I finally got around to purchasing a scope and rings for my Ruger M/77 .17 HMR coyote rifle recently.  I finished mounting the scope and rings, then I headed to the range today to tear some paper!  I was pretty anxious to get out and try this rifle since I hadn’t fired a shot through it since I purchased it back in the spring. 

     To back up a bit, I purchased a set of Ruger scope rings for it last weekend while I was up north shutting down our cottage.  I made a quick stop by Jay’s Sporting Goods in Gaylord, Michigan to see if they had any rings in stock.  Sure enough they had just what I needed so they made their way home with me on the return trip!  Two weeks prior I purchased a BSA illuminated 4×16 40mm scope to perch atop my coyote rifle while I was down at Cabela’s.  With my optics equipment purchases complete, I could now get down to the business of setting up the rifle so I could get to the range.

     This week I put the rings on the rifle and mounted the scope to the rings.  I really like the way the Ruger rings mount to the rifle.  With only two mounting screws (one on each ring), they fasten down without the worry of making sure you have the rings centered on the rifle.  They mount onto the Ruger by tightening from the left side of the ring, which forces the ring to become centered on the rifle.  As the screw tightens it brings the ring into alignment with the wedge on the right side of the ring being pulled into the groove on the rifle.  I have seen some rings that have screws on both sides of the ring which must be tightened down equal turns to ensure that the ring is centered on the rifle.  Not with these, that is what makes it so easy to mount the scope yourself!

     I hit the range today knowing that I would be shooting the .17 for the first time!  I have heard a lot of good feedback on the .17’s and was wondering just how mine would perform.  As I slipped the first round into the chamber and closed the bolt, I didn’t quite know what to expect.  I drew down on the target at 12 yard station and pulled the trigger!  The gun barked and the tear on the target was fairly close!  I was pleasantly surprised by the punch from the little caliber!  It had a nice little poke to it for being such a small round.  I fired a few more rounds and then began to make my adjustments. 

     With it being fairly close after a few adjustments, I moved to the 5o yard line and set up shop.  I looked down through the scope and squeezed off a round, dead center!  No adjustments needed, I moved to the 100 yard line and proceeded to fine tune the scope to hit the center!  It didn’t take long until I had it where it needed to be.  I cracked off a few more shots to verify it was good, then it was off to some longer distances to see what this little puppy could do.  I had heard that it could shoot pretty flat out to longer distances, but I was skeptical.  I moved to the 150 yard line and dropped 10 rounds down range, then I moved back to 200 yards and did the same thing again.

     I went to check my targets to see exactly what I could expect from the little .17 and found that the Ruger was shooting about 3 inches low at 150 yards, I could deal with that but at 200 yards it didn’t even hit the paper!  It looked to be about 7 inches low or so at the longer distance.  I thought it might be the ammo I used to tune the rifle in, so I will be checking other ammo choices at a later date.  Today I used CCI TNT jacketed hollow points to do the initial sighting in.  I do have three other choices of ammo to try: the Hornady V-Max, the Remington Magnum Accutip and the Winchester Super X JHP, that I will be testing as soon as I can make it back out to the range again.  All in all a great day to spend out shooting the new little varmint shooter!  Best thing about it was that I was out there all by myself.  Nothing like having the entire shooting range to yourself to have fun on!