Rimfires I've loved or hated

[SGW Gunsmith]

My siblings always thought that there was something completely wrong with their middle brother, me. He never wanted clothes, or any other stuff for birthdays or Christmas, except .22 Long Rifle ammunition, or a willing and helpful contribution toward a new .22 rifle purchase.
My very first .22 rifle was for my 10th birthday, and I still have it:

Winchester Model 67A Single Shot. Except for the addition of being drilled and tapped for an optic, this rifle is still in pretty dang good shape and due to its 27-inch barrel is used to test box and advertised velocity when I try out any **NEW** .22 rimfire ammunition that comes my way.
And, ya know..........I don't own or have I shot a .22 rimfire that I didn't like. If they have some sort of stubborness involving a specific brand of ammunition, I'll work with them to help improve their appetite:

 

[H&R Glock]

Love it now just as I did as a boy. 62 years ago I fired it 90 yards from our driveway to a hill in the back of our property and could hit the bottom of a Pet Milk can almost every shot. 5 years ago I dropped a squirrel at 50 yards with the same gun. I inherited it from my father.

Winchester model 69a with Williams micrometer peep sight.
I have two Nylon 66's and they are a love/hate relationship. They never fail to feed, but when gripped too strongly you can see the barrel flex away from line of the sights. Dumb design? Both black and browns behave in the same way.

 

[Offfhand]

Love or hate.22s? What's not to like about this vintage Marlin 39, Winchester 52 Sporter, or classy Mannlicher .22?

 

[Howland937]

Lol.

The biggest difference is that both the rifles are actually built to last....whereas neither of those cars were!

PS: I work for GM now. Run away. Far away- to Korea, actually.

If you work for G.M. in the repair biz, your job security is second to none. I recommend people to buy Korean all the time nowadays.

.22's I love... T.C. .22 Classic. I've had one since they first came out. Picked up another used one a couple months before my son was born. He's 9 now, but hasn't seen it much less shot it (whole other story). Neither rifle will outshoot the other, and both have put some pretty high dollar 10/22's to shame.
Hate. It occurred to me I didn't own a .22 handgun, so I bought a Rough Rider on a whim on sale for $100. That thing sucks but it never jams so it's good enough for its purpose. I believe I could throw it more accurately than I could shoot it though.

 

[Picher]

Winchester 69A: Picked it up about 10 years ago. It's in excellent shape and fun to shoot. Here it's set up for bullseye practice - for a grandson, complete with globe front (not shown). When I bought it (used), the bolt handle was loose, but I inserted High Strength Locktite and peened it. It hasn't loosened since.

Oh yeah, almost forgot that I have a single-shot adapter for it and I prefer to use that to feeding magazines at the range.

 

[Picher]

I don't hate any. loved a few. The 455 is shown with a fluted .17 HMR barrel and a 4.5-14X scope. And love my Rem 504 .22LR also.

 

[FL-NC]

I like all 4 of mine: 30+ year old 10-22, a nylon 66 that is somewhat finicky in reliability (either ammo issue or I need a new mag tube I think), a savage MK2 I suppressed, and a S&W MP 15-22 that has absolutely zero personality or character, but is an excellent tool for training on short range steel.

 

[12Bravo20]

I like all 4 of mine: 30+ year old 10-22, a nylon 66 that is somewhat finicky in reliability (either ammo issue or I need a new mag tube I think), a savage MK2 I suppressed, and a S&W MP 15-22 that has absolutely zero personality or character, but is an excellent tool for training on short range steel.

I love having a 22 version of my centerfire rifles and/or conversion kits. My Savage MkII is setup just like my Savage Model 12 in 308 and I have one AR 22 setup just like my precision ARs in 223 and 308. I also use my 22 conversion slide on my 1911 quite a bit.

 

[Tentwing]

Marlin 57M 22mag (levermatic)

 

[rust collector]

Never warmed up to Marlin model 25 bolt action rimfire, and sure do like my CZ452 full stock rifle. All were good learning tools.

