I bought a Tanfoglio Appeal in .22 WMR and instantly knew that 2014 was going to have a tough time topping this one. Its a sub 5lb rilfe that is both affordable and has a nice trigger. The only shortcoming I noticed out of the box was the the rail is not picatinny spec. So I had a bit of a time finding just the right scope for this gun and getting it mounted. This is my first bullpup and while I am in love with the ergonomics and balance, there were some things to get used to.
Mounting a scope was a challenge. Even with all the stock spacers removed, you need to be a large person or have a mid to large sized scope to get a comfortable cheek weld with proper eye relief. Initially, for those had me favouring a red dot for this rifle. But to really test the accuracy of this rifle, I needed to scope it.
Here are a few setups I toyed with.
Trijicon 2.5-10x56 (This one's too big!)
A Russian fixed 4x from Corwin Arms (This one's too small!)
A Bushnell TRS-25 (This one worked out REALLY well, but no magnification.)
But I ended up settling on a "VisionKing" scope I picked up on ebay. It came in a box that said "RIFLESCOPE" on it in big silver letters. But its a fun scope and its the one I brought to the range. This one is just right at 2.5-10x32 with a 30mm tube and illuminated mil dot reticle.
At the range, I tried 3 different kinds of ammo. Winchester Supreme 34gr JHP, Hornady 30gr Vmax (in the baggie) and Hornady Critical Defense 45gr JHP.
I have an injured shoulder, and these groups were shot sitting on a stool with my elbow on the bench. The target is at 50m and the squares are 1 inch across. You can see I was not in prime form, but I bet that from a rest, this rifle would give most other rimfires a run for their money.
Heres a sample group with the Winchester 34gr JHP
The Hornady 30gr V-Max hit two inches higher than the Winchester ammo at 50m.
I forgot to take a pic of the Critical Defense ammo but it shot well. The best performing ammo of the day had to be the Vmax stuff though.
Here is a pic of me shooting that 30gr ammo at a pretty rapid rate. I think this is pretty impressive.
Then it was time to take it home and clean it. It breaks down very easily. You only need a tool to push out the pins. A bullet might work, but I used a punch.
First you remove the pin here...
And here... Don't forget to pull the cocking handle out too! (Action must be forward)
And this is the last pin, much like a Remington 870 Trigger mech pin
The stock should pull down from the upper at this point but I ran into a problem because I have removed my butt spacers. The screws protrude enough to stop you from taking the upper off.
You can see where they get caught...
I found that backing the screws out until 4 threads were showing allowed me to continue disassembly.
And here she is with her shirt off. You can see the bolt is held back by pressing DOWN on the bolt catch.
For my fellow gun nerds out there, here are some cycle of operations shots...
Action forward and cocked
Hammer down
Limit of rearward action
Now you could do a good job of cleaning the rifle without disassembling it at all, but lets go a little farther.
Here is the cocking tube coming off.
Then these stainless bolt guides come out the rear of the receiver.
Then the recoil spring comes out the rear of the bolt carrier.
Now you can remove the bolt and carrier.
You can see it has a firing pin lock.
From here, its really easy to do a detailed cleaning.
But you have to clean the barrel from the muzzle end unless you are using a bore snake. This hole is close, but you can see the damage you will do by trying to clean it this way.
Once you have it apart, you can see how readily it is switched over to left handed operation. The pins you need to pull to do it even have large heads so you can see and grab them easier. Even the safety is reversible. See the pin on the extractor?
Reassembly is the same thing in reverse order, so hopefully you laid everything out neatly.
Note that the split pin for the front sight area is longer than the one near the cocking handle.
The only thing this rifle has me wishing for is bigger mags. The factory 10 round mags fed perfectly at the range. I did not have one stoppage with any ammo. But more capacity would be nice, especially with this cavernous mag well. I think that 25 round mags that are flush fitting are possible.
Hopefully that was interesting for everyone!
Take care.
Mounting a scope was a challenge. Even with all the stock spacers removed, you need to be a large person or have a mid to large sized scope to get a comfortable cheek weld with proper eye relief. Initially, for those had me favouring a red dot for this rifle. But to really test the accuracy of this rifle, I needed to scope it.
Here are a few setups I toyed with.
Trijicon 2.5-10x56 (This one's too big!)
A Russian fixed 4x from Corwin Arms (This one's too small!)
A Bushnell TRS-25 (This one worked out REALLY well, but no magnification.)
But I ended up settling on a "VisionKing" scope I picked up on ebay. It came in a box that said "RIFLESCOPE" on it in big silver letters. But its a fun scope and its the one I brought to the range. This one is just right at 2.5-10x32 with a 30mm tube and illuminated mil dot reticle.
At the range, I tried 3 different kinds of ammo. Winchester Supreme 34gr JHP, Hornady 30gr Vmax (in the baggie) and Hornady Critical Defense 45gr JHP.
I have an injured shoulder, and these groups were shot sitting on a stool with my elbow on the bench. The target is at 50m and the squares are 1 inch across. You can see I was not in prime form, but I bet that from a rest, this rifle would give most other rimfires a run for their money.
Heres a sample group with the Winchester 34gr JHP
The Hornady 30gr V-Max hit two inches higher than the Winchester ammo at 50m.
I forgot to take a pic of the Critical Defense ammo but it shot well. The best performing ammo of the day had to be the Vmax stuff though.
Here is a pic of me shooting that 30gr ammo at a pretty rapid rate. I think this is pretty impressive.
Then it was time to take it home and clean it. It breaks down very easily. You only need a tool to push out the pins. A bullet might work, but I used a punch.
First you remove the pin here...
And here... Don't forget to pull the cocking handle out too! (Action must be forward)
And this is the last pin, much like a Remington 870 Trigger mech pin
The stock should pull down from the upper at this point but I ran into a problem because I have removed my butt spacers. The screws protrude enough to stop you from taking the upper off.
You can see where they get caught...
I found that backing the screws out until 4 threads were showing allowed me to continue disassembly.
And here she is with her shirt off. You can see the bolt is held back by pressing DOWN on the bolt catch.
For my fellow gun nerds out there, here are some cycle of operations shots...
Action forward and cocked
Hammer down
Limit of rearward action
Now you could do a good job of cleaning the rifle without disassembling it at all, but lets go a little farther.
Here is the cocking tube coming off.
Then these stainless bolt guides come out the rear of the receiver.
Then the recoil spring comes out the rear of the bolt carrier.
Now you can remove the bolt and carrier.
You can see it has a firing pin lock.
From here, its really easy to do a detailed cleaning.
But you have to clean the barrel from the muzzle end unless you are using a bore snake. This hole is close, but you can see the damage you will do by trying to clean it this way.
Once you have it apart, you can see how readily it is switched over to left handed operation. The pins you need to pull to do it even have large heads so you can see and grab them easier. Even the safety is reversible. See the pin on the extractor?
Reassembly is the same thing in reverse order, so hopefully you laid everything out neatly.
Note that the split pin for the front sight area is longer than the one near the cocking handle.
The only thing this rifle has me wishing for is bigger mags. The factory 10 round mags fed perfectly at the range. I did not have one stoppage with any ammo. But more capacity would be nice, especially with this cavernous mag well. I think that 25 round mags that are flush fitting are possible.
Hopefully that was interesting for everyone!
Take care.
