PA rimfire scope on .223?

[daved20319]

So I have one of the Primary Arms 6X ACSS rimfire scopes, I've had it awhile and have no complaints. Decided to play around with a scope on my Ruger Mini 14 in place of the RDS I had on there, just to see what it's capable of with a magnified optic. And no, I'm not expecting it to magically become a target rifle with the addition of a scope, but I want to do some load development for it, and that's kind of hard to do with just a red dot.

So the rimfire scope is about the only thing I have on hand that's appropriate for size and magnification, but my question is, has anyone tried one on a centerfire? Yeah, the .223 doesn't recoil much, but it's still a lot more than a .22 LR, and I don't want to trash this scope. It's certainly not a high end scope, but I like it, and will eventually be putting it back on a .22, once I get a different mount for my Savage. Thanks, guys.

Dave

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[P7M13]

Check to see if it's also air gun rated. If it is, you're probably GTG with it.
Were it mine, I'd mount it anyway and see.

 

[daved20319]

PA doesn't speak airgun, but yeah, it's already mounted and waiting on my next range trip. I was just hoping someone had already tried it and could give me an idea of what to expect. Later.

Dave

 

[Knobgoblin]

If it's a Ranch Rifle, and you mounted it over the ejection port with your factory rings then plan on empties hitting the main tube.

Fire a couple rounds and check for dings.

 

[daved20319]

181 series, only option that doesn't require an LER scope is the SKS mount. Goes on in place of the rear sight, with a set screw at the back that forces the front down against the receiver. Seems solid enough, and has a good rep on the web for holding zero, guess I'll find out my next range session. As my Mini tends to eject up and forward, there's still a good chance empties will smack the mount, but this is a temporary expedient, it's just for load testing, and to see just what the little carbine is capable of with a magnified optic. Not really expecting much better than 2 MOA, but who knows, I might get lucky . Later.

Dave

 

[No_Regerts]

Many times a "rimfire" scope is just like any other scope, but the parallax is adjusted to a closer range. I'm not talking the tascos that come on a walmart special.

 

[Nosferatu]

It's not about recoil, but parallax. Most rimfire scopes ares set for 50 yards or shorter.

The Chinese Navy thanks you for your contribution.

 

[j8tnub]

That scope will see a lot more recoil than you think. More than a .300 win mag would produce. Shouldn't have any issues with it though. Typically all they change on rimfire specific scopes is drop reticles and parallax setting.

 

[daved20319]

Got it to the range yesterday and it worked quite well with a variety of ammo. Only glitch was caused by the loose nut behind the trigger, I didn't have the rings tightened enough on the rail, but picked up on it quite quickly when two shots suddenly printed several inches left of where everything else had been hitting.

Not really a scope review, but the W/E adjustments were accurate and pretty much right on, and the center dot made it pretty easy to aim. Was only shooting at 50 yards, not sure this would be enough scope for longer with my middle aged eyes. The only other issue was a quirk of my particular Mini 14, it tends to eject mostly up, which resulted in cases getting caught in the action a LOT. I finally quit fighting it and finished off my last couple of chrono strings loading just one round at a time. This was a worthwhile experiment, and the Ruger proved to be more accurate than I expected. Need to check my chrono data, but there was a significant difference in accuracy and ES/SD with the 2 different powders I was testing. My go to for the .223 has long been H335, but for this test I was also trying AR Comp. I had several single or low double digit ES's with the AR Comp, the best from the H335 was in the high 20's. That said, the most accurate load of the day was my old standby, a bulk 55 gr. FMJ in front of 24.5 gr. of H335. Go figure. Later.

Dave

 

[Labradorian]

If it's a Ranch Rifle, and you mounted it over the ejection port with your factory rings then plan on empties hitting the main tube.

Fire a couple rounds and check for dings.

Plan on taking a dremel along.

181 series, only option that doesn't require an LER scope is the SKS mount. Goes on in place of the rear sight, with a set screw at the back that forces the front down against the receiver. Seems solid enough, and has a good rep on the web for holding zero, guess I'll find out my next range session. As my Mini tends to eject up and forward, there's still a good chance empties will smack the mount, but this is a temporary expedient, it's just for load testing, and to see just what the little carbine is capable of with a magnified optic. Not really expecting much better than 2 MOA, but who knows, I might get lucky . Later.

Dave

I used a similar rear sight replacement contraption on my 183 for while. I could never get reloads to not bounce off of it and stove pipe or some other type of FTE. But factory rounds weren't much more reliable either. I got another mount that replaced the bolt lock cover plate, more like the standard M14 mount and haven't had a FTE since (but not that I shoot it much)

 

[daved20319]

Plan on taking a dremel along.


I used a similar rear sight replacement contraption on my 183 for while. I could never get reloads to not bounce off of it and stove pipe or some other type of FTE. But factory rounds weren't much more reliable either. I got another mount that replaced the bolt lock cover plate, more like the standard M14 mount and haven't had a FTE since (but not that I shoot it much)

Same issue I was having. I looked at the side mount, but from what I could gather, it doesn't work on the 181 series, even though it says it does in some places (I'm looking at you, Amazon ). Not a big deal, I've already switched it back to the red dot. The scope was fun, and it answered some questions for me, but the magnified optic kind of messes with the utility of this rifle, whereas the RDS enhances it. I have my 6.5 Creedmoor for targets . Later.

Dave

 

[Labradorian]

Well, my 183 series is my weapon of choice if I'm shooting at the side of a barn. From Inside. At point blank range.

 

[daved20319]

I assume you're joking, but if not, you might want to consider a few mods, mine is a hell of a lot more accurate than that . With the red dot and the right ammo, I can consistently tag a 5 gal. bucket sized target out to 400 yards, the farthest I've been able to stretch its legs. The single thing I did that made the biggest difference in accuracy was replacing the OEM recoil spring with a Wolff extra power spring. Did it while at the range, and my groups instantly shrank by half. I've also gone to a smaller gas block bushing, don't know if that helped with accuracy, but it definitely improved ejection. Great little rifles, of all my guns, I think my Mini 14 is the last one I'd let go of, it isn't spectacular at anything, but it does everything good enough . Later.

Dave