 

[borrowedtime69]

Two of my least favorite: Taurus 94, 9 shot revolver. And the worst was a Taurus Tracker in .22 LR. I had it scoped & bench rested and was only getting 4" to 5" groups at 15 to 20 yards.

 

[kidneyboy]

I had a Savage MKII for a while that I loved and hated. It was really accurate but had so many other issues I let it go.
OTOH I'm a huge fan of my 2 Henry 22s.

 

[Jeff olson]

I learned to shoot at age 7 (1949) on a Savage Model 29, with octagonal barrel, tube fed, pump action chambered to fierce 22 short and long. To this day it was my most fun filled experience with a gun.

Absolutely love these guns. Als have a wards westernfield 80a. Very well built and very accurateView attachment 921966

 

[OneFreeTexan]

I have a Ranger 101 11A, made for Sears by Savage. One of my favorite 22’s. It has a 16” barrel, a modified Herter’s stock,,,a ‘different’ kind of safety,,,and the iron sighs removed,,,,,,has an old Weaver tip off sight which is very good. And it has that ‘clunk-clunk’ action where the bolt stays open until the trigger is released. I really like that feature,,,,It is also sometime called a ‘gill’ gun, and did I mention how accurate it is

 

[OneFreeTexan]

I get a laugh of people who ‘hate’ a gun, and therefore decide it is a piece of cr***. I have several of the Nylons, both US made and Brazil,, and they haven’t failed in over 40 yrs.

 

[Picher]

View attachment 921856 View attachment 921857

Note that I just mounted a 3-9X Leupold on my Tikka .17 HMR, Heavy Fluted..and it works really great. Snap-Shot a "running" young skunk through the shoulder with it a couple of days ago at about 45 yards and it was an instant kill with no visible exit wound.

 

[Picher]

View attachment 921856 View attachment 921857

 

[Picher]

Recent scope upgrade on my .17 HMR CZ...3x9 to 4-12 Simmons. Works great! I took this one off my .223 when installing a new scope on that one. This is the skunk-killer rig (shot a couple of days ago). Love it!



.2View attachment 922553

 

[Shooter75]

This is a GREAT Thread that you started Picher, and some mighty fine rifles are pictured in it. It brings back a lot of good memories for me and I thank every one of you boys for joining in on it. You made my day!! 1942 Bull started shooting a year before me although we were born the same year. My dad was a Marine and after WWII, he was a handgun instructor to the cadets at the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. I, and my three brothers, were all taught to shoot like Marines with my grandfather's Remington model 341. When my dad died, my mother gave it to me. Since I am an old fart and never know if I am going to be here tomorrow, I gave it to the only nephew on my side of the family because I have no children. So it soldiers on and seems to be in as good condition as it ever was and still shoots the brass part off of 410 shells at 50 yards. There is no telling how many squirrels and rabbits were killed with it by just my brothers and I, but I am sure that a dump truck would not hold all of them. Some things can not be improved on and old memories are some of those things.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I don't have any I hate. But I love:

Kimber M82 -- this rifle has killed a boxcar load of squirrels, and won money a .22 Metallic Silhouette shoots.
Springfield M1922 Mk II
Stevens Favorite with tang sight
Winchester 52A target rifle
Remington 541X target rifle

 

[Boattale]

Two .22 rimfires I've had that are/were less than stellar: Winchester Model 77. Walther P22. The model 77 was not very reliable and I moved it along. The P22 is not accurate but is reliable. It rides in the truck console now as a coup de grace gun for any unfortunate hit on the road that is suffering. Had a High Standard for a while. Cool enough pistol, but nowhere near as nice as the Mark II mentioned below. Lost that one in a divorce.

