Help. I want an accurate 22 LR rifle.

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BSA1

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Thanks to my wife and Ruger I have become interested in shooting .22 rimfires again. In addition to stocking up on ammo I have evaluated my pair of 22 rifles and neither has the level of accuracy I want for small game hunting.

One candidate is a Ruger 10/22 that I have own for many years. It has been lightly used and is in excellent condition. It's level of accuracy puts it in the plinker category. As there are so many custom parts available for the 10/22 I suspect I can improve it considerably with a better barrel, trigger, maybe a different stock and quality scope.

The other course of action would to be to buy a more accurate out-of-the-box gun. My first choice is probably a semi-auto but not that is not set in stone. Level of accuracy wanted is nickel size off-hand and smaller groups at 25 yards and dime size from the bench with select ammo from the bench. I aim for bunny's eyes when hunting.

Customizing my 10/22 has a lot of appeal as it already paid for. In addition I am considering a Henry AR-7 or 10/22 Takedown so I will have the plinker / fun gun still covered. in addition the 10/22 looks to be easy d-I-y gunsmith project. I am setting my price cap at $500.00 without the scope.

Candidates?
 
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Depending on how you want it set up, consider a https://victorcompanyusa.com/titan-1022-stock

Good stocks and are capable of being a multi use hunting and target rifle

Make sure your scope has a parallax adjustment that meets your needs, from 50-100 yds there is a big difference and your group size will reflect

Good trigger, see how it shoots then and if you want more accuracy, pick up a good barrel
 
I would not recommend the AR-7. Granted mine was one of the original but accuracy wasn't it's strong point.

You can certainly upgrade your existing 10/22 or buy the target/varmint model. Mine, out-of-the-box, makes 1 hole groups @50 yards with CCI Standard ammo.

Going to bolt action and staying in the "sporter" class, as opposed to the Olympic(Anschutz)/benchrest category I'd go with, CZ 452 or Savage A22 or B22 in Target configuration. I had the 452 in 17HMR and it was an excellent shooter.

Of course my dream bolt action is the Weihaurch HW 66. Alas it hasn't quite made it to the top of the priority list yet. (or I should say the funds available haven't nearly reach that level.)
 
If you are ok with a bolt action the savage mark II can be about 200 bucks and typically way more accurate than a stock 10/22.
 
A couple of different paths:

Upgrade your 10/22....the sky is the limit. Start with a decent trigger first. You may be surprised how well it shoots. Check out rimfire central. A lot of good resources and people. Look at Brimstone, Randy, and AZGuy....checkout their sponsor page

https://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/

For great components, or a complete rifle, consider Kidd (my favorite trigger, and other stuff). I believe he guarantees his rifles are good for 1/2 in at 50 yards (please check his site to confirm)

https://www.coolguyguns.com/

Consider any of the CZ bolt rifles for good out of the box results.

https://cz-usa.com/

Or go for the grail, Anschutz...these will shoot!

https://www.anschutznorthamerica.com/
 
I have killed several squirrels with my 10/22 rifles. Are they as accurate as my 22/77? No but they are more than good enough to hunt with. But if you think you need better look at any Marlin bolt action. New or used. Doesn't matter. They all shoot. Even the model 60 semi auto will surprise you with how accurate they are.

Before you give up on your 10-22 make darn sure the barrel is clean. And then try several differents loads from a padded rest with a scope on the gun. You may find you don't need a new gun. Just ammo your gun likes and shoots well.
 
I would go with a Boyd’s thumbhole stock. Way better balance and feel if you wanna traipse around with it.
 
The other course of action would to be to buy a more accurate out-of-the-box gun. My first choice is probably a semi-auto but not that is not set in stone. Level of accuracy wanted is nickel size off-hand and smaller groups at 25 yards and dime size from the bench with select ammo from the bench. I aim for bunny's eyes when hunting.

Customizing my 10/22 has a lot of appeal as it already paid for. In addition I am considering a Henry AR-7 or 10/22 Takedown so I will have the plinker / fun gun still covered. in addition the 10/22 looks to be easy d-I-y gunsmith project. I am setting my price cap at $500.00 without the scope.

Candidates?

First of all, standing, off-hand shot group size is entirely on the rifleman, not the gun. Even most crap guns will shoot tighter groups than what the average, or even slightly above average, shooter can accomplish from the standing.

