which .22 LR rifle

[Ks5shooter]

I like the Mossberg 44US ,they are older guns but tackdrivers......

 

[redneck2]

but I really like accurate guns.

Depends on your definition of "accurate". Once you start down the road of ultra accuracy, the law of diminishing returns starts kicking in, particularly around the $700 area with .22's

My CZ 453 Varminter with the set trigger will shoot .2's @ 50 yards with Wolf Match. Some Anschutz do better, though I have a friend that bought one on my recommendation and my CZ and S-I-L's target Savage both do better.

 

[danez71]

I feel its a little misleading to say things like 'if you want to spend money to get accuracy, get the 10/22'.

Sometimes it seems to be worded as if the CZ (etc) are more accurate for about the same price as a 10/22... but they aren't.

The CZs about 2x what a 10/22 are (3x a Marlin) and some of the others mentioned are even higher multiples.

Spend that extra $$ on the 10/22 and you'll get the accuracy and have a custom rifle that you can enjoy building... if that's your thing. Or spend the $$ at once and get a CZ if that's your thing. But you're going to spend the money for that accuracy... IF you WANT or NEED that accuracy.


OR.....
I think the Ruger American 22 bolt is going to kill off the Ruger 77/22. It seems the consensus on rimfirecentral is they are every bit & more accurate as a 77/22 at less than 1/2 the price. Some are saying its every bit as accurate as a CZ. At around $260, that's a bargain.

 

[d2wing]

I agree with Danez.

 

[Jlr2267]

Sometimes it seems to be worded as if the CZ (etc) are more accurate for about the same price as a 10/22... but they aren't.

Agreed. However, the Marlin 60 or 795 is generally more accurate out of the box than the 10/22, and at a lower price. There are *many* more upgrades available for the 10/22 though.

 

[d2wing]

In my collection the Ruger 10/22 easily out shoots the Marlin 795. The 44US I had was accurate but heavy for hunting.

 

[clance]

http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2011/12/brett-solomon/gun-review-cz-455-lux/

http://www.realguns.com/articles/291.htm

For what it's worth I vote for the CZ 455. You can buy extra barrels and magazines in .17 HRM and .22 Mag.

 

[rswartsell]

The CZ Lux for pretty and open sights, but if you are going to scope a CZ you need the American or your "cheek weld" won't be anywhere close to your cheek.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

IMO, the 455 Lux sights are a huge disappointment compared to the tangents on the 452 models. Others must feel this way because rumor has it they will be put on 455 models later this year.

 

[savanahsdad]

well I don't know when Marlin 60's got better than the Ruger 10/22 ? I have 2 Ruger 10/22's , both from 1971 , one has been upgraded with a Fajen thumb hole stock and a GreenMountan 20" .920 heavy barrel with lots of action work and a 3-9X40 scope on it , the other is stock 1971 with the nice old hard wood on it , and both will out shoot my 1993 Marlin mod60 by a long shoot ! plus a 10/22 is a lot easier to work on , I was getting jams and miss fires with my mod60 some years back , and found it needed a firing pin and the buffer was cracked , cheep fix ? yep.. easy fix ? nope ! you need 3 hands and a few slave pins to change that buffer ! I was once told you could buy a mod60 cheaper that you could fix one , after that job , I believe it , however back in the 90's you could buy used mod60's for $50 all day long

I have never NEEDED to work on my 10/22 just did the upgrades and action because .... well .... just because

have you thought about a single shoot ? I got 2 Savage mod 24's (22lr over 410, & 22lr over20ga ) both have never missed a chipmunk or tree rat , same goes for my Ithaca mod49 saddle gun

humm that's only five 22lr's ? I'll remember the others later ..


.for hunting and plinking my vote would be a Ruger or Savage

 

[Crowcifier666]

With the way .22LR is priced if you can find it these days, I'd go bolt. Hear a lot of good things about CZs. My 10/22 doesn't come out as often as it used to. I burn up too much ammo with it.

 

[Agsalaska]

Remington 121 The Fieldmaster. Find one with a good barrel and you will have the best 22 ever.

 

[Skylerbone]

Nearly any rimfire rifle sold today can achieve reasonable accuracy, not target level, reasonable. If that meets your expectation, the question is how much work you're willing to put into chasing it. Some rifles need little to no work as delivered, some need a bit of tweaking and others far more.

If you can live with nickel size groups at 50 yds. you can probably choose anything out there that tickles your fancy, so long as you remember that many don't come ready for prime time. For reasonable and accurate I'd recommend Savage or CZ as two brands that I could live with, without touching a thing. I own 3 Savage rimfires and a single CZ 452 (with plans for more) and all have performed well.

Find one you like within your budget then get to shooting.

CZ


Westernfield (Mossberg)


Savage


Marlin

 

[nathan]

My 14 yr old Marlin 880 SQ bullbarrel with microrifling is just as accurate from the day i bought it. The Ruger 10/22 is also hard to beat. But the CZ 455 seems to be the best for the money right now esp topped with a nice scope.

