Advice on buying. 22 semi
- Thread starter Chris189
- Start date
Remember, .22 rimfires are filthy animals. Consider the ease with which you can get to the action/bolt/trigger group to clean it, and if you can clean the barrel from the breech end without removing the barrel (optimally). Removable barrels are handy, but it means that they may lose scope zero when put back together. Do remember that .22 barrels don't need a ton of cleaning, just occasionally for typical shooters.
Another plus for the Winchester Wildcat. One press of a button and the trigger/bolt comes out, and you can use a cleaning rod from the chamber end without having to modify the gun in any way.
Personally, I'd be on the lookout for one of the numerous vintage .22 rifles produced in vast numbers by the major manufacturers. A clean used rifle is going to be less expensive than a comparable new one. Browning, Marlin, Remington, Mossberg, Winchester, Savage/Stevens, Lakefield, Cooey all made respectable rifles. If one uses a box magazine, just make sure the magazine is in good order and spares are available.
In my case you are kinda a right. I only bought a 10/22 TD because of the cool Magpul X22 Backpacker stock.
It doesn't get taken down much because it's already compact with the 9" barrel. I blame the purchase mostly on Leigh lol
Fun little plinker......
Wayupnorth, you have some nice 10/22 builds
I'll second tiriaq as well. Most Mossberg semis had a screw in plug at the rear, through which came the breech block. And easy access for a cleaning rod. Some other semis like the Winchester 63 break apart at the action. Lots of choices.
Accuracy Plus in Peterborough has a 1980s 10/22 with Bushnell Sharpshooter scope in see through rings @$399. Looks good in the photos. Being from the '80s, it has the metal trigger housing and barrel band, not plastic. Might be worth consideration.
The older 10/22s like that were (IMO) good little rifles. I had a carbine that I bought at a shop in Saskatoon in.. 1991? Shot LOTS of gophers, then took it to NZ, had the barrel threaded for a screw-on suppressor, shot LOTS of rabbits and possums, and sold it to a Kiwi before I returned to Canada in 2000. (Now the Gov of NZ has banned the 10/22 in response to the mosque shootings in Christchurch.) I had modified that with the quick release bolt stop, a Clark custom trigger kit, and a hole through the back of the receiver for cleaning from the breech with a rod rather than a pull-through. That rifle had the barrel band. The ones without barrel bands may or may not be free-floating - I've bedded my bull-barrel one out to about 2 inches past the chamber and put a blob of epoxy up near the end of the stock for the barrel to rest on and take some of the weight off the receiver - it's a heavy barrel. Is it more accurate? Haven't really checked - it will still do "minute of gopher." (wrt the one I sold in NZ, "muricans" use to give me grief because I paid more than $100 for it - new at the shop it was $175...
brownbear53
CGN Regular
- Location
- Vancouver, BC
That blob of epoxy probably did more harm to your accuracy than good, most action screws and stocks will handle the receiver just fine, most new 10/22s without the band are 100% free floated.
If a receiver/stock really had issues they wouldn’t be free floating 24” barrels on much larger rifles
So true, I remember buying my very first gun from SIR when I was 14(which I still own), it was a semi Squires Bingham 22LR with a hardwood stock. Yeah I know everyone craps on them but I thought it was awesome probably shot well over 10K rounds through it over its life. After a couple of bricks it would start with failures to extract or stove pipe because of all the blowback residue. It was a PITA to clean. I think I took it down for cleaning once, lost a tiny spring and decide I'm not doing that again. So instead a squirt of WD40, PAM or what ever was handy into the action made it 100% functional for another 2-3 bricks, rinse and repeat. Honestly, it was never worse for the wear and always minute of rabbit head. Basically I came to the conclusion not to overthink it's maintenance and that its generally really hard to kill even a "crappy" 22LR semi.
The SBs can be a bit of an adventure to take down and reassemble. I saw broken firing pins fairly often. The steel safety blocking the aluminum trigger could cause problems, and when they went from a die cast trigger housing to a plastic one, it was not an improvement. The splined pins didn't hold well after repeated dis- and reassembly.
Adventure for sure
I don't abuse my guns but I remember how little I paid when it was new and the fact that I would probably never sell my childhood gun with its associated fond memories and consequently it would never be someone else's problem(at least in my lifetime) even if it was abused. That said I was recently watching a youtube video on the breakdown of my Sauer 303 semi and I have to say it just might be worse than the Squires Bingham. Funny thing is the Sauer manual doesn't suggest taking it down for cleaning rather simply squirting a little oil into the action for routine maintenance. I think I will use something a little higher grade than butter flavored PAM or WD40 this time
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Some of the more common comments are Fail to Fire and Fail to Eject.
My sporter that I use for Speed Steel does not like Federal.
Part boxes of Remington Thunderbolt, CCI" SV and MiniMags and Blazer all go in to the Speed Loader and come out the barrel without a hitch.
A little lube will help in many cases. Took on the job of cleaning a stainless model that had lube coming out every hole.
Testing of ammunition is two fold: the first is to avoid failure functions and the second is accuracy.
My sporter that I use for Speed Steel does not like Federal.
Part boxes of Remington Thunderbolt, CCI" SV and MiniMags and Blazer all go in to the Speed Loader and come out the barrel without a hitch.
A little lube will help in many cases. Took on the job of cleaning a stainless model that had lube coming out every hole.
Testing of ammunition is two fold: the first is to avoid failure functions and the second is accuracy.
10/22 design is good and easy to tear down for cleaning, also easy to improve anything you don't like about it due to the huge aftermarket. I bought one of the old target models wayyy back, barrel was #### but Green Mountain SS Fluted were only $100 at the time, turned it into a real shooter. It's always been very reliable, use to be able to tear through BC 25 rounders without a hiccup.
Another one that won me over was the Nork SA22 clones, at $170 a few years ago turned out to be pretty decent. They were NOS from the 80's, the design itself is over 100 years old, all steel, triggers are good, handling is excellent, need a full tear down to clean all the whale oil preservatives off it, little deburr and polish of any sliding parts that look rough, run like a top after. Bottom eject is something to get use to...not great off a bench lol and occasionally offhand you will get one down your shirt cuff or into your sandals lol
Another one that won me over was the Nork SA22 clones, at $170 a few years ago turned out to be pretty decent. They were NOS from the 80's, the design itself is over 100 years old, all steel, triggers are good, handling is excellent, need a full tear down to clean all the whale oil preservatives off it, little deburr and polish of any sliding parts that look rough, run like a top after. Bottom eject is something to get use to...not great off a bench lol and occasionally offhand you will get one down your shirt cuff or into your sandals lol
