My first semi auto.22....Ruger, or ???

Wis3guy

Wis3guy

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Hey everyone,

Forgive me as the search function is not so great here....I am looking to make my first gun purchase a .22 caliber rifle. I have shot handguns, shotguns, and rifles before, but figure a .22 is a good place to start as someone who wants to get into shooting seriously with their own gun (Im also looking at acquiring a semi auto .556 rifle before they are outlawed, but more to have vs shoot right now). I had contemplated building something from complete scratch, as I am very mechanically inclined, but figured it might be best to start basic and build from there.

All things point to the Ruger 10/22 semi auto. I don't see myself leaving the gun "untouched" for long, and it seems the Ruger has a whole host of upgrades for it. In trying to decide with the various options, I am stuck between whether its worth spending for the "takedown" model with the barrel that can unthread, or just going with the basic, no stainless (does that really help or matter?) model that is about $350 everywhere you look. A bx25 trigger, stock of my choice, and maybe a scope or red dot later and I would probably be pretty happy. Or should I be looking at another .22 completely? Savage? GSG? I want something that will work well with maintenance and has options for customizing and growth.

I am open to input and insight....and I always love to hear the "if I were to do it again" stuff, as that's usually the best advice in my own experience lol
 
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My comment wont be helpful here, but honestly I would consider a bolt gun over a semi.

While semis are somewhat fun, they always lose the shine after a while as they tend to be less accurate, or... shooters tend to try less... I mean there are nice ones, but I have always had way more fun shooting out to 300 yards with my 22.... Plus, reloading mags gets boring ;)

Now that I have said that, if you are sold on a semi, you cant go wrong with a 10/22.
there is a tonne of aftermarket stuff, (though I would look at the TUFF22. or call DLASK so you can still get higher capacity mags)

You can very quickly spend so much on a .22, that you could have ended up with a pretty nice other rifle (or several different style guns)

Also don't skimp on your optics, whether scope or red dot, buy something of good quality, so if you chose to go the route of a PPC or something later, you can carry over.

Make friends at the range, try things out, and you'll figure out what you like.
 
Daver has a few points there, especially that you could buy a better rifle that would be more accurate 'outa the box' for very little more. And that a semi may not be nearly as accurate as a bolt, until you get up over $1000 or more for the semi. Your thought about "Upgrades" indicates you're aware of the possibilities but maybe not the reasons they're out there. 'Upgrades" are needed to get function and accuracy up to the level of better brands and you'll end up spending as much as a 'better' gun like a CZ or Tikka before you reach their quality. A lot depends on whether you want 'tricked-up' rifle or a 'quality' one. Also, for a 22 a red dot will only get you to about 'beer-can' accuracy until you get to the higher quality units, the dot covers 2-3 MOA or more. I have a $500 scope on a $300 Bolt rifle and shoot 1/2"-3/4" @ 50 while my 22 with a dot is only good for 1.5 - 2".
JMO - YMMV
 
I should add that my 10/22 was $250 new, I spent $150 on a new barrel, $200 on the first stock.... then $200 on the second stock... then, went back to the factory one.

I went through a couple $150-$200 optics, and bought 5 or six mags.

all in all, I spent well over $1500 on my 10/22 over its lifetime... and it was fun.


That was at 10 years ago pricing.


But in retrospect, I could have bought a nice bolt gun, a semi fun gun, and optics for both, had I known what I wanted.




something to consider.





I cant speak too much on it though, cause my $200 savage MK2, sits in a Boyds AT-one ($400), with a Bushnell elite 3-12 LRTSi FFP ($1200), has about ten mags, and shoots minute of pop can at 250m.
 
It all depends on what you plan to do with it.


Are you looking for accuracy? Then avoid the 10/22. You’ll spend more than twice the price of the gun to make it as accurate as a gun you could’ve bought for half the price.


Are you looking for noisy Lego? Then the 10/22 is the gun for you. Short of the AR-15, there isn’t a gun on the market that has more aftermarket components, bells, and whistles available.
 
BTW, My semi with a dot is a Savage-64, under $200 plus a $100 dot. It was around 1"@50 with a scope but I wanted better so got a Savage B22-FV bolt gun.
PS - You should check out the EE for good used rifles, often great deals. No tax too.
 
I love my marlin 795. They're not being made anymore (Ruger might bring them back, but I wouldn't hold my breath) but they're still available used. Last round bolt hold open, high cap mags, and reasonable accuracy for the price.

My next semi 22 will be a Winchester wildcat. I shoot left handed and they have a reversible safety which is petty unique in the 22lr world. With their mags they have a last round hold open, they also take 10-22 mags but those don't have the bolt hold open.

I don't like the 10-22 personally. I only have experience with one (my best friend owns one), but it's left me with zero desire to own one unless I was planning on spending a bunch of money to replace most of the parts. That said, if you're willing to spend the money they're hard to beat for both reliability and accuracy - but out of the box it's nothing special imo.
 
Hey
I started with a 10/22 and upgraded for accurracy then i bought a cz . I prefer the cz but the 10/22 is still fun and accurate . I am tempted to put some peep sights on for fast quick shots. So in other words one wont be enough. I would think 10/22 or a winchester wildcat and keep it basic until you really know what you want. Trigger upgrades are the best bang for your buck . Avoid flashy, stuff good luck.
 
My stock 10/22 was ####e for accuracy. Minute of barn, and Ruger found nothing wrong with it when I sent it in.
After a $350 Kidd ULW barrel and a $50 Magnum Research stock it was an entirely different animal. Accuracy rivals my 457 MTR, for similar all-in cost.
You don't need to go full out to get one to shoot, but the option is there.
 
10/22 is my choice and these can be made to shoot very accurately all the way out to 400yds.

