Rounds Downrange

In my ammo inventory I just happened to have some Federal Fusion 55-gr. SP and American Eagle 50-gr. JHP. This ammo has performed well in other .22-250’s and I was anxious to see what type of accuracy would be possible in the Eclipse Varmint. Either of these rounds would be dynamite on varmints.

Once the gun was sighted-in from 100 yards, I started shooting three-shot groups. The weight of the gun with its wide forend certainly makes a solid platform while resting on sandbags.

The bolt cycled smoothly and it’s hard not to admire the short lift. I loaded three rounds in the detachable magazine for every group and never experienced a hiccup. All cartridges ejected cleanly. Of course, you wouldn’t expect much recoil with a heavy gun chambered in .22-250 — and there wasn’t any. I’m not sure how much to credit the muzzlebrake, but the gun was easy and painless to shoot. Karen really liked it.

As much as I appreciated all the features on this factory rifle — the accuracy impressed me the most. Sub-MOA groups were common with both rounds of factory ammo. On this particular day the Fusion ammo performed exceptionally well.

My best three-shot group measured .432. That’s pretty sweet coming from a factory rifle out of the box — with factory ammunition. I couldn’t have been more pleased — but I wasn’t terribly surprised either. All the other versions of X-Bolts I’ve shot performed well in the accuracy arena. I busted a few rocks off the farm’s pond bank at around 300 yards, which convinced me this Eclipse Varmint is the real deal. A factory gun shooting factory ammo with impressive accuracy is adorable.