Best .22lr option if I can only own one.

mikeystew said:
Soooooo subjective, and depends entirely on what criteria you consider important. I went through literally dozens of .22's over the years and also made the decision to whittle it down to "just one". My personal criteria was it had to be accurate for obvious reasons, durable enough to last until my great grandkids lifetime, had to have both iron sights and a low power scope, and a tubular magazine for simplicity and high capacity. No tacticool Lightning fast reloads were necessary.

Eventually I settled on an old mossberg 146-B. And before you laugh, be aware that it has a hand lead lapped bore from the factory, and all wear parts are made of colour case hardened steel. Accuracy wise it'll shoot virtually any ammo into 1/2"-3/4" groups at 50m with the old low profile 4x scope that's on it. All I had to do was make a new steel trigger guard from scratch. Cost me less than $300, and it's my one lifetime gun. 4 years on and I honestly see no reason to buy another .22. Especially not with the prices going up the way they are nowadays.

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Let the ignorant ones laugh. Had one until dad passed, mine was also very accurate. I remember it felt like such a huge gun carrying it as a kid, between it and a H&R 929 no bunny or grouse was safe for miles.
 
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j_06 said:
Let the ignorant ones laugh. Had one until dad passed, mine was also very accurate. I remember it felt like such a huge gun carrying it as a kid, between it and a H&R 929 no bunny or grouse was safe for miles.
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Thanks for sharing, It certainly feels like a full size rifle but at the same time it's not terribly heavy. Very comfortable to shoulder and points instinctively.
The fact that it can reliably feed and shoot S-L-And LR was also another one of my criteria to check off. It'll hold 30 rds of short, 25 long or 20 long rifle in the tube mag. Load it in the morning and shoot all day as they say.
 
Jam free? Sounds like you need a bolt gun.

Was shooting my mark 2 at 100m yesterday in light wind shredding clay pigeons. highly recommend anything by savage.
 
cz scout

after having spent a lot of time in remote places, as well as deep in jungles, I have come to appreciate reliability, accuracy, toughness, and convenient size. The scout meets all those criteria... It is the best compromise. It is nearly as accurate as a match grade 22, has iron sights that work well, can securely fasten a scope, short barrel doesn't catch on much, short stock likewise, bit of a recessed crown so less worry about nicking it,. Its simply a robust little rifle that is as accurate as needed.

Have owned many 22's, still do, but for the OP's criteria, the scout meets everything he's looking for and better than most.
 
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dizzy said:
cz scout

after having spent a lot of time in remote places, as well as deep in jungles, I have come to appreciate reliability, accuracy, toughness, and convenient size. The scout meets all those criteria... It is the best compromise. It is nearly as accurate as a match grade 22, has iron sights that work well, can securely fasten a scope, short barrel doesn't catch on much, short stock likewise, bit of a recessed crown so less worry about nicking it,. Its simply a robust little rifle that is as accurate as needed.

Have owned many 22's, still do, but for the OP's criteria, the scout meets everything he's looking for and better than most.
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Among my CZ452s (Scout, Style and Varmint), the Scout will be my keeper. For all the right reasons stated above. Right, for me at least.

A second choice would be the Savage MK1GY. 4 inches longer than the Scout, almost if not equal accuracy, single shot means no magazine to lose.

The only thing I would change on the above two rifles would be a proper synthetic stock for hunting, if available.
 
This is where it gets back to what criteria is best for him. I also owned a 452 scout for a while, and while it shot good, that front sight hood was an eyesore and snagged on seemingly everything. The bolt was stiff, the trigger was heavy, the LOP was too short, and I found it too lightweight to steady for offhand shooting.

Some of those things I rectified like adding a butt pad Extention and doing a trigger job, but ultimately I didn't like it as much as some of my other rifles and sold it to someone who would use it more often.

This is such a subjective question... What feels right for one person might not be right for someone else. Having said all that I do still think the Scout is a well built little gun. It just wasn't for me. Hopefully we're at least giving the OP some ideas here, though It would be nice if he would elaborate a bit on what he looks for in a rifle besides semi auto or bolt for hunting or plinking.
 
If buying a 22 comes down to feel, then everyone obviously will have a different gun. At the end of the day, some guns are just flat out better than others regardless of feel. They are more robust, tougher, more accurate, can take more abuse, are more reliable, feed better. Take all the feelings away, and the CZ scout is about the best bang for the buck in 22's. You can't kill them, and they keep shooting straight. If you can't handle the LOP tape a rag to the end, if the front site hood keeps getting caught on everything either buy a roll of tape and cover it up, or a machete to remove all the crap that gets stuck on it.

