Anyone have a CZ American in .22 mag? Are they tack-drivers? What about the Ruger bolt actions? Any other rifles that are tack-drivers in .22 mag?

Also, what do you hunt/shoot with the .22 mag?

(Is there a place for the .22 mag? With the .22LR and the .223, what gap does the .22 mag fill?)

Thanks for any help!
Dave

[ 12-06-2003, 22:11: Message edited by: Dave_T ]

This may stir some sh*t but most of the 22 mags I've shot weren't impressive. The exception was an Anschutz. I think the 17HRM will eclipse the 22 mag in new rifle sales. It does more, better, and accurately. Plain and simple truth.

.22 Mags are funny things.

I have a 35 year old Mossberg single shot; rust pits all over it, stock all scarred to hell. It actually spent one entire summer on the bottom of a river. After that episode, I had to soak it in a pail of diesel fuel for a week, to get the action open. It shoots shaggy one hole groups at 100 m., and always has.

I recently bought a brand new CZ 452 in .22 Mag. The test target wasn't all that impressive, but I thought maybe the 'tester' was having a bad day... ...it never shot under 1.5 in. with anything I tried in it. I traded it off first chance I got.

On the other hand, I've owned a couple of Win. lever actions in .22 Mag that shot pretty darn good. I'd say that (if you possibly can) try it before you buy it! Price or brand doesn't seem to make that much difference - some shoot, but a quite a few don't.

Actually I believe that all the .17 HRM is going to do is make the ammo manufactures come up with better bullets(more accurate and better expansion) than they have now. Bullets like the Ballistic Tip or V-Max or one of the many others that we have for .22 centerfires. Ammo for the .22 WMR is in the most part loaded with bullets designed for the old long rifle cartridge. I had an old Mossberg .22 WMR that would shoot under 1” all day but like a young fool I traded it away. Now my Ruger 77/22 does that since I changed the trigger. Besides all that the .22 WMR performs better when the wind blows then the .17 HRM does. I did my own test and the .17 drifts very well with a wind. Lawdog

I bought a Remington 597 LS in .22 mag. and it's been accurate enough for what I use it for. I only shot groups to find out what ammo it liked best. The best groups were using any of the CCI Maxi-Mag stuff. All under 1"@ 100yds. I've shot literally hundereds of sage rats with it and I like the .22 mag over the .22 lr because it isn't affected as much by wind and is a much better 100-150 yd cartridge. Before good barrels and jacketed .22 magnum ammuntion the .22 mag wasn't much in the accuracy deptartment. My semi-auto will shoot with about any of the cheaper bolt guns.

Until I bought my 597 22mag. a few years ago, I'd never shot one that was very accurate at all.
That one changed my opinion.
Then I had a Shilen super match fitted to a Martini Cadet action. Wow! It wasn't that the ammo was inferior after all.
If the manufacturers would put the effort into the 22mag. rifles that they've put into the 17HMR and many of the 22lr's, we wouldn't have to pass on the 22mag. for lack of accuracy.
TDLefty

I have a CZ 452 in 22 mag. I bought it from a freind. It will shoot groups an inch or under with the right ammo at 100 yds. My freind did a bedding job and floted the barrel. It has the $10 trigger job, the trigger is very good about 1 lbs. I also own a cz 452 varmint in 17 hmr I like very much. I have only owned 3 or 4 22 mags over the years but the cz is the best and most accurate one by far. All in all I have never been a big 22 mag guy because I just have never seen any that were all that accurate. I agree with the above post if I were going to buy one now I would get the 17 hmr.

One guy that can make a 22 mag shot like a dream is Clark Custom Guns. His shop is right down the street from my house, and the guns he makes are the real deal. He does custom brl. and stocks. mostly for the Ruger 77 builds 22lr 22mag 17 hmr in both 10/22 and the 77 bolt. I want to get a 10/22 mag in 17 hmr for my next small caliber gun. LLB

First, you gotta define accurate in terms of what you are gonna use it for. You aren't gonna win any benchrest matches with a .22 WMR, but any misses on crows out to 135 yards are gonna be your fault, not the rifle's.

You can get that level of accuracy with a $100 Handi.

