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Competition IZH MP532 target rifle: Part 5

IZH MP532 target rifle: Part 5

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

IZH MP532
IZH MP532 single stroke target rifle.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • Got it!
  • Adjusted the butt
  • Fixed the rear sight
  • Windage adjustment
  • Sight adjustment
  • The test
  • Discussion 1
  • Discussion2
  • Discussion 3
  • Summary

Got it!

Sometimes BB gets it right, and today is one of those times. Got a lot to tell you so let’s get started.

Adjusted the butt

I’m shooting the newer (made in 2007) IZH MP532 today and the butt had been adjusted for maximum length of pull in an earlier report. This time I put it back to where it started, with the butt pad flush against the wood on the stock.

Fixed the rear sight

Part 4 covers the design and quirks of the rear sight in great detail, so read that to see what I discovered and what I did to fix it. I will show you one more thing today.

Windage adjustment

Reader Halfstep noticed in Part 4 that, like the elevation, the windage on the rear sight also adjusts both grossly and with precision. Two screws are loosened to slide it into the range where the precision adjustments can be made.

532 windage adjustment
Loosen those screws and slide the rear sight in the direction you need to adjust the strike of the round. This is the gross adjustment. The knob on the left side makes the precision adjustments.

Sight adjustment

I discovered while fixing the elevation that the precision adjustments don’t move the strike of the pellet very much — maybe two pellet diameters at 10 yards. So that gross adjustment that I showed in Part 4 is critical. And you want to get it into the range where you can adjust in both directions.

I found that a little of the gross adjustment moved the pellet a lot. It took three shots to get into the right range. When I did get it right the pellets were hitting slightly left, so I used the precision windage adjustments to correct.

The test

I shot five-shot groups with 7 different pellets from the MP532 off a sandbag rest at 10 meters for today’s test. Instead of talking you through each of them I’m going to show all 7 and then discuss them.

Remember, this rifle has an older pump cup, so I warmed it by pumping the rifle halfway about 20 times before shooting the first shot. Then I would pump it halfway and then all the way for every shot in the test.

I sighted-in with RWS Meisterkugeln Rifle pellets. Five of them went into 0.179-inches at 10 meters.

532 Meisterkugeln Rifle group
Five RWS Meisterkugeln Rifle pellets made this 0.179-inch group at 10 meters. How about that — a trime on the first group!

532 Sig Match Pb group
Five Sig Match Pb pellets made this 0.193-inch group at 10 meters.

532 Hobby group
Five RWS Hobby pellets made this 0.446-inch group at 10 meters.

532 Qiang Yuan Training group
Five Qiang Yuan Training pellets went intro 0.247-inches at 10 meters.

532 H&N Match Green group
Five H&N Match Green pellets went into 0.148-inches at 10 meters.

532 Finale Match Heavy group
The IZH MP532 put five H&N Finale Match Heavy pellets in 0.072-inches at 10 meters. This is not just the best group of this test — it may be the best group I have ever shot with a 10-meter rifle. It’s certainly among the best!

532 R10 Match Pistol group
Five RWS R10 Match Pistol pellets made a 0.327-inch group at 10 meters.

Discussion 1

Looking at these groups it’s easy to pick the pellets you want to test further. The Finale Match Rifle, the H&N Match Green, the RWS Meisterkugeln and the Sig Match Pb pellets all deserve more testing. But I think the Finale Match Rifle will turn out to be the best. If that isn’t the smallest 10-meter group I ever shot, it’s certainly one of them. How much luck was involved? Probably quite a bit, but more testing will sort that out.

Discussion 2

Is the IZH MP532 target rifle accurate? You betcha! The best of these groups are as good as I typically get with any 10-meter rifle. I said in an earlier report that I wondered if the 532 shot like the Daisy 853. Well — it’s better. It’s fully equal to the best single stroke target rifles made. The odd rear sight and lesser ergonomics push it down on the quality scale, but the price for a new-old-stock rifle ($600-650?) is equal to or slightly better than what you will pay for an equivalent FWB 300S or an FWB 601, and about the same as what a nice Walther LGR costs.

Discussion 3

Did fixing the rear sight problems in Part 4 solve the accuracy issue? Without question it did. In fact, I learned from just this test that the designers intended that both adjustments on the sight be used — the gross ones to get into the range and the precision ones for the final adjustments. That makes me wonder all the more about the sight on the older rifle, because it’s obvious the Russians knew what to do.

So — what about the older rifle with the  different rear sight? What do I do about that? Well, to my mind the best solution would be to buy one of the new rear sights off eBay as long as they are available, because nothing else is going to fit the rifle without some machining. But I will be selling that rifle after this report and I don’t want to spend my money that way. So I will mount a scope to the 11mm dovetail rails that are on the receiver and shoot with that. I’m guessing the older rifle will be just as accurate as this one and may even like some of the same pellets.

