I'm new to this, please help!

[Tactical93]

I'm wanting to buy a tactical .22 rifle. Compatablewith a red dot and maybe some other attachments. With a low budget. Pretty much looking for best bang for your buck. Can anyone help me?

[5.56RifleGuy]

How low is low budget?

[CTS]

What do you consider a "tactical .22 rifle"? If you want something that looks like an AR, the S&W M&P22 is probably your best bet. The local Wally world still had one in stock two days ago for $449 or the Mossberg model was $229. I think the S&W is the better deal from what I have heard.

[Ridge_Runner_5]

Ruger 10/22 and an Archangel stock for it.

Welcome to TFL.

[Tucker 1371]

If the Smith and Wesson MP15-22 is in your budget I'd go with that, it's the most like a full size AR from what I can tell just handling them at gun shops.

[Tactical93]

I was kinda thinking along the lines of a mossberg 715t bc is around $300. The flat top is 300 and there's one with a handle on top for about $$60 less. What would be best?

[batmann]

If your intent is to mount a red dot----the flatop is the way to go.

[5.56RifleGuy]

I will warn you, the mossberg looks and feels very cheap. I have heard it shoots fine, but as far as look and feel, it looks to be less quality than an air soft gun.

[JWT]

Go for the S&W MP15-22. Great little guns. They function very similar to their big brothers. Even take down is similar. Don't let the polymer receiver bother you. It is very hard to distinguish from metal and mine has held up very well.
Will shoot any ammo I've tried without fail. I use mostly CCI Blazer and Federal bulk pack.

I put a Primary Arms red dot sight on mine. Makes a fun rifle that is affordable to shoot.

[5.56RifleGuy]

The M&p 15 22s I have seen have been nice. Thats what I would reccomend.

[sailskidrive]

Hmmmm... tactical against squirrels maybe. lol

[Ben Towe]

A friend of mine bought a Colt .22 AR today for $500 plus tax, seems like a nice little rifle. It's flat top with a removable carry handle. If the rain holds we're gonna shoot it a bit this evening.

[DaleA]

Don't leave out the Remington 597 'tactical' models.

http://www.remington.com/products/fi...quad-rail.aspx

The ones I've handled were pretty solid (read heavy) which impressed me.

[Fishbed77]

I was kinda thinking along the lines of a mossberg 715t bc is around $300. The flat top is 300 and there's one with a handle on top for about $$60 less. What would be best?

The Mossbergs are junk, IMHO. My cousin has one (a freebie his wife won through her work), and it's little more than a flimsy plastic shell over a cheaply-made Mossberg Plinkster.

You'd be better off with a Ruger 10/22 and a Archangel stock (maybe the cool Nomad one that looks like a G36). Or save an extra $200 and get a S&W M&P15-22.

[Hummer70]

It depends on what you define tactical as being and what you intend using it for. For instance if you are also planning on using it in a long term survival situation.

Guys I hate to tell you but there is lots of crap floating around out there these days.

I got a spam mail the other day from a gun writer on a survival forum and he said Ruger 10/22. Below is what I responded with and will give you food for thought on selection of a rifle for long term survival use.

"First off I came from the Army Small Cal Weapons Lab and from there was Small Arms and Ammunition Test Director at Aberdeen Proving Ground where we tested weapon systems for environmental survivability, endurance, safety, hit probability, maintainability, sustainability etc.

Weight, feel, looks, are what most folks use to judge a weapon system but knowing what is likely to fail and being able to fix it is critical in a long term survival application.

Take a look at:

http://www.midwayusa.com/General.mvc...cs~ruger_10_22

Always keep in mind if you can't keep it going you have a major potential problem and as Mr. Murphy says in effect "no plan goes according to plan after the first shot is fired".


For instance, lets say you grabbed your 10-22 right now and you found you have a broken extractor, can you replace it without tools and do you have the part in your possession in your survival kit? Same thing to be said for firing pin (striker) retainer pin and spring.

Take a look at the trigger assembly. That is not something you want to disassemble next to a camp fire out in the woods without tools and the rifle is going to need a full set of punches as well as the spare parts. On most weapon systems the things that are likely to fail are the striker, extractor, striker(hammer) spring, If the weapon is gas operated then you are likely to have issues with the gas system.

Weapons with lots of aluminum present special problems around salt water environments especially when they contact steel. Google galvanic action.


Now obviously the AR weapons family has aluminum and steel and most of the after market systems will suffer the same fate as the aluminum parts as most after market weapons do not exhibit the protective coatings the M16/M4 has.

As well weapons with plastic parts (magazines) tend to not fare well in sub zero applications.

Every vendor has had spring problems at one time or another as most vendors do not make their own springs. Find a spring engineer (rare breed) and ask them what tends to happen to springs. In a survival application such will be detrimental to your well being long term.

Just thought I would pass such along to you so you can contemplate things 99.999% of folks never consider.

As you look over weapon systems for survival applications keep the above in mind.

When I went to work for the Army Small Cal Lab I conducted a little informal study among weapon engineers that came from Springfield Armory in the 1930s,- 1970s and my question to them individually was if you were going to be put in a bad place and you had to survive on one weapon only what would you choose? Every last one said the same thing and even that design can be enhanced upon.

Just thought I would give you something to consider when you think about things that need to be considered when long term survival applications are the main interest so that you can look at weapons selection from a different point of view.

Hint: If it was going to be a 22 rifle ,the one I would choose hasn't been made in 20+ years and was good for over 200,000 rounds with no part failures.

The simplest system going can have the bolt removed without tools, bolt disassembled without tools, striker, striker spring and extractor replaced without tools and even considering this the system operated with minimal problems for many years. It is estimated that one could shoot out 20 or more barrels and it still keep going."

Therefore I say again guys there is lots of crap floating around out there that may/will/ go down on you quickly. For instance a guy at flea market had a Remington 22 semi auto for sale and 6 extra mags. When I told him my background and asked about the mags he told me they were only good for about 200 rounds each and then would no longer hold ammo correctly and he had to keep buying mags to keep the rifle going.

As a rule of thumb plastic mags do not hold up well and as such no plastic mag has ever been type classified for the M16 which means it never got accepted to be put into the supply system as a equal replacement for metal mags.

I have some plastic mags that while they work now I would not take them into a combat situation where lives depended on it.

[Revolver1]

S&W M&P 15-22!

[BillyJack3]

Have you held the Mossberg? If you had, I don't think you would have listed it as a consideration. I honestly put more faith in my son's airsoft rifle than I would in the Mossberg.

If you want anything that is going to last, look at the M&P.

Primary Arms for a red dot is my recommendation buy mine ran great with a cheap BSA dot for a couple years before I gave it away. Not sure what other accessories you want to bolt on but try to show some restraint or you will end up with a drawer full of cheaply made Chinese plastic. A good red dot, light and sling mount is all you need for a solid shooter.

[MarkCO]

Might read through this thread on the same topic: http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=513987