The .17 HMR may well be more accurate, but you don't want to shoot anything that you might want to eat with one. And "more accurate" is not a big selling point with me when even cheap .22 WMRs are accurate enough for anything I will ever do with one.

The .22 WMR does very well as a small game and suburban varmint rifle. There is a place between the .22 lr and the .223 for that. One might plausibly argue that place is better filled by the .22 Hornet, but I don't think you can make such a case for the .17 HMR.

I have a CZ 452 in a 22 mag. I bought a Mcmillian A2 stock and put the barreled action in it.
Shoots very well with Remington Premier 33 gr. ammo.

Also have a custom made 17HMR with a CZ action.
SUPER accurate.

Tough choice, I like them both.

The 22 Magnum is notoriously inaccurate and not many of them shoot for beans, there are of course exceptions and I have owned 2 Winchester pumps that shot under an inch consistantly at 100 yards....I now have a 5 MM Remington that will shoot one tiny hole at 100 yds, it is the most amazing gun I have ever seen and it about worn of blue and the stock looks like drift wood...it worth nothing but it sure shoots....I might add that I can shoot a 416 or 470 as cheap as I can shoot the 5MM....

Another disgusting thing about Remington is they market a firearm and then quit making ammo and the sharks run the price of ammo up and Remington doesn't give a s--t.....At least Winchester makes a special run of wrf for example to put a stop to that nonsence.....

I don't buy that .22 WMRs are inaccurate. I do buy that they are choosy about ammo. You can't just walk in and buy whatever is in stock and expect to get good results. I tested everything in sight and passed on the leftovers to a buddy who had just bought a Marlin. He promptly maxed the BDT with ammo that would not hold an inch at 25 yards with my rifle.

I have had two Marlins that were tack drivers with Win ammo and shot CCI very poorly. Federal in between. Ruger and CZ not quite as good but ok with Federal.

I would agree that most .22 WMR's are not all that accurate, but as with most .22 Rimfires, the ammunition makes a great deal of difference in performance (and what shoots well in one rifle doesn't necessarily do that well in another).

I owned a Winchester 94/22M which shot "okay", but when I acquired a Kimber, it's relative accuracy was so superior that I quickly sold the Winchester. With my Kimber 82 (Oregon), Winchester ammunition does well, CCI is mediocre, and 50 grain Federals are very poor. Wouldn't you know it, though, the rare and very pricey RWS ammunition is both the fastest and the most accurate. I recently came across some Filipino Armscor, and it seems to do about as well as the Winchester at a little cheaper price. Now I can't locate any more of it!

I understand the new Savage and Marlin heavy barreled 22 mags shoot good; particularly with the new mid thiry grained poly tipped bullets. Apparently Marlin / Savage had to up the anti to hold down complaints about how accurate the new 17 mag was and the old 22 mag wasn't.

[ 12-09-2003, 03:03: Message edited by: Old & Slow ]

Stonecreek,

It seems you've run across the same ammunition problem I had years ago.

Soooooo........I decided to load my own 22Mag ammo for my Anschutz 54M. Actually, I unloaded factory Winchester 22Mag ammo VERY CAREFULLY with a special bullet puller set-up. I then remeasured the factory powder, plus a tad, and seated a Speer 40gr. Spire-point bullet to touch the lands. If memory serves, I could agg. .2 to .3 inch groups at 50 yards. With todays better bullets, I should try it again.......

Regards,
Kevin Gullette

Kevin:

Cool! What powder do they use on the .22 WMR, with 30-34 grain bullets? Any idea what velocity you were getting?

Thanks,

Jordan

Volquartsen would be my #1 pick for a 22 mag. Semi-auto and accurate....nice combo!

I have a CZ 452 American WMR and I am very pleased with it, it will shoot under an inch @ 100 yards no problem. It prefers the Remmington 33 gr V-Max, with Winchester Supremes coming a close second. I find it to be an extremely effective round out to 100/120 yards for crows and stuff, never shot a fox beyond 70 yards with it, it is light to carry and the ammo is not bulky which all count in its favour. What is against it is the cost of the ammo and the fact that I can use my Hornet in its place much cheaper and extend the effective range. So I have decided that when I have used up the few hundred rounds that I have left for it, my WRM will become a 6.5X55. I like it but not enough to keep feeding it's expensive habit.