Second, pick up any of the Marlin micro-grooved rifles, semi or bolt actions. I have a Model 60 from the early 80s that has, I don't know how many rounds through it, but it must be in the high thousands, closing in on or already at 10k. For many years it was my hi-power practice gun, so I was shooting it every single week. To this day, it will still shoot ragged holes at 25 yrds from a good bench rest position using some no name 6x scope I picked up somewhere.

In my experience and opinion, having owned both the Model 60 and the 10/22, the 10/22 is far overrated. I highly suggest you try one of the Marlins (they now sell a a Model 60 that is magazine fed) before spending a lot of money on other guns. Worse case scenario is it doesn't meet your standards and you sell it and move on, but I really think you'll surprised.
 
The money spent to jazz up an over rated 10/22 you can buy a shooter. Want accuracy short and long get rifle length. The micro groove is good even in carbine length but there are some older guns in rifle length that are accurate groupers. One that was given to me in an undependable condition is the Glenfield 550 auto loader rifle. After going through it and polishing particularly the feed paws and a good cleaning it will fire as fast as you can pull the trigger and when put to the accuracy test is dead on consistant with open sights. New is not always better and too much money spent not a 100% guarantee.
 
Ruger 10/22 heavy barrel, and bx trigger in a decent stock would be a cost effective option.

If your going deeper into a 10/22 than that, might as well spring for a custom receiver also.

Personally my semi is a "fun" gun I'm looking for 1-1.5" at 50yds with decent ammo.
For shooting small stuff, or small groups I prefer a heavy barreled bolt gun.
Mine happens to be a Mossberg 802, but Savage, Marlin, CZ, and others all offer some very accurate options. P
I want a nice Anny sporter, or maybe a 452GF just cause it's cool, but right now both are not in the budget.
 
First of all, standing, off-hand shot group size is entirely on the rifleman, not the gun. Even most crap guns will shoot tighter groups than what the average, or even slightly above average, shooter can accomplish from the standing.

Thats correct. No one can shoot consistent enough groups off hand to judge how accurate the rifle is. And if the OP can shoot nickle sized off hand groups at 25 yards maybe he should try out for the Olympic Team. Or at least a factory sponsored shooter.

For some reason the rumor has gone around that you don't need to clean a 22 barrel. Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth of the matter is that 22s are some of the dirtiest guns around. The bullets are either a soft copper plating or a soft wax and they can both build up in the barrel. Plus the powder doesn't always burn up completely. And when they get shot in a plinking session they aren't shot 10-15 times like with your 30-06, they are shot several hundred times.

I have bought 22 rifles in pawn shops like the model 60 I have now that the barrel was so fouled and plugged at the breech I had a hard time getting a brush down the barrel. I always wondered if someone sold that gun because it wouldn't shoot accurately or function 100%. Its works now. A real treasure I bought for $85 OTD.

Clean the 10-22 and try different ammo. 22s are ammo sensitive. Trying one or two brands and then giving up on a gun is the wrong way to do it. Try 10 different types of ammo and clean before starting with each brand. You may be in for a surprise. And no more off hand business. shoot from a rest and add a scope for the test.
 
I have evaluated my pair of 22 rifles and neither has the level of accuracy I want

Happens to all of us, before I suggest a multiple thousands of dollars rifle, how about we take the qualitative term “accuracy” and quantify it with a group size and distance, a budget might be helpful too.
 
If you’re even a little handy with projects, your 10/22 will be a cost effective starting point. Lighten the trigger by stoning the hammer to neutral. Order and install a Feddersen 17” Heavy Taper barrel, an EGW 1913 rail, and see where you’re at. You’ll be $200 in and I’d bet easily down to your accuracy requirement. I would not spend $500 on new parts for a 10/22 nor have I ever.

If you don’t mind a bolt action then the Marlin XT-22 would be my choice as a good candidate at $200. You could always go the CZ route (American for adding a scope) and be 95% out of the box for double the money.
 
If I was looking for a .22 rifle to shoot dime size groups at 25yds from a rest, I would either just pick out any 22 from my safe or buy the first cheap used one I could find at the pawn shop.

That accuracy standard is not hard to accomplish with most any rifle and a bit of ammo testing.

In other words, I think you might have the rifle you need already. Maybe get a BX trigger for the 10/22.

If different rifle is the only solution then I like Marlin 60s for the semi auto and Savage MKIIs for a bolt. I personally like pump rifles but Remington 572s are not too easy to find.
 
Happens to all of us, before I suggest a multiple thousands of dollars rifle, how about we take the qualitative term “accuracy” and quantify it with a group size and distance, a budget might be helpful too.

The OP gave us a budget of $500.
 
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