Rimfires that I love/loved. Remington 512X that I foolishly let get away.
Ruger 77/22 .22 WMR with the boat paddle stock. My favorite rifle. Used it a lot and still do. Hangs by the back door except when the grandkids visit.
Ruger 77/22 .22LR with walnut stock - a rimfire near twin to my 77 RL in .270
Ruger Single Six 4 5/8 barrel. .22 LR and .22 WMR cylinders. Nearly always has the LR cylinder in it. My favorite handgun. Used it a lot.
Ruger Taper Barrel Mark II target with Ruger walnut grips. Just a handsome, wonderfully accurate and totally reliable .22 pistol.
Walther .22 LR TPH. Tiny and handy, more accurate than the considerably larger P22. Carried it for a coup de grace gun when I hunted / dug to terriers on varmints that live in the earth. Totally reliable.

 

[Picher]

Two of my least favorite: Taurus 94, 9 shot revolver. And the worst was a Taurus Tracker in .22 LR. I had it scoped & bench rested and was only getting 4" to 5" groups at 15 to 20 yards.

That's what happened when I rested my Savage semi-auto. Back then, the only time I shot at a target was when sighting-in scopes or irons. My semi-auto shot lots of rats in the dumps and squirrels, or when shooting in a gravel pit, cans we brought, or rocks in a vertical gravel face.

Cheap .22 LRs. had soft steel barrels that didn't hold up for more than a few thousand rounds, but what would you expect out of a fifty-dollar rifle? The Ruger auto handgun was an exception. I bought mine new at discount for $30. when they retailed for $37.50. When he saw it and found out what I paid, he wanted me to get one for him. I took his $30 and got him one. I was only making 50 cents an hour part-time at my family's business. Had a lot more change in my pocket than anytime since...just not many dollars.

 

[Stumper]

First firearm was a JC Higgins bolt action single shot .22 rifle. It is gone but the next .22 was a Marlin/Glenfield Mod 60 which is still here. It was/is a fine squirrel rifle but seldom leaves the safe. I'm surprised by the hate for Ruger 10/22s-mine are quite satisfactory. Easy to love the Cz452 that packs the bullets in tiny groups. Likewise the Remington Junior Target that reminds me that good work can be done without optics. There really aren't any .22 rifles I have hated. There was a Cobra .22Mag derringer that seldom fired the second barrel and shot approx 15 inches off from the sights at 7 yards that left me rather disgusted.

 

[Picher]

This is a GREAT Thread that you started Picher, and some mighty fine rifles are pictured in it. It brings back a lot of good memories for me and I thank every one of you boys for joining in on it. You made my day!! 1942 Bull started shooting a year before me although we were born the same year. My dad was a Marine and after WWII, he was a handgun instructor to the cadets at the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. I, and my three brothers, were all taught to shoot like Marines with my grandfather's Remington model 341. When my dad died, my mother gave it to me. Since I am an old fart and never know if I am going to be here tomorrow, I gave it to the only nephew on my side of the family because I have no children. So it soldiers on and seems to be in as good condition as it ever was and still shoots the brass part off of 410 shells at 50 yards. There is no telling how many squirrels and rabbits were killed with it by just my brothers and I, but I am sure that a dump truck would not hold all of them. Some things can not be improved on and old memories are some of those things.

Thanks for the nice comments Shooter75! Nice to pass our guns down to kids and grandkids. I've passed about 9 down to the younger family members, both shotguns and rifles. They include a 20 gauge O/U Weatherby, a Rem 12 semi-auto, a Rem 700 30-06, Rem 581, Tikka O/U, 20 Ga., 2, H&R 20 ga Toppers, and a couple other guns.

 

[Picher]

My 10-22 Deluxe now sports a Shilen bull-barrel that's been epoxyed-in and receiver bedded, barrel uplift about 10 lbs. I honed the trigger, used my belt-sander to reduce the headspace to minimum, honed/polished trigger/sear, and honed the operating handle to slide easily in the bolt slot. That last mod proved to eliminate first-shot flyers that are caused by the bolt handle binding the firing pin, causing light pin strikes on the first shot of a new magazine load.

The factory extractor was heated, bent, and heat-treated. The rifle shoots very tight groups and is a joy to shoot.