Topic: The Best .22 LR Rifles of 2023 (Read 35 times)
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For some, the best .22 rifles will always be lever guns. In an age of synthetic and lightweight materials, there’s just something special about shooting a well-made .22 lever rifle—and that’s what the Henry Classic is. It’s a simple, western-style blued steel lever gun that holds 15 rounds of .22 LR in its tubular magazine, which is loaded through a cartridge shaped cutout after removing the spring plunger from the end of the magazine.
The Classic Lever .22 features a traditional buckhorn-style rear sight that’s drift adjustable, with a graduated wedge for elevation adjustments, as well as a hooded front sight. It doesn’t feature an external safety but utilizes a quarter-cock setting of the hammer. It’s a simple but elegant-looking rifle and has a very smooth action.
The receiver of the Classic Lever .22 rifle has a built in 3/8-inch tipoff-style groove for mounting a scope with rimfire rings, making it suitable for just about any rimfire hunting or plinking application. You’ll find it equally fun and useful on the range and in the woods, and it’s a rifle that you can pass onto the next generation if you take care of it.
You can’t have a discussion about accurate .22 rifles without Anschutz being a part of it. Their rifles dominate smallbore and biathlon co*petition, so why not the rapidly-growing PRS-style .22 matches? The 1710 in an MDT chassis can tackle just that. It’s a serious rifle that costs some serious coin, but you’ll have a hell of a time beating it.
The rifle co*bines the proven performance of Anschutz rifles with the modularity and co*petition-minded MDT ACC chassis. It features a steel buttplate, and the weight and balance can be modified to fit the shooter’s needs. You can even add an additional nine pounds to the rifle if you want.
The chassis also features a full-length arca rail (which you’ll see on many high-power PRS rifles) for use with bipods or tripods. It also includes the MDT vertical grip, flared magwell, and barricade stop. The extended magazine release and oversized bolt handle make this rifle butter smooth to shoot, cycle, and reload.
Vudoo Gun Works is a Utah based co*pany that builds top-end .22 rifles, particularly for co*petition. They’re expensive and in-demand but are top-notch rifles. Unlike some of their chassis-based .22 rifles, the Sinister Carbon model features more traditional styles of stocks to choose from. It is built on Vudoo’s V-22 controlled-feed action which features a Remington 700 footprint and utilizes over-sized magazines to feed the short .22 LR. It’s a full-length-sized action that’s designed specifically for cycling rimfire cartridges.
The Carbon Sinister features a carbon fiber stock with adjustable cheekpiece and a choice of 3 different carbon fiber wrapped barrels and varying barrel lengths. The adjustable Timney trigger rounds out a .22 rifle that would blend right in with a lineup of high-end custom centerfire rifles. This .22 is built to hold its own in co*petition, and it has the looks of a sweet, high-performance hunting rifle.
The Rascal Target takes Savage’s extremely popular beginner rifle, the Rascal, and gives it some target upgrades. The simple single-shot action is one of the best .22 rifles for training a brand-new shooter and teaching them to operate a rifle safely. The “target” upgrades help the Rascal feel and operate like a more-substantial rifle that’s sized for young shooters.
The Rascal Target features a 16-inch heavy barrel with a threaded muzzle that’s ready to mount a suppressor, another tool that can be great for new shooters. It doesn’t have iron sights, but low-power scopes or red-dots are typically easier for young shooters to use.
The precision-style hardwood stock gives the rifle a good weight and feel, which is easy to use with a bipod or rest on sandbags. It has a black finish, and the vertical grip sets the shooter up for an easier angle to get a crisp 90-degree trigger pull. The AccuTrigger is adjustable and allows for more fine-tuning than most other beginner rifles.
The BMR Carbon is a high-tech .22 rifle from Bergara that feels similar to the B14 ridge. It has a traditional-style co*posite stock, but is built for accuracy. The rifle is designed for both hunting and target purposes, and is a great fit for the base class in the NRL22 series.
Central to the BMR Carbon’s design set is the Bergara carbon-fiber-wrapped barrel. It’s 18 inches long and threaded for a suppressor or muzzle device. The rifle feeds from 5- or 10-round magazines. The BMR (Bergara Micro Rimfire) action is a miniaturized B14-style action that has an oversized bolt knob and Remington 700-style safety. It’s a spendy rifle, but you can expect it to be light, accurate, and extremely versatile.
Winchester’s Wildcat .22 SR is a great value in a semi-auto .22. It’s priced around $360 and has all the right features. Nothing is cheap these days, and for co*parison, the Ruger 10/22 sporter is around $520. It’s a short and handy rifle with a streamlined look and 10-round rotary magazine. The factory magazine holds the bolt open on the last shot, but it’s also co*patible with aftermarket high-capacity 10/22-style magazines.
The Wildcat rifles began with futuristic co*posite stocks, but the Wildcat Sporter SR has a more traditional wood stock with a longer length of pull. It co*es with long-radius sights—a rear peep and front post—and an optics rail integrated into the receiver. The 16½-inch barrel is threaded to accept a suppressor, which is all-but-mandatory for .22 rifles these days. Another cool feature of the Wildcat is the simple, removable trigger group which allows for easy cleaning of co*ponents and breech-to-muzzle cleaning of the bore—something that’s important when you expend copious amounts of dirty .22 LR ammo.
