Rimfire Small Game Rifle

Cz 457 American or it's older model the 455 they can still be found but the 457 is much improved.

Other is just cheaper the ruger American rimfire, decent synthetic stock there's wood but not worth since you then go into cz price.

Accuracy from both are very good, I have not shot the cz457 but there know to shoot. I've had 4 ruger American rimfires all deadly accurate. Seen the most accurate 22mag I've ever shot inn the rar, under 1/4 moa at 100 yards

You can get sights on the cz but not there American. The ruger has sights, there pretty nice. Scopes I like a 2-7 or 3-9 Nikon but there not making scopes anymore, I'd get a leupold.

As for rifle the bolt .22's are probably one of the few guns that are still to be easily found. To me? I have a few Ruger 10/22's. I doubt I will ever be able to wear one out in my life time. So if they stopped making them now I am sure mine would still work till I was done.
As for ammo, while its not as plentiful as it was before this last panic there is still plenty of it as long as you do not live in a state that will no longer allow mail order. If you can still order it where you live it's there at normal price weekly from a few vendors who do not scalp on price.

I just received a CZ 457 Lux several weeks back. This is my second CZ .22 Long Rifle chambered rifle. I've heard/read that the bores at the muzzle on these CZ .22 rifles are tight. Found that to be true when I tried to insert the .22 caliber spud for my bore sighter into the muzzle. I actually had to turn that spud down a bit to get it into the bore so I could bore-sight the mounted scope.
I also have a CZ 455 FS, and that sucker shoots great also. Still testing various brands of .22 rimfire ammunition in these two guns. When both guns are this accurate, it's really fun testing ammunition in 'em.

Cz would be high on the list, so would the ruger American target version

If your concern is that parts and accessories will be difficult to find, I'd recommend a 10/22. You can get extras of just about anything you may want from accessories to repair/rebuild parts pretty easily.
If your goal is something that doesn't require external mag to worry about losing then possibly a tube fed Marlin?

If the plan is for something so simple that there aren't enough wearable parts or external parts to worry about...there were tons of single shots made for full size shooters from the 30's-60's. I've got a couple of Savage and Remington single shots with 22" and 24" barrels that are more full sized.

Love my CZ-455 but there are so many other nice candidates out there as well. Might just come down to something like how it fits you, or the looks of it . When the talk turns to simple, rugged, and reliable it usually centers around bolt guns. Single shots do away with magazine issues and still make for good small game hunting. As we age those 22's that can easily accept optics become more desirable and it's nice to be able to have a scope or irons option. When I got my CZ-455 I was told about those tight bores and they also sold me a .17 cal cleaning rod that works well. Must be something to do with accuracy (?) to have a .22 like that, as CZ's all seem to shoot very well. CZ also had a single shot adapter available for the 455 that fit right into the mag well in place of the magazine. The 455-457 family may share the same magazines but I'm not sure.

This, if you can find one-
Romanian M69. Ive read that the design is related to the CZ family, but sadly never owned a CZ.

Dirt cheap, built with typical Combloc rugged simplicity, and deadly accurate with the excellent iron sights. Mounting a scope is a little tricky, but certainly doable. Magazines are not hard to get or expensive, and the port is large enough to allow easy single loading if necessary.

My second choice would be a Savage Mk2 repeater. Very similair to the Romanian in operation, just not quite as overbuilt. Usually needs to have sling swivels added. Much easier to mount a scope to, however.

D.B. Cooper said:

I think I want something super simple, super rugged, and super reliable. ...

I'm thinking about some kind of a bolt gun. I'm wondering about the validity of a single shot 22LR for grouse, rabbit, and squirrel. Adult sized single shot 22s are not common. ...

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I’ve used a bolt .22 that was made about 86 years ago. It has a tube magazine and has been running on - as near I can tell - original parts that entire time. Still works and is very accurate compared to most .22lr rifles I’ve fired. Get a quality modern gun and there is no particular reason it won’t last just as long.

