I want to buy a rifle chambered in 22lr that will group within an inch at 100 yards, but want to limit myself to $400 and under, not including optics. A bolt gun or single shot seems the only way to go. I do not want to go with a tricked out semi-auto like the 10/22.

I have the TC Contender and Encore frames in various calibers, but not the 22lr. How do the factory 22lr barrels compare to the accurate bolt actions rifle out there? Thanks.

Ranb

Doubt you can find what you are looking for at that price.
I do not know much about any .22 single shots but owned many different bolt rifles with only a couple being capable of .5 moa at 50 yards. MOA at 100 yards is entirely different. Even if the rifle is capable shooters ability and ammo has as much, if not more to do with it than the rifle.
To stay under your budget, buy either a CZ 452 or Savage BTVS and go from there.

I have a CZ american. It will stay under an inch at 50 yards with the right ammo. With the expensive stuff it stays pretty close to 1/2 inch at 50. This is the only one I know of. You could look for a used contender carbine and get a Bullberry 22 Match barrel for it. They are even better than the CZ but I doubt you will find one for under $400.

Some time ago there was a 22lr imported form China that became a favorite of MS shooters. I have one. I believe it was called NS. I can get you more info. if you need it (from the gun). You should be able to find one used or fairly new at a reasonable price.
Peter.

1" at 100 yards is a tall order for any .22 LR evan my Kimber wont do that very often and it is a 1/2" gun at 50 yards with the right ammo.

I agree with Ted, above. With a lot of ammo testing, and barrel cleaning between ammo changes, you probably will find ammo that shoots a 1" group at 100 yards. The problem is when you try to duplicate it!!
Peter.

Thanks guys. I found a Bullberry contender barrel on gunbroker that might do the trick.

Ranb

If you want to stay under an inch at 100 yards with a .22LR you're going to need an enclosed range. Even a slight puff of wind will scatter a .22LR group at that distance.

Historically, Marlin has made some very accurate .22 rimfires. I haven't shot a Marlin .22 made within the last twenty years, so I can't say if that is still true, but a Marlin would be within your price limitation.

I think you can fairly easily find some .22 RF rifles which will dependably shoot 1/2" or slightly smaller at 50 yards, for what you want to pay, if you can read wind a bit and are a good RF shooter already.

But, after several years of running smallbore matches every month, I don't think you will find a .22 RF which will reliably (consistently) shot sub-MOA groups on demand outdoors at 100 yards for ANY price. I know I have never seen one in anyone's hands. Re-reading Peter's, SnowWolf's, and Ted Thorn's posts above is probably well worth while.

Lots of things come into play. As Stonie said, wind reading becomes a real art with the .22 RF cartridge. So does a high level of shooter skills as to position, consistent grip, trigger pull, sight picture, etc.

Very little rimfire ammo is capable of delivering that performance regularly either. That's why some competitive shooters like to buy their ammo 10,000 rounds at a time if they find a make and lot which will come close to doing it in their rifle.

Occasional groups under an inch are possible with almost any good quality .22 RF rifle and the ammo it likes, but as another poster said above, it is the "repeating it", when you want to, that is the problem.

Five years ago, one could run across the occasional used Model 52 Winchester for $400 or less, but I doubt that is likely to happen very often these days.

It is still possible to see some used Anschutz RF rifles for that price, but unless one has the opportunity to try the gun before buying, I'd skip buying one of those for sale at that price. Anschutz has a lot of rifles out there which are great shooters, but it also has produced an even larger number which aren't...Especially in the lower priced models.

I suspect your best chances, IF you have access to a dealer in used BSA RF heavy-barreled match Martinis, would be a Mark III or earlier gun. The Marks IV and V are likely better than the IIIs, of course, but they are more likely to be in the $500 and up range (sometimes way up).

Could be a very fun quest, so good luck. Kind of like finding the Holy Grail if and when you are successful at it.

Good points Alberta! I forgot to mention the Anschutz 64MS, which I also own! It is a very good shooter, but I don't know how much they run. I suspect more than the $400 limit.
Peter.

Thanks, Peter.

A little clarification of my remarks on the Anschutz. In the 1980s when I was interested in .22 RF competition as a possible hobby "extender", I decided to buy another RF rifle. I bought an Anschutz 1411 ANIB, two new Anschutz 1811's, a new Anschutz 1813, and a NIB Anschutz 54.11 MS.

