Help me pick a .22 rifle
 

I'm thinking seriously about one.


Guns that attract me:


Marlin 60


Savage 64


Savage Mark-II (This bolt action would be an "understudy rifle." I use Savage big game rifles).


I'm open to other ideas. I consider the Ruger 10/22 more of a dark horse in this race because at the price, I'd be more inclined to go with the Savage Mark II.

Before plinking down any money on a 22 rim fire rifle look at how easy ammo is to get in your area at a reasonable price.


I suggest you buy a 22 center fire like a 22 hornet and down load it to 22lr and 22 mag speeds.


When you can find 22 rim fire ammo here it is from 7 to 11 cents a round.
I reload 22 hornet at 8 cents a round and don't have to spend the time searching for an ammo source.




But if I just had to have a 22 rim fire it would be the Marlin 60 to start or the savage.


10 22's are to expensive for those not rich.




:D Al

My wife and I were Nordic skiing recently and went through a biathlon range. There was a guy there shooting the most elaborate .22LR I've ever seen. He said it was made by Kalashnikov. I didn't ask how much it cost but it sure was a far, far from the old bolt action Springfield I I inherited from my grandaddy.

So, point is - what do you want to do with it? If it's just for plinking, I wouldn't get too elaborate. I'm not a .22 conesuer, to me one is very much like another.

I like lever action .22s just sold a marlin 39A about a year ago

Small game hunting. (sorry, forgot to mention that). I wouldn't be too inclined to add anything to it other than a scope.

I'm a big fan of pump 22s. My favorite is an old Rem Model 572 Fieldmaster that my grandfather gave me. Really accurate and fun to shoot. It is in the photo below with a limit of blue grouse from my native CO:



If I was looking for a 22 I'd try to find one of these on something like gunbroker or gunsamerica.

Love my Ruger 10-22. When I got it 40 years ago it wasn't as expensive. :)

Oddly enough, I just purchased (another) a Marlin 60SB and (another) a Savage Mark II FSS, both for my son, Lil' NM. I knew I wanted to get a stainless Marlin 60 for him for a lifetime rifle, but also wanted to get him a bolt action to make him meter is rate of fire.

You'll see a thread on these soon, cutting them both down to 16" in the front and 8.5" LOP in the back - since nobody makes a rifle suited for a 3.5yr old kid frame.

So that's probably not any help - I couldn't decide between the two, so I bought him both.

I'm curious how you're going to have the willpower to stop at just one 22. I've never been able to do that.

I'm more partial to the manual actions for .22LR. Like Mercy, I like to meter the shots. It's just too easy to get carried away with a little .22 "just cuzz" if ya know what I mean. And not just the little ones are guilty of it :D Us big kids like to play too :D If I were to pick from your list, I would go for the Mark II. Accurate little rifles and fairly cheap as well. One you didn't mention but kiddoggy did was the Marlin 39A but them puppies are expensive for a little .22. Even used. I love both mine and wouldn't part with them either. Many squirrelies and waskily wabbits have fallen to both those puppies from me as well as all my kids.

The Ruger 10/22 has more after-market parts than maybe any other gun !


.............and I own a Marlin model 60 Anniversary Edition.

BFAS I had this Ruger 77 22LR and liked it a lot. It was cheap practice shooting for the Ruger 77 243 and the Ruger 77 220 swift.





I also own a Remington 572 Pump. Really nice tight pump action rifle. It is still sold today in the BDL version but it isn't cheap at about $650.00.





Bought my son a little Rossi gallery youth pump action 22lr when he was young. He got pretty good with it with just open sites.


Henery has a nice looking Pump action 22 runs about $550.00





None hardly get used any longer except the 77-22 when a varmint critter like coon or possum is around trying to damage some thing around the house.


