Your best low-buck rimfire?

[Guest Halfpint]

This is what happens when I can't sleep--I come up with a topic for discussion and post it without much thought as to where it actually came from. Just wondering who else has a rimfire rifle they got a helluva deal on--I mean like dirt cheap--that turned out to be a very fine shooter.

I have a Winchester 67 from 1937, shoots .22 Short, Long, and Long Rifle. I picked it up off a regular customer at the shop who had inherited it and didn't know or really care what he had--he prefers militaria and modern semi-auto rifles, anyway.

I didn't know much other than "Winchester .22 bolt-action" and "surface rust, beat up stock, bore looks okay" but I figured, "Why not?" So I paid him $10 for it, took it home, and scrubbed the ever-loving crap out of the barrel, chamber, and bolt face, and oiled it--nothing more than was necessary to take it to the range and see if I got screwed. After a couple hours of work on it, my luck would have been yes, and badly.

I couldn't have been more wrong... the first five rounds out of the rifle turned out to be a dime group at 50 yards. So now I've discovered a new hobby--cheap .22 rifles.

Needless to say, it's in the process of being restored to original-or-better condition... yeah, it's a keeper.

Anybody else have a story like that?

[Guest Papabear]

I have had several really nice .22's that I have bought used. I am a big fan of .22 because it is so much easier to shoot one all day for a reasonable price. I think my best deal on a .22 was a new in the box Marlin model 60 that I bought when Woolco went out of buisness in the early 80's. If I remember right I payed like $35 bucks for it new. All of my kids have learned on that gun and now I am waiting on my grandchildren to get old enough for me to teach them with it. Old gun is nothing special to look at but I can't begin to tell you how may thousands of rounds have gone through it in 25 years but it still shoots good.

[Guest sagebrushjim]

Currently own 17 .22 rifles and 5 .22 handguns... All are my Favorites... I love all my children...

[Guest mc30707]

marlin model 60, for the money one of the best out there

[wareagle]

About 30 years ago, I bought my first firearm at a garage sale. It was a Nylon66 for $25. Today, its still one of my favorites to shoot.

[Guest Jason F.]

I am always looking for one and just not been vigilant enough in my search. I currently have no .22 rimfire. I do have a .22 Hornet centerfire that I got for a very good price.

I used to own a 10/22 and a Smith & Wesson 422 .22 pistol that I never should have sold.

[deerslayer]

I picked it up off a regular customer at the shop

what shop?

[Guest Halfpint]

Classic Arms, where I work.

[Guest EasilyObsessed]

I only have one rimfire at the moment. 10/22 with bull barrel, upgraded trigger and internals. Shoots great, but I dont get to the rifle range enough to shoot it.

I will probably pick up an Anschutz at some point in the next couple of years. My father went through college on a ROTC marksmanship scholarship shooting an Anschutz and I wouldnt mind picking one up so he can "teach" me how to shoot

[Guest gcrookston]

My favorite low cost rimfires are Rugers. 10-22s and Mk pistols. On a guess, I'd say my first 10-22 (which was my first gun given to me by Santa in 1973), probably has at least 50,000 rounds through it, maybe more. I bought another 10-22 about 8 or 9 years ago, a stainless steel hammer forged bull barrel. I don't think I've put 100 rounds through it, preferring my 1950's vintage Marlin 39a and my battered original 10-22. I had a 1960s vintage Ruger Mk pistol I owned for a number of years and thousands of rounds and recently replaced it with a new MkIII. I've only shot the MkIII once now, but it seems to be a fine pistol, if not somewhat "lawyerfied" over the old MkI (although I think the hold open is a great addition).

[Guest CMSTA]

I like my Browning Buckmark pistol and my Ruger 10/22 rifle. I personally like the feel of the buckmark better than the ruger .22 pistols.

[ZZRguy]

I bought a romanian training rifle for $80 otd at the gun show several years ago, it is one most accurate open sighted .22 rifles I own.

