what the best make of .22Lr
- Thread starter Kyler
- Start date
J Stuart, that is an excellent article on Brno's. I always refer to the 1950s as the glory years of shooting, including very much competetive shooting. My brother's wife bought him a Brno taarget 22, with good aperature sights at that time. We all thought it was a beautful rifle, with class and quality written all over it. That was so long ago that I can't tell by looking at your picture, if it was exactly the same, or a different model.
My only thing against it was the light barrel and front end for off hand target shooting. Mind you, I felt the same way about the famous Winchester Model 52 sporter! There were some of those among our shooting crowd, also. Right now, I will guess the Win 52 sporter is the most expensive 22 in the collectors market.
Sadly, my brothers Brno was later stolen.
My only thing against it was the light barrel and front end for off hand target shooting. Mind you, I felt the same way about the famous Winchester Model 52 sporter! There were some of those among our shooting crowd, also. Right now, I will guess the Win 52 sporter is the most expensive 22 in the collectors market.
Sadly, my brothers Brno was later stolen.
Where you have access to quit a few of the earlier Brno center-fires(Model 21's and ZG 47's), we here in Australia have access to decades of Brno rim-fires.
Australia was Brno's largest and most consistent purchaser of Brno .22 lr's.......so we still have very nice earlier rim-fires turning up at very reasonable prices.
One of my earlier Brno Model 2's had the serial number 42....it has since been sold to a mate on the other side of town, he uses it for cat eradication, which is pretty much what I use my Model 5 for.
I have owned quite a few varieties of .22lr, including an Anschutz 1422, a Kimber 82 and a Walther, and have used most others....none of them impressed me as much as the earlier Brno .22 lr's. (although I did like the Tyrol .22 lr's)
So I shall stick with them.
Ps, the Winchester 52's never did well here as they could not compete with the Brno's, on price, availability or function.
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According to Outdoor Life, the Savage Mk II is the be-all and end-all of any of them. Not a Savage fan myself, but the Mk II Classic is a pretty snazzy looking thing - they tested an FV, straight back thumb-holed stock and claimed lots of sub-0.2" 50 yd groups - that's up there with my CZ 452, but then again the classic Savage costs pretty well as much and can't be as much gun as the CZ....especially in the bolt. Can it?
Well jeez... I started out with an $8 Cooey Model 39. I would hate to have to think how many TONS of gophers, crows, and starlings that rifle bumped off in the first 20 years of its' existance. Accurate enough to whack any gopher within .22 range if I did my part. Even dressed it up with one of those cool Bushnell .22 BDC scopes in the early 70's before I got smart and went back to a fixed weaver 6x on top.
No ### appeal in a gun like that, even though you'll see lots of them at gun shows - but boy I had a lot of fun with that rifle. Come to think of it, I bumped off some marauding vermin with it just a few days ago, so it still does exactly what it was intended to do.
"Graduated" (i.e. downgraded myself) to a 10/22. Fun. Burned through bricks of ammunition much more quickly. Didn't kill any more gophers. Absolutely horrible trigger and not as good accuracy. All the after market bits weren't available at that time.
"Graduated" yet again to an Anschütz target rifle, which is possibly the most expensive firearm I own... I don't think there's very many shooters in the world that can shoot better than an Anschütz in that class will deliver. No excuses when you miss with that...
So now I own an $8 single shot .22 and another single shot worth four figures. I still hunt with the Cooey and can have an insane amount of fun shooting Mini-Palma with the Anschütz on a nice day.
The moral of the story is single shots can be very inexpensive or very expensive, but either way they can sure be a lot of fun. Even in this day of high capacity semi auto, a kid either in his pre teens or 50's can have a hell of a lot of fun.
No ### appeal in a gun like that, even though you'll see lots of them at gun shows - but boy I had a lot of fun with that rifle. Come to think of it, I bumped off some marauding vermin with it just a few days ago, so it still does exactly what it was intended to do.
"Graduated" (i.e. downgraded myself) to a 10/22. Fun. Burned through bricks of ammunition much more quickly. Didn't kill any more gophers. Absolutely horrible trigger and not as good accuracy. All the after market bits weren't available at that time.
"Graduated" yet again to an Anschütz target rifle, which is possibly the most expensive firearm I own... I don't think there's very many shooters in the world that can shoot better than an Anschütz in that class will deliver. No excuses when you miss with that...
So now I own an $8 single shot .22 and another single shot worth four figures. I still hunt with the Cooey and can have an insane amount of fun shooting Mini-Palma with the Anschütz on a nice day.
The moral of the story is single shots can be very inexpensive or very expensive, but either way they can sure be a lot of fun. Even in this day of high capacity semi auto, a kid either in his pre teens or 50's can have a hell of a lot of fun.
gunrunner100
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- NW Ontario
I have owned close to 100 22's over the years, some pricey, some cheap, but I still had fun with each and every one of them. Buy what you can afford and take care of it. Your children will appreciate it, not because of the dollar value, but because it belonged to you.
Owned for years a Krico, made late fifities or early sixties I believe, wonderful rifle. Sold it for $160 (with vintage scope) when I came to Canada; sorry CZ fans, but that Krico raised the bar for my expectations and needed to buy a Kimber ($1000 plus scope!) to replace it.
Never heard about Krico here.
CZ may have the best price/quality rate though.
Never heard about Krico here.
CZ may have the best price/quality rate though.
I also grew up with a Krico model 311 and I have since tried to find another one but no luck yet. I did find a beautiful model 300 Krico on the EE forum a few months ago and I was not disappointed. It is as good as Anschutz, of which I have owned a few. Still looking for a model 311..
I'll brag up my anschutz
I got a cil 310 (anschutz) a couple years ago and this last winter I got a Kimber. All spring I've been using my Kimber and I shoot really well with it. It has an excellent trigger and feels good when I hold it up. $900 plus luepold scope rings and bases = $1200. I took my anschutz out today for the first time since I got the Kimber. Man does it shoot! 
i think it out shoots my Kimber (for me anyhow) plus it has a 10 round mag. It's more reliable than my Kimber and it was $325 + $75 for 10 rd mag (ouch) + talley anschutz rings + leupold scope = $700. My anschutz rig is every bit as good as my Kimber or even better, for $500 less. I also have a CZ 452 Varmint in .17hmr. A little hard to compare because of the caliber and heavy barrel and fat stock, but it's a good enough rig. If I had to sell one it would be the CZ, no question.If I was shopping for a .22 I would look for a good used anschutz sporter similar to my 310. I also own a single shot anschutz for competing, but I don't do much of that. I'm now considering a cooper and for that kind of $$$
it better out shoot my anschutz! It will be a lot prettier though.
Trevor2Toes
Regular
http://www.canada-shops.com/Stores/siarms/c320477.2.html
- Location
- Ft. Mac. Alberta
I have stated this before on different threads - there is a reason that the most used of all rifles shot in match rifle competition , including the Olympics, are Anschutz match rifles!
They also build super sporter style repeaters...
Cat