:D Al

i did not know henry did a pump, that thing is sweet, im a fan of pumps or levers in the 22lr, because i want the ability to shoot shorts or even low velocity shorts

They dont that is a Remington pump one nice gun

I had a mod 60 Marlin I have to it was a piece of junk always jamming but I only shot 2 kinds of ammo in it so I ended up with a Remington mod 552 never a problem with it and its a tack driver

Henry does make a nice pump action .22... also .22mag I believe. Fun little rifle. So are the remingtons. I have a Henry lever action, that shoots great. Multiple 10/22s which I've put more rounds through than anything else. And a couple old bolt actions. Had to get the henry because PA doesn't allow the Ruger for small game... at least not yet... That's changing soon.
-Jake

Thanks for the suggestions, folks.

Can't go wrong with a Ruger 10/22.

Up until this season, in PA you could... It wasn't allowed for small game hunting. That's changing now, thankfully.
-Jake

Wow, that's interesting. I know PA has some "different" rules, but that seems excessive. What was their reasoning behind not allowing them?

I'm not sure if PA has yet to allow the use of semi auto rifles for hunting. I know there is a vote coming up shortly if it didn't already happen in the last day or so.
And who knows their reasoning. Probably the same reasoning used for not allowing Sunday hunting and the use of air rifles for small game.
I really love hunting in Penn's woods but sometimes I believe that the commissioners on the PGC occasionally suffer from rectal/cranial inversion.

But to answer your question on what .22 LR to get that is a very personal choice. I have a Savage bolt action, A Remington 572 BDL pump action, a Winchester 250 lever action, and s S&W M&P15 semi auto. They're all fun and all have their place. For hunting I like the bolt and the lever. The pump was a gift from my parents many years ago and I hand on to it for sentimental reasons. It doesn't get used that much and still looks brand new.

I got a 572 pump got from a client of mine had in closet 75 dol fair price I guess

I was thinking of getting my 13yr old grandson the CZ 455 American 22LR rifle. Anybody have comments regarding this rifle. This will be his first rifle and I thought I would get him a decent one.

Ed

the CZ Is a great rifle, and everyone I know of was super accurate to boot!

as for 22's, a 10/22 is a great little gun and if you buy USED,they can be found rather cheap and you can build it as you want it, sky's the limit!
very few folks ever shoot out a barrel in 22's, just don;t get that hot or fast to wear a barrel out without a LOT of cash down the bore, all the more so in today's era of ammo being scares at times for them or super pricey!
a friend of mine was a shooting professor at a collage that had shooting program and had 22's there that were 30+ yrs old and grouped small groups, and had tens of thousands if not hundreds out of them, when the school finally upgraded to new guns, he bought most of them and we had them out countless times (used to shoot 22 ;s for money with 22's for fun, smallest 10 shot groups at 50 yards) and some out shot some of my best 22's.
so, just cause something is used, doesn't mean its shot out as many think(sold guns and heard that line all the time, how a GUN was supposed to have been shot out??, loved it when they said that on pistols too, and then would explain how much it would costs in ammo to honestly do so LOL)

Glad You mentioned the CZ brand...they make some really nice Rifles,another good shooting Rifle would be an Anshultz or a Uberti.

+1 on the CZ bolt 22LR's. The 452 now 455 are the best value in precision per dollar on the market.

I have shoot dime size groups at 75 yards with my Savage Mark II. This is done mainly off a sandbag. You can't beat that accu trigger in my book.

By .22 rifle...Do you mean .22 rimfire rifle? If that's the case I recommand the Ruger 10/22. A close second would be the Marlin 60. Both are semi auto. Very nice shooting guns for there price. You can get either one for under $200.

The Ruger 10/22 in my eyes is the best deal. As there are many after market products to dress the rifle up to suite your taste. Stocks, Barrels, Larger Capacity magazines etc... I happen to own one of these. I paid $190 for the gun. About $40 for the BSA scope on it, about $24 for the Tactical 24-7 sighting system (laser sight and light) and a total of $48 for 4 Eagle 30 round magazines. Also have 2 Butler Creek 25 round magazines, that I got from a friend.

.22
 

Marlin 60. Great price and a quality gun.