[Bigiron]

Have a 10/22 that I've customized. Great rifle. A Marlin model 60 with the worst trigger pull of any rifle I've ever owned. And a Winchester model 61 pump that is the sweetest rifle I've ever owned. A Remington 513 that was passed down from my Great Uncle. The Marlin was cheap at $99 last year at the Academy. I like the tube feed, but the trigger group will take some work to sweeten up. At the range I was impressed with a customer's Mossberg .22, I don't remember the model #. For all around reliability, parts and customizing availibility, I would recommend the Ruger 10/22. Just my .02 worth, adjusted for inflation, equals nothing.

[Guest dart67eb]

Marlin 795's are on sale at Dick's for $99 and you get the $20 mail in on top of that. Good appleseed gun.

[Jonsaiga]

Best rimfire deal I ever got was a yard sale find about ten years ago. Got two Marlin Model 25's in .22wmr, $50 for both. Both were missing the iron sights and magazines. One had the barrel cut down to 17 &1/2 inches and the other one looked like it was about to be cut down (groove cut) and had some dimples drilled in towards the end of the barrel(my guess is for a set screw muzzle break maybe). A little cleaning up and both shot great. The short barreled one is one of my favorite small game guns.

[Guest TnDeerHunter]

Have several 22's some bought at great deals others just thought they were great deals. Best shooters Win. 52b heavy barrell, Win. 69a, Rem. 541 s, Rem. 541 T heavy barrell, best cheaper rimfire out of the box has to be a CZ some shoot better than others but they all shoot great.

[poak]

Zombie thread has come back from the dead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest smittyb]

I have a few .22s, but none that I have really got amazing deals on.

However, I was at a gun shop with my dad when he picked up a Savage bolt action, I truthfully can't even remember the model. It had a Lilja barrell and an aftermarket trigger on it, and $125 on the price tag. We both figured what the heck, if it does not shoot worth a hoot, you can easily get your money back out of it.

My father owns some pretty expensive .22 BR guns, and this little 125 dollar unit turned out to be one of the best shooting guns he owns.

[Guest FroggyOne2]

I only have one .22LR.. It is a Winchester 52D in a International stock.. and it loves Wolf Match Target and will hold an 1/2 group or less at times at 100 yards.. i love it!

[Guest TurboniumOxide]

Remington Model 550-1, sweet little shooter. Still in 98% condition. Made in '47. Shoots Shorts and Longs and Long Rifle in the same tube.

[MikeW]

Holy thread revival...

Savage Mark II .22 that I bought here from Eric

[Guest Bluemax]

I have a JC Higgins that my Dad bought me for my ninth birthday. He bought it used for 20 bucks. A lot of other 22's have came and gone since but I still have this one and it's outshot most everything else I've had

[wjh2657]

Winchester 190 that my sister-in-law gave me when her husband passed. It is a great shooter and has taken its share of the great Tennessee man eating tree rat.

[Guest 5Legion]

Honestly, the 10/22 is my fav rifle. If I could only have one gun it would be my 10/22.

[Moped]

Remington 521 Junior Match that had been bastardized. Traded some ammo for it. Scoped it and it's a tack driver. Squirrels hat this rifle!

My Uncle gave my son a Marlin Model 80 that is also a tack driver. I had my doubts when we got it. The bluing is all brown The stock was all beat up the trigger mechanism was all gunked up along with the bolt and it had no magazine. Another uncle had got it in trade off an old drunk that lived behind a garage he worked at. He got it sometime back in the early sixties for a bottle of MD2020 or whatever passed for it at the time. I got on Gunbroker and ordered a new magazine from a fella down in Mississippi. I spent all of one Sunday afternoon cleaning this"trash" gun up. Then we took it over to the range. With the iron sites, I was shooting quarter sized groups at 50 yards with it. It still doesn't look like much, but it sure does shoot good!

To the guy that got the Nylon 77 for $25 at a garage sale, WHAT A DEAL! Trash ones go for well over a $100 and great ones are over $350!