Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Small Game Looking for a .22LR $600 budget - what should I buy?

I’m thinking a Marlin might be perfect.

Thanks for the BL22 trigger warning & the collection of thoughtful responses!

I may have to buy two - the CZ/BRNO options looks interesting & Classic too.

The T1x might just need to be added fir no other reason than it adds to my growing T3x collection - they share the same platform I learned.

I may have to edit the title - what would your ultimate collection of .22LR look like for under 6k.

Just picked up a sweet CZ 455 with nice figure in the wood - now if I could just find a sweet little Marlin 39...

Thanks again fellas

pints ya done good with the CZ. let us now how she shoots. imma czech fanboi btw for a reason.
good luck,
Big Ed

The OP typed, "a .22lr with soul." I dig that, but "soul" is in the heart of the beholder. If I wanted to chase rabbits with a rifle that made me smile, I would carry my Marlin 39A most every time! But, my old Glenfield bolt I got from Santa Claus some 4 1/2 decades ago has as much soul to me as anything - even though it might fetch less than $100 at an auction. A Ruger 10/22 has little soul to me in most configurations, but they're awesome and I still own a takedown for the great tool that it is. Now a walnut-stocked 10/22 RSI, that's a different story.

So - a .22 with soul for $600 or less:

- An old and used Marlin 39A if you're lucky enough to find a good one for a good price
- I haven't priced the CZ's in a while, but as a lefty a 452 would be up on my list
- Henry Small Game rifle - a very cool and smooth lever with peep sights to-boot
- A Ruger 10/22 RSI, or one of the older pieces which sometimes have some cool old wood on them
- Find anything you like, but produced the year you were born. That automatically adds cool points to your choice
- And finally, ask Santa for a .22. That will bring a smile to your face every time you carry it.

AZ I ended up buying a sweet CZ 455 but with the comments and suggestions made I’m looking for a 39A to go with it.

Thanks for chiming in & I won’t forget about Santa!

My BL-22 has a decent trigger pull. (maybe 4 pounds). Accuracy at 50 yards with Federal blue box and the open sights isn't great but I have yet to try the CCI red tip stuff that I bought.

Unlike Henry lever .22 rifles (which are decent enough) the BL-22 has a substantial and solid blued machined steel outer receiver, which unlike the Henry, has the barrel screwed solidly into it. The Henry outer receiver is a painted cover that is made of ZA-5 (ZAMAC) zinc-aluminum alloy, which is about 92% zinc as I recall. The Henry has the barrel pinned to a hole in the inner receiver.

The inner receiver on both rifles is alloy. ZA-5 again for the Henry, and aluminum for the BL-22.

A scope fitted to the dovetail on the BL-22 is solidly connected to the barrel.
A scope fitted to the dovetail on the Henry is attached only to the receiver cover.

Removing the Henry outer cover by removing four screws will alter the zero of your scope.

The Henry is easier to put back together than the Browning, because of the fiddly ejector and spring that must be positioned in the BL-22 when sliding the barrel and outer receiver back on.

Both rifles have ingenious and reliable actions and can use .22 short, long, and long rifle.
Both have walnut stocks and decent usable open sights.

Check out this BL-22 review video by mixup98:
(The actual review starts at 1:00 if you want to skip the preamble,)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kif9TEJuwaQ

Some of that is true and some of it isn't. The Henry does indeed have a zinc alloy receiver and receiver cover and the barrel is pinned to the receiver. I have had the Henry for two years. In that time I've had no trouble with maintaining zero. I have taken it apart for cleaning several times with near perfect return to zero. Was just shooting it again the other day and averaging 5/8"- 3/4"groups at 50 yards. The best I've ever got with any ammo out of my BL-22 was about 1" - 1 1/4" groups at 50 yards.
The open sights absolutely suck on both models. Due to the much longer receiver, it is substantially easier to mount a wide variety of scopes on the Henry.

My 39A was nothing to brag on accuracy wise either. I have 5 Marlin .22's at present. Three semi auto's and two bolt actions. Every one of them is more accurate than my 39A was.

Silly rabbit, you can't hit a barn from inside with one of those things.

You already bought a CZ, so I guess you don't care that a LGS has a CZ 457 Jaguar. Looks like an old time safari rifle, with hogback stock, 28" barrel, and tangent sights. $609

Your CZ is easy to scope (talley rings are great), but if you buy a lever, think about adding Skinner aperture soghts with a post front. Makes a handy rifle to carry that is astonishingly accurate compared to the factory open sights, especially if your eyes are a little older.

Still looking for that 39A - might have missed my window price wise.

Not sure what the prices are these days…but I’ve enjoyed my REM 572 Fieldmaster. In my home growing up it was Wingmaster’s for rabbits, Gamemaster for deer/bear, so it only made sense to use Fieldmasters on squirrels.

c

Pump guns aren't that popular where i live, so Remington 572s aren't over-priced when you find them. I bought a minty 572 for $288 a couple of years ago as an understudy to my pump action centerfire rifles. I bought a Winchester 270 for $208 in 2014. Not a bad rifle, but not the same solid feel as the Remington 572.

The 10-22 is kind of the easy button for sure..

I LOVE my old, Walnut 10/22's, but there's not a .22 rifle made, that will out shoot my old Marlin Model 60, '85 vintage. It took shooting that rifle, to realize Micro Groove rifling wasn't a gimmick.

I bought a CZ 452 when I was asking myself the same question. I don't regret it.

$600 budget? My best advice is to buy two!

A Remington 572 was my first 22, still have it and have seen very few for sale but wouldn’t hesitate to buy one again if the price was reasonable.

I shoot lotta snowshoe hare in the cold with hand gun and rimfire.

22 lr is finnicky in below zero weather from semi autos, they jam.

The velocity loss is significant when you combine the cold and further velocity loss of a semi auto. I will usually only use stinger ammo in semi autos in the cold.

During target sessions, working a bolt action for 300-500 round sessions gets obnoxious.

This leaves the pump and the lever. I dont care what model, I'd take any of them, over a bolt action or semi auto 22lr.

About 5 years back, I held Annie Oakley's 22 pump action. She used the thinniest front partidge blade sight ive ever seen. Thin as utility knife blade.

She new what the fk a 22lr should be.......

Ive wanted a 22 pump ever since