 

[scottishkat]

I own 4 22 LR 1 Ruger 1022, 1 Ruger 77 22, and 1 CZ 455FS and 1 CZ 455 American. The 455FS shoots fantastic all the way to 200 yards. The 1022 with a heavy barrel is a fun gun to shoot and you can modify the thing any way you want. I don't think you will find a 1022 or 77 22 with a trigger like the CZ.

If you want a rifle to shoot lots get the heavy barrel 1022.

Anschuts makes some of the best rim fire rifles in the world.

Good luck and shoot straight

 

[gspn]

Thanks all for the responses. I'm really leaning toward the CZ 455 with a heavy .22 LR barrel threaded for a suppressor and a second barrel in .17 HMR.

I think I can get it scoped and suppressed with the two barrels for around $1,500 or so.

Every year when I'm deer hunting there are days when I am absolutely covered up with squirrels for an hour or two before I see any deer. The suppressed .22 should be a very fun answer to that problem.

 

[I6turbo]

The CZ Lux for pretty and open sights, but if you are going to scope a CZ you need the American or your "cheek weld" won't be anywhere close to your cheek.

If you have one of the "hog back" CZs such as an FS, Lux/Trainer, Ultra Lux, Scout, etc, you will need to choose your scope and rings/mounts carefully if you want the scope mounted low for a solid cheek weld (this seems to be a big issue for some shooters, and a non-issue for others). Depending upon the objective diameter and the length of the scope, you may need to remove the rear sight (a 5 second job to remove or install, and serves no functional purpose when the gun is scoped).

The picture below shows one of my Americans with a typically-positioned 6-18x40 AO, and my FS with a 3-9x40 AO. As shown in the photo, the centerlines of the scopes, when measured at the point where your cheek would contact the stock (about 3.5" behind the ocular) are within .12" of each other, height wise. Really, not even enough to notice.

The bolts on both guns clear the scopes by exactly the same .125" when open. The bolt knob is easier to handle and actuate on the FS gun because of the smaller ocular on that scope, which goes back to the advice of choosing the scope carefully (true for many bolt actions).

When I shoulder these two guns repeatedly and back-to-back, the FS actually fits me slightly better with my eye perfectly positioned in the "eye box" of the scope -- it fits better than the American. Bottom line, one can get a good cheek weld when sighting through a scope on a CZ hog-back stock IF you use the right components. One may not be able to throw on just any scope/ring combo that he has handy.

 

[rswartsell]

Nice 16turbo,

One may WANT to throw on what they have handy, but you are proving it can be done. I will bow to your demonstration and continue preference for Americans for my purposes. I don't get the advantages of a Lux past cosmetic, but each to their own.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I have a scoped FS. I have no issues with head position.

 

[DM~]

I "don't" choose the CZ, because it has an azbackwards safety to pretty much all other bolt actions sold new today. I want that safety to work the same way/direction as my CF bolt action rifles and cz rimfires don't!

As for semiauto 22's, i like to "walk" while hunting with mine and i just hate the way a 10/22 sits in your hand like a beached whale! I find several other semi auto 22's much more comfortable to carry and on average, as they come out of the box, they are more accurate than a 10/22 too.

DM

 

[Deog]

I know it is not a semi auto, but i love my Browning bl-22 lever gun, fun as can be and plenty accurate.

http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/firearms/finder.asp?f1=005B

 

[I6turbo]

Nice 16turbo,

One may WANT to throw on what they have handy, but you are proving it can be done. I will bow to your demonstration and continue preference for Americans for my purposes. I don't get the advantages of a Lux past cosmetic, but each to their own.

I have two Americans and like them a lot, recommend them very highly. If I were going to shoot the gun with scope only, I'd probably be inclined to get an American or possibly a Varmint, but the appeal of the 452 Lux (or it's beech-stocked twin the Trainer) to most people is the overall balance and feel, the outstanding iron sights, and the way the gun fits. I generally prefer shooting with a scope, but I love shooting the 452 Trainer so much that it ends up getting more rounds than any other individual gun most outings even though it isn't scoped.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Another vote for the fun factor of the Trainer and it's sights. I swapped the rear notch for a JP ghost ring. Basically, if you can see it, you can hit it.

 

[OrangePwrx9]

I wouldn't advise getting the Ruger 77/22. My '80s version came with a terrible trigger and was quite inaccurate. A trip to Clark Custom changed all that but at a cost that was more than I paid for the rifle. If you want a new bolt gun, I'd go CZ.

The old timers can be a very good bet. The old Marlin, Mossberg and J.C. Higgens bolt actions, Savage model 6 (gill gun), Remington bolts and the Remington model 50 Semiauto are all worth looking at. Gunbroker can help you track them down. They made .22s out of steel and walnut back then and, given normal care, they were almost impossible to wear out. Shooting one of those old girls can take you back to when you were a kid.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I don't see how Ruger even sells the 77/22 given it's high price and poorer than average accuracy for a bolt gun.