Bolt action .22 recommendation needed

[Sako Shooter]

The CZ 452 Training Rifle I had :banghead: could shoot the whisker off a gnat. I don't know what it costs now, but I paid $229 for it in 2002. It has the best iron sights (short of an aperture sight) of any rifle I've seen; a scope is almost superfluous, only necessary to help you see the target. If you do scope this one, you will need high rings and a scope with a small objective lens, so as not to interfere with the tall rear sight. The rear sight, BTW, can slide up or down a ramp marked for various ranges, and it will it to point of aim at all of them. It has the heft of a full sized centerfire rifle, and no plastic (although the trigger guard is a stamping) anywhere except the butt plate. My only criticism of it is the counterintuitive, backwards-operating safety which requires completely breaking your shooting hand grip to operate.

You can scope the CZ Trainer 452 with Burris Medium Rings if you remove the rear sights, which is easily accomplished. The Leupold EFR 3x9-33 will be the perfect fit for that rifle with that setup.

 

[toivo]

You can scope the CZ Trainer 452 with Burris Medium Rings if you remove the rear sights, which is easily accomplished.

It's easy but not obvious. I don't remember exactly how to do it, but I remember that you DO NOT drive out the pin, and you can do it without tools. Try a search in the CZ forum on RimfireCentral.com for detailed instructions.

EDIT TO ADD: OK, here it is: http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=223027

 

[Furncliff]

The CZ 452 and 455 Varmint come in laminated thumbhole stock as well as walnut straight stock..

 

[22-rimfire]

The best for your price range is probably the CZ 452 Trainer. They have a very "adult" feel to them. The 455's run a bit over $500 new now based on my gunshop wanderings. Other ones that are excellent are any of the old Remington 541's (541-S or 541-T) that run just a tad above your top dollar. The Ruger 77/22 is a reasonable choice as is the Weatherby Mark XXII (bolt) at a higher dollar price (about $900).

 

[benzy2]

It's your experience that the handful of CZs you've shot are less accurate than the handful of Savages you've shot. It's your opinion that Savage makes a more accurate rifle than CZ.

My experience has been the opposite, the few CZs I've shot have been better shooters than the few Savages I've shot. Seems like a few others here had similar experiences to me.

 

[DukeNukem]

CZ's dominate the CMP National Championships Open Sights class every year.

http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/report_eventAward.cgi?matchID=5689&eventID=1&awardID=1

 

[benzy2]

I've said it before, there are plenty of online matches on rfc won by CZs. Yet those are dismissed as only CZ fanatics and couldn't possibly be a fair representation, right Jeff. I don't doubt your local clubs have savages win and czs lose. But when the guy you shoot against is known as winner rather than by name, I have a feeling anything close is going to work well enough. You make it sound as fact that a savage WILL outshoot a CZ. I own a savage and two czs and see the opposite. Not that the savage shoots bad, just not as good. I'm sure there are some of each out there that will outshoot what I have, but from what I've seen, as well as most of rfc, cz will shoot with or better than savage.

 

[benzy2]

Buy what floats your boat. In the end it's all for fun.

 

[Red Tornado]

I'll throw out a suggestion for a U.S. Military trainer; the Remington 513T, H&R M12, or Mossberg M44. That would be the order of my preference, but I'm a Remington .22 guy, so I'm a little biased. With any of them, you'll get a great rifle, adult size, very solid, sling swivels, and great sights. I believe they all have peep and post.
RT

 

[Huckelberry75]

I personally love my Ruger 77/22 with the laminate stock and heavy taper bbl. Sucker is SWEET shooting, especially when it has the can on the end. ..giggle..giggle

 

[teetertotter]

If rifle for hunting/target purposes buy a Savage BRJ. If using for target shooting, buy a CZ452 if can find. In your $400-$500 range. You will want to use SV ammo too...for accuracy consistancy. Cyclone in my CZ 452, is the most accurate at 100 yards, if allowed in your competition. Yup, cheap ammo sometimes works the best if you have patience to try all kinds of .22LR.

 

[Sako Shooter]

I think you hit the nail on the head, Jeff. The CZ is a lightweight, accurate squirrel rilfe IMO. If you want to sink a rifle in the bags and shoot exceedingly small groups at 50-100 yards, the CZ is good but a heavy barrel custom rifle is better. I like to keep the total package (gun, scope and rings at between 6 -7 lbs. and even less if possible). The 16" CZ American weighs only 5.3 lbs. I'm not up to carrying a heavy rifle through the woods and have passed on the Annie 54 for that reason. But then again, some like heavy.

 

[parsimonious_instead]

I appreciate all of the replies, folks. I'll take all of this under consideration for my next .22 boltie purchase.

 

[dc.fireman]

Funny you should bring this up - I just made this comment on another thread:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=601359