The venerable bolt action is often regarded the "most reliable" long gun action, but let's face it -- it's a pretty slow way to feed and eject rounds and operating the action makes it difficult to keep on target.
I suppose everyone has their own criteria of reliability and how various 22 rifle actions meet it. My criteria of reliablity is as follows, with each item being of equal importance to the rest.
1. The ease of using the action to load the first round into the chamber and the likelihood of the firing system properly striking the rim and firing the round.
2. The likelihood of the casing being ejected after firing and the succesive rounds being successfully loaded into the chamber and fired, etc.
3. The ease with which the operator can stay on target as the action is manipulated during continuous firing.
4. Of course no firearm can fire a bad round, but what the operator has to do with the action after that FTF in order to maintain fire IS an important part of reliability, IMO. How long does it take the operator to "correct" the Failure to Fire, Failure to Feed, or Failure to Eject, get the next round in the chamber and fire it, etc?
5. Speed of firing. The least average total time that it takes to get 15 rounds downrange and on target under possibly difficult environmental conditions such as in near darkness, in the rain, or in the cold.
With the above criteria in mind, I arrange the following actions according to their reliability with the most reliable at the top of the list and the least reliable at the bottom of the list:
1. Pump
2. Semi-auto
3. Lever
4. Bolt w magazine
5. Bolt, single shot
6. Break, single shot
Again, I'm pretty sure reliability means different things to different people. For example, I deliberately chose a 15-round limit and did not mention the ease of reloading, or changing out, a magaine because I might consider that to be irrelevant in a 22 that is going to be used say for home defense. Maybe you would like to get 500 rounds downrange and on target as fast as possible, so the action that most reliably will do that for you may very well be different than the one I have chosen. Maybe all you care about is that you only need one shot once in awhile and you also want an ultra-simple action that you can easily repair and "keep going" yourself. Etc.
What is your criteria of reliability and how do you arrange the various actions according to your particular criteria?
I suppose everyone has their own criteria of reliability and how various 22 rifle actions meet it. My criteria of reliablity is as follows, with each item being of equal importance to the rest.
1. The ease of using the action to load the first round into the chamber and the likelihood of the firing system properly striking the rim and firing the round.
2. The likelihood of the casing being ejected after firing and the succesive rounds being successfully loaded into the chamber and fired, etc.
3. The ease with which the operator can stay on target as the action is manipulated during continuous firing.
4. Of course no firearm can fire a bad round, but what the operator has to do with the action after that FTF in order to maintain fire IS an important part of reliability, IMO. How long does it take the operator to "correct" the Failure to Fire, Failure to Feed, or Failure to Eject, get the next round in the chamber and fire it, etc?
5. Speed of firing. The least average total time that it takes to get 15 rounds downrange and on target under possibly difficult environmental conditions such as in near darkness, in the rain, or in the cold.
With the above criteria in mind, I arrange the following actions according to their reliability with the most reliable at the top of the list and the least reliable at the bottom of the list:
1. Pump
2. Semi-auto
3. Lever
4. Bolt w magazine
5. Bolt, single shot
6. Break, single shot
Again, I'm pretty sure reliability means different things to different people. For example, I deliberately chose a 15-round limit and did not mention the ease of reloading, or changing out, a magaine because I might consider that to be irrelevant in a 22 that is going to be used say for home defense. Maybe you would like to get 500 rounds downrange and on target as fast as possible, so the action that most reliably will do that for you may very well be different than the one I have chosen. Maybe all you care about is that you only need one shot once in awhile and you also want an ultra-simple action that you can easily repair and "keep going" yourself. Etc.
What is your criteria of reliability and how do you arrange the various actions according to your particular criteria?
,and they seem to be appearing more rapidly on the E&E now at very good prices), the one thing they will not do well is provide you with the ability to go prone and make rapid, repeat shots without significantly shifting your body 
