A 12 inch aiming black at 200 yards is about 6 MOA and I suppose for a stock barrelled 10/22 keeping them all in the black at 200 yards is actually pretty good when you think about it. Of course keeping them inside of 2 inches with a centerfire is damned good shooting.
One of the quickest ways to disappointment is to have unrealistic expectations of things. This means people, places and things. Expecting good weather during hurricane season for a vacation trip to a tropical paradise is a shortcut to disappointment. So is expecting one hole groups at 200 yards with a .22 rifle that was designed as a plinker.
It's one thing to take a 513T (an expensive Remington target rifle) out and go up 56 clicks from a 50 yard zero and expect it to be damned close to the X-ring and another thing to try and get a plinker to achieve the same thing. It just realistically ain't gonna happen.
Interlude. I just saw where there is a Special Event Station up and running in French Guiana and turned on the rig and tuned in to it. It was very weak but had no pileup. I figured I'd give it a try and expected for it to be one of those non-QSOs where he gets maybe a half of my callsign and has to let me go without getting it all.
Bam! QSO! I was pleasantly surprised he read me a lot clearer than I read him. I was the opposite of disappointed. My expectations were fairly realistic. I figured there was a chance but knew it was also likely I would be unsuccessful. I got a pleasaant surprise but would not have been too disappointed if I had not been successful.
One of my pleasant shooting experiments was when I took a very shot out barrel and replaced it with a new commercial barrel, a Criterion. The old Army accuracy standards for Garands was 3-4 MOA with ball ammo. A buddy of mine gave me what he called 'some pretty consistent USGI ball' and I printed about 1.25 MOA with it which pleasantly surprised me. I was expecting something in the 2.5 area and for that combination it was a realistic expectation.
Ham radio is another field of endeavor what I have learned not to have unrealistic expectations. I suppose if I really wanted to do it right I'd have a different tuned antenna for every band. I don't. I have a multiband DXE 43 foot vertical coupled with a tuner to make it work on all bands.
While it seems to work OK, I know I would be better off with with about seven different tuned antennas but this is only a hobby and that's about as far as I can reasonably see taking things. The vertical has gotten me all around the world with little hassle and that's close enough for me. I can switch bands and the tuner adjusts things automatically. If I went the other route I'd have to unplug one antenna and plug in another to change bands. Why bother?
I just saw a picture of someone's 3 million dollar antenna farm. That ain't gonna happen. I can also legally run 1.5 KW but that ain't gonna happen, either. Let's keep it somewhat real. Radios, power supplies and tuners are expensive enough as it is.
Back to the 10/22 project.
We shall see what we shall see. If I can ring a 12 inch skillet at 200 yards fairly consistently I will be a reasonably happy camper. Anything better is just gravy.
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