Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Educate me on pump/lever .22LR rifles

This right here answers a lot of questions for me. Thank you kragman1!!!

Look at the Browning BL-22 micro Midas if your wanting small..
Browning has a $75 rebate on rimfires until the end of the month

Thank you. Was wondering how long it was going to take before somebody said that.

I'll take my 39A any day.

This here is helping narrow the decision. I found a Micro Midas BL-22 online for $476 shipped. Knock another $75 off... I might have to get two!

Winner

Although I've had a 39A since I was 11, I think it's pretty husky for a youngster's first rifle --- mine's very accurate though. My Grandkids enjoy my 1906 Win. pump over any of my other 22s. It was made in 1912. Still shoots well with CCI SV or Quiet (at close ranges).

My brother has a Win lever action 22 that I'm not impressed with. It's the 9422. Action is rough and it's not possible to get POA and POI to coincide with the iron sights. In fairness, several years ago I held a new 39A and it's action was awful.

I have had Henry, Marlin and Browning .22 lever guns. The Henry, with an octagon barrel, was accurate and had a very smooth action. I sold it when I decided I wanted a Marlin. The Marlin (a fairly late JM rifle with 20" barrel) was not accurate and the action would occasionally hiccup; I liked the feel and handling better than the Henry but not the shooting. I now have the BL-22 which is a sweet handling rifle with a very smooth action. I can't comment on the accuracy since I'm shooting it with open sights only at short range. I would agree that the Browning is an excellent choice.

$400 for a new BLR 22 sounds great. Walnut stocks?

Also, the BLR is a good size and weight for a younger shooter, but somehow isn't too small for an adult (I'm 6' even). I guess I'd call it 9/10's scale or something.
Every time I use mine I'm reminded of how much I just enjoy the feel of it.
Its definitely easier to handle than the Marlin, the Winchester is closer. But double the money.

Have one of the Winchester gallery type pumps (Model 06 short, long, long rifle) about 1936 era in about 90% condition gratis a death bed bequest from an early fly fishing mentor. My friend lost use of it for a year when he was caught doing a day 2 unsupervised outing on their Colorado farm. An extremely fine little rifle, but given its source I can't bring myself to use it. Probably quite valuable as well. Would for sure make a great kids gun, but I'm not ready to disperse things yet.

Anything but a semi auto for a kid if one really wants to teach them to shot.

I agree whole-heartedly with this statement,... but

I just saw one of Chiappa's M39 mountie copies, and it looked pretty good, especially at half the price of a Marlin.

The Savage pumps hold a soft spot for me, and I think they are cleaner looking, being hammer-less

That Chiappa is NOT A MARLIN COPY.

It might resemble the look of a Marlin, but in both interior design materials and workmanship not even close to the same.

They are a steaming pile of crap.

Go find him a Rossi 62. I've had one for 25+ years and it still shoots like new or better. They're perfect size for a youngster.

I sure wouldn’t. Mine basically fell apart and it wasn’t even reliable when it was new.

BL22 and 39’s are my favorite levers, only pump I have that still works is a 62A..

as for Henry I have a few levers and they seem to be solid, never an issue with them. I’ve never used their pumps.

Maybe I just got lucky. I paid $125 for it at the Wanenmacher's gun show in Tulsa, OK. I've shot the daylights out of it.

I have a both a Henry Pump in 22WMR and a Remington 572.in LR. The Henry was so stiff when I first got it that it was almost unusable but it did slick up nicely after running two boxes of ammo thru it. The Henry is good for 1.5” groups at 50 yards off the bench using the Skinner barrel mounted peep sights with Hornady 30 grain loads.
Also as others have mentioned my 572 is far more accurate ( scoped it will hold 1”@ 50. Yards with CCI mini mags and even a little better with std velocity Eley) than I ever would have expected. Especially considering it was a “parts gun” that I bought in a basket for $25.00 and put back together. The 572 is also one of the few 22’s I own that shoots Aguila Super Colobri’s reasonably well stabilizing that short little 20gr bullit well enough for me to use it as my den window squirrel off the bird feeder gun.

Who told you they knew about it and didn't care?Henry?They have one of the best service departments,if not the best in the industry,they will bend over backwards to fix any issue out there.That is the first time I have ever heard that complaint....See where customer relations with Remington or Marlin will get you LOL

Get a Remington 12A pump. The perfect size for a young man and he'll like it when he's bigger too. Standard velocity ammo only though.

I did not give customer service an opportunity to correct it so that part is on me. As it turns out I traded it off for something else and never looked back. However back then there was much discussion about the sites and it was obvious to us that had them that QC let it slip by. I have not shot any of the newer Henry’s and can not comment on the current models. Just relaying my experience.

Friend has a Winchester 61. All steel parts and probably fitted. The trigger beats many of todays out of the box CF's and the accuracy is good. An average one will cost a little more than some of the modern ones mentioned and the more would be worth it.

for those that say the 572's are accurate, i'd like to know the secret. mine is a scattergun. i've deleaded the barrel, changed scopes, mounts, etc and it is at best a tin can gun. definitely not anywhere near my 77/22's. i like it and am a pumpgun guy but this one is a dud. and its been in the family for almost 50 years and was bought new. its never been good. i'd buy another but don't want to take a chance. i was thinking of maybe a 121.