.22LR = No Fun

[Superman]

I don't quite know what it is, but this .22 rifle just isn't any fun. Though, I'm having a blast with my Sig P6. I don't know if it's the fact that I can't see where the bullets hit because I don't have a scope, or if it's the round that makes me not like it, or maybe I don't like rifles. I've only shot .22 rifles and this one is the only one I've ever owned. I don't have a scope and the binoculars I have aren't strong enough to see the holes in the target. I guess I need to get with someone that has rifles and see if I can shoot a couple different ones.

[Guest canynracer]

Hmmm...I think you should gimme your rifle...might be you.

LOL

[Guest Bronker]

I think you've diagnosed your problem already. Get a decent scope (can be had for $30-$40 if you're on a tight budget). Get it dialed in tight at 50 yds and you can have all kinds of fun! I don't care to do any long range competitive shooting, so dead on at 50 yds is all I do with my .22LR's. I just hunt squirrels, coons, and pop cans with mine anyway. Now, my AR-15 in 5.56mm / .223 Rem on the other hand...

[Guest bkelm18]

Shoot stuff with it. Watching stuff dance around and explode is infinitely more exciting than shooting paper.

[Guest gcrookston]

I can't begin to count the pigeons, squirrels, rats, mice and rabbits I've taken over the last 40 yrs with a .22. Truck loads of tin cans, even fish from the RR bridge near my grandmother's house when I was a kid.

Gram used to give us 5 cents for every pigeon we'd take out of her grainery. 25 cents for a rabbit. 50 cents for a rat or mouse.

Today, I don't suppose it's politically correct to give an 11 year old and his 9 year old brother 10-22 carbines, a brick of ammo and license to go and kill vermin for a bounty.

But for about five summers starting in 1973, on a farm outside of Ortonville Minnesota, we made our wages in the early mornings before regular chores and harvesting, cleaning up the farm yard of unwanted vermin.

I didn't get around to putting a scope on it until I was about 30...

Edited December 25, 2008 by gcrookston

[musicman]

what kind of .22 rifle is it?

[Curiousgb]

I love my 22 rifles. I have a Thompson Center Classic that is a tack driver. It wears a Leupold fixed 4x. I also have a Henry H001t that is one of my most "fun" rifles. It sports the stock iron sights. My wife myself and others that visit us like to sit out back and shoot at a set of spinners I have in the back yard. Reactive targets are great fun.

[Superman]

what kind of .22 rifle is it?

It's a Remington 597

[Guest Bronker]

I can't begin to count the pigeons, squirrels, rats, mice and rabbits I've taken over the last 40 yrs with a .22. Truck loads of tin cans, even fish from the RR bridge near my grandmother's house when I was a kid.

Gram used to give us 5 cents for every pigeon we'd take out of her grainery. 25 cents for a rabbit. 50 cents for a rat or mouse.

Today, I don't suppose it's politically correct to give an 11 year old and his 9 year old brother 10-22 carbines, a brick of ammo and license to go and kill vermin for a bounty.

But for about five summers starting in 1973, on a farm outside of Ortonville Minnesota, we made our wages in the early mornings before regular chores and harvesting, cleaning up the farm yard of unwanted vermin.

I didn't get around to putting a scope on it until I was about 30...

That's awesome G.

Long gone are the days of that kind of youthful innocence. Now they sit on a couch and shoot gang-banging auto thieves and hookers on an XBox. Dang shame. That's a great story. Thanks for telling that. Can't beat the old 10/22. Sorry to divert the thread, OP.

That Remmy is a great gun! I've never owned a Remmy that wasn't a true work of art. Like has been said, get out in the field and SHOOT STUFF!!

[Guest bkelm18]

That's awesome G.

Long gone are the days of that kind of youthful innocence. Now they sit on a couch and shoot gang-banging auto thieves and hookers on an XBox. Dang shame. That's a great story. Thanks for telling that. Can't beat the old 10/22. Sorry to divert the thread, OP.

That Remmy is a great gun! I've never owned a Remmy that wasn't a true work of art. Like has been said, get out in the field and SHOOT STUFF!!

Better and more fun than shooting hookers in real life.

[Guest gcrookston]

I've always had a place for a quality .22. When shooting handguns, I always take either my model 41, 17 or Hammerli with me and change off every couple of mags with the large bores for practice. Although it's been years *yikes, decades* since I shot the 10/22 I got for Christmas 1972 at age 10, I do have a heavy Bull Barrel that I bought from Clark's I used to shoot when I lived in Shreveport at the informal bench competition's they held once a month and I'm always on the lookout for another Marlin 39a (seems everytime I get one and go shooting with someone I end up selling it to them at the end of the day). I've never owned a Remington but have never heard a bad thing about them.

[Guest 70below]

growing up with a .22 rifle and lots of space is a thing of beauty......theres just something about decorating a tree in the woods with pop cans and peppering them full of holes.

