What is your favorite .22 rifle to hunt or plink with

Personally I prefer semiautomatic type .22 rifles for hunting, and almost anything else for plinking or other informal shooting.

Some of my friends teasingly call me a .22 snob, because I prefer higher graded .22 rifles for my activities. Although I do own, and appreciate, the Ruger 10/22 Sporter rifle. I prefer the Ruger 10/22 Sporter because of the better stock design (in my opinion) and the lack of a barrel band which the carbine has.

I have other .22 rifles such as the Marlin 39 and the Winchester 9422 rifles. I have a Winchester 1885 Low Wall in .22 LR. That is a classic, reissued, Single shot rifle. It was so expensive that my wallet cried when I bought it.

When I was young, I had access to an old Stevens Favorite single shot that I enjoyed which taught me fire discipline and to be a better hunter. I have bought three other reissues of the old Stevens favorite, one by Savage, one by Stevens and a quality high grade rifle build by a Georgia company named Varner, before they went out of business.

I also have Winchester slide (pump action) action .22 rifles. One is the Model 61, and the other is an unfired Model 62A.

It is really hard to find quality .22 LR rifles to buy anymore, unless you run into a good used .22 rifle.

Bill

 

Having over thirty rimfire rifles at last head count, it's impossible to say. My 'favorite' changes as interest at the moment changes.
I have everything from cheap singleshot "Boy's Rifles" through bolties, semiautos and leveractions, up to some decent heavy barrel target rifles.
My Ruger 10-22 WallyMart Special Rifle (longer barrel, rifle stock) is actually lower on the list - have never been impressed by it, even after accurizing. Got it mainly as a newer 'benchmark' to compare the older rifles to - they generally better it easily.

 

#1 - A Remington 514
#2 - A Wally World 10-22

 

My favorite is a Winchester Model 63 and a Colt Woodsman. I love my Ruger 77-.22 but it can't compare with the Model 63 for accuracy or elegance and I have never found a pistol that tops the Woodsman for total "Class".

 

Mossberg M44 US .22 Trainer with an older 4x Redfield Widefield scope and sling.

Bought it new from CMP, removed all the cosmoline and replaced the plastic trigger guard since it had deformed with age.

 

Ahhh...... my favorite rimfirehunter rifle... Love This Topic!!!

My two favorite plinking rimfire rifles are my AR-7 with collapsible stock and Ruger 10/22.

For hunting when I am using a rifle...

Marlin 925M .22Mag scoped when hunting the mountain unit.
Savage Mk II scoped standard barrel, plastic stock for general woods use
AR-7 for spur of the moment hunts because its always in the truck.

My primary small game hunting gun is a Ruger 22/45 with 4.5" PacLite fluted upper with cheap 1" dot sight.

 

I have to agree with BTpost on this one- I have a couple of Winchester model 69's (not 69A's, just 69) that I love to shoot. They are well made weapons, and even when they aren't well taken care of they can still perform really well. As long as the rifling is good and the barrel is shiney, I've been able to bring it back to good working order.

I had one that the end of the barrel was rusted on the inside. I had my gunsmith cut it down to 16" and thread it. Like BTpost's 69A, with a 6-24 power scope I can do amazing things with it at 50 yards. And to think it was a basket case rifle.

My other Model 69, I removed the aftermarket scope and mount and put Lyman globe sights on it and use it for my biathlon rifle. I love getting 0 misses with it, all the while watching other competitors with Anschutz rifles getting 1 or more misses... I came pretty close to tieing an olympic competitor while she was doing the summer biathlon for practice for the winter biathlon. Her husband (also an olympic competitor) kept rooting for me- "beat her, beat her!" He kept yelling. funny stuff. Unlucky for me, I choked on the last string, missed one shot, and she won by 1.

We then traded rifles for a little while and I got to shoot her Anschutz. The rifle was down right dangerous- the trigger had NO takeup and was set at 4 ounces- that's right- OUNCES. I don't know how she could shoot the thing safely. She did it, though. I love the fortner action- very quick- pull it straight back with the top of your thumb, eject the shell, pick up the new one with a flick of your index finger to close it. Click-click, just that fast.

Fun times.

 

my favorite isthe girl friends 10-22 ruger...sweet!!

 

My Marlin Mod60 with the medallion on the side, unmodified of course. I like it for what it's worth. Sweet little rifle that you can pop off a looooooooot of ammo through and not miss a beat. Lol.

 

marlin model 25 bolt action rifle and the s&w 22a.

 

Winchester 9422 is sweeeeeeet. I have a matched pair of pre-checkered XTR's, LR and magnum. Never shot the magnum yet.

any reference to owning firearms is part of a dream I had.

 

Ruger 77/22 w/ a 3-9 Bushnell scope on it. I have shot more CMP matches and killed more squirrels than I can count with that rifle. Had it for the past 28 years.
There was an old dump down the road from my grandparents farm when I was a youngin. My cousin and I would spend an entire day (and a couple bricks of .22 shells) down there shooting cans, tvs, washers, milk tanks, whatever was there to shoot, we shot it.

 

My favorite is the second gun I owned as a kid, Winchester 190 semi bought brand new from KMart in the 70's. Thousands of rounds fired, have never had a problem with it and is still being used to shoot digger squirrels to this day.

 

Glennfield Model 60 tube feed
Ruger 10/22
Ranger .22

 

I prefer the 10/22 as well. I also have a Henry Youth model that my nephews learned with after they outgrew the chipmunk they all started on. My youngest nephew now has it.

The 10/22 is a good all around plinker and small game hunter, rugged and reliable, IMO.

I admit that if I had the funds I'd opt for the Ruger bolt action, just because it's more versatile. Perhaps more accurate, but I haven't shot one enough to make that call.

 

A Remington nylon 66 is the one I pick up first,for accuracy it would be a Marlin model 80 bolty.