Low-End .22 Rifles

[Picher]

Sometimes I think we spend too much time, energy, and money to get our shooting gear and ammo to shoot accurately, and not enough time just enjoying shooting and hunting.

My first new gun was a Stevens tubular semi-auto, which I shot with open sights for a while, then got a scope for it. I think it was under $40 and my mom had to sign for it.

It shot okay, but I never benchrested it for accuracy until a couple of years of hunting/plinking with it. It seemed to be a real killer and it got many squirrels and rabbits for me.

Then, one day I took it to the range to see how well it would group and it was terrible. At 25 yards or so, it wouldn't stay within 1 1/2"!!! Despite having shot many critters with it and managing to hit plenty of plinking targets, I traded it away!

As I look back, I wonder whether we put too much emphasis on dime-sized groups, but don't consider what is really needed, just to "bring home the bacon". After all, statistically, about 66% of all shots were probably within a half-inch of the aiming point and there aren't any scoring rings on a squirrel or rabbit, are there?

In fact, one day I spied a rabbit sitting about 30 yards away, along a camp road. I fired a magazine full of ammo and could actually see the ground through the 3/4" hole I made in the critter. Then, I reloaded and shot it in the head and it fell over. It was dead, but didn't know it! That rabbit didn't care whether it was shot with a half-minute rifle; it was still dead.

What do you think?

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Cheap, not so accurate guns are fun until you shoot something better.

 

[Sniper66]

My first .22 was a JC Higgins single shot. My brother and I shared and it; very accurate riflke. I saved my money and bought for myself a JC Higgins short stroke lever action with a Weaver 4X scope. It was a piece of crap. The scope always worked loose within a few shots. Without the scope it was all over the place...a useless boat paddle. I tossed it in the back of my closet and don't really remember what happened to it. When I started college and no spare money, I bought a Remington single shot in a pawn shop for $10. Great rifle that helped me survive the insanity of college, but after I got out and started making money, I bought a Remington 541S. It is fantastic and I've had it for 40 years. With the nice scope I mounted it's worth over $1,000 and wicked accurate. Believe me, more expensive rifles are way, way better!!

 

[Scooter22]

I like to collect older, classic .22s. They don't have to be like new, pristine or expensive. Used is ok. If they need some work ok. They also don't need to be target grade one holer's. Most shoot with ammo they like into a inch or so at 50yds. Quite a few do much better. But it's funny the ones that aren't the most accurate seem to hit things I'm shooting at like shotgun shells, clay pigeons or random plinking targets most of the time. Even though they don't look that accurate on paper. They just hit what your shooting at. I like that better than my one holer's that seem to be picky if I'm shooting something besides paper. Don't know, maybe it's me but I have more fun with the simple ones.

 

[LoonWulf]

Old nylon 66, pretty well worn out....shot tons of stuff with it, but grouped about 3" at 50 yds. It was free and i couldnt afford another rifle, and my folks sure wernt into buying me one at the time, so i just got closer.
I used it to keep the deer out of our ponds, and off the water lines, shot game for the table....i loved that little gun.
Then i got a marlin 60, and that shot about 1.5 at 50yds, loved that gun even more, but it really wasnt any more effective. After that i got a 597, which shot about the same, and so far is my favorite semi auto .22 yet.

 

[hdwhit]

Picher wrote:
I wonder whether we put too much emphasis on dime-sized groups,...

Well, you're preaching to the choir here.

My accuracy standard for the past 40+ years had been whether I could put 9 out of 10 rounds into the circular divot on the side of a gallon plastic milk jug at 100 yards firing offhand. That makes me somewhere between a 3 and 4 moa shooter. That hasn't stopped me from taking my share of nuisance animals (beaver and muskrat) via head shots (has to be head shots since the rest of the animal is submerged) at about that same 100 yard distance.

I shot Anschutz rifles when I was on the rifle team in college; where they put you in a leather vest and strap you to the rifle, so I know what a high quality rifle feels like. And to be honest, I'll keep my Armi Jager AP-74 as my go-to 22 LR rifle and I'll keep the Mini-14 I've has since I was 19 since it is now so familiar to me that I can routinely hit what I am at shooting it - even if it is an "inaccurate" rifle.

 

[hillman23]

The first 22 I started packing around was a Marlin Model 60 my dad bought for me and my brother. My brother promptly upgraded to a 10/22 which left me grinding my teeth from clearing the frequent jams that Marlin produced. In the 6th grade, I bought a Ruger 10/22 of my own from a buddy that's still in my safe. I've put thousands of rounds through that rifle and it still feels mighty natural in my hands. However, as I hit the middle of high school, I discovered an old Winchester model 67 that my great grandfather owned just sitting unloved at my granddad's house that I started toting around. It forced me to be a better shot and no squirrel was safe and the dog was well fed. I've never shot any of them off a bench but I never worried I was going to miss what I put the sights on either. I'm currently plotting to extricate the Winchester from my dad's possession for nostalgic purposes (filthy greed, really).

