looking for a particular .22 rifle

[thomis]

for a "barn gun" I'm looking for synthetic stock, stainless steel barrel b/c it gets humid here in summer and this rifle will be kept locked up in the barn. It must be able to fire/cycle .22 shorts.
I like the Savage model Mark II FSS but the website doesn't say whether or not it will handle shorts.
The Marlin Model 981 TS appears to fit the bill but has a tubelar mag. I'd like to keep one mag handy with LR's and one handy with shorts. can't do that with a tube. not considering levers, pumps or autoloaders and nothing not USA Made... any other suggestions? what am I missing?

 

[Uncle Mike]

Whoops, didn't see the 'no tube mag' part of your post....well that's going to be a good one, with your parameters.

 

[rangerruck]

look for a few, an older mod 25 by marlin; mag fed, don't know if they came in stainless though. Actually that is all I can think of; see... your prob is this- when 22 shorts were popular, stainless wasn't happening. you can get maybe the best of them all, the marlin papoose, but I don't think they ever took shorts, I could be wrong. then the old remmy 24 or 241's gs model, but they were shorts only; the marlin you talked about, all the way back to 1937, but they were tube fed. now the 80's were mag fed, so that may be an option, but I don't know if they were ever stainless. then the remmy 550's and speedmasters, shot them all, but I don't know if any version of them were mag fed; . maybe so, but you will need to look that up...and none were stainless
You could go over to rimfirecentral, and put this same question in the open rimfire thread...

 

[earlthegoat2]

Uh,

for a box magazine to accept both 22 longs and shorts and to be able to reliably feed them in a bolt rifle is quite um, well, not invented yet.

I think you are going to have to go with a Savage with a single shot adapter. That way your "magazine" of longs and shorts will be the different boxes of ammo next to the gun.

 

[Red Tornado]

Agreed. I think your shorts are going to have to be CB LR. You should be able to find some 22LR to duplicate whatever aspect of shorts you are wanting...that should make your search possible.

I 'have' fed shorts in an old Remington 511, but it's not as reliable as you want. Also, as mentioned, no stainless at all. I think that Savage would be an excellent choice.
RT

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

First off, I'd advise against the 2-ammo-types plan. Will have two different points of impact. Pick one ammo, whether shorts, long subsonic, long rifle subsonic, lr standard, or lr hi-vel, and stick with it. Surely there's one there that will fit all "barn needs". With that in mind, no need to NOT go with a tube mag. But a box mag will work too.

As for action, you want a lever, pump, or turnbolt - not a semi. In my experience, the turnbolts will generally feed shorts better than the other two types here, or just as well. As for pumps, the Henry H003 *does* feed shorts, but the Taurus 62 does not. As for levers, I think most all of them do: Marlin 39, Win 9422, Henry, etc., but double check to be sure - the advertisements will say for sure whether shorts are included on the menu. Having said that, the ONLY semi-auto that will work and feed shorts, IINM, is the Rem 552 speedmaster - that is the way to go if you must have a semi. Again, not an obstacle on the tube mag thing if you pick one ammo and stick with it.

PS As mentioned, CB longs will give about the same performance as shorts and feed a little better. However, they're not as cheap, are they?

PPS. When feeding shorts through a turnbolt, the faster you cycle the action, the better - slow cycling is what can jam them up. Ditto on the pump and levergun, too.

 

[proplinker]

i use an old Springfield single shot not SS but it keeps well in a birchwood casey copper tect gun bag, about 20 bucks. You can pick up an old rimfire for under $100. stick with basic open sites. trying to chase a coon in the barn with a scope sucks. you hav'nt had fun untill you do that! i also like the pull back plunger or cocking pice it's the safest. On most of the older rifles it will be written on the barrel if you can use shorts. but I think any bolt action will take the shorts But if the rifle says shorts only you can't fit a standard in the chamber Good Luck

 

[rangerruck]

if you are wanting shorts because they are more quiet, then I suggest something that shoots lr's, and use longs in it; they actually are usually a bit quieter than shorts, they are usually not loaded quite as hot.
and if you want really quiet, fire a boltie in long rifle , shooting Aguila Super colibri's; they are a 20 grain or 29 grain round, using very little powder, primarily firing off of the primer.

 

[Uncle Mike]

just use Long Rifle Sub-Sonic ammo.....

 

[toivo]

for a box magazine to accept both 22 longs and shorts and to be able to reliably feed them in a bolt rifle is quite um, well, not invented yet.

Mossberg made one once upon a time. It had a kind of u-shaped adapter built in that flipped up for use with shorts--I think it just kind of guided the shorter round into the chamber. I'm not sure. I have one around here someplace, but I'm too lazy to look for it right now. I've never tried it with shorts.