Summary

The IZH MP532 10-meter target rifle is quirky, well-made and accurate. It has a great adjustable trigger and a simple powerplant mechanism that should last for a long time. The stock is purposely left rough for the owner to modify to suit his needs and tastes. This has been one of two accuracy tests of the two rifles I have. Next we will look at the older rifle and that will finish the series.

37 thoughts on “IZH MP532 target rifle: Part 5”

  1. BB,

    The Russians do know how to make airguns. Maybe one day one of these beauties will decide to visit RidgeRunner’s Home For Wayward Airguns. I would really like to try out Baikal’s PCP line.

  2. Wow! I never saw a group that small before. What a wonderful daily reader going on here too, Jeffe. I like how you wrestle with a thing if it deserves the attention. I am finally getting a new chrono, then i saw the doppler style unit after I made the plunge at pyramid. It is a hundred bucks more. Going to try out some of the new FT Barracudasin the R10 while I keep looking at an LGU. There’s no way the shot cycle would affect the barrel harmonics because of the cocking lever detent is there? I’m over thinking it, but Santa’s rumored to show up this year on account of a nice Xmas bonus soon!
    Nice shooting,
    Rob

    • This is off topic, but Steve at AEAC has a new video posted on Airgun 101. It is a tour he was allowed to do of the H&N pellet plant in Germany. It is very detailed and informative.

      Half

  3. I got a daisy 753 recently. It has a LW barrel, really nice sights and came with stock adjustment bits. I also did the trigger mods.

    But it can’t hold a candle to this ssp.

  4. B.B.,

    Very nice on the .072″!!! 🙂

    Just looked through the P.A. catalog that I received earlier in the week. I always look forwards to the next one. I see that Val gave you a nice “shout out” in the front cover opening. Well deserved. Great articles by you inside as well,… as usual! 😉

    Chris

    • Shootski
      Thank you for the reconition. I always watch to see who acknowleddes the Marine Corps B-day and this year has been more than usual. I am proud to be part of that allum.
      Gerald

      • Participant,

        I got to hang out at the Tavern in Philly as a kid. I thought it was cool that it was the USMC’s first recruitment Office. I joined the US Navy and became a Naval Aviator; as a flight instructor I got to work with Marine Naval Aviators and also teach a number of Marine flight students how to fly. Also had Marines as flight crew on some very interesting missions….

        shootski

  5. Shootski,

    Sorry (at the get go),…. but given that/your background,… what are your thoughts on the movie Top Gun? On a scale of 1 (total BS and completely laughable), to a 5 (somewhat representative), to 10 (spot on). Sub 1 scores are permitted.

    Again,… sorry,… but I just HAD to ask,……. Chris

      • B.B.,

        🙂 No lack of “machismo” in the bar scenes (as well as other scenes). Hey,… its the movies,… so some of that is expected. Still,… I was wondering. Not often that we get our own “top gun” as a regular contributor to the blog,.. hence my trivial curiosity.

        Chris (I will second the “me too”) 😉

        • B.B.,

          Many of the wives and girlfriends were not Hollywood level Lookers but then many of the guys weren’t either. My wife of 47 years looked very fine (Hollywood level) at 23 and currently looks way better than Kelly McGillis does today! My wife is fit and fabulous at 7 years older than Kelly; I consider myself a very lucky guy.

          shootski

        • Chris USA,

          It takes a certain personality to bang on to the back of an aircraft carrier on the darkest howling night during a North Atlantic Winter storm. The deck can be yawing and pitching as much as 14′ and that adds up to 24′ total. The next time you sit on the catapult ready to Salute the Launch Officer if your not feeling some degree of fear your either STUPID or not Human. You Salute anyway and the next two seconds belong to the Cat Stroke and the two after that belong to God. At night you can’t see much of anything for a few seconds because the G’s distorting your eyeballs. If that is machismo, you could say that, I would call it Courage.

          shootski

          shootski

          shootski

      • B.B.,

        As further extension to my curiosity,… were you not a “top gun” in your own rights as a tank operator,.. and instructor? The way I see it,… you do not get to instruct unless you are at the top levels of your skill set.

        Chris

      • CHRIS USA,

        I turned your question around to my wife who lived with my story and my fellow Naval Aviators. She watched the Top Gun film with me when it first came out. Her quick answer about the film was, ” a TEN!” (10.) As far as the social life that was depicted was accurate up until the US Military deemphasis on alcohol in the late Eightys. The air-to-air footage critique was up to me to comment on: that was some of the best non-guncamera footage I have watched. It was however shot at NAS Fallon and mostly over the Nevada dessert on beautiful flying weather days; most modern air-to-air combat happens at non-visual ranges. The bandit footage is a bit more realistic of a modern day engagement at the start of the film.

        shootski

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