Fun 22LR bolt action rifle?

Savage Mark II, or Ruger American. I have the Savage, with a 4X Leupold…shockingly accurate!

Geno

What Geno says

Also consider a CZ - a great rimfire. If you do not mind used, look for a Winchester or Mossberg.

You can't beat the Old Marlin, Remington, or Savage guns if you want something cheap.
CZ makes some really nice rifles, pricey but nice.

carbine85 said:

You can't beat the Old Marlin, Remington, or Savage guns if you want something cheap.
CZ makes some really nice rifles, pricey but nice.

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That's my take. If you want to spend the bucks and go new then:

9mmepiphany

I usually recommend the CZ also. I have the 452, but I think current production is the 455.

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Ron

I bought the CZ 455. It shoots about as well as my Savage 93R17 BTVSS , but it sure feels nicer.... The CZ came with .22LR, .22WMR, and .17HMR barrels and mags.

what ever you get ... look for something that is tube fed. no mags to buy or loose!

Old marlins for a short while offered a stock with a folding forearm. I don't know what model, but my dad has one and it's great. They tried the idea more recently with mossberg international rifles, didn't go over very well from what I have seen.

The Savage is exactly what you are looking for, accurate and reasonable priced...

DM

The Marlin XT-22TR is a good choice. It has a tube mag, a ProFire trigger, shoots shorts, longs and LR's, has iron sights and is drilled and tapped for a scope mount plus it is reasonably priced at around $200. Keep in mind that the tube holds 25 shorts and 17 LR's. That's a lot of ammo between reloading. And no matter what anyone tells you it's faster to load a tube than it is a detachable. Yes you can load detachable mags at home and slap a new one in when you run out. But that means buying extra mags and you still have to spend time loading the detachable mags. I can load a tube mag in about 25 seconds. Try loading a detachable (from the ammo box to the gun) with a detachable mag. It would be hard to do.

The truth is there are lots of nice rifles around though. Mossberg makes a good budget rifle and the Savage MkI is a great entry level bolt action rifle. If you want to move up in price a Savage MkII is great. But probably the best rifle around for the money is a CZ. They are very well built, very accurate and very nice looking.

How much money you want to spend has a lot to do with your choices here IMO. Plus the features you want.

I have a Ruger American Rimfire that's a ball to shoot, but it can't beat my Henry lever for fun. I agree that a tube magazine is nicer than removable magazines. I'm on the lookout for a Henry Pump.

Savage Mark II or CZ 452 with tech sights would be fun.

Savage or Marlin bolt gun. I've owned both and both were very accurate, albeit with different loads. I kept the Marlin because it was accurate with a load I found in stock more often. I also own a 10/22 and find the accuracy difference between a bolt gun and an autoloader to be dramatic.

I have a good collection of rimfires sporter weight rifles. My first CZ caused them to become dust collectors. My first CZ caused me to buy multiple CZs.

My first CZ caused them to become dust collectors.

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Just for the record my Savage MkII is more accurate than my CZ 453. It isn't a big difference but the price difference was pretty substantial.

Maybe you got a bum 453 or exceptional Savage.

Even if accuracy were equal, I would pay the extra coin for the CZ. It feels like a better built rifle to me.

Savage MKII's and Ruger American series are decent economy bolt rifles with the Savage having many models to choose from.

CZ is putting out a great mid priced .22 's these days with the 400 series. Again many models to choose from.

Kimber, Cooper and Anschutz offer some of the very best OTC .22 available but will cost more.

The good thing about it that there are plenty of choices in todays world and it's really hard to go wrong with any of them. Only you and your budget can decide.

edit, ColtPythonElite, it's a no brainer that CZ builds a better quality rifle than Savage in my mind too.

If I were starting over/fresh buying my first rimfire and still had all the knowledge and experience with various rifles that I currently do. My order of preference would be,

CZ 455 American Synthetic.

Savage MkII

Ruger American

as it actually stands right now, If I get a .22 bolt gun I'll be debating between the Savage MkII TR and a Ruger American.
I like the CZ but the 455 lacks the Single-set trigger of the 453 and 427 and for me that was the only thing really drawing me away from Ruger and Savage.
I really like the config of the MkII TR
And the Ruger appeals for a few different reasons including not having to buy extra mags since it's cross compatible with the 10/22. though I wish they'd make it with peep sights and sling studs ala the 10/22 they announced at SHOT that looks to be a competitor to the Marlin 795 LTR

The 452 doesn't have a set trigger. The 453 has it. I don't care for the set trigger and didn't see it being a hundred buck option I needed.

I vote for CZ. I have a 453 Varmint and it is the best .22 I have ever shot, outside of the Win52s and Aunshutzes I shot competitively in college.

On the cheaper side, I am not a fan of current production US bolt action rifles, such as Savage. I was charged with buying my father a new, quality, economy bolt action last year and tested the Savages and despite being a Savage centerfire fan found the rimfires of poor quality. I ended up finding a cheaper European brand than CZ (name escapes me at the moment, Czech I think) that was far superior quality than Savage for the same money.

I know you said bolt action and you've gotten great recommendations.


... but, your description just screams Henry lever action .22lr.

The 452 doesn't have a set trigger. The 453 has it.

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I stand corrected (and have corrected the number above), I was going off of what's currently shown on the CZ website, and forgot that they gave a different model number to the set trigger equipped .22s.

the 453 is gone, and the 452 likely will be if and when CZ decides to build a left handed 455.

As I said the set trigger was the only thing that about the 453 (or any of the CZ rimfires) that caused it to have a higher appeal to me.
Well I take that back, the FS (mannlicher stocked) models have/had some appeal, but I could find that just as easily in a ruger with a little patience.

I still want to get a 527 American in .22Hornet, but as of right now none of the current 455 line is "speaking to me".

I am not a fan of current production US bolt action rifles, such as Savage

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For the sake of clarity the Savage Rimfire Line and the Model 25 centerfire are Canadian made.
And yeah, it is best to look at the Savage rimfire line on an individual basis, ie rifle by rifle. Seems like they'll make several runs that are great, and then ship some that just kinda of miss the boat. Which is why i'm debating currently between buying the rather nice MKII TR a local Gander Mtn has in, or use the money to start saving for a Garand.

Maybe you got a bum 453 or exceptional Savage.

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LOL Not really. I've seen lots of people say their Savages were more accurate than their CZ's. BTW I can't imagine why you don't like the single set trigger. Maybe it isn't worth the price to you but not like it??? It's a fantastic trigger IMO.

I've shot groups of .108" at 50 yards with my CZ and I've put 4 out of 5 shots in a hole barely bigger than a single hole with the Savage. I ran out of ammo before the 5th shot and had to use a different brand. I still shot under a .3" but I had a group going that was too small to measure before that. Here it is BTW. Yeah I've posted it before. I like it. This was with the Savage remember. I shot other very small groups with that rifle but I always end up with a slight flyer. The best group I ever shot with it was .111" but it has come so close to perfection I consider it the more accurate rifle. I shot a 2250 on an ARA target with it if that tells you anything. I know this group isn't typical but that rifle shoots a lot of great groups. Maybe they aren't as good as this one but they are pretty nice.

I simply don't care for a trigger in ounces.