Help. I want an accurate 22 LR rifle.

[Hookeye]

My area has some decent jobs.
Indoor league the old BRNO target rigs were pretty popular.....late 90's.
Guys at work bought a few, slapped Leupold 6.5-20X on em.
10/22s redone by Clark would pop up now and then too.
Anschutz not uncommon.
Always wanted a MS in repeater.

Bouncing pop cans is fun. Esp when they hop up the backstop and are rolling back down.
Great fun can be had w a plinker.

But hunting requires a bit more precision.

And lining up your irons, or scope........and doing it all right and the bullet not going where it should sucks.
I got super PO'd at the range, watching my shots land where the crosshairs were not. Group was huge.
Benched off bipod..........I was getting pretty irate.

Went down to check target and it didn't look half as bad.
Oh yeah..........I was at 12X.

LOL

The thing is, my heavy 10/22 has about 300 rounds through it and is sub .5 at 50 yards.
I am happy with that.
And that with no bolt rework.
That is what I wanted, and I got it for 400 bucks (minus scope).

Big whoop dee doo.

Its too heavy for hunting and the grip sucks in field carry.
I want comparable accuracy in a sporter.

The question is...........how much will that cost?
As much as I hate to do it..........I keep coming back to putting a new bbl on my old sporter 10/22.
Because it feels that good in the hand.
Paid 250 for the rifle, and it appears I'll have to drop another 250 to see if it's my perfect hunting rifle.

 

[Hookeye]

I don't shoot much .22 rf................maybe I'm being too picky for the amount of usage.
But having shot for a while, I just want to grab a decent looking .22 rf from the safe and go out and hit small targets.
Not wanting BR50 performance.
If I want it I know what that costs.
But I don't want to be in the groove and watch bullets land other than where aimed either.
There certainly is for me a "good enough'.
That is .5 or less at 50 yards. Five shots.
Got a rig that does better than that, unfortunately it doesn't feel right.

Not trying to win any shoots.
Just want a nice looking, nice feeling rifle that makes for a good hunter.

 

[hdbiker]

I got a test target from Ruger, after re barreling my 77 MK11. NO CHARGE TOO !!!!!! hdbiker

 

[I6turbo]

I like the way CZs (rifles and handguns) feel and how they shoot for me, which is why I have several. To me, enjoying operating the gun is also a big factor, assuming the accuracy is there. I just like running a bolt action gun (as long as it has a solid, smooth action like the CZs do) more than my semi-automatics, kind of like I enjoy driving my "analog" 6-speed manual car more than I do automatics with lots of electronic doo-dads.

For the OP, I would suggest a CZ 452 (or 453) because they are what CZ built it's reputation on, and they have more of the old-school connection back to the original BRNO guns in how they are constructed. I'd go with the American (because they are pretty easy to find), or possibly a Varmint if you are focusing on bench shooting and happen across one, but the Varmint is much less plentiful. If you don't like the 452 after a while, there's always a decent market for them and there will still be plenty of 10/22s available later.

American:


Varmint (this one is actually, a 453, which is a 452 with a single set trigger):

 

[redneck2]

Mines a 453 Varminter with the single set really light.

 

[mavracer]

I have a Savage MkII FVSR in a Boyd SS evolution stock. Nice light and very accurate.

 

[d2wing]

We need a reality check here. The only competition proven rifle in that price range that is likely to meet that standard every shot, not just once, without upgrades is a CZ .And only with good ammo, rifle checked for flaws and a very good shooter. You may or may not get it with the many others mentioned but likely not. Only proven witnessed competition results count. Talk is cheap and everyone can outshoot the Olympic and benchrest shooters with their Marlins and Savages online. Twice a day on here.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I have shot in local sporter benchrest matches for going on ten years in two or three different places...Guess what wins 9 outta 10 times....A CZ....That is because 9 outta 10 shooters use them...lol...Sure, you see an occasional Rem 541S or T, maybe a Kimber, and possibly a Cooper, but the shooters figured out that right out of the box, a CZ is consistent and has a easy trigger to lighten and doesn't cost a fortune. I have owned at least half a dozen CZs and have had the pleasure to shoot several dozen more. They all shot very good. Some just shot better than others. I have never seen what I would call a bad one.

 

[Hookeye]

Paper doesn't lie........unlike a pop can.

Have yet to see a 513 or 52 w Unertl or Redfields at my new club.
I've heard some talk at the range about how great some low cost .22 rifles are.
Nobody has had one when I'm there. Or has pics of targets on their phones.

Even when I keep my big mouth shut and just shoot, I tend to honk off those around me.
Because I have the best target.

There have always been BS artists in the shooting/hunting ranks.
But I think the younger shooters, the internet types.............are worse than fishermen.

 

[Hookeye]

Don't care what people have, the reasons why, or how well they use it.
Even honest folks tend to suffer from revisionist history.
They remember things way better than they were.
You'll probably notice the sharper the person is, the better they shoot........and they keep records.

