I have plenty of good 22 LR handguns but no rifles. Yesterday, I made the mistake of taking my son’s Remington 511 to the range, and now I need a 22 rifle of my own.

I’ll hunt with it, so it will be out in the rain. Stainless/synthetic would be nice but are not mandatory.

It will get a scope, probably a 4x Leupold.

I’d like for it to be accurate out of the box. The 511 made a couple of sub 1” groups at 50 yards with a couple of loads, which was nice, but I won’t compete with it.

Either bolt or semi would be fine.

Widely available magazines would be ideal so the various Rugers catch my eye. Not a fan of tube magazines.

Top end is around $500 for the rifle but I’m a sucker for the $189 pawnshop special.

Should I just get a 511 like his?

Other thoughts?


Okie John

CZ457.

If you would be satisfied with sub-one inch groups then a Ruger American Rimfire would probably do just fine, the ones I have owned (3 ea) would do 3/4" to 1" for five shots at 50yds.
If you want something that will likely shoot closer to 1/2" five shot groups at 50 yds then I would recommend the Tikka T1X.

drover

Everyone should have a 10/22. I actually have the 4x leupold rimfire on one and its a nice setup. That being said, the american rimfire should/would be more accurate out of the box. Other than those, the cz would be a nice one, I actually just bought the tikka but haven't shot it yet.

CZ for the win.
Ruger 10/22 are to rifles what McDonalds cheeseburgers are to Diner cheeseburgers.

That Tika is a top shelf rifle.

"I know Ginther. He is an attention whore and....wait for it..... a closet Trump supporter as well!"

LMAO

i would get the Ruger 10-22 S.S. this rifle still has the best magazine/clip made on the market and buy a spare or 2 magazine/clip. this rifle is easy to use and accurate enough for any one to use and its American made too.

https://www.cdnnsports.com/rugerr-10-22r-22lr-target-stainless-bull-laminate.html

I was going to offer up my 541T until I saw your $500.00 max.

I have some arthritis in my hands, and loading 10/22 (or Ruger American) magazines a real chore in the colder weather. Last Friday I was messing with my 10/22s, and had a heckuva time loading the magazines, temps were in the lower 40s, not even really cold weather.

That's one of the reasons I'm really liking the CZ rimfires now, the five round magazines load easier and the rifles are "pretty accurate" by the standards you put forth. I have ten of them, and the worst ones will shoot 1" at 50 yards with plinking ammo, but nearer to 1/2" with "good" ammo. The better shooting CZs seem to shoot under .3" with "good" ammo, and about 5/8" with plinking ammo. I have a CZ 512 autoloader that will average .368" at 50 yards with Geco ammo, or a bit worse with CCI Blazers.

I hear the Tikkas are a bit better, but I don't have any experience with them, so I can't say for sure. I DO know that my better CZs will shoot under a 1/2"at 50 yards with decent ammo and modest 3-9X scopes, which is all I want. None of mine have heavy barrels, they're all sporters.

My CZ452, shoots like that. 1" at 50 is a bad group with it. I generally am trying to hit the same hole. On a good day, I can do that 4 out of 5 times. 2 others that shoot with the CZ, are a left hand Remington 581, and believe it or not, a 1955 Marlin model 56 lever action. That Marlin is a VERY accurate rifle.

Im always shocked how well my marlin 56 and 57's shoot.

Okie john: I have a pair of these Rifles that I am going to recommend to you.
The Rifle is the heavy barrel Ruger American Varmint in either stainless or blued.
They have the wonderful Ruger rotary magazines (unsurpassed!), the "accu-trigger", laminated stocks for stability and comfort when shooting.
And both my Ruger American Varmints are very pleasingly accurate.
The stainless of these is about $425.00 the last I saw.
Best of luck with whichever you choose.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

From what you describe...

Pawnshop special: Remington 581
New: Ruger American Rimfire. I have this one https://www.ruger.com/products/americanRimfire/specSheets/8334.html 10/22 mags and it shoot great with CCI Standard Velocity

I have a CZ 455 Stainless, and it shoots between 1/2 & 3/4” reliably with hunting ammo it likes, not just SV or low-end match ammo. The trigger is quite nice, better than a previous 455, and right there with the 453 I had, though with a different feel. The synthetic stock needs some non-slip tape on the butt, but it has an excellent feel to it otherwise and puts my eye right behind the scope. Discontinued, but still out there.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/882103484

That one aside, within your budget I’d look for one of the SS Ruger Americans and hope for the best. Seems to be some variation in those, based on comments here. In semi-autos, the 10/22 Target has been available in SS/laminated, and a range buddy likes his very much; says it shoots very well.

More money will yield more choices.

I have two 452s, an American, and a 452 Scout. The American is a real shooter, the Scout has a typical trigger, if you can manage it, it shoots like a sonuvagun, if not, it's just a .22. One of these days, I'll fool around and start working on the triggers, but for now, they work well enough. Six of them are 455s, which have better triggers out of the box than any 452 I've shot, and that little 512 Carbine came with an excellent trigger right out of the box. It shoots almost as well as the daggoned 452 American, it's truly a work of art, despite it's awkward looks.The 455s are wildcards, some shoot exceptionally well, some, not so much. They might just need more shooting..................................................

