First .22

[Wannabewoodsman]

Looking to get my first (keyword there is "first") .22 or even a .17 HMR. I'd like a quality gun to make my own to hunt with and plink with.
I know in the case of the .22 the Ruger 10/22 reigns king as far as popularity, customizability, and reliability.

Besides the 10/22, what are some quality .22 rifles that have at least some customizability? I see Rossi quite often.

What about .17s?

 

[KillerFord1977]

AR platform ??

s&w M&P22 rifle is a great ar based .22 that I have thousands of rounds thru. Can put red dot or even a scope on it. AR accessory interchangeability as usual

M&P 15-22 | Smith & Wesson

Since 1852 we’ve been an industry leading manufacturer of pistols, revolvers, rifles, and shooting accessories. We continue to bring innovative firearms to market that meet the needs of every shooter and deliver on exceptional quality with a brand you’ve learned to trust.

www.smith-wesson.com

 

[Sld1959]

When I was a kid I just took my old marlin bolt action .22 I got as my first gun, stripped it down, glassed the stock grain with part of an old coke bottle,, and hand rubbed it with linseed oil. Then I stripped all the bluing and browned it. Never saw another like it.

 

[wmg1299]

The government was kind enough to train me to shoot AR's and semi-auto handguns, but I knew nothing about .22's when I decided to get my kids into shooting. This was during the 2012 shortage, so my options were limited. I wound up getting a Mossberg 702 Plinkster as the kids' first gun. While it may not be nearly as famous as the Ruger 10-22, the Plinkster has been 100% reliable. It also has many more customization options than I would've thought. I eventually bought each of my boys a 10-22, but the Mossberg did everything I wanted it to do.

I do not have personal experience with them, but the Savage 64 series of .22 rifles have been on sale for incredibly low prices online recently. I've heard good things about Savage, and their .22 may be worth taking a look at.

 

[BET7]

I’m with @KillerFord1977. I have a S&W M&P15-22, and mounted a Red-dot to it. I’ve seen forums that discuss what numerous mods people have done to them. It’s fun to shoot and very accurate with the red-dot.

 

[Wannabewoodsman]

AR platform ??

s&w M&P22 rifle is a great ar based .22 that I have thousands of rounds thru. Can put red dot or even a scope on it. AR accessory interchangeability as usual

M&P 15-22 | Smith & Wesson

Since 1852 we’ve been an industry leading manufacturer of pistols, revolvers, rifles, and shooting accessories. We continue to bring innovative firearms to market that meet the needs of every shooter and deliver on exceptional quality with a brand you’ve learned to trust.

www.smith-wesson.com

Thought about that as well and even the bolt kit but for the price of the latter I can buy another gun.. so I figure another gun is the better way to go because why not?

 

[javbike]

I have a 22 magnum a silver boy Henry It is smoothest lever action rifle you could own I love this rifle

 

[10mmLife]

Take a look at the Ruger precision .22lr or .22WMR for a really accurate bolt gun that won't break the bank. Both of these rifles come with a great trigger and the .22lr version takes the easy to find lower priced 10/22 mags.

You can also get the Ruger precision in .17HMR but that isn't a great round for taking anything bigger than a squirrel because of the light weight bullet it fires.

If you're looking for something with decent stopping power in a rimfire I would recommend going the .22WMR route as this will have the heaviest projectile out of the 3 rounds I listed and it travels faster at 100yds then .22lr does at the muzzle.

Other than that for a cheap starter rifle you can't go wrong with a Mossberg 702 plinkster which can be found just over $100 and there are a few aftermarket stock and other accessories available.

I personally would recommend the 10/22 as the best all around most upgrades available .22lr rifle out there I especially like the 10/22 takedown.

Here's my stainless 10/22 takedown Davidson's special addition with the Magpul X22 backpacker stock, Williams fiber optics sights and it came with 4 10 round magazines 3 of which are stored in a compartment in the buttstock with 1 In the mag well.

 

[javbike]

I have a 22 magnum a silver boy Henry It is smoothest lever action rifle you could own I love this rifle

Sorry here is a pic of the Henry

 

[jumpinjoe]

Lots of good suggestions here to look over, but I can tell you the Marlin mod60 far outsells the Ruger 10/22 and goes for several dollars less. I'm not saying the 10/22 is not a good rifle, it's a very good rifle. But for the money and the practicality, I'd highly recommend the Marlin 60.

