report from the Mask

Price seems to be the most common decision factor on many things, the Mask has a street price as I write this around 420-480 dollars. That’s not exactly cheap for a rimfire suppressor, but you can surely spend a lot more money. And I wouldn’t bet the average shooter would see a huge difference between the Mask and suppressors that cost much more. So many times it can come down to who and where gives you the best price.
There are lighter suppressors, but we are talking in ounces so unless you are so high speed that two ounces is going to change your mind its probably not an issue.

The Dead Air Mask offers the same thing the rest of the Dead Air family does; excellent suppression and robust durability that wont require a loan application (unless you want a really big collection). So if you are a Dead Air fan, or if you have been considering the Mask as an addition to your firearms collection I am here to tell you, you will love it.
-CBM