Oddly enough Remington Golden Bullet HP shoot really well in my 452 American lefty...trigger is ok, not tremendously so....the 581 and Marlin 56 like CCI standard velocity.

CZ 457 synthetic

The nitride finish should be more rust resistant than stainless, and the rifles are outstanding.

+2 on the Ruger American lam/stainless HB

I put a SWFA SS 10X on mine, and am 47 kills for 50 shots from my front porch.

Virgil B.

Okie John,

Many excellent suggestions - I always suggest the Norinco JW-15 as a cheaper alternative to the CZ. It's a BRNO (father of the modern CZ) Chinese copy that in my experience is just as accurate. They are rough but beyond functional when accuracy is taken into account and I don't sweat it if caught in the rain/snow.

PennDog

Find you a Winchester 320.

Bolt action is hard to beat a CZ if you want a nice wood rifle. If looking for Stainless there are several nice models by Savage that would serve you well.

I bought a Tikka back in April, and all I can say is wow. It is a great shooter, ragged hole 5 shot groups are the norm at 50yds. I have tried about 6 different brands of ammo, from federal blue box, american eagle to eley and Laupa and they all shot very well. You can change out the grip and forend for a different feel if you like, and there is a trigger spring available from yo dave that will take the trigger as low as 8oz I believe.

How's the trigger on the 10 22T?

Have had 10/22s for a long time, still favorites. Sold the CZ452 I'd owned for several years, after I bought a Ruger American.

The CZ was prettier, but the Ruger is more accurate with a wider variety of ammo and has the better trigger. Since I already had a mess of 10/22 magazines and they also work in the American, I'm all set for magazines. Liked that the American has both a dovetail scope mounting system and a scope base option, which I went with.

If you want new, CZ is the way forward in that price range. Close behind is my Ruger American in 22LR but I think they discontinued them in that caliber? But I might have gotten a good one and have a sample size of one.

For value, I've had several Marlin/Glenfield 25s were every bit as accurate as the CZ but one of them needed bedding first. They were good for 1/2" at 50 yards with ammo they liked. Maybe 5/8" on a bad day. Every bit as accurate as the CZ. Way under 1" at 50 yards, anyway.

So if you want the pawnshop special find a Marlin 25.

Ruger 10/22's are so far out of the running for that sort of accuracy it's not even funny. Great for what they are, though.

okie john;
Good afternoon sir, I trust that other than election anxiety that all else is as it needs to be in your part of the world.

While I'm not certain of prices on your side of the medicine line, the Tikka T1X in my experience is a good choice. I've got a 16" model and two friends have the 20", all three rifles proving to be very accurate.

Here's a quick shot of some of the ammo I've tried in the Tikka, please note however that day was 25yd shooting, with 10 shot groups.



Please note I'd rate myself about "middle of the road" in terms of rimfire rifle addiction, as in I know a few worse than me, but quite a few that don't have it as bad either....

Here's the last rimfire range day lineup back at home.



Of that lineup, the '58 Brno No. 5 on the left gives the Tikka the most consistent run for top spot and ties with it for least picky regarding favorite ammo. Of course they have different favorite ammo, but that's part of the fun isn't it?

Hopefully that was useful for you or someone out there. Good luck on your rimfire purchase whichever way you decide.

Dwayne

Nice accuracy

For what you want to do, I would consider a vintage Winchester rifle like a 69A, 75 Sporter, 72A, or something along that line. I like the Remington's also, but the triggers are crap on them and are very difficult to adjust. My 69A's, and 75 Sporters have easily adjustable triggers, are very well built and have very nice walnut on them. And they are very accurate with ammo they like. Most of mine really dote on SK Standard Plus, Federal Gold Medal, and Eley Contact....

Check LGS, Pawn Shops, Gunbroker, and the classifieds here and on rimfirecentral.com and you should be able to find any of these in your budget...

Bob

savage rimfire rifles on sale, fwiw:

https://blackfriday.kygunco.com/week2/

77/22

Since you like the Ruger magazines and the $189 special, buy a 10/22. If it doesn’t shoot tight enough, send it to Connecticut Precision Chambering for a work over and you’ll still be under budget.

I made good use long ago with a Deluxe model.......got bored, did a trigger job, new barrel....just never was happy, slow locktime.

CPC re-worked my Butler Creek barrel to go on my 77/22, chopped to 17" - shoots LITTLE BITTY groups at 50 yds. The 10 shot flush mag is great for hunting or range. Much better trigger and locktime, changed the trigger spring from a ballpoint pen. VERY Crisp and light.

If me - take a look at the Ruger American bolt, do a trigger spring mod, they turn out well. Only complaint is that little tab they use on the trigger like Savage. More annoying than anything else. I think Bigstick used copper wire to shut his. Some remove the blade. Good shooters, good value.