The A22 has trod an unlikely path to get where it’s at, but it’s proven to be an excellent semi-auto 22. Most semi-auto .22 rifles start out as just that, .22’s. The A22 has it’s roots in the purpose-designed A17, which was designed from the ground up to be a reliable .17 HMR semi-auto. It was, and then expanded to .22 WMR and finally, .22 LR.
The A22 takedown is new for this year, and the rifle co*es apart with a simple twist when the bolt is to the rear. It co*es standard with a threaded muzzle, iron sights, and a Picatinny optic rail that features a channel for viewing the low profile iron sights even with a scope installed. When taking down, the barrel and fore-end co*e off the receiver for convenient stowage. The cheekpiece of the stock holds extra magazines, and there’s additional storage in the vertically oriented grip.
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The seasoned .22 rifle shooter needs no introduction to the Marlin 39A. It was one of the earliest and longest-running .22 rifles ever produced; Annie Oakley even shot its predecessor the Model 1891. This lever-action .22 rifle is touted as one of the best ever produced, and if you’re into .22 lever guns, it’s worth hunting one down.
Like many lever-action .22 rifles, the Model 39A uses a tubular magazine, a lever for cocking, and ejects spent cases to the side. It’s made in a classic western style with wood furniture and iron sights—although scope mounting options are available. The most unique feature of the 39A is its large-knob takedown screw that allows the receiver to be pulled apart for quick and easy cleaning. Rumors are that Marlin, under Ruger, will bring the model 39A back eventually. We will see if that co*es to pass, but I hope it does.
The .22 rifle co*es in just about every shape, size, and color, and the best one for you will depend on how you intend to use it. You can find one in just about every action available from semi-autos to bolt actions to pump and lever actions. While some actions/styles better suit specific hunting and shooting practices, personal preference plays a major role too. And having a .22 rifle that you enjoy shooting and fits your needs makes a big difference.
When shopping for a .22 rifle, consider the accuracy you expect to get out of your rifle. The .22 Long Rifle cartridge is not famous for its accuracy, however incredible accuracy can be had with this round. To achieve supreme accuracy, it often takes highly specialized (and expensive) rifles. However, if you just want to plink and hunt small game, it’s not as important. If you want to shoot co*petitively in precision rimfire matches, you’ll need to spend the extra dough.
You’ll also want to consider the reliability and maintenance you expect from your .22 rifle. Plenty of semi-auto rifles are generally reliable, but you might have to clean and maintain them more carefully than other actions. Most .22 ammunition is dirty, producing a lot of fouling, and it will gum up actions more quickly than centerfire rifles. Even bolt-action .22 rifles can get sticky if you use waxy ammunition.
Do you want a rifle you can use an abuse, or is it important for you to have a gun you can pass along to your kids and grandkids? There might not be any “cheap” options, but there are .22 rifles that won’t break the bank and can still take a beating. But if you want a gun that will last a lifetime, go with a high-end .22 rifle.
The cost of a .22 rifle can vary greatly. Many .22 rifles are priced in the $250-$350 range, but high-end rifles can cost thousands of dollars. A wide variety of .22 rifles are available for under $500 that will fit most shooters’ needs, but there’s a strong market for specialized .22 rifles as well. Top-notch precision .22 rifles don’t co*e cheap, nor do fancy custom-built .22’s. If you’re shopping for your first .22 rifle, you don’t need one of these.
A .22 rifle is best used for many things, and that’s why it’s so popular. Its most popular uses are for target shooting and plinking, as well as small game hunting. The .22 LR cartridge has historically been relatively inexpensive to shoot, with plentiful ammo. It’s a great option for teaching new shooters, practicing shooting fundamentals, or simply shooting for fun. It’s also ideal for hunting small game like rabbits and varmints like prairie dogs and has served that purpose for generations.
A .22 rifle can be good for home defense, but how good depends on certain circumstances. There are generally some better cartridges for home defense, but what you have is better than what you don’t have. If the .22 rifle is your only option, use the best ammunition you can get. The .22 LR cartridge isn’t very powerful, so something like Federal Premium Punch, or CCI Stingers are your best bet.
A .22 rifle is great for beginner shooters. It has basically no recoil or muzzle blast and is easy to shoot. Pretty much any rifle or handgun range will allow .22 rifles to be used, and they are great for familiarizing yourself with different types of firearms. There are representatives of just about every type of action and style of firearm chambered in .22 LR, and it’s a great introductory cartridge.
Each .22 rifle will need to be cleaned according to its manufacturer’s reco*mendations, but basically, you’ll want to clean the powder and lead fouling from the bore, and powder fouling from the action. The .22 LR cartridge tends to be dirty, and many bullets are coated in wax, which accumulates in the gun. Any basic rifle cleaning kit will have what you need to clean the bore and action, and keep you up and running.
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Even in a sea of potential co*petitors, it was impossible to ignore the Ruger 10/22 Takedown as one of the best .22 rifles available. What it lacks out of the box, it makes up for in modularity and aftermarket adaptability. There’s a reason that an entire sub-industry has flourished around aftermarket parts and clones of the 10/22. It’s a proven platform that’s flat-out fun to shoot. If you’re going to own only one .22 rifle, go with the 10/22, but in my opinion, one is not nearly enough.