The bad news is that I didn't make it to the outdoor range. I was really looking forward to it, but one member of our party had an unexpected girlfriend's family obligation. These things happen and we'll make it to Parma Woods next week. I was still determined to shoot my Ruger yesterday, though, and shoot my Ruger I did (at the indoor range by myself). Here are my observations:
It is not a picky eater. I fed it nothing but the cheap Federal red box stuff from Wal Mart (the 550 round value pack, high velocity, 36 grain copper plated hollow points) and in 200 rounds there was not a single failure. I am delighted that it eats the cheap stuff and I'm looking forward to having an excuse to try other varieties of 22LR.
The trigger seems fine to my uneducated hand. It didn't feel mushy or gritty or any of these other adjectives I see thrown around. Maybe it's because I don't yet know what a good trigger pull feels like but I had no issues. Not heavy, either.
Honestly that auto-bolt thing is starting to seem like a pretty non-essential upgrade. I might change my tune after a few trips to the outdoor range, where locking the bolt on the firearm is required during cease-fire periods, but yesterday I felt that the way it works out of the box was fine. The Ruger doesn't hold the bolt open after the last shot like the Marlin does, so every time I loaded a fresh mag I just pulled it back, it then went forward, and the round was put into battery. The mag release seemed slightly awkward, though, and since that's such an easy replacement job I'm still looking to do that.
The BX-25 magazine makes it extraordinarily easy to burn through a lot of ammo. Between the 25-rounder and the stock 10-round magazine I went through 235 rounds yesterday in a pretty short time. Good thing 22LR is so cheap.
22LR brings people together. A couple of guys next to me at the range were shooting pistols and at one point I heard them talking about my 22s (I also had the Mosquito out, put 20 or so rounds through that to mix it up). A few minutes later, when we were trying to figure out what another guy was shooting (it was his home defense shotgun), they asked me directly what I had - I told them what it was and invited them to give it a go. They shot off maybe 10 rounds each, and as I told them how little I spent on the gun and how cheap ammo is their eyes lit up and they said "man, I gotta get me a 22!"
The most important thing I learned yesterday was that my sight picture was all wrong. Here is a MSPaint illustration:
The 2nd picture is what I interpreted the manual was telling me to do, but all my shots were going above where I wanted them to go. Pretty tight groups, but too far up. Some research later indicated that the 3rd picture is what I want, which would explain why my shots were going above. I'm confident that the next time I take this out I'll be a little more on target.
In closing, I can't stress enough what a great purchase this was. Everyone should have one; if not the Ruger then some kind of 22 rifle. The recoil is nonexistent, the ammo is plentiful, and the fun is endless.
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