Marlin Firearms Forum banner

Just scored a Sportster!

2K views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  Antietamgw 
#1 ·
Just got home from Tulsa, and had a great weekend!
Scored 3 rifles, a nice Remington 521T that I have wanted for some time.
I also scored a very early 158 Topper in .30-30!
And here is the kicker, I scored an NEF Sportster .22! Never thought I would ever see one, much less bring one home for $175!
Only thing is it is missing it's front sight. The little 3-56 screw is there, but the sight is gone.
It's midnight here and I am running out of gas. In the morning I am going to see if the front sight off that goofy 10ga. Tracker barrel I have will fit. If it does I'm home free!
Otherwise I will have to search...Pics tomorrow! Had a great weekend!
 
#2 ·
bump
 
#4 ·
Had to deal with too much life today. Tomorrow...
 
#6 ·
Okay, finally caught up enough for pics. Please excuse the less than stellar pics, my phone is all I have.
NEF .22 "Sportster".
I took the front sight off my 10 ga. "Tracker" barrel. It fits kinda, but
I have no idea if it is the right height. That is why I am looking for a correct front sight.
But I'm betting I will eventually buy a mount and put a decent 3-9 on top.
Little rifle is nearly perfect minus the front sight, and I really like the diminutive size. looks like it will make a fun plinker.
844108
844109
 
#7 ·
You will like that Sportster in .22LR! Wish I'd gotten a .17 cal as well. I got one for my youngest daughter as well as a T/C Hotshot and a Contender carbine barrel about the same time for grandkids to use when they came. The Sportster was an afterthought but the price was right, so it came along. It's the only one left. The Hotshot wasn't much. The Sportster shot a lot better than the Contender barrel, which really surprised me. That's probably 15 yrs ago and it gets more use around the farm than any of our .22 rifles. Everyone likes to shoot it though it still has the youth tupperware stock. It shoots the older Federal AutoMatch extremely well (.75 on average) out to about 80 yds. Groups open to about 2" at 100 yds. As I recall, the only thing I ever did to it was a trigger job.
 
#8 ·
And as an update, the Sportster (and a grandson) have new work! We had some rats moving in around the barn. The ability to use poison was a bit limited around livestock and the guardian dogs. Since the rats pretty much come out only in low/no light, my 9yr old grandson and I figured we needed to set 'em up if we were going to make a dent in the population. We put a Red Dot on the Sportster and sighted in with Aguila Colibri's at 12 yards and experimented adjusting the zero for the best results in the range we intended to work. This was all new to my grandson and he really got into the "technical" stuff once he saw what we were doing and understood why. There have probably been African safaris with less range work and planning. It worked out that POI was "inside the dot" from 8 to 20couple yards and a bit low from the muzzle to 8 yds. We set up that night. Our new Rat Sniper on the gun and me spotting, using a cell phone flashlight overhead to cast just enough light to see a silhouette. It was close work and he learned a lot about sitting still and keeping his eyes moving since the rats could blend into the shadows only a few yards from the muzzle. He had a number of solid heart/lung hits but very few stayed. Did find a bunch of them the next day. Next try was .22 Short CB with higher velocity, same weight bullet. Pretty much the same terminal performance. I found some CCI Quiet Segmented and we re-sighted with those. Very impressive! Kind of like Ballistic Tips on varmints. Bang/flop, DRT. Rats are beginning to get REAL smart and are wary of the light. My son was kind of kidding the boy and said we needed a night vision scope so we could work without any light and take video. He has been trying to talk me into it, saying we could use it in the barn for rats and for foxes and coyotes on the perimeter fences. And I can't believe I'm listening... A Handi .357 might be leaving soon to help fund it. I'm having a good time teaching this young man a few things and being able to see him put it to good use.

Colibri - 29gr @ 400 fps
CCI Short CB - 29gr @ 710fps
CCI Quiet Segmented - 40gr @ 710fps
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top