Rifle Reflections

by

Jim Ramsey
Tactical Shooter 1999
This article may not be copied or reproduced without
express written consent from Tactical Shooter Magazine

(Editor’s introduction: Jim Ramsey is a sales representative at TS advertiser Sinclair International. When you get your tie caught in the turret of your hydraulic reloading press, and you’re going up and down, screaming for help...if your wife calls Sinclair’s "Help Line"...Jim Ramsey might be the one who tells her to hit the "off" button. He is also a graduate of many of the more advanced firearms academics and courses in the US).

Many karate instructors will tell you that it takes 500 repetitions to learn a new technique. These same instructors will go on to tell you that with 3000 repetitions you can master a technique, or a series of techniques. The good news in all this is that once you have mastered a technique, it becomes a permanent part of your psycho-motor skill bank. Once a technique or series of techniques is permanent you will always have it. Without continued practice however, you will lose your sharp edge. But those techniques or skills, if you will, are always going to be there...it’s just that they will be sort of hibernating. Just like knowing how to ride a bicycle...you never forget how, although lack of recent activity may make you rusty

It stands to reason then, based on the above, that it will take somewhere between 1500 and 2000 reps to become at least "pretty good". Now substitute the word "shots" for the word "reps"...and we’re looking at somewhere between 75 and 100 boxes of match grade .308 at, oh let’s say about $14.00 per box.

Let’s face it...getting Department Administration to part with $1,000.00 for equipment can be done. I didn’t say it would be easy...merely that it has been done, and could be done. Administration types can see and feel "stuff". They can call in their constituents and the media, and announce proudly, "Look, we have ‘stuff’!". To the political types, the more "STUFF" you have, the more ready you are to tackle whatever might come up. Furthermore, "STUFF" can be shown to the public, at open houses or department tours, as evidence of their tax dollars at work.

But getting money and time for "consumables" is a horse of an entirely different color, and not likely to happen without a struggle, and maybe even a fight. "What do you mean, ‘practice’ budget? He went through the academy, didn’t he? He should have practiced then. He has good ‘stuff’. He doesn’t need anything else." And this one is my personal favorite... "We can’t spare the time to pull him off the street so he can play on the range." Sound at all familiar?

Such attitudes have been, and still are, the rule and not the exception. It is still the individual officer’s responsibility for both practice time and practice money. Fortunately, there are two things happening today that serve to make this less of a problem. The first of the two is that more and more law enforcement snipers are hobbyist shooters...hunters, highpower shooters, recreational shooters, and other types. The bonus of the hobbyist shooter-police sniper is that these people will practice and train on their own initiative. Lack of departmental time, money and support will not deter a person who will practice and train for the love of his art. Compare this attitude to that of the person who was "assigned the job".

The second development is the slowly growing realization and acceptance that quality practice with the .22 rimfire can be of great benefit to the centerfire shooter. When using a .22 rimfire to supplement centerfire rifle practice it is important to maintain as much continuity/similarity as possible between the two rifles. Length of pull, weight, layout of the controls, scope, etc. should all be as similar as possible.

A good example of this would be to have Accuracy Speaks build you an AR-15 upper in .22 rimfire that perfectly matches your .223 AR-15 upper, and have it mounted to a spare AR-15 lower. Now install the appropriate sight system, and you are in practice heaven...a near-perfect matchup between your primary and practice rifles. Yes, we’ll have to settle for "near perfect" because of the subtle differences in weight, trigger pull, and recoil. Notwithstanding all that, near perfect practice is so far ahead of no practice that it defies logic to argue its shortcomings.

Most law enforcement snipers today use a bolt gun, and the most commonly used bolt gun is a Remington 700 in .308 Winchester chambering. There are a number of good reasons for this, but for the purposes of this article I am only interested in two of them. 1.) It is an excellent rifle, with good logistics. 2.) There are currently available several high quality .22 rimfire rifles that closely match the 700’s control layout. The Remington 40x in .22 rimfire is of course the closest matchup. Sako’s Finnfire, Kimber’s Model 82, and the Winchester 52 are not only close to the 700 in control layout, they each come with a serious full size stock that gives you a rimfire rifle with a centerfire feel. These are great rimfire rifles that of course have correspondingly matching prices. And some people actually have their rimfires restocked into the same stock as their centerfire rifle. This is done of course to maintain as much similarity between the practice rifle and the primary rifle as possible.

