Set up and initial zero:
I woke up to pouring rain at home but it looked brighter toward the range so I loaded up and drove over to look. Sure enough 13 miles away it was only partly cloudy, with more or less calm winds and a perfect overcast for the chronograph sans sky screens.
I set up A-23/5 targets at 100 yards and shot 2 groups per target, 5 shots in each group, adjusting the scope to shoot high and right for the first group, and then adjusting the scope down 3 minutes and left 3 minutes for the second group. All rounds were shot over a chronograph.
I zeroed using 6 rounds, two three shot groups, of Hornady 35 gr V-Max factory ammo, one group at 50 yards and another at 100 to zero, then shot a five shot group with it to get a baseline measure for accuracy. That group was 1.098" - just under 1 MOA. The Leupold VX-2 3-9x40 I have mounted on it is also new, so I used this as a chance to gauge the accuracy and consistency of the adjustments, and it performs flawlessly like the other VX-2 scopes I have. The newer VX-2 is the old VX-III in terms of both optics and adjustments and currently, they are in my opinion one of the best bangs for the buck available as they have excellent optics, and very convenient low profile finger adjustable turrets with very repeatable adjustments with no discernible back lash.
The scope is held in place with a one piece Leupold base (#64005, for the Remington 799) and medium rings. Low rings would probably work with a 40mm objective, but the height is right for me and my face with the fairly high comb on the rifle. The bases are odd in that they only use one of the available screw holes fore and aft, which gives you pause. But it's not a heavy recoiling load. Weaver 71A and 21 bases can be used and they will utilize both holes fore and aft so you have a choice.
I stayed with the Leupold base as I like to be able to adjust the scope for windage on the base. I mechanically centered the base and the scope and then needed only a few OA to bore sight it, and the bore sighting was only a couple MOA off, so the barrel, action, holes and bases are all well aligned with one another - always an encouraging sign.
The benchmark for load comparison:
I fired two more groups with Hornady 35 gr V-Max factory loads at the end of the day as well, and those two final groups were 0.737" and 0.752" groups, for a 15 round three group average of 0.862". A fairly decent benchmark to beat with a sporter weight rifle. And encouragingly, the accuracy appeared to improve over the course of the day.
On to the hand loads:
The second five shot group of hand loads tested was the best group of the day.
.22 Hornet Win case Hornady 40 V-MAX Hodgon Lil Gun 12.0gr CCI 400 1.810 OAL
It measured 0.420" center to center. The average for that load however was 0.739" however, so over all it was only an average load, with this right hand tail group helping the average. Still...
Back in the real world, most of the 40 gr V-max groups looked like this with 2 or 3 holes touching and a couple fliers opening it up a bit:
Numbers wise, I fired a total of 105 rounds with 40 gr V-Max bullets using Lil Gun,W-296 and 2400 powder. The average of all loads with all powders using this bullet was 1.089" - again just under 1 MOA.
The largest group with the 40 gr V-Max was 1.601" with the average for that load being 1.567". So even the worst load with the 40 Gr.V-Max was still under 1.5 MOA.
The best load overall, with an average group size of 0.668" was:
.22 Hornet Win case Hornady 40 V-MAX Hodgon Lil Gun 13.2 CCI 400 1.810 OAL
That's an average of .637 MOA.
Of the three powders used, Lil Gun was the clear winner, with no pressure signs, nice rounded primer cups, and reasonable standard deviations in velocity ranging from 12 to 30 fps and the best groups overall and on average.
296 turned in groups averaging around 1.2" so, not bad, but not on par with the Lil Gun groups with this bullet, and the primers in all the loads used were starting to lose the round shoulder in the cup. Not really flattened, but getting close.
2400 demonstrated a couple good groups (1.011 and 1.029) but the average was 1.227", and worse the SD's were high (35 to 45 fps) with the primers also starting to lose the round shoulder in the upper loads.
I had some Remington 45 gr HPs which some people have reported shooting very well in their .22 Hornets (which struck me as odd as their bullets are normally pretty crappy). So it was not much of a surprise when they did not shoot very well in mine. Everything that was marginal with the 40 gr V-Max got just plain bad with the Remington bullets. I only fired 35 rounds as I saw very high SDs (121-216 fps) in the initial 5 shot groups with each load, and flattened primers on the high velocity rounds.
Lil Gun normally works great with heavier bullets in the Hornet, but not with the Remington 45 gr HPs. Accuracy went from ok (1.382") to bad (2.896) the worst group of the day.