Had a 2nd cousin that killed a lot of big deer. He lived around the corner from my best hunting spot.
So naturally I believed him.
Died, went to funeral. Not one pic of a big buck. Not one. Bunch of 100" and smaller, mostly smaller.
Good old boy, rough as a cob, just a spinner of tall tales.

Which is fine.

They never show up at the shoots, so are of no concern.

My hunting bud, my first cousin...........was more wound up about the tall tales than me. Still mentions the BS LOL.

 

[Hookeye]

Got a good rifle? Can shoot it well?
Enjoy it

Want to post about it? Go ahead!

Was on another forum, guy w a diff economy rifle was braggin about his groups.
Took pics.

He called his group about 2/3 what it really was.
Guess center to center isn't about farthest span of holes, but the distance between the center area of the group, inside to inside.

LOL

 

[Hookeye]

Proly said before, I found out two of my deer killing coworkers have never shot a deer offhand past 50 yards.
Ever. Actually, found out a 3rd was that way recently.

Heck, jump a deer in CRP, it stands broadside at 150, Knight MZ...........pow. Double lunged. No big deal.
Tell em you filled your tag like that and they think you're full of crap.

I made the mistake of thinking that since I'm average, others proly did what I did.
Guess not.

The half inch or smaller .22 rf group at 50 yards off a bipod............is either what everybody else does w cheap stuff.........or puts you in alien territory (not a human feat).

Rather silly the polarity.

 

[Hookeye]

Just shoot, take pics.
Let the truth speak for itself.

Hopefully I'll document my shooting this week.

I don't expect anything exceptional. But have some CCI minimag, Blazer and WW Powerpoint 42 max to test.
Two rifles.

1022 w orig bbl and another old used factory bbl
and the CZ.

 

[d2wing]

I am not real big on pictures. I have seen too many extremely improbable of those. Some are legit but I shoot enough open competition to believe some.
One should keep in mind that at 25 yards 1 MOA is 1/4 inch. 50 yards is 1/2 inch roughly. It takes a good gun and good ammo to not throw flyers. 10 round groups or individual shots on multiple targets can be aggravating. Yes flyers count.

 

[Hookeye]

You betcha fliers count! It is annoying to have a good group going and then watch as you do everything right and it opens up. One thing many people do that screws them up is having their impact point be on to their aiming point. As the aiming spot gets chewed up it adds in sighting error. When testing ammo i dont care where it hits as long as my aiming point stays clean

 

[Hookeye]

Fwiw. My current factory 1022 does show a first shot high rather often. Reportedly this is a firing pin issue and there is a mod for it with that removed my groups would shrink a fair bit.

 

[Hookeye]

If i was a bigger jerk than i am i could load six shots into my 1022 and just dump the first off target and then put the next five on paper. And that would be five consecutive shots......but imho not an honest group. First to last is in the group

 

[cdb1]

CZ for me.

 

[Hookeye]

BTW....a reg at my LGS has the Tikka .22 rf. Says its a great shooter....just has an ugly magazine.

 

[MutinousDoug]

1989 Ruger Sporter:


The image is turned CCW but I shot the groups: LL, UL, LR using Norma Tac 22, 10 shot groups at 50 yds off sandbags on a bench, about my average off bags.
The gun has had the bolt shortened .005", the channel opened up to free float, a shim on the right side of the receiver to allow for sling use, the sear stoned and a 4x Burris Mini PA scope.
The first group is 2.5", the second: 2.25" and the last is 1.25"

 

[Hookeye]

Pretty rifle

 

[MutinousDoug]

Pretty rifle

Thanks,
I hate to modify anything about it that changes the way it looks so I go slowly.

 

[Hookeye]

Always liked the clean look of the DSP. Had one back in the 90s. Plate instead of pad. Dunno when they went to pad, but the older fingergrooves were plate too.....so just liked the continuity of that.

 

[Picher]

If you want a really good shooting .22LR at not too much money, it's hard to beat a used Rem 581. I've got one with a custom barrel that will beat lots of target rifles. That action has extremely fast lock time and strong pin impact. The trigger can be tuned to provide a 2 lb pull with little backlash. Mine has a barrel that's held in by High-Strength Locktite only, so no pins to deform the bore.

I had a take-off bull barrel on this one at first, but it wasn't a good shooter. The stainless barrel shown was a relatively new Lilja take-off from a gunsmith's benchrest rifle that he thought didn't shoot well, but was wrong. It was something else. He offered the barrel, set up for my 581 and tapered for about $150, so I jumped at it.

Yeah, mine's a bit modified, but my son has one box-stock that shoots quite well.

 

[Hookeye]

I had a 581 that was OK.
Had a 541T-HB that was better.

Neither as good as my Anschutz 141.

Never wanted a rig that shot OK with various brands of ammo.
Never wanted one that was superb with only one type either.

More ammo options these days.
And folks demanding more of non target rifles.
Think overall today's .22rf fans have it pretty good.

If I was to get another Remington, it'd be a 582.
Hate the ^%$# plastic mags and projection.
A 582 in walnut is just a cool old school squirrel rifle.
Tube feed is fine w me.
Have had the Marlin bolt rigs.
582 please.