I have nothing against the idea of a simple rugged single shot, but the market doesn’t seem to support making quality guns in that category. For bolt actions you have a choice of “My First gun” models and target guns. The kids guns, with an added full size size stock (which you might need to DIY), are OK as small/light little guns but you’ll end up spending as much for one as for a repeater than an be fired single shot in a pinch. The Chiappa Little Badger (break action) is simple and should last forever, but apart from the novelty factor it doesn’t really bring much to the table. The break action combo guns (.22 over 20ga for example ) make more practical sense to me.

I don’t know if something like this will fit your needs but it fit mine for many years. Santa brought it to me in 1949. It’s a Remington 514 single shot. Younger eyes and iron sights spelled the end of countless rabbits and squirrels. I couldn’t count the rounds put through it. The rifling and bore are still clean and bright. A few years ago I had it professionally bead blast and re-blued, I refinished the stock which proved to be a gorgeous piece of walnut.

How about the adult sized Crickett? It's light weight and the rifle is only slightly more complicated than a rock. I bought one of the kid sized rifles for my gg kids. I've found it to be pretty accurate even with the difficulty of shooting a kid sized rifle. I believe in the adult size it would be a great small game and pest rifle to carry.

If money wasn't an issue, and you wanted a new gun, I'd lean heavily towards the Winchester 1885 Low Wall Hunter. Except, I don't know how you'd mount a scope on it.

Anyone see the Rascal Target? It's new to me. Perhaps add a stock extender of some sort and have some single shot fun. Looks like they are going for $256.00 locally here before tax.
https://www.savagearms.com/content?p=firearms&a=product_summary&s=13823

Or perhaps a lever gun?

I really enjoy my Winchester 1885 Low Wall in .22.lr. It is a single shot falling block rifle and so it makes shooting quite a bit slower than with my 10/22 but the slow pace allows me to enjoy the mechanical function of the rifle. The rifle was manufactured by Miroku in Japan who also makes the Winchester lever guns now available. The fit and finish is very good. My rifle is from a batch of 2,400 made in the late 1990's that has a half round, half octagonal barrel. The rifle is heavy due to the barrel but not so heavy that it is a chore to carry. I use it to shoot metallic silhouette so I installed a Marbles Tang Sight and a Lyman globe front sight. I sent the trigger off to Lee Shaver to have it tuned up. The pull is very smooth and breaks sharply. Lee Shaver specializes in these and other antique design guns.

Some years later Miroku ran a second batch of these rifles with a full octagonal barrel but it is a smaller diameter and weighs less. It is called a Hunter rifle. A couple years ago I paid $750 for mine if I remember correctly but the first batch doesn't come up for sale very often. The second batch runs in the $1,100 to $1,200 range on Gunbroker. If you want nostalgia this is the rifle, what can be more "western" than a falling block?

22250Rem said:

CZ also had a single shot adapter available for the 455 that fit right into the mag well in place of the magazine. The 455-457 family may share the same magazines but I'm not sure.

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That single shot adapter (option 2 here) fits 452 through 457 models in the CZ line.

I’ll say this: bolt action rifles SEEM simpler than semiautos, because in design, they should be so. BUT!!! I’ve had mechanical and feeding/magazine issues far more commonly from every other action type which was not a Ruger 10/22 or Marlin 60 than I ever have seen from those two models. Get either of these running right, and the durability will rival that of anything else I have ever seen - in terms of practical application demonstrated by real world rifles.

Also, another challenge for the premise of the thread, is the fact the OP simply will not live long enough with any common rate of fire to truly wear out these rifles. Sure, buying several spare mags for planned obsolescence is simple, and logical, as would be buying a handful of buffers and springs for various models. I had a customer once pay me to build a 10/22 with a hollow bored into the buttstock to store a handful of spare springs and parts such it was its own onboard spare parts warehouse. Not a bad idea if a guy is planning for some SHTF, unrealistic, proximal future.

For new production single shot bolt action rifles, there is the Savage Mk I G which is adult size unlike the Savage Rascal or Cricket rifles. Or get a CZ or Savage and then buy or make a single shot adapter. I'm sure that you can get single shot adapters for the Ruger too. While the Romanian M69 trainer IS a diamond in the rough, it can be difficult to mount a scope on them without drill and tapping them.

And Varminterror is correct, it is darn near impossible to wear out any quality made 22lr rifle with normal use. I have seen plenty of the old Savage/Stevens/Springfield Model 15/120 single shot bolt action rifles that have been used and abused. They still normally shoot very accurately after a good cleaning.