It's semi-auto, 14 rnd tube mag, A nice piece of wood, and usually under $180. That price might be a little off right now due to demand, and Marlin's recent management reassignment. They are available, but you might have to look some. And a big plus is Marlin's trade marked 'Micro-grooved' rifling technology.

In all honesty, I'm a big Ruger fan in most all arms, but I'd take (and do own two of them) a Marlin mod 60 hands down over the 10/22.

And here's a little personal interest story if you're interested......... my bio-dad passed away about two yrs ago now and left me a small, youth sized Winchester .22 that his dad, my grandpa, bought for him when he was 8-10 yrs old about 1934-6. He couldn't remember exactly the year or his age when he got it. Either way it's nearly 100 yrs old.

However, the interesting part is this. When my grandpa bought it, he bought it from a local hardware store on a hand shake deal of 'so much' per month till it was paid off. Remember this was almost 100 yrs ago and long before anything such as 'law away' or 'revolving charge account' came about.

The deal was he would pay $1.50 (yeh, that's one dollar and fifty cents) per month till paid off. But the kicker was that every other month the payment would be a quart of my grandpa's shine liquor instead of the $1.50 cash.

So it was $1.50 one month, a quart of shine the next month. Grandpa had quite a reputation around the county for making some really top notch stuff and the owner of the hardware store was very happy with the deal. A side note here is the local constable, mayor, Chief of Police, most local LEO's, and most of the city fathers all liked grandpa's shine too. And he kept them all well served.

I bring this up only because it's so interesting how things used to be done on a hand shake, and I actually had the little Winchester out to the range earlier today and fired a few rounds from it. It sometimes misses the clean extraction and the bolt is a little sloppy due to a 100 yrs of wear, but it gets the job done most of the time.

 

[TEXASforLIFE]

Savage A22 or A17 is another 2 of good choice. The afore mentioned are also good choices!

 

[SaltyMonkey]

I just caught the custom part.
10-22 is very versatile. For simplicity I like 22 Mag Henry rifle, tube fed, lever action.

 

[TSiWRX]

For customization, it's going to be hard to beat the Ruger 10/22 and the S&W M&P 15-22, I think.

Both can be made as reliable as the .22 LR cartridge can be, and they're really both loads of fun, and even with non-match, range-grade ammo, they're supreme plinkers at the 50 yard line., allowing for easy hits on 4x4 inch steel with a non-magnified RDS, 2-4 MOA dot.

 

[Bassbob]

I have a 22 magnum a silver boy Henry It is smoothest lever action rifle you could own I love this rifle

This. Definitely. And add a Henry .17 too while you're at it.

 

[Rhodester]

If you just want to plink, I can not offer any suggestion. If you want to shoot small groups at say 50 yards, look for a CZ452 or later version. Great tack drivers and quality to match for a reasonable price.

 

[cico7]

AR platform ??

s&w M&P22 rifle is a great ar based .22 that I have thousands of rounds thru. Can put red dot or even a scope on it. AR accessory interchangeability as usual

M&P 15-22 | Smith & Wesson

Since 1852 we’ve been an industry leading manufacturer of pistols, revolvers, rifles, and shooting accessories. We continue to bring innovative firearms to market that meet the needs of every shooter and deliver on exceptional quality with a brand you’ve learned to trust.

www.smith-wesson.com

My Mp15-22 is a great tool. I hunt and target shoot with it. I converted several 10 rounds magazines to 25.
I kept the pin just in case. the 10 and 25 round mags are virtually identical except a pin that stops at 10.

 

[TSiWRX]

If you just want to plink, I can not offer any suggestion. If you want to shoot small groups at say 50 yards, look for a CZ452 or later version. Great tack drivers and quality to match for a reasonable price.

When I was looking for a bolt-action .22 LR rifle to start my daughter, we went with the 452 Scout.

We looked at the usual Rascal, Crickett, and Rossi Youth, but the CZ won-out with just well-built it was: it seemed like an actual "adult" firearm, just shrunken down.

The Rascal and Crickett would both actually have been a better fit for my daughter's physique, but I figured that I'd rather give her something to grow into, rather than grow out of. Even now, some 7 years later, we BOTH still enjoy this little gun.

I wanted also to make this recommendation initially, but the OP noted customization as a part of his desires. I can't exactly say that I've looked at a lot of stuff for our Scout, so I really don't know how much may be out there. We have a handful of 10-round magazines for ours, plus CZ's scope bases, should we ever desire to mount one.