My grandson's 10th birthday is coming up and I wanted to buy him his first gun. My first rifle was a browning SA-22 that my dad gave me and I considered passing it down, but just couldn't part with it (+ it's Belgian). So last week I bought a new one to give to him on his birthday.
Some recommend against a semi-auto for a first gun, but I survived and he will too.
Along with these, I think the Remington Model 12 might be included. Nice looking 22 rifles!Here are a cpl of mine. Upper is a M61 Winchester in .22 lr, & with the old Redfield .22 lr scope on it. A great rifle for loafing around the pastures west of our farm here in KY.
The lower is a M62 Winchester with a Marbles (I think!) windage adjustable tang peep mounted. I also changed out the front sight for a Marbles white ivory bead. This is a great squirrel hunting rig that's seen considerable time afield over the years.
Both were acquired in the late 70's early 80's when I began to search out the dreams of my youth. And both will go to grand-daughters when I'm gone. YMMv, Rod
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Gorgeous! Does the magazine on your 1922 actually accept 5 rounds? I have to compress the follower more than I really like to to get all 5 in there, so I limit mine to 4 at a time and hand load the chamber. Ive also noticed it seems to have a very tight chamber (which of course is good for accuracy)- Winchester Super-X wont go in at all, Federal and CCI are tight, but chamber and extract smoothly.And a cpl to round out the post. The upper is a Springfield M1922-M2 in .22 lr, fitted with a Lyman #48 receiver peep. This rifle is a joy to shoot both offhand and from position. The sights are excellent and it is and always was a superb understudy for the 1903 Springfield. I've spent some time afield with this one, taking any and all shots out to 200 yds with it on a variety of targets. Thistle tops at 25 yds, clay birds on the 100 yd berm, and even railroad tie plates (~8x15") at 200 yds. It's fun at that range to hear, after a considerable delay, that satisfying 'plink' when the little pill strikes home. Windage is fun...estimating the drift, and the .22 lr is almost the same trajectory as a .45-70 at that range! Check out the "logwood" stain used by Springfield on issue rifles before the war...beautiful doesn't begin to describe the stock & machine work.
The 2nd is a genuine M1903 National Match rifle from 1931. This one sports O'hare sight covers on its issue sights and is complete in every respect. Again the wood / machine work is superb. With it, and with Gary Anderson's kind approval for a non-scoring target, I was able to shoot it in the '06 Camp Perry Springfield Match. Dropping two rounds in rapid, sitting, I was still able to score a silver medal. The day prior, while zeroing at 600, I managed a 92 in prone. These old rifles, sitting in museums now for the most part, deserve an occasional outing on a good range. This one gets shot yearly with the old match load: 172 gr FMJBT Frankfort Arsenal bullet over 47 grains of 4064 in LC-78 brass. It'll do an inch and a quarter at 100 if I'm having a good eyes day.
Best Regards, Rod
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As an off shoot of @upptick most iconic rifles. What are your favorite 22lr rifles and why? I'm sure that their is history with them.
I believe that CZ rimfire rifles are on the brink of reaching Iconic status in North America.
I have a couple 452 American In 22lr and 17HMR purchased around early 00s. The 17 is the most accurate rimfire i own out of 30 or so. Excellent rifles. But when anyone around here sees them they are clueless as to who CZ is. The few who have heard of them are shocked that they make rifles. Lol. I would hold off on them being iconic rifles for a while at least to us "hicks"