Recomend one please. If you woldd not have one say why.I want something bigger than 22lr and i won't use it on even small deer.

I had a Marlin bolt rifle in .22 WMR. I couldn't achieve the accuracy necessary to get it to use the 100 yard potential the cartridge has. I got rid of it for that reason.

I've read of others with different outcomes however.

It's an excellent cartridge but needs to exhibit accuracy to make use of the additional power. Mine just didn't do it.

I'm not sure the .22 hornet is the solution either. The .17 HMR seems to have taken over.

I have two 22 mags. One shoots sub MOA and the other 4xMOA (one Marlin, one Savage..you guess) I also have 2 17 HMR, both of which shoot sub MOA. My Rem 597 mag shoots best and the Simmons 6.5-20x let's me pick which eye I want to shoot out of the crow.

The 17 HM2 has done it all too, just at or under 100 yds. Hornady figured out how to make the 17 shoot real well.....and the terminal performance is nothing short of aceptable. Otherwise, use a .204...it won't let you down either!

For deer...use a real gun.

My hunting partner and I each have two of the .22WMRs. Mine are a heavy-bbld T/C Contender with a Weaver 4-16x scope, and a Ruger 10/22Mag refitted with a heavy fluted barrel. It sports a Leup 4.5-14x scope. Both will shoot sub-1" groups, although the T/C will do it all the time. Check the newer ammo out to find which shoots best. My Ruger likes the Rem v-max bulleted ammo. The T/C likes the 30gr Fed HPs. Both are good enough to take prairie dogs at 150yds.

I have two .22 Magnum rifles at the present, an old Winchester 275 and a well-worn Marlin 25MN. The Winchester is a 1.75 MOA gun at best, and that with CCI 40 grain Maxi-Mag ammo only. The Marlin is MOA with a number of loads from 30 to 50 grains but gets down to 0.75-0.8" at 100 yards with Rem 33 grain V-Max.

I had a Anchutz bolt rifle in .22 WMR. I couldn't achieve the accuracy necessary to get it to use the 100 yard potential the cartridge has. I got rid of it for that reason.
Som guns seems to shoot nice groups and many dont.

/Johan

I had a CZ American WMR, brilliant gun, sub MOA, I only got rid of it because of the price of ammunition over here in the UK. I cast, and reload for my Hornet at a fraction of the price, which means I can shoot more.

John

I'd recommend you check out the Ruger 77/22mag. target model with the laminated stock, and grey stainless steel barrel/action. I have one, and it has proven to be a very accurate rifle. It seems to like the Rem. V-Max ammo best (sub MOA), but CCI 40gr.HP also does very well.
Mine is scoped with a Leupold 3-9x compact.

If I were buying an inexpensive 22 Mag bolt action, I believe I'd start with the Marlin 982VS.

You can get lucky with a lighter Marlin barrel, but it's more likely with a heavy barrel. (Tne heavy barrels are the ones that had the hole bored through the center of the blank, and that doesn't happen every time with every barrel. The lighter barrels did not, and had to have steel removed to make the hole appear to be in the center, i.e., a lighter profile.) With the little stress that not having to hog off steel, their button rifling can yield really remarkable results.

The trigger's even improved (T-900) in recent years, but there's also an excellent Rifle Basix trigger, if it still isn't good enough. It won't be as smooth as a CZ, nor as good looking as a Ruger, but it ought to work well for not much money.

Jaywalker

I have a Savage 93 heavy stainless barrel that is very accurate. I didn't care for the synthetic stock, so I bought a laminated stock from http://www.savageparts.com to match my Savage 93 in 17 HRM.

The Savage in 22 Magnum is so accurate that I rebarreled my Anschutz 141M to 17 HRM, since I didn't have need of 2 good 22 Magnums. The Marlins are also good, but I don't like how far the magazine extends below the stock.

Jeff

by old brno auto shoots well but only with 40 gr WW loads, so I bought a ruger 77/22 which shoots the 34 gr WW very well. I bedded the ruger, did a trigger job on it and floated the barrel.(I do that to all factory guns before I even shoot them)

Thanks-- Just looking for a toy--Which is cheapest to shoot? I hand load but over the counter if i am lazy that day.

How do you handload 22 Magnum ammo?

Try as many brands as you can and shoot the brand that groups the best in your rifle. My Savage likes PMC 40 grain jacketed softpoints, which is an OK load for small deer.

Jeff

Invader, I know what you mean. If anybody ever builds another .44 RF in a lever gun I'm in big trouble!

The Win. 9422M has proven to be a reliable and accurate gun for me when fed the Win. ammo. Maybe a bit over 1 MOA from a rest, call it 1.25-1.5" for 3 shots most of the time. Plenty good enough for plinkin' or small varmints. Pigs too, they will do that trick with well placed shots though you might try the FMJs rather than HPs. Put 'em right behind the ear.

I question the need for great accuracy in such a cartridge as it's effective range is likely less than 150 yards, depending on your target. There are more accurate rifles out there for the WMR chamber, but I never worried about it much. The Winnie is a light, handy rifle, easy to carry and more than good enough. If I need something with more zap or accuracy I leave it in the locker.

Before the advent of the 17 HRM, I thought that an upgraded 25 Stevens would be just the ticket for small game hunters. Since the introduction of the 17 HRM, I think that there are more small game killers than there are hunters, since much of the small game shot with a 17 HRM is blown apart and left in the field. I can't think of a better way to practice my still hunting skills than by stalking rabbits and shooting them in the head from the off-hand position. The 17 HRM is so darned accurate and flat shooting that it takes most of the stalk out of the hunt if you let it.

