Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires If you bought a .22 today, which one would it be and why?

The best bolt action I could afford.

Being a die-hard Savage guy, this might surprize some but if I were to go out and buy a NEW .22LR today it would likely be CZ 452 American LH model. Being a lefty my choices for bolt-action rimfires is extremely limited. I currently own two Savage's (17HM2 and 17HMR) that have been worked over and offer excellent groups, I'd like to play with something different for a change. An Anschutz 64L MPR would be nice, but I just can't see spending that kind of money on a rimfire.

leomort,

Now ya done it! Awhile back I asked about the lefty 452s, and I recall that they were a limited order item for some distributor. Now I checked the CZ website and find they are listed. So, I have another rifle on my wish list.

Paul

I couldn't help myself today when I was in Wal-Mart. I simply went in to grab something real fast and walked out with a Marlin stainless .22 bolt action and a brick of Remington Thunderbolt ammo. Time to see what she'll do with open sights tomorrow.

Paul39,

I'm glad to hear CZ is finally "officially" offering a lefty .22lr. They're not terrible expensive guns and fairly accurate. Mine would keep around 1/2" with several brands of ammo at 50yard. At a 100yards I've only found two or three brands of ammo that would hold an honest 1" group consistantly.

There's only two things I dislike about this CZ. One is the backwards safety. The other is a very lousy trigger, which supposedly can only be adjusted by using different set of springs likes those from Brooks. My trigger has a terrible amount of creep in it.

You're going enjoy your CZ rimfire rifle!


Leo

leomort,

If you've found "only" two or three brands of ammo that will reliably shoot honest 1" groups at 100 yards, you're doing far better than average with any .22, even target models. Despite what you read on the internet, there aren't many that will do that well.

Paul

Paul,

In regards to my lefty CZ rimfire. I put those 1" round "shoot-n-see" dots on white paper plate at 100 yds. I can keep all 5-shots in that 1" dot (this if from the bench). The three brands of ammo that work in my CZ are: Federal Gold Medal Match, Wolf MT, and Federal Gold Medal Target, in that order listed for accuracay. I've decided to use the Wolf as it was the cheapest of the three and gave the 2nd best accuracy results. Best of both worlds from my viewpoint.


Leo

Leo,

Like I said, that's mighty fine shooting, both you and the rifle. I'm not surprised at the ammo you're shooting. I shoot .22rf competiton out to 200 yards, and the most accuract ammo in most of my rifles was Federal 900, the faster stuff. I say "was" because it has been my understanding that Federal got out of the match grade .22 ammo business awhile back. I was not aware of a Gold Medal match ammo in current production. Is there a product number designation to refer to? Do you know the approximate price of the stuff?

Paul

Paul,

Thanks for the kind words. But it's the rifle's ability more than mine. The ball-park price for a box of 50 rounds:

Federal Gold Medal Match ~$7.50
Federal Gold Medal Target~$4.50-$4.75
Wolf Match Target ~$3.50

I can buy a brick of Wolfe MT for $27 out the door. Unfortunately, I don't have the product number designation. I still shoot the Wolfe, so I can check when I get home from work and post back later.

The Federal Gold Match stuff, I shot a 4" group from the bench at 200yards. Our club also has 200 yard matches for the rimfires. I've only participated once, but it was extremely fun and I plan on doing more matches when our club holds them.

Leo,

Thanks for the info. I'm OK on the Wolf ammo, product numbers and all, it's the Federal I'm not clear about.

Paul

For an out of the box performer, any Anschutz, with a 2-stage trigger. Like every other rifle, however, one should run several brands of ammo through the unit to find the 1 or 2 that group the best. I have one, and wish I had made that purchase 30 years ago. There would be a lot fewer ground squirrels about had I done so.

Well my savage 93HB stainless in 22 mag came back from savage this week,,,have yet had a chance to shoot it and see if they fixed the problem,,,,they installed a new firing pin.

My first choice would be a Win 69-A target model. After that, one of the Marlin Bolt actions.

a remington 521T.
just got it today. nice old girl.

Haven't shot one but the Remington 504T looks awful good and fully (authorized dealer) adjustable trigger. http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/rimfire_rifles/model_504/model_504-T.asp Check it out comes in 17hmg also

If legal in your state of residence, I readily recommend a silenced 22 LR rifle. I have a Ruger 77/22 with an integrally suppressed barrel. I now find that it is my prefered rifle for small game. You don't have to worry about donning hearing protection. If firing at multiple targets or you miss, the game is not readily spooked. And it won't offend other people in the area. Also, it is great for training kids. The rifle is quieter than an air rifle. Only the slap of the bullet downrange or a ricochet reminds you that it is more potent than a pellet gun.

There are many makers with either suppressed barrels or screw on cans. The silenced 22 pistol may be even more useful. I wish I had obtained and hunted with one years ago.

I have a 77/22 and love it. very accurate gun after a trigger spring change and striker and sear polish job. got a leapers 4X12X44 swat mildot on it. Get good 1 1/2" to 2" groups at 100yds with stingers, but get 1/2" or better at 50 Yds. Gun was extearnly in bad shape picked it up for $40.00 but a little sand paper and steel wool did wonders. But I would still like to get my hands on the 504T Looks like a tack driver. Takes $250.00 and a federal back ground check to use a leagal supessor in Alabama plus the cost of having it done is quite expensive.

You'll have about $1,000 into a new integrally suppressed rifle after the federal excise tax and dealer fee is done. As cheap if not cheaper than the Coopers and Dakotas I see mentioned on this thread. It is all in what you want. My 77/22 shoots like yours with its prefered ammo. I have an after market Timney trigger in it.

OK the firing pin fixed the 93,,,still shooting one hole groups and putting a good ding in the rim now

Do you like the timey and is it adjustable? I've been thinking about changeing the whole thing out on mine (my sons actually) I would like to get down to about 1 1/2 lbs. I've been doing some changes on my 19R17FV and not real happy with anything I've tried. Got a SSS trigger coming in the mail today I hope. We put one on my brothers and it's really sweet.