Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mule Deer, Must Have .22s?

Read your replies to the 7X57 thread with interest and wonder, from your collection of rimfires, what you consider to be indispensable?

And I always enjoy your nostalgic remembrances, feel free to include some. But am asking specifically about rifles you wanna use.

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johnw,

I am sort of a rimfire junkie, so have quite a few--including the Marlin Model 81 tube-magazine bolt-action I purchased used for $20 when 13. Have had to replace some parts since then (it wasn't designed to be shot as much as we have), but it still works, and shoots well enough to kill "gophers" (ground squirrels) at 75+ yards.

The others:

.17 HMR CZ 452. It's been my primary ground squirrel rifle since purchasing it 20 years ago, and is superbly accurate.

.22 LR CCZ 457, the heavy-barrel model. Also very accurate, so much that I eventually sold my Anschutz sporter.

.22 LR Savage Mk. II Minimalist. Bought this one a couple years ago for an experiment. One of my long-time friends retired from farming, and bought a house in a subdivision near Bozeman--which was overrun with gophers, which at all his wife's flowers. Thanks to Dale Hegstrom of Little Crow Gunworks, I was aware of his Boom Tube, an enlarged tube that screws onto a rimfire muzzle-threaded barrel. It is NOT a suppressor, so you don't have at to through the expanse and hassle, and only costs $50. But it works very well, especially with sub-subsonic ammo. Went looking for a threaded .22 and found the Savage at the local farm & ranch store. It was very accurate, and he used it to eradicate the problem gophers, then returned it to me.

.22 LR Remington Model 34 NRA target rifle, which was made in the 1930s. It's a bolt-action with a tube magazine--but has a feeding system that moves rounds directly into the chamber, instead of slanting them, so shoots every well. It also has a Lyman 55R aperture sight, and shoots very well. Bought it from Steven Dodd Hughes, the custom gunsmith and Campfire member SDH, a couple of years ago. (Also ended up with an open-sighted Model 34, which was part of my friend and fellow writer Tom McIntyre's collection when he passed away in November.)

.22 Magnum Ruger American Rifle. Bought this new at Capital Sports in 2015, for half-price--due to the fact that .22 Magnum ammo had just about disappeared during the Great Obama Rimfire Shortage. It turned out to be the most accurate .22 Magnum I've ever owned--and have had a bunch, some costing $1000. And unlike many .22 Magnums it also shoots just about any type of ammo very accurately--and to the same point of impact.

Have also owned some .22 rimfire handguns, including my father's Colt New Frontier single-action, that he purchased for $50 when I was around five years old, after selling an article on the history of an old local Army fort to one of the then-popular "old west" magazines. He used it to "plink" at bottles and tin cans, but I killed a lot of animals with it, ranging from gophers to cottontails and grouse (legal here in Montana). A month or so ago I gave to my younger brother.

Also really liked a Ruger "slabside" stainless Mark II semi-auto. It was superbly accurate, and killed a bunch of small stuff with it too--until somebody talked me out of it a few years ago. Recently purchased a stainless sporter Mark IV, but haven't shot it enough yet to decide on the best load.

Many years ago my brother gave me a M34 NRA in pretty mint condition. It is a shooter for sure and as noted above the action design works. I have since bought a standard M34 here a bit ago and gave it to my eldest son as those sights no longer work for me. It is a slick little rifle.

Ed,

OK!

The 34 was introduced several years after Remington started using "Kleanbore" priming, based on an RWS patent as I recall, so most weren't fired much with whatever corrosive-primer .22 ammo was still hanging around. Both my rifles have VERY good bores, as viewed through my Gradient Lens bore-scope.

Excellent information, MD

Do you use your CZ457 as a switch barrel? Can that even be done with the heavy barrel?

I guess that I too, am somewhat of a rimfire junkie. A buddy recently called my collection the ".22 orphanage"...

Got a bit excited this afternoon, as one of the orphans, a recently adopted Marlin from New Mexico via GunBroker, showed excellent accuracy with some old Remington standard velocity, some almost as old T22, and my normal stash of CCI hp mini mag.

I have a Williams FP39 aperture and a Firesight front back-orfered for the New Mexico Marlin...

MD - any thoughts or experience with the 17 HM2 ?

I mostly shoot gophers with a ‘48 BRNO Model 1 ( CZ 451 ),
a ‘51 Model 3 ( Heavy barrel ) and a 10/22 , all 22 LR

What, no Ruger 10/22 nor a Remington Nylon 66? And, just for grins, a Winchester M-69 (my first rifle - still remember my first shot with it. Long time ago.)

I couldn't pick the 22 I would never get rid of. I like them like children. I have a Dan Wesson 22 revolver that I bought when I was @ 14. mom had to file out the yellow form. That is one I would never get rid of, as for rifles. My Ruger American gets used weekly.

No, I don't use it as as a switch-barrel, and don't know my particular mode could be, as it was purchased the first year the .17 HMR appeared.

Have owned some switch-barrel rifles, but eventually realized I mostly used one particular barrel!

Yeah, I had a CZ in .17 M2 for a while. It's a definite step up from the .22 on gophers, as the trajectory is enough flatter to make hits pretty easily out to around 125 yards. It's also usually very accurate, like the .17 HMR.

But two things happened that caused me to sell it to a tree-squirrel hunter in Kentucky: Ammo just about disappeared during the Great Obama Rimfire Shortage, and when it did start appearing the price was pretty close to .17 HMR ammo. One of the early justifications for the .17 M2 was that ammo was priced pretty close to .22 LR hollow-points, which makes a difference when gopher shooting, but I saw no point in keeping mine with the higher ammo prices.

Owned a 10/22 for a while, and did all the "upgrading" stuff that was so popular for a while: new barrel, stock, etc. It shot pretty well, but I'm apparently pretty much a bolt-action rimfire guy--though have owned a number of lever-action .22s, both Marlins and Winchesters. Have never owned a Nylon 66.

One I used quite a bit for years was a Winchester 62-A pump. It shot really well even with the iron sights, but eventually moved to the .17 HMR for all my small-varmint shooting. Stocked up when ammo was cheaper, and now have a lifetime supply, even though Eileen also got a .17 HMR a couple years ago.

I really figured you for a Vudoo man.

John, is your American 22 Magnum the Predator model or standard barrel profile.

You mentioned above a couple of handguns that you traded or gave away. What is left of rimfire handguns for you?

I also recall that you were enthusiastic about a particular Thompson Center .22 Classic semi-auto. Is it still there in your collection? I always wanted one, and then they were gone...

I have a Ruger heavy barrel 10-22 I like, but my favorite is a Marlin 22 mag, really accurate, prefer bolts too.

I'd actually be a bit surprised if he doesn't have a NULA .22 somewhere...

It's the standard barrel.

Eileen's .17 HMR is the same model, and also very accurate.

The only .22 rimfire handgun remaining is the Ruger Mark IV. I like handguns, but am not as loony about 'em as rifles--or shotguns. Only own eight, a .45 Colt single-action, .44 Magnum double-action,. .357 Magnum double-action, two 9mm Parabellum autos, a Mosin-Nagant 7.62x38mm double-action, and the Ruger Mark V. (Eileen actually has more handguns than I do!

Don't have that T/C Classic .22 semi-auto anymore. It was quite accurate, but after they were discontinued somebody talked me out of it.