Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires 22 SHORT …

I keep having this ‘itch’ for a bench rest type of bolt rifle in 22 SHORT MATCH.
I thought it was gone until looking through my stuff and found a stainless Lothar Walther bull barrel blank in .22 I forgot I had. I also have a bench rest stock nicely made from a Winchester 75 Target stock (flat bottom fore end).
I have a few extra 22 Short magazines for a few Winchester model 56 rifles in 22 SHORT.
All I need is a Winchester 69A action to fit the barrel to. Although my lathes are gone, a good friend is an excellent machinist and gunsmith, so that box is ‘checked’.
I will use the 1:16” twist as another itch to scratch, instead of a 1:20+ twist.
A reamer will be rented if possible or possibly purchased if not.
I got lots of 22 Short ammo.
What think?

You’ve certainly piqued my interest, that’s for sure. I enjoy the oddball, yet strangely attractive, accuracy projects. At what distance do you anticipate experiencing the best precision shooting with match shorts from the 1:16 twist barrel? What has been your experience with 1:20 twist?

I’m still scratching my head about bore dimensions and rifling twist rates for .22 rimfire. This Green Mountain 22” Ruger Precision Rimfire barrel has 1:15 twist:

Results on 6” steel @ 200 yards:


While this 6” piece of Hart .22-250 benchrest barrel has a groove dimension of .224” and a twist rate of probably 1:12, it nevertheless performs well @ 50 yards:


Go figure.

Digital Dan is your man with regards to .22 Short. He kills pigs and stuff with his, regularly. IIRC, he has a matchgrade Short barrel for a T/C Contender carbine.

All I have is a decrepit old Remington M24, but between the sights and my eyes, I'm lucky to hit a coon in a Haveaheart with the thing. It's bore is ROUGH all the way down to the halfway point, a legacy of Lesmok and blackpowder loads, no doubt. I have killed a bunch of raccoons with my M24, but under the noted conditions. CCI HPs, of course. If I could see better, it might be fun to explore it's accuracy potential, such as it is, with it's poor bore and all.

The T/C Contender would be the easy button. Digital Dan has some pictures showing how accurate his T/C is.

I was struck by the 22 Short itch, I 'had' a Remington 580 (a single shot) that I was going to re-barrel (or re-line) to 22 Short. Green mountain had some 22 short barrels, they were noted for being inaccurate (they fire sale'd them). Researching accuracy problems others had with the 22 short in rifles, it seemed to me that the chambers were sloppy and the issue. I was looking at having PT&G make a match reamer for me. With what I could find it seems the 1:20 twist was a better route to go for accuracy in the short.

Then CCI came out with the 'Quiet' round and I sighted my 580 in for that ammo and after a couple of cases lost interest, sort of.

I did finally scratch the itch with this Browning 22 Short. It's fun, I shoot CCI CB shorts with which it is hearing safe. I also tried CCI Target shorts, but the accuracy in this rifle was pretty much the same, though they are a little bit faster (I put a 4X scope on this rifle just for accuracy testing ammo). The CCI Target shorts are also hearing safe in this rifle;


Skinner rear peep sight;


Jerry

Fella can't whack anything with any gun if he can't put the bullet where it belongs. When that issue is settled most anything will kill anything. If memory serves a very long standing Griz record was killed with a .22 Long.

The sight in the pics that follow is a Millett SP-1 red dot. Used it for years, bur recently changed over to a Leupy 2.5X.

Well, on withe diatribe. .22 short match w/16" twist.


Placement rules...


Don't let people tell you a .22 short won't penetrate.







CB's tend to be quiet, so bad news doesn't circulate quickly.


Gun is zeroed at 25 yards and strike about 1" low at 50.


I have another barrel in LR that has a 15" twist and it shoots a fair bit better FWIW. Best group to date was 5 shots in .091" at 50 yards. A key point in precision with the RF plinkers is your parallax adjustment. My scopes have that zeroed at 50 yards. Why? Because I rarely see anything beyond 30 yards here in the neighborhood due to undergrowth. The CB's whacked 5 hogs one day without me having to take a single step. #6 finally figured out something was wrong and ran away squealing and leaving mom and pop dead in the dirt.

I have a Win 69A that is very accurate with 22 shorts. I pick off starlings at 50 yards that try to build nests in my Purple Martin gourds. Use the shorts for squirrel hunting each fall….it such a quiet round and perfect for taking long shots in tree tops.I have a couple spare 5 rd. mags I carry and that is 15 shots you can get off if needed without having to reload while squirrel hunting. I read in an article years ago the 69A is the most perfect 22 ever been produced. I have a 4 power Swift on mine and have killed crows at 100 yds. with 22 LR. Have killed coyotes many times with head shots up to 80 yards with 22 LR Velocitor HP’s. The 22 is the do everything round.

I gave a daughter an antique Winchester 22 short pump. Goes nicely with the Taurus 45 pump I gave her. Been maybe 10-15 years ago, not sure they've been shot since. I do occasionally remind her to wipe them down.
Love the little pop of a 22 short.

I know this thread is about shorts, but it wouldn't be the fire unless someone went off track...

Quiet has come up a few times, Me, Dan, Winnie, Nessmuk...

While not 22 Short CB or CCI Quiet 'quiet', CCI LR Standard Velocity shot out of my 24.x inch barreled CZ (I feel) is hearing safe. I would not hesitate to hunt all day without ear pro with that long barreled combination.

… by a woman:




This woman’s amazing accomplishment is a most excellent example of DigitalDan’s often repeated lesson: where you shoot ‘em is far more important that what you shoot ‘em with.