Last week I put out an article on the three fundamentals you can practice with a .22 LR: grip, cheek weld, and trigger control. This week we are taking a break from the serious stuff. I recently saw an Instagram post from my buddy Jonathan over at Redbeard Outdoors talking with a guest about not taking yourself too seriously at the range or in the field, and remembering to have fun. That got me thinking. Here at Outdoor Solutions we take our job seriously, because we are teaching people to be safe with firearms, to shoot better, and to be more ethical hunters. Hunting itself is serious too, since you are taking a life. But none of that means you cannot goof off and enjoy the process.
So that is exactly what this video and article are about. Same Savage A22 Timber Tactical .22 LR rifle and Zeiss gear from the event we mentioned last week, but this time we are just having fun with it: warm-up groups at 50 yards, a full run at some Know Your Limits targets, a bottle cap and a rope out at 100 yards, and a stretch out to 300-yard steel to see what happens.
We started on a paper target at 50 yards that already had a few holes in it from zeroing in last week's video. The goal was simple: a few three-round groups to see how the rifle and I were both shooting that day. The first group started strong and fell apart a little toward the end, which is a good reminder that even a low-recoil .22 LR still rewards consistent grip and trigger control. That is part of the point of practicing with a rimfire in the first place. It shows you your own mistakes immediately, without the cost of centerfire ammo on the line.
Next we moved to a set of Know Your Limits targets set up right to left, progressively smaller as they go. These are a great tool for building your confidence, because a Know Your Limits target does not sit still and wait for you the way a paper target does. Once it starts moving, you have to track it, time your trigger press, and accept that the sight picture will never be perfectly still.
With very little wind in the range house, we worked down the line and connected on all eight, including the smallest one at the end of the run. Not every hit kept the target moving by the time we reached the last one, but eight for eight on a shrinking set of reactive targets with a rimfire rifle is a solid result and a lot of fun to watch.
From there we backed out to 100 yards. On the paper target, three rounds landed close together in a triangle in the bottom right, an easy dial-in with half a minute of left wind hold. A second group on the bottom left, holding for the wind in the opposite direction, printed just as tight.
Then we brought out a water bottle hanging from a stand and tried something a little more ambitious: shooting the cap off of it. The first attempt ran low. On the third shot, we connected, knocking the lid off a bottle cap at 100 yards with a .22 long rifle. From there we moved to a hanging rope and tried to cut it in half. The first shot missed left, the second held a touch of wind correction to the right, and the rope dropped. Two fun, low-stakes challenges, both eventually solved with careful wind and elevation calls instead of luck.
With the wind laying down at distance, we decided to send a few rounds at steel out to 300 yards, targets sized at 3 MOA, which works out to roughly a 9-inch plate at that range. Our starting elevation call was 43.75 minutes, and the first shot landed low. After walking the dial up in a couple of stages and truing up the data with a spotter calling wind and impacts, we settled in around 50.25 minutes of elevation, about six minutes more than the original calculation called for. Once the data was corrected, we put three rounds in a row on that steel plate at 300 yards with a .22 long rifle, all for the cost of a few cents of rimfire ammunition instead of the price of a centerfire round.
This was one of the most fun sessions we have filmed in a while, and it did not cost much to put together. Eight for eight on the Know Your Limits targets, a bottle cap and a rope at 100 yards, and three rounds in a row on 300-yard steel, all with a rimfire rifle and a handful of cost effective ammunition. If you have centerfire rifles sitting at home and you have not picked up a .22 LR in a while, do yourself a favor and get back out on the range with one. Practice the fundamentals when you need to, but do not forget to just goof off and enjoy it every once in a while too. That is how you stay in love with this sport.
Greg Ray is the founder of Outdoor Solutions, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His team offers precision shooting instruction, guided hunts, and firearms training courses. Follow along on YouTube for weekly hunting and shooting content.
For more details on our long range schools: Long Range Shooting Classes for Hunters | Outdoor SolutionsFor more details on our Field to Table events: From Field To Table Events 2026 | Hunting Adventures Email: info@outdoorsolutionscorp.com | Call: 918-258-7817
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What are swinging or reactive targets used for in rifle training? Swinging and other reactive targets add a layer of realism that a static paper target cannot. Because the target moves after impact or reacts visually, a shooter has to track it, time the trigger press, and accept a sight picture that is never perfectly still, all skills that transfer directly to hunting, where game rarely stands like a paper bullseye. In this session, working down a line of progressively smaller Know Your Limits targets at 50 yards with a .22 LR let us build that tracking and timing skill for the cost of rimfire ammunition instead of centerfire.
How do you read wind for rifle shooting? Reading wind starts with judging its speed and full-value direction relative to your shot, then converting that into a hold or a dial using your rifle's known ballistic data for the distance you are shooting. Range flags, mirage, grass movement, and even how a swinging target reacts can all give clues before you commit to a call. In this video, wind reads as small as a half minute made the difference between a clean hit and a near miss on both the 100-yard rope cut and the 300-yard steel, which is a good reminder that wind calls matter even more with a rimfire as they do with a centerfire hunting rifle.
Can a .22 LR rifle be accurate at long range, like 300 yards? A .22 LR is typically a subsonic, low-velocity cartridge, (there are exceptions to this) so it drops fast and is far more wind-sensitive than a centerfire round at distance, which makes long range shots with it genuinely challenging rather than a given. That said, with a quality optic, an accurate rifle, and correct ballistic data, a .22 LR can absolutely connect at 300 yards, as shown in this session when three rounds landed in a row on a 9-inch steel plate at that distance. It is a great way to sharpen the exact same elevation and wind-calling skills you will use on a centerfire hunting rifle, just at a fraction of the cost and recoil.
How big does a steel target need to be to represent a realistic shot at distance? Target sizing is usually described in minutes of angle, or MOA, since that scales consistently with distance. One MOA is a little over an inch at 100 yards, so it grows to roughly three inches at 300 yards, six inches at 600, and so on. A 3-MOA target, like the roughly 9-inch steel plate used at 300 yards in this video, is a common size for simulating a realistic vital zone or precision target at that range, tight enough to demand a correct wind and elevation call rather than just a rifle pointed in the general direction.
Why is it important to have fun while training with firearms, not just take it seriously? Consistent range time is what builds real skill, and shooters are far more likely to keep showing up when training does not feel like a chore. Mixing in lighthearted challenges, like shooting a bottle cap, cutting a rope, or running a set of swinging targets, keeps repetition enjoyable while still reinforcing fundamentals like wind reading, trigger control, and follow through. Treating firearms safely and ethically is always serious business, but there is nothing wrong with also having fun while you build the skills that make you a safer, more capable shooter and hunter.