2400 did well in terms of standard deviation (15-20 fps), but accuracy averaged 2.003" and it was slightly flattening primers with all the loads tested, so testing was again truncated.
I still have 400 or so Remington bullets to shoot up, so I may try to find some load data for 296 and try it as well.
The food news is that even with really bad loads and bullets it did not like, accuracy still average 2.035" - or just under 2 MOA.
The performance of the rifle itself:
Even more interesting is that when I compare first group versus second group accuracy, with no cool down between groups, the first group average for all the 40 gr V-max loads was 1.227" while the second group average for all the 40 gr V-Max loads was 0.952", so it actually does a bit better with a warm barrel.
That's encouraging as one of the things I liked about my old Zastava made Interarms Mark X in .243 was that the barrel did not walk as it heated up. Zastava, like most major European gun makers, hammer forges their barrels. While that produces a very hard and durable inner surface (it gets work hardened as it is hammered against the mandrel) that is also very smooth with no need to lap, it is a process that induces a huge amount of stress in the metal so very thorough and proper stress relieving is vital. If they don't get it right, the point of impact will walk all over the place as it warms up. Zastava has not lost it's touch as the barrel is very temperature stable, despite it's sporter weight.
The trigger is adjustable and I was able to reduce it to 2 lbs 6 oz. Any thing lower will require some work on the springs. It's a little gritty at the start of the pull, but breaks cleanly and it was overall very predictable - almost like a two stage trigger - take up slack until the grit stops and it's ready to go with a hair more pressure. I may or may not mess with it later, but I'll probably shoot it awhile and see how it comes long with use.
The action is smooth and will probably get smoother after another couple hundred rounds, extraction is positive and it ejects them nicely onto the bench at 2 o'clock.
The only significant issue was the magazine which fell out under recoil after the first round. The magazine release is pressed forward when the button for what is the floor plate released on the non rimmed versions of the mini mauser is pressed, and it was obvious when troubleshooting the problem that the catch needs a bit more engagement. That will be easy to accomplish by removing a bit of metal from the back of the arm where it engages the release button. In the interim, 3 layers of masking tape to the lower front edge of the magazine prevented any forward movement and resolved the immediate problem.
I bedded the recoil lug are in the stock as the rear face is small, and the rounded cuts on each side of the recess for the lug in the stock further reduce the surface area to the rear of the lug. I also bedded the metal pillars in place to keep them from falling out and to fix them in position, and used a small amount of bedding compound on each end of them to ensure full contact in those areas. Sort of a cheap and easy method of pillar bedding with no great effort or undue heroics. But the point here is that I did it while waiting for the scope mounts to arrive and never shot it without the bedding, so I can't speak to what if any difference it made in accuracy.
I'm in the market for a new magazine and the LGS has call into Century to try to find one. I don't really care about having an extra loaded mag for field reasons, but like any magazine fed rifle, if you lose the mag, you'll be stuck with a hard to load single shot.
The finish on the stock would look at home on a Rossi as it has that incredibly flat and lifeless shoe polish look to it. But like the Rossi, the original finish takes Tru-oil very well and appears to make a nice stain to start building a finish on. With just 2 coats of Tru-Oil applied it started to show some life and some straight but interesting grain. Coat number 3 is drying as I type and it'll get coat 4 before I go to bed.
Overall impression:
I debated a bit between a Zastava Model 85 Mini Mauser and the Mauser based CZ-527 Micro. The CZ comes with a nicely finished stock and a reputation for great accuracy, but at a price tag in the $730 range locally, compared to a bit under $500 for the Zastava. My major objection to the CZ-570 is the rather large and unsightly magazine well built into the trigger guard and floor plate. If I went that direction I'd have went with the CZ 527 M1, with the flush 3 round magazine. The Remington 799 version of the Zastava used the same flush magazine approach with the same 3 round capacity. So all in all, the Zastava offered a nice compromise - 5 rounds with a less offensive magazine arrangement.
My other concern was accuracy with the Zastava Model 85, as people mostly rave about the CZ-527, but there is relatively little discussion of the Zastava Mini Mausers regardless of the particular label they were sold under. However, given the results of today's shooting, it appears likely that the Mini Mauser is as under rated and under appreciated as it's Mark X big brother. The only real down side seems to be sporadic availability of spare magazines for it. Still, I'll probably be in the market for one in .223 before too long.
