.22LR => some info please

[jonathanl]

i want to buy a .22LR to eliminate some moorhens,pigeons,rabbits,jackdaws,magpies and some jays. is this the right choice? the distance is about 50meters or in feet 150ft. does this rilfe makes al lot of noise? => if not i could shoot several in a row...
and what other animals could i shoot then? what brand should i choose (remington? Luger? winchester?....)
thanks
jonathan...

[trailer]

I would suggest the Ruger 10/22 if you like semi-auto. It"™s a nice little gun for shooting. The 22 LR doesn"™t make that much noise, all depends of how much noise you're talking about. This rifle would work fine for what you mentioned.

[Swampdog]

If you are concerned about the noise you can try to find a .22 that will shoot short, long, and long rifle ammo .You can usually find a old single shot .22 like this really cheap .If you do get some .22 CB shorts .They have the .22 power and sound like a pellet rifle ( NO NOISE)

[Vesi]

Jonathanl.

Your questioning about the .22LR makes me partial to the idea that you aren't a long time or very experienced shot. Mind that even the little .22 LR is DANGEROUS to humans, out to a mile or more. Since Belgium is rather densily populated, this caliber, although it definately will do what you suggested it for, and more, is probably not a wise choice. Unless you have a solid backstop for the projectile. Earth bank or more than enough woodland to stop the projectile from reaching anywhere near anything you don't want it to hit. (windowpaines, farmanimals, humans etc) MY POINT: DON'T THINK TOO LITTLE OF THAT LITTLE ROUND!!

Some .22LR will make quite some noise, much depending on charce and projectile speeds etc.

.22 short and .22 BB cap (Flobert in your neck of the woods) will be a little safer, but you might also consider an air pressured rifle.

Don't shoot a such small targets if you are not very confident you will hit them and make sure no persons are in the line of fire...anywhere near it too..a lot farther out than the 50 meters you mention make it 2 miles safety zone.


Kind regards,

Vesi

[jonathanl]

thanks
i am indeed not really experienced in shooting with .22LR (because i want to buy wan) that's why i want to know everything about it
but can anyone tell me something about the BRAND of the best .22LR- rifle
can somebody propose a type of gun i have about 350euros (same as u.s. dollars) to spend. and then i want to know what kind of scope i have to use for those kinds of things. i think i am going to buy me one with 30/30.
thanks anyway
Jonathan from Belgium=>the country of the chocolate

[Vesi]

There are more than a few good to excellent .22LR rifles on the market, some of them from Belgium I think..(FN Browning)


BUT you might want to be wanting too much a good rifle and a good scope will cost good money. You could go for a used combo and in that case I'd go for a bolt-action, either single shot or box magazine fed (this for both good learning purposes and ease of operation) and a scope in the power range of 3 to 4 times magnification.


A scope doesn't however, IN ANY WAY, make up for sloppy shooting. So, before you go and shoot out in the open with anything, go to a rifle range first and get instruction. Don't think this is being overcatious, you'll need to sight-in the scope anyway. Make that a dual purpose event, get to know the rifle at the same time.

I don't want to sound cocky , but what is your shooting experience?

Becomming a good shot involves quite a few things, but most importantly....practice...regularly and disciplined practice. It's very easy to over-estimate ones abilities and thats when things can go very wrong indeed. Do yourself a favor and think about this.

It is not easy to hit a small animal at 50 meters unless you are a rather good shot, but think of it this way....if you miss, that bullet is going to go somewhere..

I stress this so much because somehow I get the idea that you are planning to use this rifle as a means of pest control in a urban or semi urban area. eg, your garden? (you ask about noise and such....)

Take this to heart, fooling around with .22LR's has probably killed or injured more people than any other caliber used by civillians, not a small portion of those were due to underestimating the potential of the round!


Hopefully totally uncalled for:

GUNS AREN"T TOYS, NOT EVEN SMALL GUNS


Kind regards,

Vesi,

From the land of the midsummer sun, reindeer, Lapin Kulta and ....never mind....it'll only get some guys drewling over a certain rifle again

[jonathanl]

thanks for the info
indeed i am going to shoot those kind of birds because there are a lot of them around here. i am shooting from 20 m high so if i don't hit it it goes right into the ground. and for the 2nd time i don't live in a city!!!! if there would be about 100 hundred crows in your garden you probably don't want to shoot one at a time so if the gun doesn't makes a lot of noise then i can shoot several with one loader!!!!!! i have to admit i am (only) 16 but i have some experience with a diana 35. (=> that's probably not very special but i havent had an accident in my life with guns and i often have them in my hands when i go hunting with friends...) => there is always a first time they say in Belgium and this is mine...
Jonathan

[Briman]

A good high quality .17 or .22 airgun might serve you better- low noise, cheap practice, and less cance a bullet will skip off into the next town.

A good .22 might be one of the bolt action .22's made by CZ (Ican't remember the model). Its an adult sized bolt action that can fire anything from CB caps to Long rifle .22's. I would stay away from autoloaders like the 10/22 if you want to subsonic ammo or anything smaller than 22 LRs for that matter.

[Big Al C]

jonathan, I would suggest a Ruger or Marlin bolt action rifle for you. You can shoot .22 shorts or CB caps and they will make very little noise. There are probably some European made guns that would work equally as well, but I am not very familiar with the particular models available.
As for your question about a scope, a good fixed power scope in 4 or 6 power will probably do just fine. And a fixed power will cost less than an adjustable power model.
And not to beat an old horse to death, but please be careful with your new gun. As Vesi said, it is very easy to underestimate the lowly .22. For example, here in the U.S. many thousands of cattle are killed in the slaughterhouses every year by one shot with a .22LR.

Best of luck with whatever you choose.

[270 win.]

a 17 hmr is also some thing you should take into consideration. the are very flat shootin