I concur with many of the points mentioned by others above. I love .22LR because it is inherently *flawed* and imperfect. It is also generally accessible. Although one could spend a lot of money on either rimfire or centrefire precision rifles, along with the appropriate match ammunition, .22LR allows one to work on the fundamentals without substantial range facilities or land. Just about everything is scaled down but the skills required to make it work are largely the same. The entry point to shoot and actually challenge one's skills with something like 6.5 Creedmoor is not insignificant compared to a .22LR PRS rig. (Basically anyone can shoot a flat and fast round at short distance without any real skills testing and calculations).
Practicing .22LR is akin to another approach I appreciate, "Drive slow cars, fast." There is a lot of appreciate. It doesn't replace more capable equipment but they are useful tools to have. I have .22LR counterparts to centrefire setups, including down to similar/same optics, as well as .22LR conversion kits for pistols.
In rimfire land, there is a lot to like for objective .17HMR capabilities but I don't have a use-case for one currently as it is almost too efficient and effective (as well as expensive to run).
Practicing .22LR is akin to another approach I appreciate, "Drive slow cars, fast." There is a lot of appreciate. It doesn't replace more capable equipment but they are useful tools to have. I have .22LR counterparts to centrefire setups, including down to similar/same optics, as well as .22LR conversion kits for pistols.
In rimfire land, there is a lot to like for objective .17HMR capabilities but I don't have a use-case for one currently as it is almost too efficient and effective (as well as expensive to run).
