The next gun fad. Precision 22lr rifles.

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R.W.Dale

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In this century we’ve seen gun fads come and gun fads go. We started with all things 1911 all the time and went to AR based carbines that didn’t weigh much more, from there we went off on a tangent of long range “tactical rifles”.

The latter spawned a small crop of “training” 22’s that are quickly becoming a phenomenon all their own. Now you have a couple of higher end makers making supposedly better accurized 10/22 clones as well as a whole slew of chassis 22 rifles.

Unfortunately I only see the cost to avidly shoot centerfire as only going up due to a whole host of circumstances possibly to beyond the means of your average Joe. Combine this with a slew of new 22 specific competitions cropping up and folks I believe we are looking at the newest gun fad starting up.
 
Rule3 said:
?????

Precision 22 LR rifles have been around for a very long time.

Yes, there seems to be a trend in the semi auto versions, but just go to Rim Fire Central and some of those guys have been spending thousands to "mod" 10/22's forever!:what:
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there’s a huge difference between previously existing and being the current in vogue, radioactive hot, totally cool, gotta have one gun fad of the day*.

Take the 1911 fad. Around 2006 or so if you didn’t have a poorly running $1800 1911 you were a gun nobody. For the rest of that decade virtually all “new” gun introductions were 1911 variants.

*by day I mean these thing tend to run 4 to 7 years.
 
R.W.Dale said:
...I believe we are looking at the newest gun fad starting up.
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And I also do believe you're correct. :thumbup:

A year ago you wouldn't have see one such platform and caliber in my local Scheel's but the last time I was there (last week) there were at least four different models by at least three different manufacturers, including a rather pricy Bergara, in stock at the store, and several more coming up on their website, including another pricy Christensen with a carbon fiber barrel, and another even more pricy Bergara, also with a carbon fiber barrel.

It's almost to the point where they're going to have to station an employee with bucket and mop to clean up the customer drool. :what:
 
If so, I think its great- a lot less noise at the range than when youve got 15 people booming away with AR pistols........

I still say that when you are looking at a firing line and want to find the best shooter, seek out the older guy single loading a .22. Odds are, hes more dangerous than the next 5 tacticlowns put together.
 
Long range rimfire shooting seems to have become a big thing and the new rifles are coming to accommodate it. I look at it as trying to score hits with a round that has slightly better ballistics than a mortar at the ranges these guys are shooting.
Fads are a fact of life in all things. The only difference between women's clothing and guns is the speed in which the changes occur. :D
 
Oh no, someone found a new various on an old thing to have fun with... :neener:

Precision rimfire is a lot more affordable and more accessible than Precision centerfire. The big thing is most outdoor ranges can host a Precision 22LR match since you only need 100-300 yards to host one. The number of ranges that can host PRS style matches are much fewer (especially here in the east) since ranges tend to be much longer (1000+ yards) that many ranges can't support.

Yes you can spend a heap of money on a rimfire style PRS rifle but you don't need to, to be competitive. A decent 22LR bolt or semi-auto with a modest mid range scope, a bipod and a Game-changer style shooting bag will take you a long way in the sport. For well less than $1000 you can be very competitive.

And cost of ammo, even in 2020 panic prices, 22LR is much cheaper to shoot than center-fire especially center-fire ammo (factory or hand-loaded) that is competitive at PRS ranges.

And it is great practice for PRS matches since the rimfire matches use many of the same shooting techniques and challenges just at shorter ranges with smaller targets.

iJFfJsPl.jpg

My 10/22 rigged up for NRL22 matches. Clerke barrel, Vorqurtesen trigger, Athlon FFP scope, the Atlas bipod cost twice what the original 10/22 cost :D, though there is very little of that original 10/22 left. The matches have been a lot of fun and I have meet a bunch of good people in the process.
 
kBob said:
Oh goodie! Annie of Ulm and I have been waiting for them little metal animals to start migrating again for the last two decades!

Chickens and piggies and turkeys Oh my! ... and Rams way out yonder, too!

-kBob
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At the last NRL22 Match for a bonus stage we used 1/5 scale NRA/IHMSA silhouette targets at 125 yards and match sticks at 25 yards. Fun stage. That little chicken at 125 yards was a challenge and match sticks at 25 yards is very satisfying.
 
