IOF .22 LR rifle

[Mack The Knife]

Since this is a topic that has come up often but is difficult to search out on the old forum, I was wondering if those who own one or use one at their club would care to talk about. Do mention any modifications you may have made to it.

The following are my views on the subject:

Purchased: 24.8.2004

Cost: Rs.27,000.00 (lesser price due to damaged stock)

Stock: Badly chipped behind the bolt. 'Chequering' was nothing more than irregular diamonds scratched into the pistol grip. No points to the diamonds either. No fore-end chequering. Fore-end tip was painted black to simulate an ebony fore-end tip. Ditto on bottom of pistol grip. Cheap lacquer finish used. Stock re-finished with an oil finish and stippling to pistol grip and fore-end. Inletting was the worst I have ever seen. Inletting smoothened out to some extent (would have liked to do more but was pressed for time) and action was pillar bedded in the absence of glass bedding compound. Barrel was free floated. Action screws replaced at both pillar bedding points with hex bolts which are torqued to 5.5 Nm.

Bolt: Very rough. Bolt rails lapped to make it smoother.

Barrel: Crown had a burr. Re-crowned with a 11 degree target crown. Rifling twist rate is 1 in 200mm (approx. 1 in 8"), 6 grooves. Done on a Steyr Hammer Forging machine. This is a very fast rate of twist for a rimfire. Probably replicated from the Insas 5.56 assault rifle made in the same factory.

Barrel and action: Finished in a hardy military finish. I like this because I find it more practical than bluing.

Magazine: Supposedly a 9 or 10 shot magazine. However the follower spring will need to be cut down as the bolt does not pick up the cartridge if there are more than 5 to 6 rounds in it. External surface is unfinished steel. This was painted after disassembling the magazine. Brno/CZ mags cannot be substituted due to dimensional differences.

Trigger: Excellent! Made better by replacing both hinge pins with the new pins being tighter. This is the exception as all the others I have tried have average triggers.

Rifle does not cycle KF rounds due to their thicker rims. No problem with any other imported round tried to date.

Initial accuracy was poor. Took about 1000+ shots before any sort of respectable groups were possible. It can now manage ?? groups at 50 metres, if I do my bit.

This is a poor copy of the CZ 452. The differences are in the stock, front sight, barrel diameter, slight dimensional differences, finishing and twist rate.

The rifle has now had 2,136 shots through it and the performance is useable to good after the initial problems were attended to.

Would I buy another? Not if I can help it.

Mack The Knife

[cherian.k.k]

hello every one.
i have a .22 iof rifle. ihave being using it for the past 5yrs.
when igot the gun it was to heavy and bulky no shape for the wood, polishing not good. so with the help of my dealer i remodelrd the but which helped in reducing the weight and gaveit look of a gun. it's front sight is not reliable so i changed it.
trigger is good. i also repolished ,used walnut color and trueoil to do it. as for the aim/grouping it is good i have been using it for competions till last year now i am using peep-sight rifle. with iof rifle i have scored 465/600.But recently one of my friend bought one it had all the problem i faced plus the trigger was too hard to fire and back sight was moving during firing
cherian.k.k

[hamiclar01]

interesting insight there cherian!

btw Mack The Knife, most IOF .22s i've come across were just the variety cherian describes.....bulky, overweight, awful colour and crap shape. how come your .22 is sleek, stylish and a good colour? was there an earlier variant and you were lucky, or have you had to resort to denting and painting your gun like cherian ?

[Pran]

>Bolt: Very rough. Bolt rails lapped to make it smoother.

Did you use lapping paste?

Pran

[Mack The Knife]

Anand,

The pics are too dark but this is the condition I bought my IOF in. New, not second hand.









If you read the first post on this thread you will find what work has been carried out on the rifle.

Following pic shows a typical 10 shot group at 50 metres. Those two fliers were probably my fault and in good hands I would say the rifle is capable of slightly better groups but nothing compared to what one gets from a Brno or Anschutz.



Mack The Knife

[Mack The Knife]

Pran,

I used Waxpol valve grinding paste - the tin that has coarse and fine at each end.

