22LR confession

Status
Not open for further replies.
I've come full circle back to .22s.

Since the OP said he likes pumps the Marlin 39a is the best one out there. I prefer a good used one, as the action is slicker than the new ones with the extra safety. A Henry Golden Boy isn't built to last several generations, like the Marlin, but they have the best customer service in the industry. I like the Winchesters, but the prices are ridicules.

There are many others .22s that I really enjoy. CZ 452 (any variation) Winchester 69A, Remington 572, Marlin 60, and yes everyone should own at least one Ruger 10/22.
 
Best levers are the Browning BL-22 and the Marlin 39 series.
The Browning has superb balance and shoots very well off-hand. The lever stroke is shorter than any other levergun I have tried. it oozes quality. But the sights are made for young eyes and it doesn't have as many after-market offerings as the Marlin.

The Marlin is a classic, and you can readily find peep sight options for it.
 
I like the Winchester 9422. I also have the 9422M and the 9417. All three have been great rifles and fun to shoot. Along with all of my various centerfire rifles I must have at least 6 .22 caliber rifles. I have enjoyed shooting .22s since my dad gave me my first.I still own and shoot that rifle on a routine basis. No collection is complete without some good .22s in lever, bolt and semi auto configurations. Same goes for pistols.
 
I really like my Henry lever guns. Thne action on them is one of the smoothest out there.

I have really come to embrace the 22lr in the last 2 years. Guns in this chambering are the most I have bought over that time frame. I now have over 20 different 22's and have my eye on a few more. The amout of shooting I can do for the lower cost makes them some of my most used guns.
A big plus is that I have 8 of them set up for suppressor use which adds to the fun.:)
 
Henry levers are what got me started, the Marlin 39A is what keeps me.

I'd picked up a standard Henry on impulse at Walmart, shot it a few times and got to liking it ... wanting something a bit nicer and more accurate I picked up a Henry Golden Boy Engraved. Then a couple weeks later I stopped at a garage sale and saw this pore 'ole Marlin 39A with a barrel like a sewer pipe. I talked to the lady running it and she had found it in the basement of her parents house ... and I decided for $50 it would make a good project gun. I found a Century Limited barrel for it cheap and being a DYI kind of guy and thinking I couldn't hurt it too much anyway I installed the barrel myself, picked up a new mag tube from Numrich and refinished the wood ... when I finally got it all together I took it out and shot it and fell in love with it.

Now years later I've had a couple Winchesters and Brownings but along with the first Henry they're long gone ... the Golden Boy gets wiped down every year but has yet to be fired ... I still have the pore ole Marlin and a Original Golden 39A I've picked up along the way ... as someone mentioned they are built to last for generations and it won't be long before my grandson is ready to graduate from his Daisy and shoot his first real gun.

P2090049.jpg ​
 
One? My god man, why limit yourself to one .22??

Get a semi-auto (Ruger, Marlin), a bolt action (Savage, Remington), a pistol (Ruger, Browning), a revolver (Ruger, S&W, Colt).

Life is short!!
 
Quote:
Since the OP said he likes pumps the Marlin 39a is the best one out there.

What am I missing here?
Click to expand...

I'd like to be able to say that was a test..........and that you passed.

Unfortunately, that's not the case. I made a mistake. :eek:
 
22 LR is a great caliber. Lever, bolt, semi, take your pick. Irons, scopes, red dots, lasers.

CZ makes a nice bolt if you don't mind spending a bit on it.
 
I know quite a few people who make fun of 22LR. The ones I know will pull out their macho pistol, fire 20 times and have 20 different holes on their target from 7 yards. This makes me smile to myself when I use my 22LR guns to make a single group hole after 5-10 rounds, and after about 20-40 rounds I'm simply shooting through the hole and not touching any paper.
 
If you must have a lever action .22LR the only one worth buying in my (not terribly valuable) opinion is the Marlin 39A. I have long had a fetish with high quality .22LR firearms, and just yesterday traded off a .308 Steyr SSG 69 on a Cooper M57 with a laminated stock.

For the first time in my adult life I am without a .308.... but I've got one hell of a nice and accurate .22LR. Besides my new Cooper M52 in .280 AI out shot the SSG rather badly, so I no longer needed a target rifle that couldn't keep up with a hunting rifle.

Also if today's session is any indication the Cooper M57 is a keeper, wonderful trigger probably around 2.5-3lbs, slick feeding of most ammo, positive extraction of most ammo, and good accuracy even with cheapo Federal Game Shock 36gr hollow points. Managed a 5 round 50 yard group with these that was flirting with 1/2" until the wind started blowing me, the bullets, and the target around. Still not bad for shooting over a rolled up rain coat on the hood of my pickup.

I have a few gripes though, first of all the match chamber is really tight and sometimes a loaded round will not extract since the bullet is into the rifling, although I had no issues with this once any standard rounds were fired. Also the CCI stingers gave me a failure to extract all the time with a loaded round, and even once with a fired case. My guess is the longer case is also getting into the rifling and is sticking a bit. Kind of a shame since they were easily holding under 3/4" at 50 yards in the wind with a ton of horizontal stringing. I also noticed just the faintest traces of tool marks from the reamer pilot when the barrel was crowned, not a big deal since accuracy doesn't seem to suffer any that I can tell and the marks have already smoothed out from firing live ammo. Honestly I am a bit of a loony when it comes to machine marks in a barrel anyway....
 
I also have a 39A and love the rifle, but the bore is rough and I needed to do a bit of work to make it fire consistently and extract well. Workmanship on the newer guns leaves a lot to be desired. Even the scope screw holes weren't aligned with the bore and the iron sights are not quite on top of the barrel. The metal and wood finish are very good, however.

I'd recommend finding a very good, used one.
 
I purchased a Henry on Monday, was planning on testing it on Tuesday, the wind make it impossible to preform the test we were going to do. A pond being taken over by turtles amd that said friend, said she enjoyed shooting those pest more than targets. I will post photos when I learn how to.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

J
  • Locked
Henry Youth .22lr
2
Replies
33
Views
2K
jtheise4
J
K
  • Locked
Lever vs. 308 Mauser vs. 22lr what to get
Replies
4
Views
881
makarov
M
1
  • Locked
What AR15 22lr conversion?
Replies
6
Views
404
Walkalong
Walkalong
E
  • Locked
Which lever .22LR? Marlin or Henry?
2
Replies
29
Views
6K
thatguy
T
J
  • Locked
.22lr to train new shooters with?
2
Replies
49
Views
2K
TyGuy
T
Back
Top