For a 22 to buy and bury in the sour kraut barrel to use later, or throw in the truck or quad or back pack and have it bounce around and still shoot straight, its hard to beat the scout.
 
Well what good is the "best" gun if you don't like it as much as others? Like I said, it's going to be subjective. The Scout is a youth rifle and isn't going to be comfortable for a lot of people. I agree is a great gun, but saying it's the best bang for your buck is a stretch.
I agree some guns are just flat out better, more robust, take more abuse, are more reliable and feed better and are more accurate than other guns (such as my extremely comfortable to shoot 146-b), but if you just don't like it for whatever reason, then it's not the best gun for you is it?
 
Militaries are in big trouble as they issue guns guys 'dont like' or don't 'fit' perfectly. So therefore the guns must not be good for the user......

When the dust settles some guns are much better than others regardless of their fit to one particular user.

I am well over 6 foot and shoot a scout as well as any other of my rifles. If you can't adjust to the gun then it's a bigger issue than the rifle.
 
dizzy said:
Militaries are in big trouble as they issue guns guys 'dont like' or don't 'fit' perfectly. So therefore the guns must not be good for the user......

When the dust settles some guns are much better than others regardless of their fit to one particular user.

I am well over 6 foot and shoot a scout as well as any other of my rifles. If you can't adjust to the gun then it's a bigger issue than the rifle.
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I get that there is a lot of bias on this forum. But holy heck, you should really let it go man, we aren't talking about military applications of tactical weaponry here, we're talking about .22's and which one we all would choose if we could have only one.

Just because you love the scout and hold it above all others doesn't mean that's going to be true for everyone. Like I said, it's a great little rifle... But it wasn't for me. Move on. I've already found the perfect rifle for me. I prefer hi capacity tubular magazines, I like its colour case hardened wear parts, I like its adjustable trigger, I really like its lead lapped bore, I love it's swing away aperture sights that can stay on the gun with a scope mounted, I like that I can feed and shoot S-L and LR... All criteria that I like in a .22 rifle. Does the Scout tick any of those boxes? No. And guess what? I would be willing to bet 8/10 people would not care for it as much as I do and would choose something else. And that's OK, I'm not going to go ramming it down everyone's throat telling them mine is the best and if you don't agree there must be something wrong with you because the gun is perfect. They're all just rimfire rifles at the end of the day, and people are entitled to their own opinions.
 
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Mikey. Glad you found the 22 that suits your needs and it has all the features that satisfy your wants.

I am not jamming down anyone's throat anything. And like you simply expressing an opinion. I have likely lost more 22s in the Orinoco river than most will ever own. For me when answering these types of threads I remove my personal biases and answer based on the criteria asked. My daily user is a Fortner short barreled Annie. Love it. But it's not about what I love it's about what I have found in my experiences all over the world to be a solid reliable stout accurate 22.... And for that a scout fits the bill quite nicely. Sure a full size is nicer to shoulder but in tight quarters it's more of a pita. Ripping through jungles the site hiod on the scout has never been an issue fwiw.

You like yours and I like mine....But like I said I don't recommend what I like best.... I try to recommend what works best.

I like Brough superiors but Honda's are a lot more trouble free and reliable so I'd recommend a Honda...Even though I don't ride one.
 
I hear ya Dizzy. And I apologize if I was being argumentative honestly, chronic back pain has left me a bit more ornery than usual lately... as can probably be seen from some of my recent posts. Again, I do think the Scout is a great gun and might suit the OP well, I don't know what his criteria is as all he said was bolt or semi under $600 which leaves a heck of a lot of room for interpretation, I was just adding my .2c as to why it wasn't best suited for me. And I'm with ya on the Honda. :)
 
There is one feature of the CZ452/453, perhaps even the 455 (I wouldn't know because I do not own a 455) that I really like is the fact that you can dry fire without damaging the firing pin or the breech face.

I do not know if you can dry fire extensively, but the design of the firing pin is such that, when you fire it, its tip stops just short of the breech face. Ergo, no potential for damage at all.

When Shane at Reliable Gun dismantled the bolt, so easy BTW, and showed me this feature on the first CZ452 I ever bought 15 years ago, it erased any doubts I had about the 452. Online research made me like the 452, but this dry fire feature sealed the deal. Bought the Style Shane had on rack, although I came to buy the Varmint which was on back order. Picked up my varmint a month later. Still have these two babies and added a Scout couple years ago.

I remember my one and only Annie, a 1416 double set trigger, had a firing pin dimple on the breech face. It was a floor model, last 1416 on stock and they weren't Annies anymore. I don't think this issue affected reliability or accuracy but still.
 
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