Mack The Knife

[hamiclar01]

Mack The Knife,

apart from polishing, smoothening and re stippling the stock, did you do anything else to it? re sculpt the fore end? did the sum of it all actually bring the weight down, or is it still bulky?

anand

[Mack The Knife]

Anand,

It's heavier than a Brno Model 2 .22lr rimfire but still lighter and thinner than the air-rifles I am used to.

Apart from sanding the stock and smoothening the broken section aft of the bolt handle, I have done nothing to lighten the rifle.

I find it fine the way it is. I suppose since I am used to the weight and heft of adult air-rifles this rimmie is a bit of a doodle to carry and shoot.

Mack The Knife

[Mack The Knife]

Would any Photoshop user know how to lighten the colour of images 2 and 3?

You can take the colour and brightness just aft of the receiver as a reference.

Thanks.

Mack The Knife

[dev]

Nice groups with open sights at that. How is it scoped? (Groupwise?)In my chat with an arms dealer he says that his gunsmith works on customers rifles to trim the wood and make it look Brno-ish.But yours looks pretty cool now, the before shot is quite nightmarish.

Regards,

Dev

Anand,

The pics are too dark but this is the condition I bought my IOF in. New, not second hand.

[ Image ]


[ Image ]


[ Image ]

If you read the first post on this thread you will find what work has been carried out on the rifle.

Following pic shows a typical 10 shot group at 50 metres. Those two fliers were probably my fault and in good hands I would say the rifle is capable of slightly better groups but nothing compared to what one gets from a Brno or Anschutz.

[ Image ]

Mack The Knife

[mundaire]

Rusty,

How are these?





Did not use PhotoShop... cannot afford the $500 or so price tag! Used The Gimp instead (a FOSS tool that does pretty much everything PhotoShop can do).

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[Mack The Knife]

Dev,

I am pretty sure that group was shot with a scoped rifle because my open sight 'groups' at 50 metres are a nightmare.

Herewith a couple to keep you up at night...





Poor eyesight, lack of practice and an ammo sensitive rifle (it does not like SK Magazine, which is what we used to get. Ditto for the expensive SK Gold, however, it shoots accurately with SK Standard Plus. Strange but true.) ensure there are going to be no sub-MOA/MOA groups for me. However, I know these rifles are capable of better because a friend shoots very well with his.

Here's another group pic...



Initially, I had put a Tasco Varmint 2.5-10x42 Mil-dot but switched to the Bushnell Elite 3200 2-7x32 sometime in September-October 2005.

Mack The Knife

[Mack The Knife]

Abhijeet,

That's a lot better. It could still be brightened up a bit but don't bother as I think people can get the general idea now.

Thanks.

Mack The Knife

[The Doc]

Hi Guys,

I own a IOF .22 rifle, which is not so bad as they say for the price it came with 4 yrs back. I have seen a much lighter version of the same at a gun dealer's . That gun was blued, MUCH LIGHTER, without ( the so called)cheek pad and it also had indian ordinance factory beautifully engraved on the barrel ( a job not possible by IOF). The engraving on the wood was also very neatly done. The dealer gave me a cock and bull story about the weapon being a LIMITED EDITION model for national level shooters made by the IOF. I personally believe that it was modified by a guy who knew his job ( looks wise). Since I didnt fire the weapon I dont know about the performance but it surely looked good. He was selling it for 55K that time i.e 4 yrs back.
I dont want to go back to this dealer. Can anyone guide me how do I get my rifle to shed some weight and improve on looks department. I am in Punjab. penpusher , I'd welcome your comments.

[shahid]

There in a great craftsman in Dehra Doon. My cousin has got his 270 Win, Hussey, Boss, Manton and Brno rifles revamped by this dealer.

There is also a gentleman by the name of Thakur Bhanu Pratap Singh in Aligarh who has a good gunsmith in his shop.

Restoration work done by the Dehra Doon mechanic is superb.

Can't show you pics but will post when I come to India.

For contacts - if any of you frequent the Tuglakabad range in Delhi, his contacts can be had from shooter Murad Ali Khan or our common friend Vikram Singh. Vikram is also Delhi based. Perhaps Gurgaon but I am not sure. Both of them could also be invited to join IFG.