How's about a little Fortner action?

ssapach

ssapach

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So I took a leap and ordered an Anschutz 1827F from Nordic Marksman. First of all, Brad and Carol were excellent to deal with! I mean, I don't think I'm a very difficult customer, but they were quick to respond to any and all questions and even got my rifle shipped out to me nice and quick!

Just got my rifle a day ago so I figured I'd take it to the indoor range and test it out. It's only about 40 yards (can't ever remember the Phoenix range distance for the life of me) but I love the heated indoor range for testing out new rifles and sighting in new scopes.

I've never used a straight pull bolt of any sort, but I seem to have fallen in love with this Fortner action! I wanted to stay and blast off every last round that I had walked in there with!!! The rifle feels great and is super easy and smooth to operate, and I was quite surprised at how quickly I caught on to the sights (or at least I think I'm catching on). The most difficult part is dealing with the lack of any sort of magnification. I thought sighting in my .17 HMR with a 4x scope was rough because it was tough to see where some of the holes were made, so I took some binoculars with me for "spotting".

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These rifles are quite the work of art in their own special little way, and have no trouble catching the attention of just about everyone who sees them.

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A couple of the different types of bullets I was using. I happened to walk into P&D in the afternoon and they had just gotten some of the Lapua Polar Biathlon stuff, so I figured I'd try it out. It actually seemed to be the most accurate. The area circled in green is all the Federal shots, from beginning to end basically. Used it for getting myself a zero before trying out the other stuff. I tried a couple of the CCI Subsonics, but they seemed waxy and I don't care for loading that stuff. The Federal seemed to be the loudest with the most kick (if you can say a .22 kicks) compared to the others. I never really noticed a difference in kick using either the Federal or CCI in my 10/22, but it's definitely noticeable in the Anschutz!
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For what it's worth, those are 1" squares on the paper. The 4 smaller crosses are damn near impossible to make out in the 40 yards, so I can only imagine how much better this type of rifle would be with a good scope on it!

These were even smaller targets and about the only thing I could really make out was a grey blur in the middle of the page, so I kept aiming at the centre.
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All in all, I absolutely LOVE the rifle! Can't wait to get back out somewhere and shoot some more. And gopher season should be a little more challenging/entertaining this year!
 
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Holy s##t. That's a gopher exterminator to the extreme. Are you going to scope it for gophers or stay with the diopter sights? The fellow who owned my old Anschutz 190 used to wow his buds with the irons in the patch.
 
I plan on keeping it as is with the iron sights. I'm not a total fan of the current butt end on the stock and might have to find a different one, and I might need to order some 10 rd mags so I don't have to reload as often.

Using it makes me want to get another one to put a scope on and see what it's capable of! Either that or hold out and get one of the 17 HMR with the Fortner action.
 
marcoman said:
Beautiful gun! Congrats!

Don't take offence but....were those groups shot standing or seated off a rest?
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No offence taken, I know I'm not a sniper. I was sitting on a stool and resting on the sort of "table" they have the shooting booths made into. No fancy rests other than that.
 
If you are going to be using the peep sights, you need to print out totally black circles that when viewed through the peeps, you just barely see the white outline around the black circles......so you'd need different sizes depending on different distances, or you'd change out the front sight insert depending on the distance/size of the black circle. This will improve your groups greatly. Once you get used to the peeps, you can shoot as good of a group as you can with a scope. Helps to have the right target to work with the peeps though.

By the way, awesome rifle. Wish I could afford one.
 
super7 said:
If you are going to be using the peep sights, you need to print out totally black circles that when viewed through the peeps, you just barely see the white outline around the black circles......so you'd need different sizes depending on different distances, or you'd change out the front sight insert depending on the distance/size of the black circle. This will improve your groups greatly. Once you get used to the peeps, you can shoot as good of a group as you can with a scope. Helps to have the right target to work with the peeps though.

By the way, awesome rifle. Wish I could afford one.
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This is good advice. You neen a defined target against a neutral background that you can center thr peep on.