[Guest Bronker]

Bet Superman never thought this would become the .22LR Nostalgia Thread.

Kind of nice to sit here, surrounded by my wife and two children, and reminisce. I started out on an old Savage single-shot (at age 7) that I still own. My 6 year old started out on a Henry Youth lever gun that I have more fun shooting than anything.

Of course my new love is my Stag 2L...hey its still 'basically' a .22...almost!

[Mike.357]

For fun it is hard to top filling cans with water as targets or small trees. Shoot the cans and the water makes it very reactive. Smalls trees can be a hoot to take down with .22's

[Oh Shoot]

I think the drift has become the topic.

My first gun was this Remmie Fieldmaster 121 on my 12th Christmas. Still a fine shooter, holds 14+1 LR, feeds and eats any brand I've ever put in it.

[Guest gcrookston]

I started out on an old Savage single-shot

My father's first Rifle was a Savage Model 3 he got for Christmas in the early 1930's. By the time we kids came around (a 2nd family), it had developed a hair trigger, my half brother had shot himself in the foot with it back in the 1950s.

He'd had it fixed, poorly, by a gunsmith rebuilding the trigger/sear by brazing and welding, which had promptly worn down again. I replaced all the parts available to me with the help of Gunpartscorp, but had to have a trigger fabricated from scratch. I gave it to my brother for his son. Nothing like spending $500.00 on a $65.00 rifle...

But, to get back to the thread, I firmly believe that if you do no enjoy .22, you are missing one of the greatest aspects of USA shooting sports. Not only are they a great and inexpensive way to sharpen your marksmanship, they are wonderful small game getters, plinkers and joys...

[Guest gcrookston]

another quick story from the old days.... Take a 1 litre plastic coke bottle and duct tape it over the barrel and go shoot geese on the golf course at columbine country club.

...Not that I have ever done this personally or know anyone that has done this. Just a rumination.

[Fadex]

Have you tried shooting soup cans? They are thicker than coke cans and, once you get the hang of it, you can make them dance across the yard. I started with a single shot Remington bolt action and it's still my favorite rifle to shoot. The metallic targets (spinners) that you can buy are also lots of fun.

[Guest Bronker]

another quick story from the old days.... Take a 1 litre plastic coke bottle and duct tape it over the barrel and go shoot geese on the golf course at columbine country club.

...Not that I have ever done this personally or know anyone that has done this. Just a rumination.

Oh I'm sure...let me guess, you have this friend...we'll call him 'pbrookston'

Funny!! Sweet suppressor idea!

We used to hide out on my grandfather's porch overlooking his pond and take potshots at the turtles. All til my Nana caught us. She walked over a mile later that afternoon from her farm to ours to whip me and my best friend with a ping pong paddle. She was in her 60's and weighed 90lbs at her best, and stood 5'0" tall. I was 16 and was 6'6" and about 220lbs. Worst beating I ever got! She died last October, and at the funeral, my uncle presented me with the 'PeaceMaker' as the paddle came to be known.

I'm sorry, went way off thread. But, the story did begin with a .22 and a fiesty little Nana!!!

[Guest 70below]

popping golf balls with a semi .22 is also loads of fun......those golf balls really fly when you get a hold of one! I know its entertained the masses at a couple East TGO shoots!

[Oh Shoot]

another quick story from the old days.... Take a 1 litre plastic coke bottle ....

"Old days"..."litre"...does not compute...

- OS

[Guest Fenris]

Bronker, I spent many a summer day as a youth with a fishing pole, my Browning .22 or my dad's Winchester .22 pump, and some Coca-colas on my uncle's dock plinking turtles for him.

Fun times. I still have that Browning and it's a tack driver. I have a 4-9 x 32 scope on it for squirrels.

[Guest abailey362]

i love shooting .22's. what else can you burn through 500 rounds of in an afternoon and only be out $10 or $15. Plus it's the safest way to shoot whatever you have in your house at the time

[Guest gcrookston]

"Old days"..."litre"...does not compute...

- OS

"Big ass plastic Coke Bottle" work better for ya? They had that black plastic base you had to pry off? Remember them?

Did they not teach you metric here in Tennessee? I recall the entire country was supposed to be metric by the end of the 70s or before. Many states spent thousands of dollars converting road signs (haven't seen one in years, BTW). Colorado was big on that metric garbage for a long time. and we were all learning it back in the early-mid 70's in school. All I remember now is 30 cal is approximately 9 mm...

Wonder what ever happened to that? Now that I think of it. Perhaps a precursor to this global warming BS

Edited December 26, 2008 by gcrookston

[Almond27]

A .22 no fun!! I just gave my little brother a Marlin model 60 for Christmas yesterday and he was hesitant to pull the trigger at first. Once he did he had a smile on his face that made my day. It didn't matter what else I received for Christmas after that smile, that was the most rewarding present I got. I hope the family is gonna have another avid shooter its boring being the only one.