Question on number 3 and first time poster

[vaturkey]

Morning all. Just stumbled on this site and quickly registered. Just purchased a Number 3 .22 Hornet and am waiting for my local dealer to call me when it arrives. Base on detailed pictures provided by the seller, the gun is in excellent condition. I paid $550 for it and that seemed to be cheaper then most I'd been looking at for some time. Anyway, my initial reason for purchase was to turn this into a little custom 6.5x55. However, with summer almost upon us and with more coyotes then one can imagine taking over this part of Virginia, I've decided to hunt with the little gun first. Accordingly, need some recommendations on a few things.

First, who provides decent bases and rings for the gun (I'm guessing not Ruger)?

Second. What scope is recommended that doesn't cost and arm and a leg that provides good eye relief (I hear the scope by the nature of where the mounts are placed will be mounted pretty far forward)?

Third. Regarding scope, I was thinking maybe a 2x7 because they have a smaller objective and less overall length and this gun is short. However would appreciate thoughts on that as well.

Fourth. Any ideas on the best factory load out there to try?

Guess that's it for now. Thanks much

 

[mcknight77]

Morning all. Just stumbled on this site and quickly registered. Just purchased a Number 3 .22 Hornet and am waiting for my local dealer to call me when it arrives. Base on detailed pictures provided by the seller, the gun is in excellent condition. I paid $550 for it and that seemed to be cheaper then most I'd been looking at for some time. Anyway, my initial reason for purchase was to turn this into a little custom 6.5x55. However, with summer almost upon us and with more coyotes then one can imagine taking over this part of Virginia, I've decided to hunt with the little gun first. Accordingly, need some recommendations on a few things.

First, who provides decent bases and rings for the gun (I'm guessing not Ruger)? Guess again. Ruger bases and rings will work fine.

Second. What scope is recommended that doesn't cost and arm and a leg that provides good eye relief (I hear the scope by the nature of where the mounts are placed will be mounted pretty far forward)? I had an old Weaver long tube 3x9 on mine. But, I think a quality 6x would work the best.

Third. Regarding scope, I was thinking maybe a 2x7 because they have a smaller objective and less overall length and this gun is short. However would appreciate thoughts on that as well.

Fourth. Any ideas on the best factory load out there to try? I've had good success with the S&B in a couple of different rifles.

Guess that's it for now. Thanks much

 

[four70nitro]

The No. 3 in .22 Hornet is so much fun to shoot you will probably decide to pick up a No. 1 in 6.5x55 rather than converting this one. You can reload .22 Hornet cheaper than shooting .22 Magnum -- it's a hoot to shoot!

My favorite scope is the Leupold 1.5x5 for hunting, but the 2x7 would be an excellent choice as well.

Dave

 

[TWalker]

My #3 in .22 Hornet was bought used with Conetrol mounts and rings already installed and a vintage Weaver K-6 scope. It's a beautiful and practical outfit. Conetrol rings are hard to beat for looks and function.

 

[picketpin]

Jim: Does Ruger still stock the #3 scope blocks???

If still available the factory stuff, blocks and rings will work just fine. Conetrol still makes a set of bases and rings, Weaver made bases and rings, Buehler made them is you run across a set. All will work just fine.

With #3s and #1s eye releif is critical and in general it requires the scope to be far enough back that the rear ocular is just about centered over the safety selector plus/minus a little.

Older, long tubed scopes, Weaver, Burris, Redfield, etc. seem to work easiest. The recomendation for a 2x7, compact 6x or even a 4x would all work.

Every #3 I've ever owned ended up as a #2 and I don't shoot the Hornet so will bow out of the ammo issue.

Ross

 

[DavidMc116]

Congrats on a great gun at a great price!

BTW, you can still get the RUGER blocks through Brownells.

 

[vaturkey]

Thanks guys. Got the gun from my dealer handling the transfer and it's just about mint. On top of that I think it has one of the aftermarket triggers, because it breaks at 2.5 pounds with zero creep. However, that said, did the early ruger factory triggers have two holes drilled in the trigger itself to allow for adjustments (overtravel and lightening). This trigger has two for sure. Great great trigger. Have two boxes of shells to try, now I'm trying to figure out a scope. My 2 x 7 Nikon has 3" of eye relief and I don't think it will be enough once the Bueler mount gets here (have the extra low rings already). That said, I'll probably try that first. PS. Was looking at the Nikon Omega scope without the hokey circles (standard duplex), because it has a 5" eye relief and its only 11.3 inches long. Seems like it would work, but the 40 MM objective might not work with the Bueler low rings and mounts. ??

 

[DavidMc116]

I bought a Ruger #3 that had a Nikon Omega on it, but it had the hockey circles. The eye relief was fair, but offset rings made it better. I eventually swapped scopes to a Leupold 3x without the offset rings. Surprisingly these changes brought the weight of the gun down noticeably.

 

[Silent Sam]

It's not just eye relief. Short tube scopes usually don't work as well as longer tubes. You still need good eye relief numbers but the amount of tube you have on either side of the turrets and length of the ocular bell are just as important. Variables are longer than fixed scopes. Some use the offset rings to gain adjustment others won't have them at all. I prefer not to use them but use an offset rear on one of my #1s to be able to use the scope I want with that rifle.

 

[vaturkey]

I've got a 2.5 X 8 power leupold VX-III on my little 17 HMR CZ and will go ahead and move that scope to the Ruger 3 once my mounts arrive. In the meantime I've ordered a 3-10 Bushnell Elite 3200 compact scope (11.7" overall) to go on the CZ. Couldn't pass it us as that scope was on closeout sale at Cabela's for $149. I've often shot the .17HMR at 100 yards just to see what it would do and it hasn't disappointed in the least. I think this will be a win win for both guns.