Anschutz 1710 HB
2021 was such an epic rebound for my employer after all the Covid 19-lockdowns and quarantines that they saw fit to give me a little surprise a couple of weeks ago: 200% of my usual annual bonus. I was speechless. Yeah, I worked hard and put in a lot of hours last year to make up for 2020 but I never imagined them ever being that generous.
Well, it didn't take too terribly long to figure-out what I wanted to get. My shooting preferences had taken a hard turn towards .22LR during the last couple of years of ammo shortages and pandemic price-gouging. I had already picked-up a couple of nice bolt-action 22's but, I've been lusting for an Anschutz for the better part of 35 years.
Zeiss Conquest V6 5-30x50, Talley Medium Lightweight rings.
So, this is my 'grail' .22 hunting/plinking/range fun set-up. Selecting the rifle was the easy part, but choosing a scope was fun. I wanted Schott-quality glass, a lot of magnification and something that would have a very low bore axis after I mounted it. Zeiss, Leica and Swarovski made the final cut. I chose the Zeiss because I thought it had the best brightness and clarity of those three.
I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned-out, but the real test would be how it shot, of course. I immediately ordered my two-box limit of Lapua Midas + and Eley Match from Midway USA and while waiting impatiently for it to arrive, I did something I almost never do: sight-in a new rifle on a windy day. The weekend before last was pretty mild, mid-60's, but the wind was gusting 10-15MPH and I decided to go for it anyway.
Last year, I stocked-up on SK Standard Plus, SK Rifle Match and various types of Eley I could get from the Civilian Marksmanship Program. That's one of the advantages of belonging to an affiliated club. Knowing that conditions weren't going to be the best for accuracy testing, I grabbed a couple of boxes of SK Standard Plus. I figured if nothing else, I could achieve a half-ass'd sight-in at 50 yards and the SK Standard Plus is a pretty consistently decent-performer in all my 22 rifles.
So, the first five shots landed on the paper at five o'clock and I adjusted windage/elevation on my scope and shot another 5, pausing briefly between shots for the wind to die-down. The next 5 impacted slightly above and left of the target dot. I made another adjustment and the third, five-shot group hit pretty close to center. The wind absolutely sucked but, oh man, I didn't care. Not really. The two-stage trigger on this rifle is probably the best I have ever shot. It's like buttah. And now I have a better understanding of what the fuss is all about: the Model 54 action is smooth as glass. I thought my Sako Quad Varmint was smooth, but there's really no comparison.
Once it was more-or-less sighted-in, I loaded three five round mags and tried to shoot the center out of the other 50-yard target I put up. There were times when I had to wait several minutes for the wind to calm down but, I thought that was a decent 15-round group for (relatively) inexpensive ammo and the prevailing weather conditions.
This was my best five-shot, 50-yard group of the day. One puff of wind on the last shot screwed me on what would've been a nice one-hole, sub-half inch group. LOL Still, I can't complain. If it shoots that good in less-than-ideal conditions, I can't wait to see what it does on a calm day with better ammo. And that day would be today! It's supposed be sunny, 65F and NO wind here today. I now have my ration of Lapua Midas + and Eley Match that I'm hoping to test a few hours from now. I'll share the results when I return this afternoon.
