Cowgirl Corner: 223 shoot out fun

[North Country Gal]

Now that the weather is starting to get above the freezing point, Bill and I finally made it out to the range for our first spring trip. I do have a backlog of guns acquired over the winter to get checked out. One of them we shot today was a real find for our collection. It's another Winchester/Miroku Low Wall Hunter with the same proportions as our Rimfire Hunter Low Walls, but this one is in 223. Other than the lack of iron sights, you could not tell it apart from our rimfire versions. This one is not currently offered - last time was about 5 years, ago - but it is in absolute mint condition.


Our range is still buried in snow, so just wading though the snow to put up targets is dicey and downright treacherous. Not fun. I settled on 50 yards and called it good. Decided to see how the Low Wall compared to another 223 that is a known quantity for us in our CZ 527 American. This CZ is a proven MOA shooter with the bulk ammo we were shooting, today, so thought it would make a good benchmark for this little shoot out.

Top gun is the 527 American in 223 with a Nikon 3-9x
Bottom gun is the Low Wall Hunter 223, again, with a new Redfield 4-12x




You know me and my love for offhand shooting, so both guns got zeroed and then put to work at 50 yards. Both guns, by the way, are a delight to shoot from a standing position. Both targets shot at 6x on the scopes. 3" bull.


Frankly, I think the Low Wall gets the edge, here, despite the slight disadvantage on the Low Wall's good trigger at 3.5 pounds versus the CZ's excellent set trigger at about 1 pound. Of course, there could have been over factors, too, but with my fingers getting cold, I called it good and will return on a warmer day. For now, I'm delighted with both guns and can declare them both winners.

[RanchRoper]

Beautiful guns and some fine shooting as always. Weather here is starting to warm up too, can't wait to get back to the range.

[Sir Henry]

Winners indeed! They seem to like the AE 55 grain.

[North Country Gal]

Thanks, guys.

Sir Henry, as you're about to find out, being able to shoot cheap bulk 223 ammo and get good results is the great advantage of the 223 as a cartridge, not to mention being very peasant to shoot and long range capable. For us, having a 223 rifle or two, in the collection is a no brainer. Even shoot the 223 in a Contender pistol and carbine. Hard to beat.

[Sir Henry]

Thanks, guys.

Sir Henry, as you're about to find out, being able to shoot cheap bulk 223 ammo and get good results is the great advantage of the 223 as a cartridge, not to mention being very peasant to shoot and long range capable. For us, having a 223 rifle or two, in the collection is a no brainer. Even shoot the 223 in a Contender pistol and carbine. Hard to beat.

Thanks. I have several AR15's and had a Mini-14. I never tried to see how accurate they were and shot mostly military style with targets set at different distances and timed to see how long it took to knock them over.

[North Country Gal]

The 223 can be very accurate on an AR type platform, but getting there takes a lot of money and most AR guys spend a lot on upgrades to do it. On the other hand, single shots and bolt guns in 223 have a long established history of excellent accuracy, right out of the box. As a friend says, you can NEVER go wrong with a 223 bolt gun. I would expect the same from a Henry of Browning lever gun in 223 given their modern design. I think you'll be delighted with you new Long Ranger in 223.

[JEBar]

beautiful rifles indeed