Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire .22 LR. Random Thoughts

A good .22LR rifle is the last firearm I would part with.

I'm not even sure how many 22s I own , more than a couple.


Mike

Love my Winchester 94/22.

I've got an even dozen .22LR firearms around here, plus a couple WMRs, a .17HMR and a .22 Short only. All of them are a lot of fun, and I shoot the heck out of them. Half a dozen CZs, six Rugers, and some others.


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You have that backwards, Rocky, the .22LR is nominally .222" and the WMRs are .224", "nominally" being the operative word.

I spent Sunday afternoon with two .22s, a Walther Sportmodell Meisterbuchse (older Weaver V9 AO scope) and a BSA Martini Model 13 with a Parkerrifled barrel liner (older Weaver 10x). Federal Target ammo and Wolf Match Target. Both were shot off a Bald Eagle bench rest.

With the Wolf, both were consistent sub 3/4 inch shooters out at 50 yards on a gusty windy day. The BSA was a touch better (approaching an average of 0.5 inch) than the Walther.

I'd taken both rifles out to decide which one to sell and which one to keep. They shot so well I don't want to sell either of them. I hate it when that happens.

I also love the 94/22,kick myself in the ass for selling it years ago.

I've had or have about any caliber of centerfire rifle or handgun I could ever need. I've participated in aprrox. 6 different types of formal shooting competitions.

But an afternoon on my backyard range with a 22 or a few of them is still as pleasurable as it gets, shooting wise.






Folks spend a lot of time & money creating a personal shotgun or center fire rifle, & that's just fine. But considering how across the board useful it is & should be the last firearm we'd ever part with, a personal 22 rifle for the rest of life should be seriously considered, if not chosen already.
I think I'm there, but just now realized & haven't devoted near as much thought about it as I have other types of arms.

Like kenjs1 posted, one that's "mine". "I might own a dozen, but this ones mine" is something to ponder.

Anyone have a Browning T-bolt? I'd sure like a review on one.

My somewhat limited examination of production ammo is consistent with Rocky's observation. European ammo huddles with the .224" metric and US production is smaller, typically in the range of .222". + or -

The fat stuff shoots a whole lot better, but that's not the only reason. European QC is miles ahead of our stuff.

I have a Browning T-bolt, the older Belgian-made model that uses the normal vertical stack magazine. It feeds and fires as it should, I don't find it to be particularly smooth or fast action, even after several hundred rounds. It requires enough energy to over come the camming action, on both extraction and going into battery, that it pulls my eye off the sight picture. I prefer my levers 39A, and 9422 for quick following shots. I REALLY want to test out an Anschutz 1727 fortner action!

...I have another t-bolt-like action, an ISSC SPA-22, which I will happily send out for trials to the first person who writes me a $225 check.

I have great satisfaction with early 20th century German 22s, Anschutz, Mauser, Geco, Walther, Haenel, plus a bunch of Czech-made Brno's and CZ's, and a BSA/Martini, all of which started as smooth and accurate, then got better!

I shot 39A, CZ 453 and Anschutz 1710 for silhouette comps for years. A sporterized Win 75 is my behind the kitchen door gun, guaranteed minute of squirrel-head out to 75 yards leaning on the door jamb. The Rem 37 and Win 52 are not worth the current asking prices..IMHO.

I use two different ammo regularly, Aguila 38g standard velocity, and Lapua Center-x, and only need to look further when I'm shooting for points or who's buying lunch.

I cut my teeth on Dad's old Marlin bolt .22 with open sights. I currently own a 10/22 stainless/synthetic and a CZ American. Just the other day I grabbed the CZ and whacked a big cottontail rabbit in the back yard. Those Browning BPR HP's really lay a wump on a rabbit. Shot it in the passenger side of it's head and blew the drivers side all to hell.

If you don't have fun plinking with a .22, time to take up golf...........

I've had 2 10/22s since I bought one for my new bride and myself back in 1973 and never been that fond of them. One day back in the mid 90's, I checked out a NIB Marlin model 60 and it just felt good so I bought it on a whim. I slapped a compact 4x scope on it, took it out plinkin, and loved it. It's been my favorite 22lr plinker ever since and the 10/22s were both just safe queens until I gave one to my son some years ago.

Have three rifles.
A Browning lever, a Ruger 10/22 and a Marlin bolt gun.
Also have a Smith Mdl 17 dad gave me as a graduation present from high school and a Ruger 22/45.

Cheap to shoot and I thoroughly enjoy them.

I have a Winchester pre A custom Sporter and a Springfield 1922 M2 custom Sporter, they're the most accurate .22 RF's that I've ever owned. Both will put 50 rds. of CCI Std. Vel. into one ragged hole at 50 yds..

Back in the very early 90's, Federal was 'miffed' that USA Olympic shooters would not use USA made 22lr during competition, and set about to solve the puzzle of hyper-accurate rimfire ammo.

I read that they spent about $1mil in R&D on this.

There were several reasons, with Number 1 being consistent rim-thickness, followed by consistency in adding the primer mixture to the case/rim, consistent powder drops, etc..

In such a small case, little changes can make a noticeable difference.

Due to a recent move challenging long range centerfire is not an option. Because of this I am transitioning to long range rimfire. Out to 344 yards will be my limit but I’m seeing that as a great challenge that should be good practice for extended range centerfire and hone those skills.

I am now shooting at an indoor range. With the Ultimate Clip loader I plan to put two Ruger Mark II pistols through the ringer. I may end up putting reloading on hold and just focus on rimfire. Pushing distance with a 22lr and good ammo is a fun challenge.

I just spent a few days shooting ground squirrels with my 39a and 513T.. Lots of fun.. Hope to do a bit more this summer, but once the squirrel shooting is over, my .22's pretty much go into storage til the next spring.. Fun guns.. Probably have 4 or 5 more plus a couple mags, and 17...

I started with a Winchester 67-A Boy’s Rifle. When my father and his buds went quail hunting, I would take it along. Daddy, being a participant in the Great Depression, would usually buy 22 longs (cheaper at that time than Long Rifles) and carry them in his shirt pocket and every so often he would let me shoot at a sqwerel or sparrow or some such. I was hooked. I upgraded last year and splurged on a Remington 547-C. 😊

Years ago i asked my dad what rifle he would choose in a survival situation and he said 22lr. At first i thought he was crazy. Then he explained you can kill anything on this continent with a 22 if you take your time and place your shots. Shoot a quail or dove and still have something to eat. Kill a deer or elk if you take your time. A pocketful of 22 ammo is a lot of ammo. At that time every retail store had 22 ammo. If necessary you could steal all the ammo you needed any where you were.

I have several 22 rifles. Mostly lever action Winchesters, Henrys, and Ithacas. A semi-auto Winchester, several single shot Savages and a couple of hanguns. My favorite gun to shoot and carry is the Ithaca with the Savages being second. I have shot several coyotes with the 22lr. They normally spin around about three times and fall over dead. If necessary I can put down a cow or horse with the 22 rifle although I carry a 38 special just for that purpose.

If I could only have one rifle it would be a 22lr.