My intent was to try them all out, keep the most accurate and sell the rest. As I was selling guns for a living at the time, I was able to buy at a decent wholesale price. I could and did sell the very slightly used (accuracy testing only) rifles for enough to get my money back on them.

Much to my surprise, the Model 54.11 MS was the most accurate of that bunch. I still have it. It still will reliably shoot between 3/8" and 1/2" groups at 50 yards with some lots of Federal Gold Medal Match. Unfortunately I am now down to my last 75 rounds of that no longer available ammo.

It will even stay right at 1/2" at 50 yards with a few lots of both cheapo brands T-22 and Russian brass-cased "Junior".

But even the 54.11 MS doesn't shoot groups under 1" at 100 yards in any predictable way outdoors, even when the weather is a genuine "Bluebird" day. (And I can call wind fairly well, having won a national championship myself, wind coached another fellow to another national championship, and having been a member of the national Canadian Team to the Palma Matches.)

My cz452 lux will shoot into a half inch or so at 50 with some brands (including the 550 bulk pack Federal 36 gr HP from WalMart!?!) but I've never thought to try it at 100.

Back in the 70's about the only left hand bolt rimfire on the market was the Remington 581. Ugly little thing with a skinny long barrel in a cheap stock. Think I paid about $115 for it. Took it out of the box and replaced the main spring in the trigger and polished the sear and surprising enough got the pull down to about 2 crisp pounds. Decided to go all out and bedded the action and the first inch or so of the barrel and slapped a Bushnell 4x scope on it in cheap rings.
Hit the range with a brick of T-22's and never looked back. This rifle would routinely shoot 1/2 inch or better at 50 yards for 5 shots day in day out if I did my part for the next 27 years or so. At some point I added a recoil pad to it to increase the LOP but never finished grinding down the pad and it looked like crap. Finally decided I needed a nicer .22 and sold it and replaced it with a CZ 452. Love the CZ but as far as accuracy that 581 was in a class by its self.

Almost forgot! I have an Anschutz 1416D (I believe) which is also a very good shooter. I used it for sporting rifle MS. Damn, I have got the urge to take all these out for a spin again! It has been quite a while since I have had them out.
Peter.

Look at Savage MK II's and CZ 452's.Both are known for great accuracy but you'll have a very hard time finding anything at that price that will shoot 1"@100yds.

quote:

Originally posted by Bernie P.:
Look at Savage MK II's and CZ 452's.Both are known for great accuracy but you'll have a very hard time finding anything at that price that will shoot 1"@100yds.

I'll second (or third or whatever) the CZ-452!

Have personally seen these rifles shoot great groups!

Wind...wind and more wind.

I shoot my .22 Kimber at a 200 yrd clanker target every time I go to shoot my bigger stuff. What I have found by watching the dirt fly is the wind is a bigger factor than a guy might think. Shooting at this yardage is fun and the bullet drop from a 50 yard zero will surprize you. Free-hand shooting at this yardage with the scope turned all the way up and useing Kentucky windage is fun. The target is 1/4" alluminum.

Snowwolfe,

I absolutely agree with you about the 581's. I have two of them, one wears a custom walnut stock and the other one has the factory stock. I had both of them glassbedded and floated and a second action screw put in them. The custom one wears a 4-12x 3200 and the factory stocked one wears a 3-9x 3200. They both like Win Dynapoints and CCI Subsonic HP's.

I may have missed it but I'm surprised there wasn't more mentioned about ammo. Alberta did touch on it but the .22 match shooters I've known go to great lengths sorting ammo by weight and rim thickness. And that's EXPENSIVE ammo to begin with!

Shooting normal (under $5.00/box) ammo will definately leave you disapointed. Not that some of it isn't quite good for hunting type accuracy say <1/2" @ 50yds., In most matches however if you're not under half that consistantly you're just shooting for fun.

Like others have said, 100yds. with a .22LR is never going to be consistant regardless of the rifle or ammo. To many wild cards involved. That said, I can't think of any chambering you can have more fun with as economically. There are tons of .22's out there that will shoot < 1/2" @ fifty. Some of them you'd be surprised at! The old Mossbergs were renowned for good barrels but I have no knowledge on new ones and the old ones typically have been rode hard. That's the other great thing about .22's, you can afford to buy several to find a keeper!