.22s just aren't very practical in the real world past 50 yards.. I guess if your "real world" is killing a daisy at 75 yards for supper, but for any practical small game, drop past 50 is such that it requires a foot by foot drop table out at 100 or beyond and an accurate laser rangefinder. My Remington 597 magnum is 1.5 MOA accurate and sighted at 100, is only 2" high at 50. If you like shooting 150 yards, perhaps you need a .17 or .22 mag of some kind.
So, for MY uses, the 10/22 is as accurate as it needs to be. Sure, my old Remington 512X will shoot at 100 what my 10/22 shoots at 50, so what? I'm not going to shoot a squirrel in the field from a field position past 50.
I don't shoot any sort of competition other than informal club shoots one saturday month and, recently, I haven't done that. When we do shoot, it's field grade guns. One fellow brought a Remington target model out one weekend and they disqualified him for cheating.
I bought my 10/22 mostly just because I wanted it. It's neat. It may not be Anchutz accurate, but I don't care. It's plenty accurate enough. It is totally reliable and I love the rotary magazine thing, haven't much cared for my Remington's tube feed mag over the years, but it's so accurate I overlook that and in the field, it's not a big bother. Holds 15 LRs and that's enough for an all day squirrel hunt without any reloading even if the squirrels are out in mass.
The little 10/22 is just a short, handy, lightweight field gun and plinker and rugged in stainless with the Hogue stock. I got it for 150 at a gun show. Like I say, I just WANTED it. It's the only .22 rifle I own that doesn't have a scope on it and I plan to keep it that way. Not everyone buys a .22 rifle for 150 yard plinking. In fact, I know noone that does.
I can hit 12 gauge hulls at 50 with it off hand and 20 gauge hulls at 25. I can't even see the danged things at 150! I suppose I could zoom the scope on my Remington to 9x and work the bullet drop compensator on that scope. I have it marked for 100 yards. I'm not even sure I could give it enough elevation for 150, though. I know it's accurate to 1.5" at 100 on a calm day, seems impressive enough. The 10/22 can't match it, but it's run of the mill average accurate for a plinker. I never really desired a Savage .22, own a 110 in 7mm remington magnum that I could hit a shotgun shell at 300 yards with, but not a .22. The 10/22, though, was desirable. I'll probably get a Marlin, too, sometime or another, but it just doesn't have the desirability of the 10/22 to me. I can't explain it, just like the little thing.