Don't mean to hijack your thread but thought you might appreciate seeing an older Fortner that I have. Gun shoots better than I. Love the look of these 1827F's, maybe its time to get a newer version ;)

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super7 said:
If you are going to be using the peep sights, you need to print out totally black circles that when viewed through the peeps, you just barely see the white outline around the black circles......so you'd need different sizes depending on different distances, or you'd change out the front sight insert depending on the distance/size of the black circle. This will improve your groups greatly. Once you get used to the peeps, you can shoot as good of a group as you can with a scope. Helps to have the right target to work with the peeps though.

By the way, awesome rifle. Wish I could afford one.
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This is good info to have!

I sorta figured that's what the multiple sizes of inserts for the front sight, but I have no idea what sizes would correspond with what size targets at particular distances. I don't doubt that there is some reference somewhere on the web, just need to search it out now and make up some targets before going back to the range.

Come to think of it, I think Nordic Marksman has packages of targets for 50 meter shooting.....

As far as cost, the new rifles are around the $3500 mark, but mine was slightly used. I've got no problem with a used rifle, especially considering it looked brand new when I received it.
 
Order or download and print some of the 134 and 135 targets for the 20-25 yard range and some 153 targets for the 50 yard range. That is what we shoot in competition and are very easy to see once you get at it. The insert choice is up to the shooters eyes and the amount of light available. I normally use a 2.8 to 3.2 for the above targets but some people like them bigger. Do a google on shooting with apertures.

Good luck; Wayne
 
Congrats on the 1827F, It is a wickedly nice action for the 22lr :D Do yourself a favour and just try a scope on it once to see the true accuracy prior to figuring out the regular sights. Enjoy!
 
icedragonmx said:
Congrats on the 1827F, It is a wickedly nice action for the 22lr :D Do yourself a favour and just try a scope on it once to see the true accuracy prior to figuring out the regular sights. Enjoy!
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What I'm afraid of is putting an inferior scope on a rifle this fine. I don't think I have anything fancy enough honestly!

I thought about it, perhaps next time I go to the range I'll take one and give it a try. Problem that I foresee is that I will want a second rifle so I can have one with iron sights and one with a scope.....
 
ssapach said:
What I'm afraid of is putting an inferior scope on a rifle this fine. I don't think I have anything fancy enough honestly!

I thought about it, perhaps next time I go to the range I'll take one and give it a try. Problem that I foresee is that I will want a second rifle so I can have one with iron sights and one with a scope.....
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Forget fancy just find one with a big zoom :D That will help show the true potential while testing ammo etc. A second scoped version would be a huge bill to pay! Should be real easy to re-zero a scoped item if you leave the scope in the rings/mount when you take it off.
 
Took the fancy German rifle back out to the Phoenix range after work today.....

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A while ago I had tried a scope out, wasn't really feeling it with this rifle though. I got impatient and never even sighted the scope in properly. So I had to put my peep sight back on and sight it in.

Among a few other blasted up targets, these were the tightest ones. It also makes a difference to use a more appropriate target for the sights. Originally the targets were a black circle, turns out its near impossible to see a .22 hole in the black target when the range has black backing. I cut out the centre, coloured in the outer rings with a Sharpie and then made a bunch of copies. It's a 4.25" white circle in the centre.

This was the Lapua Centre-X ammo:
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And this was the Lapua Polar Biathlon, which seems to be the most accurate stuff I've fired so far. Also the most expensive and waxy.
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I love this rifle and I love that Fortner action. I think I need to get my hands on the Anschutz 17 HMR rifle.....
 
Thanks!

I'm in love with that Fortner action, it's a shame they don't make a nice plain Jane sporting stock to drop a barreled action into. Or perhaps I'm blind and didn't see it on the website???

It's a nice rifle to shoot, but all my shooting was from a bench. I actually can't stand up in the Phoenix range to shoot, the bay windows are too low for that, so maybe this summer I'll spend a day outdoors seeing how much worse my accuracy is from standing!
 
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