Jeff

The fine looking machinery above cost only $275 and so far it's fun. One day it shoots moa and the next three moa!.

Not say to get one for out of the box hunting. A new CZ might be easy for that but this gun has me interested.

Did not mean to imply you could reload a 22mag Just that I own nothing between a 22lr
and 30-06. Looking for a Toy that dose not cost $$$ to shoot.

Invader,

Look at the bulk prices of 223 factory ammo vrs 22 Mag. A 223 would fit nice in your battery. The 22 Mag is not really cheap for plinking.

Here is 223 ammo for about 14 cents ea. http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/ctd/product.asp?dept_id=...9N4CG7057F32P4839F0B

Thats about what 22 mag ammo costs.

Savage 99 Please, More info about rifle in photo.
Thanks
Gene

I'm shooting about the cheapest .22 Mag imaginable, a NEF Sportster and it will do right at one MOA with the right ammo. I spent about the cost of the rifle finding the right ammo, though.

Saeed and friends did a long test on .22 lr and .22 mag rifles and ammo that's posted on this site. Rifles have strong likes and dislikes, and they ain't predictable.

As someone already remarked, you don't really need extreme accuracy. Max effective range for the .22 mag is about 150 yards, and 2" grouping at that range is plenty good. I'm even satisfied with the 1" 50 yard groups I get from the Federal 50 grain bullets. That's about as far as I shoot edible small game anyway.

My own preference for this class of rifle is the .25-20 WCF. I can load cheaper than I can buy .22 Mag, and it takes cast bullets well.

The .22 mag is not really cost effective in my opinion. 50 rounds for around $8.00 in my area. I can buy cheap .223 ammo for around 12 cents a round if I want to plink, and can aslo shoot very accurately if i build custom handloads. The 223 is also much more versatile. It can shoot a much wider variety of game and at much greater ranges. I can also download a .223 using blue dot to velocities similar to the 22 mag. I would seriuously consider a Savage or Stevens 223. You can pick one up for around 250-350. Both brands are normally very accurate out of the box.

If i were to decide to move up to CF what what do ya'll like? 223, 22-250 etc

quote:

Looking for a Toy that dose not cost $$$ to shoot.

In that context I think it's a toss up between the WMR, the HMR and the .223. The cost to shoot each will run in the $ .13-.16/round area, so do you want loud bangs or not so loud? Unless you shop used the RF guns will probably be a bit cheaper to purchase though NEF may be about the same. FWIW I went thru this some time back, and fail to see a better alternative to the .22 WMR. Yes, the HMR is more accurate, and yes, the .223 has more reach and splendid accuracy potential, but for the sake of simplicity and a bit more versatility I fail to see a better solution IF YOU DON'T WANT TO RELOAD.

quote:

Originally posted by invader66:
If i were to decide to move up to CF what what do ya'll like? 223, 22-250 etc

For now the 223 will be perfect for you. US military cartridges rule.

The 22-250 just has more range that's all. Both are good but the 223 is all moved in and everything.

The only argument in favor of a 22 Mag over a 223 would be the noise factor and the larger varmints like coyotes. It's the 223 all the way.

My .223's with the right load shoot just as well as the 17 HMR (1/2 MOA), just does it nearly twice as far out and the 17 HMR is just as good as the 17 HM2, at almost twice the range. Depends on how far you want to shoot and what you're shooting in the impact zone. If you want to eat what you shoot.... then a .22 short will do....or ya better use head shots with the others!!

The .22-250 and even the .223 don't do it for me for woodchucks in the small farm regions we have around here, as close as we are to suburbs and other small farms. They're just so much louder and so much more effective, that they aren't even in the comparison mix.

For me the right comparison is .22 Mag and .22 Hornet or .221 Fireball. The latter are a bit louder, but give a bit more range, a tradeoff that's reasonable, one way or the other. If the Hornet didn't have a reputation for being finicky, it'd be perfect. The Fireball is perfect, except so few rifles are chambered for it.

Also, sometimes I just want simplicity - no reloading, load development, etc., and on those days, the quiet .22 Magnum is just right. "Gimme a box of those. Thanks." And I find them cheaper to shoot per shot (using my assumptions), at $0.16 per shot than the Hornet's $0.18.

Jaywalker

My Kimber 82 (of Oregon) is very accurate, but shows a definate preference in ammunition. Naturally, it likes the pricey and hard to come by RWS the best. WW (conventional forty grain bullet) works fine, but CCI and Federal are in the disfavor of this rifle. Remington has only recently started making WMR, but I haven't felt the need to try any since I've always had very poor luck with Rem .22 LR's.

If you want economy, try the plated (not jacketed) WW X-pert loads. They are slower (about 1600 fps) but the five-pack I bought only cost about $4.50 per box. El-Cheapo Armscor ammo from the Phillipines is cheap and surprisingly good, but I'm having a hard time finding any more.

I confess that I haven't tried any of the "premium" ammo with the plastic nose cones, but I doubt it being significantly more accurate than the conventional bullet stuff.

The "highest and best" uses of the WMR are limited. I like it for close-range turkeys, and it offers a lot more authority than .22 LR when dispatching household pests like skunks and armadillos.

I think that I recall see Armscor 22 Magnum ammo for sale in either http://www.cheaperthandirt.com or http://www.sportsmansguide.com.
Jeff