22-284 Winchester: Life At 40X
There are particular accuracy issues that plague an overbore .224 barrel, the one I experienced was a need to clean out the copper fouling after only 9 rounds fired and are those patches BLUE! I found the cleaning to go fairly quick thinking it might be a combination of barrel quality, cryo freezing process and the use of liquid graphite to coat the bore. The 22-284 proved to be an accurate cartridge right from the start with little fuss in finding a good load. Low recoil however with a very loud report upon firing, I will need to see how long cases last for reloading and I hope to get 1000 rounds down the bore before noticeable accuracy is lost with erosion. Running a Quick Load program on the 22-284 for ballistic drop estimates have shown a 12" drop out to 400 yards (with a 230yard zero). I have included the actual drop elevations I recorded during range time with this barrel; your individual results may vary however this will be quite handy in getting you close to hits at different ranges. With any custom cartridge the work and time spent is well worth the effort if desired results are achieved, I plan to be shooting plenty of pesky varmints with this Big .22 for some time now.
Thoughts on the Barska Benchmark 40X
Initial load development with a 36X scope modified with a Tucker style reticule lock proved the pet load to be accurate. Switching to the big 40X Barska at longer ranges will be a good test on the quality of their fixed power Benchmark line. Built with a 30mm main tube, 50mm objective, click adjustable target turrets and side parallax adjustment this is one big scope. I found the sight picture to be crisp and clear with bright edge to edge image. The mil-dot cross hair are a bit heavy for me but they do show up good and don't wash out when scanning the woods for vermin, click adjustments tracked very good and the parallax adjustment worked very good although you need to turn the dial very slowly to fine tune the sight picture. The biggest gripe I have is the lack of horizontal hash marks on the turrent post, once zeroed and knobs reset you better keep track if you turn a complete revolution. Out to 300yards I could easily see the one inch grid marks on the target with a clear picture in 14 degree F conditions.
22-284 Winchester 75grain A-max / 53grains H1000 B.C. .435 / velocity 3488 / Altitude 662'
Thoughts on the Barska Benchmark 40X
Initial load development with a 36X scope modified with a Tucker style reticule lock proved the pet load to be accurate. Switching to the big 40X Barska at longer ranges will be a good test on the quality of their fixed power Benchmark line. Built with a 30mm main tube, 50mm objective, click adjustable target turrets and side parallax adjustment this is one big scope. I found the sight picture to be crisp and clear with bright edge to edge image. The mil-dot cross hair are a bit heavy for me but they do show up good and don't wash out when scanning the woods for vermin, click adjustments tracked very good and the parallax adjustment worked very good although you need to turn the dial very slowly to fine tune the sight picture. The biggest gripe I have is the lack of horizontal hash marks on the turrent post, once zeroed and knobs reset you better keep track if you turn a complete revolution. Out to 300yards I could easily see the one inch grid marks on the target with a clear picture in 14 degree F conditions.
22-284 Winchester 75grain A-max / 53grains H1000 B.C. .435 / velocity 3488 / Altitude 662'
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