Doesn't need to cost a ton.. although you can easily dump a bucket load of money into this platform.

Most of our current rifles started life as Carbines bought in end of season sales... so the upfront cost is very low too.

Being able to double tap a gong at distance is certainly one of this platforms many benefits over a bolt when competing in LR rimfire PRS.

Jerry

Jerry
 
Thanks for all the input so far guys! I guess I should have said what my plans are.....or atleast, try to half figure them out myself.

I have a friend with about 100 yards of property where we were planning to setup a VTAC board and some targets for some fun plink action. I know long range accuracy is not the forte of a untouched semi auto .22. That said, I am not married to the idea of a Ruger 10/22, especially if there is better out there for the money. My max budget on this is around $600...and yes, I have always kinda been the start with some basic and hot rod it to your liking, so that same appeal brought me to the Ruger 10/22. However, I am all ears for what may be a better choice. I have not looked into the T22, although I have spent a good amount of time looking into parts on the DLASK, Anarchy outdoors, and Spectre websites just to name a few.

As for a bolt gun, I do want one. But when I think bolt, I think a .308 or 6.5 Creedmoor centerfire....and I do plan on picking one up, but once I have a place to shoot some long distance.
 
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Wis3guy said:
Thanks for all the input so far guys! I guess I should have said what my plans are.....or atleast, try to half figure them out myself.

I have a friend with about 100 yards of property where we were planning to setup a VTAC board and some targets for some fun plink action. I know long range accuracy is not the forte of a untouched semi auto .22. That said, I am not married to the idea of a Ruger 10/22, especially if there is better out there for the money. My max budget on this is around $600...and yes, I have always kinda been the start with some basic and hot rod it to your liking, so that same appeal brought me to the Ruger 10/22. However, I am all ears for what may be a better choice. I have not looked into the T22, although I have spent a good amount of time looking into parts on the DLASK, Anarchy outdoors, and Spectre websites just to name a few.

As for a bolt gun, I do want one. But when I think bolt, I think a .308 or 6.5 Creedmoor centerfire....and I do plan on picking one up, but once I have a place to shoot some long distance.
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I guess we should also mention that pretty much all guns hold their base value pretty well. You could buy the 10/22, play with it stock and see how you like it. (It is a fun plinking gun for reactive targets. Get a bunch of soup cans or you hurt cups out of the blue box, fill them with water, and blast away. Lots of fun). If you find it’s not your cup of tea, then you can resell it for probably $50 less what you payed new. Where you can run into $ losses is when you put a ton of aftermarket stuff on it. The more of that stuff you put in, the lower the percentage of a return on investment you’ll get. (Which is like anything really - when you sell your car, nobody cares about the leather steering wheel grip or rattle-can muffler you put on it). So I guess what I’m saying is, make sure it’s the gun you want, and make sure you do your research on any mods to get the best bang for your buck.

If you’re just going to be shooting paper though, especially at 100 yards, you’re going to find yourself frustrated pretty quick. A “normal” 10/22 out of the box is probably going to give you 6” groups at 100 yards. For comparison, I picked up a savage mark II, and out of the box it was 2 inches at 100 yards.
 
10/22 is my choice and these can be made to shoot very accurately all the way out to 400yds.
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It's worth being cautious with such claims without qualification. With the .22LR ammo available, no .22LR, semi or bolt, is able to "shoot very accurately" at 300 yards, let alone 400.

Regardless of rifle, the ammo itself cannot produce very accurate shooting at such long distances, unless the criteria is progressively loosened as distance increases. The performance of .22LR always gets worse and worse with distance.
 
Wis3guy said:
...I have a friend with about 100 yards of property where we were planning to setup a VTAC board and some targets for some fun plink action.....
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You'd probably be well served with any of the more common 22LR autoloaders to start. Before buying any farkles, budget a couple hundred for a variety of ammunition so you can find something that groups well with your rifle. Your rimfire "ammunition library" is something that you will build as you go forward, useful with all future rifle purchases. Whether a new barrel, stock, or complete rifle, you'll probably find it changes what type of ammo groups well.

Personally, in your shoes I'd go with a basic 10/22 or Savage A22. Probably a package rifle with both irons and cheap optic. That way you have more context for deciding about upgrades to sights.

There's no substitute for experience, so just get something with a proven track record and get shooting. It's a pretty good bet that your choice of platform at this point is going to show its limitations as you gain experience, so don't waste time trying to get the perfect rifle right now. Just buy smart and you'll lose little (if anything) on resale.
 
If I was to get a 10/22, I would get a early to mid 90s model. Back when there was quality control. I have not had luck with newer Rugers.
 
While a subscriber to bolt action accuracy there are two 10/22's in my locker.
One is stock except for a Timney trigger with a red dot scope and this is used for Speed Steel.
This rifle functions with just about any ammo from standard velocity to CCI MiniMags, Thunderbolt and Blazer.
The other has a Kidd trigger kit, a Dlask barrel with a compensator and is used for 100 Metre Rimfire.
The trick remains finding the right ammo for target work and Eley or Lapua in both match grade or Biathlon tend to yield better results.
Beer can accuracy, ringing gongs and and 10-ring accuracy are all vastly different siad by someone who said he would never own a 10/22.
 
The only semi-auto .22lr I owned was a Ruger 10/22 VLEH. It had a nice looking 16.25" spiral match grade bull barrel mounted in a hogue stock.
It was fun shooting it at first but it ended up living in the cabinet until my son had the itch to dump 25rnd mags at the range.
Ended up selling it years ago. I only own .22lr bolts with either irons or scoped and a lever now.

Op, if you like to tinker the 10/22 is the way to go. I personally would be happy with a Marlin 60 SB if ever on the market for a semi again.....
 
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