Varminterror said:

I’ll say this: bolt action rifles SEEM simpler than semiautos, because in design, they should be so. BUT!!! I’ve had mechanical and feeding/magazine issues far more commonly from every other action type which was not a Ruger 10/22 or Marlin 60 than I ever have seen from those two models. Get either of these running right, and the durability will rival that of anything else I have ever seen - in terms of practical application demonstrated by real world rifles.

Also, another challenge for the premise of the thread, is the fact the OP simply will not live long enough with any common rate of fire to truly wear out these rifles. Sure, buying several spare mags for planned obsolescence is simple, and logical, as would be buying a handful of buffers and springs for various models. I had a customer once pay me to build a 10/22 with a hollow bored into the buttstock to store a handful of spare springs and parts such it was its own onboard spare parts warehouse. Not a bad idea if a guy is planning for some SHTF, unrealistic, proximal future.

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Since D.B. Cooper admits to owning other .22 rifles, I'm thinking that ol' DB is simply looking for a different type of a .22 than he already has. I'm guilty of wanting something different on many occasions, and I've used all sorts of scenarios to justify it to myself.

And I haven't owned an autoloading .22 rifle in over two decades, but some of them certainly call to me once in a while. Like a particular used Marlin 75 that is currently sitting in a local gunshop. The thing is, I don't need it or have a use for it, but it sure would be cool to have.

12Bravo20 said:

For new production single shot bolt action rifles, there is the Savage Mk I G which is adult size unlike the Savage Rascal or Cricket rifles. Or get a CZ or Savage and then buy or make a single shot adapter. I'm sure that you can get single shot adapters for the Ruger too. While the Romanian M69 trainer IS a diamond in the rough, it can be difficult to mount a scope on them without drill and tapping them.

And Varminterror is correct, it is darn near impossible to wear out any quality made 22lr rifle with normal use. I have seen plenty of the old Savage/Stevens/Springfield Model 15/120 single shot bolt action rifles that have been used and abused. They still normally shoot very accurately after a good cleaning.

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My model 15 broke it's extractor in not all that many rounds. This many many years ago.

DDDWho said:

I don’t know if something like this will fit your needs but it fit mine for many years. Santa brought it to me in 1949. It’s a Remington 514 single shot. Younger eyes and iron sights spelled the end of countless rabbits and squirrels. I couldn’t count the rounds put through it. The rifling and bore are still clean and bright. A few years ago I had it professionally bead blast and re-blued, I refinished the stock which proved to be a gorgeous piece of walnut. View attachment 928911

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I shot my brother's 514 out, back in the 1950's.

I've owned and/or fired a lot of different 22 rimfire rifles but the older BRNO models and newer CZ 452s appeal to me more than just about any other, all things considered.







I'm a wood-and-blued-steel guy and I admire and appreciate old-school quality and feel much more so than what I find in a lot of newer guns, so my opinion is biased in that direction.

Regarding magazines, you can get a single-shot adapter for the CZs if you prefer, but you aren't going to wear out a magazine in this lifetime. You might lose it, but you are highly unlikely to wear it out. Spares are about $30.

You might want to look for a simple Marlin/Glenfield bolt action like the M20/25 series. Theres tons around so parts isn,t a big deal. They made single shot and 7 round mag versions. Plus they are mostly very accurate. My early 80s, 49.00 buck M25 will put 5 shots in a dime size group at 50yds with most usually touching. The Savage MKII series are good also.

you could get an old winchester 67. single shot 22, adult sized, iron sights.....it's you asked for.

I always thought the ruger 77/22 was a neat gun. An adult sized bolt action that takes 10/22 mags. that said, my cz outshoots it for less money. But the plastic cz mags do not inspire confidence.

chicharrones said:

If money wasn't an issue, and you wanted a new gun, I'd lean heavily towards the Winchester 1885 Low Wall Hunter. Except, I don't know how you'd mount a scope on it.

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I've been eyeballing one of these rifles just have not decided whether to go 22lr or 22wmr. I am leaning now towards both.

If you don't have one for the money an excellent shooter would be a 513T Remington.