The bad news is that there never was a Mossberg .22 made in stainless. Also, these magazines are very hard to find. A lot of the older Mossberg rifles you find for sale have had the original mags replaced with aftermarket ones that do not have the adapter, so they only work with .22LR rounds. Also, sometimes you find the original magazines with the adapter missing.

Good luck in your quest. Single shot or tubular magazine would seem to be your only options.

 

[ms6852]

I think remington semi auto speedmaster fits the bill. But it has tube mag. The "doctor" has a valid point in why different loads. Point of impacts will be differenct from shorts, to long to long rifle. Point of impacts are always different when you use different velocity ammo. Use one kind only and know that when you aim at your target you will hit it.

 

[thomis]

Barn gun

These are all really good points. I was thinking of the shorts for the noise factor. I've shot the colibri (sp?) 20 grain pellet rounds and they are quiet but I wouldn't shoot one at something larger than a squirrel.
And squirrel ain't what I'm after. I set my trail camera up in the barn and photographed possum, fox and 'coons getting into feed and seed.
Stainless is a must, as well as synthetic stock. I've let go of the shorts thing, so long as I can get some quiet LR's. I'm now trying to decide between the savage
http://www.savagearms.com/firearms/model/MARKIIFSS
and ruger
http://www.ruger.com/products/1022Carbine/specSheets/1140.html

I'll be scoping it with a new redfield scope and an old weaver tip-off mount that I have lying around.

 

[Ditchtiger]

There is a box mag that fires shorts and long rifles, a mossberg 353.
Never heard if it before last month when my son brought it back from a gun shop.
The mag. has a flap on its front that gets flipped up to use shorts.

 

[earlthegoat2]

I guess it has been invented then. My bad. The rifles and magazines seem to be quite rare though.

 

[CZguy]

And squirrel ain't what I'm after. I set my trail camera up in the barn and photographed possum, fox and 'coons getting into feed and seed.

How about finding a used .20 ga. single shot shotgun. Or use a live trap and relocate them. That's what I do. I take them over by my brother in-laws farm so they won't come back.

 

[rangerruck]

the problem isn't the mag; many remington and marlin rifles could feed both out of a mag, it's getting them stainless as well. Maybe a marlin 981 stainless, but it will be tube fed, and a bolt action.
I still think a papoose will do it; it may not reliably cycle the longs, but just sling the handle back, and the next shot is ready. plus after time, I bet it will reliably cycle them.
http://www.marlinfirearms.com/Images/photo_70PSS.jpg
http://www.marlinfirearms.com/Firearms/SelfLoading/70PSS.asp

 

[ArmedBear]

Wait...

Subsonic .22 rounds aren't the same as Colibris. Subsonics are 40-60 grain bullets going ~1000fps, generally.

 

[Uncle Mike]

A stainless barreled action that is box mag. fed, with some type of synthetic stock shooting 40gr. .22LR sub-sonic stuff would be perfect for barn vermin.

 

[ThomasT]

I have a Glenfield model 25 and a Remington model 581 and both take box magazines and will handle short, long and long rifle.

For rust protection I remove the action and use johnsons paste way on the metal. I do this with every gun I buy. I never have surface rust on any of my guns.

If I were you I would get the 981T in stainless steel and load it with standard velocity 40gr loads and stop worrying about it. They have more power than the shorts and with the 22" barrel the noise is reduced a fair amount. For the size of animal you are after a little more power won't hurt.

I like my 981T so much if I see a stainless version I will have to have that one also.

If you want another option for quiet loads pick up some of the Remington CeeBee 22s. They feed better and shoot better because the bullet is a little longer and weighs 33grs IIRC. The longer bullet is better stabilized by the 1/16 twist barrels than the 29gr bullet of shorts and CCI CB rounds.

 

[thomis]

If I were you I would get the 981T in stainless steel and load it with standard velocity 40gr loads and stop worrying about it.

Have you ever seen 25 cows try and make it out of the barn all at once?!
I have. It ain't pretty!

 

[Maverick223]

They make a kit for the 10/22 that will convert it to .22short, but IIRC it is in the neighborhood of about $150.00. If you are willing to go with a bolt action, the Savage Mk. II is your rifle. It will cycle most anything reliably IME (including the little colibris).

 

[AzizaVFR]

If you want to be able to shoot shorts, you will have to load them one at a time. The feed lips on the magazine of the Savage are timed to point a .22LR round into the chamber. Just laying a round on the top of a regular magazine will not give you the proper alignment. You will need something like this:





The adapter will line up the round to be fed smoothly into the chamber. You could load almost any .22 rimfire round. I do make these.