 

[cp1969]

I think the difference is where people do their shooting.

Those who do the majority, if not all, of their shooting on a public range tend to want to shoot small groups.

Those of use who rarely or never shoot on a range want to hit things. I've never fired a rifle shot on any kind of a range. Makeshift ranges (truck hoods, picnic tables, etc.) are for sighting in. Then it's off to put the gun to work, shooting things.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

There is nothing more fun than plinking no matter whether it's on a range or in a gravel pit. It's fun with a cheap, not so accurate gun with a lousy trigger and sometimes unreliable bulk ammo...Until you discover other options.

 

[Panzerschwein]

The Marlin 60 is both low end (the cost is) but high end (the awesome reliability, accuracy and quality for the price).

 

[cp1969]

Some of these "cheap" guns are far more accurate than the person shooting them once you move away from concrete benches and sandbags.

 

[ms6852]

I get what you are saying, Heck growing up I would drool over a 22 lr than, and when I became a teenager I could not believe how expensive they had become. Now as an adult a few years ago I bought 3 10/22 Rugers and have spend about $400 average on two and $800 on another one that is in the works. I should have just paid for an anschutz, but where is the fun in not having a project rifle. I can afford any firearm I like but for me there is more than just going out and shoot it. I love collecting 22 rifles simply because they are such a joy to shoot.

 

[bannockburn]

My first .22 was a Ruger 10/22 which I think cost something like $68 before tax. It had the brass front bead and I was able to hit a dime at around 50 yards with it using just about any brand (usually the cheapest I could find), of ammo. I knew the accuracy potential was there so I mounted a Weaver K2.5 scope on it and have been shooting some mighty tight groups with it ever since (especially fond of Wolf Match Target and CCI MiniMags).

 

[tark]

My first 22 was a Remington 514. A cheap little single shot, and it is the gun I grew up with in the early 60s. Back when a box of "shells" cost fifty cents. I lavished all of my love on that little rifle. I re-finished the stock. I removed the butt plate and put a dozen or so paper shims under it so it would look like a white line spacer. I made my own pistol grip cap and did the spacer thing with it!

Actually, I Bubba'd the whole thing.....but I was proud of it! I spent countless days with it roaming the woods, shooting anything that moved, like a typical mindless idiot young teenager. I am ashamed of that, but I am still kind of proud if the crow I picked off of a fence post at a measured 201 paces. It only took half the box of ammo to do it! That must have been the dumbest crow that ever lived. The post had several holes where the bullets had came close, just under the crow's feet.

That little gun is long gone, but I did see another 514 a few years back at a gun show, and I grabbed it. I won't bubba this one. It came with the original box, which it had never left after leaving the Remington factory in 1948, the year I was born. It is one of the very few guns I own that is N.I.B. conditioned that I nevertheless shoot.....sparingly.

And it is just as much fun to shoot now, as it was all those years ago...

The fanciest, most expensive 22 on the market could not give me more enjoyment that that little Remington....

 

[MedWheeler]

For one of today's "low end" .22LR rifles that impressed me, there is the Mossberg 702 Plinkster. This Mossberg-branded Brazilian import cost $99 new at Wal-Mart a couple of years back, and certainly feels as though that's about as much as it should.

But, boy will it shoot. Though I haven't yet had it out past 25 yards (only pistol ranges in my immediate area), it is certainly easy to keep all of the Federal AutoMatch rounds within a quarter if I really do my part. I've had no hang-ups at all, and the bolt even stays open when the last round is fired due to the magazine follower interrupting it (pull the magazine, though, and the bolt will snap closed.)

I also have a 10/22, purchased new in 1986. That gun has always worked well, though I don't recall ever actually trying to see how accurately out to any real distance. A few years back, I drank the "tacti-cool-aid" and Tapco'd it up some, but it's still fun in hand.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Hitting a dime at 50 yards with a 2.5x scope is impressive. Doing it with open sights is beyond impressive.

 

[Picher]

My first 22 was a Remington 514. A cheap little single shot, and it is the gun I grew up with in the early 60s. Back when a box of "shells" cost fifty cents. I lavished all of my love on that little rifle. I re-finished the stock. I removed the butt plate and put a dozen or so paper shims under it so it would look like a white line spacer. I made my own pistol grip cap and did the spacer thing with it!

Actually, I Bubba'd the whole thing.....but I was proud of it! I spent countless days with it roaming the woods, shooting anything that moved, like a typical mindless idiot young teenager. I am ashamed of that, but I am still kind of proud if the crow I picked off of a fence post at a measured 201 paces. It only took half the box of ammo to do it! That must have been the dumbest crow that ever lived. The post had several holes where the bullets had came close, just under the crow's feet.

That little gun is long gone, but I did see another 514 a few years back at a gun show, and I grabbed it. I won't bubba this one. It came with the original box, which it had never left after leaving the Remington factory in 1948, the year I was born. It is one of the very few guns I own that is N.I.B. conditioned that I nevertheless shoot.....sparingly.