Trigger on my American is pretty good, just adjusted it "down" as far as it went.. Got used to that trigger blade, no longer even notice it. That rifle quickly became my favorite 22 in no time.

One of the few 22s I've ever had, that wasn't all that fussy about what it's fed. Anything from Fed. Valu Pack stuff, to Mini Mags does the job. Favorite seems to be CCI Standard Velocity, but not by much?

Haven't had it on the bench in some time, but have a life size steel crow hanging 40 yards from the cabin porch. Can load up some Valu Pack ammo, walk out on the porch and "ring" that crow, shot after shot, offhand.

Find a Zastava 99/Remington Model 5.

Can't get them for $200 new anymore, but can sometimes find a sleeper on Gun Broker.

They often have outstanding wood if you care to strip them down and redo the stock.

My Model 5 shoots neck and neck with my 69A Winchester and the Yonkers Kimber.

GE

^^^Yup, what he said. Fortunately Remington had very little to do with the Model 5...and they shoot with rifles priced much higher.

my model 5 with pencil barrel is a good backyard gun. use it with super colibri by aquila. very accurate, surprisingly so. i've about given up using my mdl 572 fieldmaster.

the magazine on the mdl 5 is a bit stiff, but works good.

Hard to beat deal for OP’s budget.

DF

The Thompson Center tcr22 I have shoots well beyond my expectations.

In that price range I'd look no further than a CZ or 77/22 of your choosing.

Ruger American would be a close 2nd. Meaning 3rd.

https://theolddeerhunters.com/thompson-center-22-classic/

This is a great 22LR semiautomatic rifle.

Yup.....

i have used a ruger 77/22 for 30 years and a truck load of squirrels. i bought one for each of my boys too. they can be had for that money used on gunbroker. they are a great looking, well built, heirloom quality gun. mine was helped a lot by replacing the trigger with a dayton-traister for like 25 bucks. i have a bushnell 4200 3-9x40 that i bought on here for under 200 bucks. with this rig i can head shoot squirrels all day. on my 50 yard bench, if i do my part it will shoot honest dime sized groups with cci mini-mags. the cheapo stuff is just about as good. my boys guns shoot about as well stock. the nice thing about the 77 is you can have the same gun in dozens of rimfire and center fire calibers. big fan of the 77.

I had one. Great accuracy, great trigger.

BUT, seems to me the way it's designed, you end up with a lot of powder residue in the fire control mechanism..

The 10-22 design, on the other hand, seems to isolate the fire control mechanism better than the tcr.

My tcr went down the road, still have several 10-22's, some custom fitted with aftermarket barrels, triggers, etc.

Out of the box, the tcr is hard to beat. Tricked out, the 10-22 can't be beat, IMO.

DF

I've cycled thru a bunch of quality .22's over the years, including a Rem 40X Sporter, a Win 52 Sporter, Annie, Kimber of Oregon plus a few I've probably forgotten, all eventually going down the road.

My keeper is a Cooper with Kahles 2-7 rimfire scope (try finding one of those). It will shoot with the best, out shoot most and is a keeper. It's not that picky on ammo, likes most of what I feed it...

Now, there's good then there's best. Best can be a bit pricey. You cry only once, smile for decades.

DF

For 500 bucks the Tikka T1X is hands down the best 22 out there, scary accurate, awesome trigger, I have 2 and both are awesome.

There are springs on ebay for the trigger, they sell for 9.49 and are great, better then any I have tried, I have them in both my Tikkas, pull down to 14 oz and 15 ozs and will go a bit lower.

Here's a CZ 2500, an unusual rifle. It shoots almost as good as the Cooper. 29" barrel is pretty quiet with subsonics, besides being closer to the target .

Timney trigger is an improvement. Leupold 3-9x33 A/O EFR is a good .22 scope, can adjust parallax pretty close, handy on indoor 50' range.

DF

Cool rifle.

I really like my Tikka that I bought this summer. It is not a thing of beauty - almost aggressively unpleasant to look at with it's weird magazine and plain jane synthetic stock/blued barrel. I love shooting it, though, and it appeared to be much better quality than the Ruger American Rimfires I handled prior to purchase. I sometimes wish I'd bought a CZ, but I can't complain about such an accurate rifle.

That would be hard for me to argue with. This is only a few bucks more than I paid for mine several years back. I was surprised to see it at this price. LH version.

https://www.sportsmans.com/shooting-gear-gun-supplies/rifles/cz-452-american-rifle/p/p58738

Mine. Cut down to 18.5", threaded with knurled cap, trigger job. Throws decent ammo in the same hole at 50.

I was quite happy with one of the odball 96/22 lever actions. Shoots almost as well as a Cz452, which is surprising. Hard to find nowadays

I’ve been pretty pleased with my Ruger 77/22 RSI because it has the same operating system as my 77 Mk ll 7mm-08. I always wanted a Mannlicher something and since a .22 LR is most efficient out of an 18” barrel, I’m liking that RSI with a Timney trigger upgrade.