22 Rifle

[Bullet]

A friend of mine wants to purchase a new 22 caliber rifle to go squirrel hunting. He wants this rifle to have a walnut stock. I told him I would post a thread here and see what would be recommended. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[c_yeager]

Walnut stock?

Easy answer CZ-452 lux. Nice rifle at a really nice price. Comes with real life walnut (not "hardwood") stocks. They can be a little rough though. Ive seen refinished versions that were absolutly beautiful. The bavarian style comb isnt for everyone though unless he is using iron sights, then its the cat's meow.

 

[Mulliga]

Depends on how much you are willing to spend. For example, there's a new Remington out (the Remington 504) that has a good-looking walnut stock, a precise action, a good barrel, and a hefty price tag - almost as much as a regular centerfire rifle. Target rifles from Kimber and the like are phenomenally accurate, but you pay for it.

http://www.remington.com/firearms/rimfire/504.htm

http://www.kimberamerica.com/kimber22.php

You can go lever action. Marlin has a nice Golden 39. Henry makes a bunch of rimfires.

http://www.marlinfirearms.com/firearms/leverAction22/Golden39A.htm

http://www.henryrepeating.com/leveraction.cfm

You can also go semi-auto - A Browning Semiauto .22 or a Remington 552 Speedmaster. Again, these are $300 rifles - fairly expensive by .22 standards.

http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/firearms/detail.asp?value=005B&cat_id=021&type_id=001

http://www.remington.com/firearms/rimfire/552.htm

My advice? It's best to shoulder these rifles and get a feel for them. Always nice to be able to see them in person. Any of them would do for hunting squirrels, but it may be overkill depending on your friend's budget. I like walnut stocks, too, but they're expensive - may not be worth it if this is just going to be a beater rifle or a training gun.

 

[ThreadKiller]

How much you wanna spend? Kimber and Cooper Arms make some really, really nice bolt actions, but very pricey.

The Thompson-Contender semi-auto is a nice little rifle with a walnut stock. Reportedly very accurate. The charming little Browning 22 auto is still being made and is a very good rifle to say the least.

The CZ bolts have an excellent reputation for fantastic accuracy right out of the box. Turkish walnut and deep dark bluing.

Check out

rimfirecentral for more info.

Tim

 

[theCZ]

CZ-452? Amen to that! Mine is way too accurate for what I paid for it. Shhhhsss, don't tell anybody! Seriously though, I've heard of people that have Remington bolt 22's that are as accurate as my CZ, but they are using match ammo, and I'm using American Eagle to get 1.25" groups at 100 yards (prone of course). I've used mine for ground squirrels way out to probably 200 yards, although I can't really say that I've hit them all on my first shot that far out, but that's why 22 is so cheap.

 

[Sharpshooter223]

The new remington 504 seems like a nice rifle and the cz is great also. Either one of those would be the perfect squirrel gun. I suggest you don't go with a semi for hunting.

 

[ojibweindian]

How about a .22 mag? I have a Marlin 25 MN that I use for rabbits and squirrels. With 40gr CCI Maxi Mags, I get pretty good groups at 100 paces (on a good day .375inches, most other days it's .75 to 1.25 inches). That's paces, not yards. I have no idea how many yards 100 paces is, but it kills small game pretty much right there.

 

[redneck]

If the new remingtons are anything like the old ones, and he can afford it he should really take a look at them. My dad has a model 121 and a friend has a model 12. Both are quite solid, beautifully made, and are/were accurate. My dads is a little shot out, but with just the right ammo does very well. The friends model 12 is pretty accurate with just about anything from what I've seen.