As with the Accuracy Speaks upper mounted on a spare AR-15 lower, mentioned earlier here, matching a centerfire bolt gun with a rimfire bolt gun can get pricey...real pricey. And you haven’t even bought the scope yet! And let’s face it, unless a person has some serious long term professional, competitive, or recreational goals, most people will find it difficult to justify spending that much on a .22.

Fortunately, less expensive albeit quality options do exist. One sniper that I know in Ohio supplements his Remington 700 PSS practice with a Marlin 880SQ. The Remington 541T is another excellent-yet-inexpensive rifle, and the Ruger 77/22 is not terribly pricey either...plus the Ruger is available in a variety of configurations, one of which is sure to meet your practice needs.

There are several advantages to rimfire practice, but for now let’s just focus on three: Time...money...and feedback.

The time advantage is two-fold: 1.) You are actually spending time on the range, shooting. 2.) Very little support equipment is needed. Just grab your rifle, a couple boxes of .22’s, and go. Quick and easy.

The cost average is pretty easy to illustrate. A box (20 rounds) of .308 Match ammo goes for about $14.00, give or take a dollar. A brick (500 rounds) of .22 rimfire goes for just about the same price.

The feedback advantage is that you can immediately see and feel your mistakes. The recoil of a .308 can mask an improper trigger pull, or a poor follow through, for example. With the rimfire, however, you can see the crosshairs dance when you jerk, flinch, or anticipate the shot. Also, since the recoil of the rimfire is somewhere between mild and non-existent, the shooter can often watch his/her bullets impact on the target. This helps teach the shooter to keep their head down and follow through...probably more effectively than dry firing does.

The only meaningful concern with using the rimfire to supplement one’s centerfire practice would have to rest with one’s attitude. If the shooter thinks of the rimfire as a toy, and just puts shots downrange, its practice value will probably be somewhat less than zero. The proper mindset is just as important with rimfire practice as it is with centerfire practice...both are preparation for the day when you might have to squeeze off a shot with the game on the line.

For practice, forget about bulls-eye targets. Once the rifle is zeroed, hang your steel clangers, or reality targets out there, and shoot as if it was for real. And since the vast majority of law enforcement-related shootings take place within 100 yards (which is a realistic range for a .22), a police sniper should be able to get some serious yet inexpensive quality time on the range.

Want to work on your offhand shooting? Need to improve your technique for shooting across the hood of your cruiser while kneeling, or shooting out of a window? Grab your .22.

Other than safety (always numero uno) the two most important things to keep in mind with the .22 practice rifle are:

Attitude: If you aren’t striving to improve your technique and concentrating on breaking each shot as if it were for real, you’re just wasting your time (and ammo).

Supplement: The .22 is to be used only as a supplement to your centerfire practice. It is not a substitute for proper centerfire practice.

Let’s return to those karate instructors with whom we opened this article, and get a closing piece of advice. One must practice properly at least once a month in order to remain sharp. This pre-supposes, of course, that you first...get sharp.

About the Rifles

The desert camo rifle is a .308 chambered Remington LH with a Hart barrel, A2 Tactical stock by McMillan, and sporting a Leupold 4.5x14 with Mil-Dots. Metal work by Dwight Scott, and stockwork by Tom Meredith (TM Stockworks)...both highly regarded accuracy smiths.

The camo swirl rifle is a .223 Remington LH. The barrel and action are pure "factory", for no better reason than the silly thing shot too well to break up, just as I got it from the factory. A Leupold 12x Varminter with Mil-Dots rests on top, and Tom Meredith attached a McMillan A2 Tactical stock to it.

The solid color olive drab rifle is a Kimber Model 82 LH, .22 rimfire currently with a Burris 6x Hunter Benchrest scope (soon to be a Leupold 12x with Mil-Dots), and a McMillan A2 stock, again via the TM Stockworks shop.