And it is just as much fun to shoot now, as it was all those years ago...

The fanciest, most expensive 22 on the market could not give me more enjoyment that that little Remington....

My brother bought a 514 as his first rifle. It was deadly accurate, after having a scope mounted (side mount). That's a weird rotating safety on the bolt, but it was pretty safe. When a teen, I shot so many .22 shorts through it, it belled the chamber so much, the extractor couldn't pull them out anymore. I traded it and got a repeater, but don't remember which one at this point. (I traded guns at least monthly back then.)

 

[Picher]

My first Marlin lever action 39A was a Mountie, and after installing a receiver sight, was incredibly accurate at 50 yards.

In 1965, the first summer of our marriage, I used to shoot red squirrels out of the trees behind the family camp with that rifle, sometimes, in the fall, after we were the only ones left living there, I'd go out in my underwear to shoot them. (My bride was NOT impressed.

I shot lots of squirrels with it and made a few impressive groups from a rest, but sold it because the top of the receiver was not 90* to the sides and it got to me, when the receiver sight highlighted the defect. Wish I'd have kept it.

 

[redneck2]

I personally find find little use for a firearm unless it’s functional. If it shoots two inch groups, how are you going to become a better shot?

Everyone has enough physical limitations. I’m not going to be limited by equipment

Slinging lead just to hope hitting something, particularly in a hunting situation, is not something I want to do. I expect enough confidence to hit what I’m shooting at

 

[Skylerbone]

As often as I’ve been curious about how well I might shoot with a perfectly tuned rifle I simply refuse to submit to the idea of there being much practical merit to paying thousands for a single rifle that will never see a hunt. I understand we all come with individual wants and that sport shooting is not the same discipline as hunting, I simply enjoy each rifle I own for what it is and demand it serve a particular purpose.

Some of these are shooters, some are good enough to get it done. I have no special attachment to any and I prefer it that way, and, since every thread needs a picture, here are a few of my .22s Throw in a few of the nicer ones I own (not pictured) and I could easily have afforded an Anshutz, I just don’t want one bad enough to forego the rest. Im also not given to the misconception that an inexpensive rifle cannot shoot as accurately as many costing several times more.

A few of my (and my kids) plinkers.

 

[ontarget]

My favorite rifles are my vintage .22s. Sure I have the modern high powered bolt actions and of course the ARs, but I enjoy practical shooting and plinking with an old 22 far more these days.
What good is a rifle that shoots one hole groups off a bench if it never leaves the bench?
I remember as a kid with my Red Rider bb gun seeing how many times in a row I could ding the clothes line pole. It was a hoot and I'm pretty sure it was not a moa gun.

 

[ontarget]

As often as I’ve been curious about how well I might shoot with a perfectly tuned rifle I simply refuse to submit to the idea of there being much practical merit to paying thousands for a single rifle that will never see a hunt. I understand we all come with individual wants and that sport shooting is not the same discipline as hunting, I simply enjoy each rifle I own for what it is and demand it serve a particular purpose.

Some of these are shooters, some are good enough to get it done. I have no special attachment to any and I prefer it that way, and, since every thread needs a picture, here are a few of my .22s Throw in a few of the nicer ones I own (not pictured) and I could easily have afforded an Anshutz, I just don’t want one bad enough to forego the rest. Im also not given to the misconception that an inexpensive rifle cannot shoot as accurately as many costing several times more.

A few of my (and my kids) plinkers.
View attachment 777279

Exactly. Spot on.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Not all rifles are intended to be hunting rifles.

 

[DDDWho]

This is was a "low end" .22 in its day. I think my Dad gave $15 for it new in 1949 and gave it to me for XMas. I paid $100 to have it bead blasted and reblued a few years ago. I refinished the stock... which by the way is walnut.

 

[Picher]

Inaccurate rifles don't interest me anymore. If I can't get one to shoot the way I would like, it goes away. Rimfire Benchrest competition had quite an effect on my rimfire arsenal, starting with the purchase of a Winchester 52 target rifle and ending with a fantastic Rem 40X custom BR rifle.

Still, I own some "plinkers" that I love to shoot, including an un-modified Winchester 69A and Marlin 39A, but the accurized 10-22 bull-barrel is everyone's favorite. My grandkids and I love to shoot small steel .22 animal silhouettes offhand at up to 50 yards with both rifles and handguns. We only shoot targets to make sure of zeros. Grand-kids prefer to shoot from the bench, even without front rests. I always shoot offhand and it really tickles me to hit the larger silhouettes at 50 yards with handguns.

The picture is my old Remington 581 that I highly modified, with a Lilja barrel, Anschutz stock blank, pillar-bedding and trigger work. It's a far cry from the $49 rifle I bought in the early 1970s to teach my son to shoot, but I love to shoot it offhand and I'm now off to shoot it at the Club's Indoor range.

Have a nice day!