Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Why did Remington and Winchester stop making bolt action rimfire rifles?

Because they couldn’t keep up with the competition. Anymore dumb questions? That’s what I thought.

Winchester for 2023 came out with a Bolt action 22 L.R. Caliber Rifle,(called Xpert .22LR), with a Rotary detachable magazine that will accept a Ruger 10/22 Rotary Magazine that we're all familiar with. Not a traditional style old school Bolt Action single shot like we're most Familiar with. This has an extended Bolt handle for convenience. Composite stock with an 18 inch Barrel. Drilled and tapped for optic mounts but has iron sights on it. Weight is 4.5 lbs. MSRP $319.99
Just some FYI.

HS 58

Because you can't go "pew, pew, pew", really fast....

I have picked ups number of older .22's . Old quality rifles by Win, Rem, Marlin, Mossberg, etc . A lot of good shooters that are overlooked.

Of course I like newer rifles also.

Winchester and Rem. are perhaps guided by marketing people.

Is it made in Turkey like the Wildcat?

Got my Marlin bolt .22 in 1st grade.
And a new 10/22 the next yr.
Semi auto didn't mess up my shooting.

Excluding nostalgia.....

a current 10/22 build or a CZ bolt.........is hard to beat.

As to why Rem & Win stopped making bolt action 22's IMO it was simply a matter of economics (profit) and lack of demand.

A simple blowback semi-auto can be built very inexpensively compared to the cost of manufacturing a bolt action.

Most 22 LR shooters seem to be satisfied with a rifle that is inexpensive and is capable of hitting a soda can at 25 yards and that can be shot a lot with minimal investment.

drover

260Remguy: There IS some wisdom and veracity to Kensj1 and Drovers contentions.
The Ruger 10/22 came along in 1964 and "changed" a lot of 22 rimfire shooters/customers thinkings.
Back in the early middle 1980's Browning came out with their quality "T-Bolt" 22 and I bought one but was miffed at the price back then longing for the less expensive Winchester Model 69's and Remingtons early bolt versions!
Times change - but the "bean counters" at Winchester and Remington did them NO favors in the long run.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Marlin model 60 - over 11 million made

Ruger 10/22 - the most recent date I see for how many were built is 2015 and there were over 7 million at that time, I suspect that they have exceeded the number of Marlin 60's built.

A Google search provided these numbers - I was surprised at how many of each have been built.

The good new is that there are still a lot of the older Win and Rem bolt actions around.
The bad new is that the price of them is starting to reach the price of some of the newer offering like the CZ, Bergara, Tikka, etc.
I cannot foresee enough demand for low dollar bolt actions that either company will have an offering again, Savage seems to have that market cornered. IIRC both Win and Rem tried offering some rebranded imported bolt actions in the 80's and they didn't get a foothold among buyers.

drover

Probably. Don't know for sure.

I'm like the many others here as the older Rifles are just fine for me. I do have a few of the newer ones also and like several have said it's supply and Demand.

HS 58

With all the semi-loaders & Henry selling a schit ton of levers, why would any gun company try and sell a bolt action, there is no demand.

Marlin pretty much held the market for inexpensive bolt action 22s for a couple of decades in my opinion

Well, hell, I'll take it a step further and ask why they don't build a quality falling block single shot .22 also.

Remington & Winchester have been on the ropes how many times now in the last 50 years? Bet they focused on (what they thought) would get them the best bang for their bucks.

I'm probably the last man standing who's never owned a 10/22 or Marlin 60. Never wanted one, never missed not having one. I do have a semi-auto .22, an old Stevens M87 with Tenite stock (the old "click-clack" semi) that my Gramps fixed up for me when I was a kid - but I haven't fired it in probably 20-30 years now. I should blow the dust out of it some day. Or not.

I had one in the Tenite stock and a couple Savage wood stocked versions. I really like the old clikity clacks. A good training gun when you lock the action and use it like a bolt gun. The other thing that’s different on those is if you hold the trigger back after firing the bolt stays to the rear.
I do have some 10/22 rifles and do like them.
I do like Remington 513 series and Winchester 75’s
I had a very nice 52B but it recently went down the road.
I wouldn't mind a remake 52 sporter.

QUOTE

I'm probably the last man standing who's never owned a 10/22 or Marlin 60. Never wanted one, never missed not having one.

Nope

Good Morning gnoahhh,

There are certain rifles I do not have . Amongst a pick-up load of old and newer .22's ....I do not have a marlin 60 or a 10/22.

They just don't do it for me . Too common???? Who knows .

I have a few Win 63's.....why oh why would I want to futz around with anything less?

As much as I agree with a lot that your saying gnoahhh I'm wondering if Winchester was testing the waters in 1999-2001 when they came out with the modern version Low Wall Falling block action in .22 cal. Even at only about 2400 mfg. and about 1100 mfg. in a high grade maybe their wasn't much demand for them back then. Don't know. I would imagine these would be a little harder to find than some of the other .22 Cal. Rifles available today. Once again Supply and Demand issues. IMO!

HS 58

Much as it pains me, I have to mention that Ruger and Savage make perfectly serviceable bolt actions in a variety of models, walnut-stocked, even SS. OTOH, the 77/22 is for now discontinued, and they don’t drop stuff that’s paying the bills, despite the “advice” they receive from the peanut gallery. Those Low Walls were nice, but how many are wiling to pony up $1000 or more for one? Not enough it would seem.

The crew here isn’t typical of the market overall. One the one hand you have the Vudoo/Cooper/Annie etc crowd willing to pay major bucks for a scootch more accuracy, and then there are the nostalgic sorts that want new versions of old-timey base models. The average person, most of the market, wants cheap and fast-firing.

Gil Sengel, who writes the gunsmithing column for RIFLE, spends a good bit of ink on the older .22s, explains their strengths and weaknesses. Good reading for someone thinking about picking one up. I believe he did three pieces in a row on 52s.

Yep, Marlin cleaned their clock. Anybody paying attention to what was for sale in more dealers racks and/or Marlins advertisements {"Americas largest producer of rimfire rifles"} could have seen that.