NIGHTLORD40K said:
I still say that when you are looking at a firing line and want to find the best shooter, seek out the older guy single loading a .22. Odds are, hes more dangerous than the next 5 tacticlowns put together.
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I'm an older guy. I don't consider my self dangerous at all. I can still shoot fairly well though. There are few of us geezers that shoot there that can still put our shots pretty close to where we want them, 22 or larger.

Yesterday I went to the range to sight in my newest toy I had just finished up and there were only a couple of shotgunners at the clay pigeon setup when I arrived. Nice, and I can get something done was my thought. That lasted all of three minutes and four young guys arrived and set up right beside me. Lots of hollering and stomping around and little else going on. Then another group of four more and they kept on coming. All young. loud, and disorganized and I was spending about 90% of my time waiting on someone to go down range and back while listening to the BS. I put up with it getting a few shots in now and then but after I wasted about 30 minutes without managing to take a shot I gave up, loaded up, and came home. It was my fault I guess as I learned long ago to avoid the range on weekends. I just wanted to play with my new toy as it's been too windy to do so for the last week and I'm having eye surgery next week and another in three more weeks so no more shooting for me for for awhile.
 
What makes a 22 rifle a precision 22 rifle? Does it have to look tactical or Buck Rodgers or be all black? In some types of racing and sporting events the competitors have to use the same equipment or equipment meeting specific requirements. If this is not to become quickly as costly as that which is already too costly, 1022 rifles or their ilk, or even require a specific off the shelf model and specific ammunition. I am afraid shooting and gun sports are in for a rough ride and slim pickings for the foreseeable future. I never quit buying 22, was buying 22 before the first shortage. I have plenty to shoot the rest of my life but to hunt and shoot, not compete. All the precision 22 rifles in the world will be of no use without ammo.
 
Precision and highly specialized .22 RF rifles have been around for a long time already. Google biathlon if you want to see some precision rifles that are also highly specialized. But there may well be some truth to the idea that precision shooting of .22RF may well "catch on" for a variety of reasons. in a variety of contexts besides such specialized sports as biathlon.
 
3Crows said:
What makes a 22 rifle a precision 22 rifle? Does it have to look tactical or Buck Rodgers or be all black? In some types of racing and sporting events the competitors have to use the same equipment or equipment meeting specific requirements. If this is not to become quickly as costly as that which is already too costly, 1022 rifles or their ilk, or even require a specific off the shelf model and specific ammunition. I am afraid shooting and gun sports are in for a rough ride and slim pickings for the foreseeable future. I never quit buying 22, was buying 22 before the first shortage. I have plenty to shoot the rest of my life but to hunt and shoot, not compete. All the precision 22 rifles in the world will be of no use without ammo.
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At least in NRL22 the rules are pretty lax on equipment. If the gun and scope together cost less than $1050 you are in the Base Class, otherwise you are in Open.
 
I predict something a bit more nonsensical in that folks will start campaigning for 22LR to be legalized for all hunting so we can continue down this smaller is better fad.
 
3Crows said:
What makes a 22 rifle a precision 22 rifle? Does it have to look tactical or Buck Rodgers or be all black?.
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Many (maybe most) .22 LR rifles are already "precision" right out of the box. You mount them in a fancy rigid chassis with an expensive scope and bipod not because all that gear makes the rifle shoot more precisely, but to make it possible for the shooter to shoot the rifle as precisely as it's capable of shooting. ie achieving results that the flimsy polymer stock it originally came mounted in and the one-lug scope bases it originally came with make impossible.

Plus, yeah, it does look way more cool at the range. ;)
 
Been shooting a 22lr at 2-300 yards for a long time.

But yes ,now it is becoming a new fad.

(I started because 22lr rifles and ammo were cheaper than centerfire and you got your hand slapped pretty hard when you goofed at 100 with match 22)
 
Even 22lr is hard to get; I suspect you will see a rise in the popularity of more higher grade air rifles in .22, .25 and larger. The UK folks use large bore air rifles for hunting. Pellets are cheap
 
So are you saying precision chassis rifles that have already been around for a couple decades and is gaining popularity is a fad. Or that making 22 rifles that mimic centerfire rifles that's been going on for a more than a century is.
I'm not sure you have a working definition of "fad".
 
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