Most accurate .22LR with iron sights

[DeltaCypher0]

Im new to The Firing Line, and a new shooter in general. I picked up my hunting license this spring and plan to hunt small game during season. I picked up a Ruger 10/22 and i'm not impressed with it much. Out of the box, it shot about 5 inches left at 50yds bench rest. I had to mount TechSights on it and severely adjust the windage to zero it in. I'm interested in picking up another .22 preferrably in bolt action, and I was wondering which brand makes a quality rifle that would be very accurate with its stock iron sights. Id prefer an American company, but ive heard good things about CZ. any advice would be great. Thanks in advance.

[Rustle in the Bushes]

i was here last year

savage-cons- flimsy trigger(when flicked to side) flimsy stock, ugly IMO.
pros- GREAT value, super accurate. made in Canada, I like getting that american money.


CZ 452- cons- more $$$
pros- way nicer stock, especially if wood. trigger kit is 10$ for a set of springs to adjust it to wherever you want.(yodave trigger kit). features built in dovetail scope mounts. also shoots amazing



I got the CZ 452 FS, man I love it

[SteelChickenShooter]

Of all the 22's I've had there is one iron sight stand out- that is the CZ. I put the rear sight on the 50 yard mark, new out of the box, took one shot, and I was done dialing it in.

[10-96]

I haven't tinkered with an Anschutz, Feinwerkbau, or any of those way high priced rifles, but I do know I wouldn't be totally put to shame if I was to go toe to toe against them with my CZ 452 MT.

[the rifleer]

the sights have nothing to do with the rifle's accuracy potential. With that said, CZ is very hard to beat for the money.

[TheBear]

a cz 455 would be a great choice.

[interlock]

I always replace the iron sights on a rifle if I use them.

[jhenry]

The OP may wish to know which decent .22 has the most user friendly, easy to hit with, precision iron sights from the factory.

As has already been pointed out, the sights themselves have nothing to do with the accuracy of the rifle. All they do is allow the user to take advantage of whatever potential the rifle has.

[DeltaCypher0]

I was just wondering which brand of rifle would have the best iron sights that are factory mounted which are in sync with the gun's accuracy. I guess it's kind of difficult to state what I mean. I want a rifle that is very accurate, and the sights that come factory mounted on it can produce accurate results. My Ruger 10/22's factory sights would never allow me to shoot accurately because the rifle itself shot left by about 5 inches, so looking down the barrel, I would always shoot left. Most factory sights seem to only allow elevation adjustments, and windage is unable to change.

[SteelChickenShooter]

If the rear sight on my 10-22 is anything like yours, I'd expect you could drift it over using a plastic punch and a small brass hammer to correct your error.
Take a look to see if it's mounted in a dovetail. Take a good look to see if it is centered or if it looks like you could drift it over a bit.

[gwnorth]

Dovetailed sights do indeed allow for windage by drifting the sight - the mallet and punch method just mentioned.

[SteelChickenShooter]

I went back to read the first post and realize now my post above this one is not in line with what you are looking for. To say again, the only rifle I've had in 22 rimfire, new out of the box, with dead nuts sights was my CZ. If I remember right, I've needed to drift the rear sight on about all rifles using irons. An exception might be the Charles Daly Zastava. But since I use a scope on that, I never tried the iron sights and removed the rear to fit the scope. I bet if I was to put it back on, it might be as accurate as the CZ.

[SteelChickenShooter]

Presuming a 15 inch sight radius, if your 10-22 is like mine, your sight would have been off by .042". If it looked like it was well centered, and you needed .042" correction, a person might say that's severe (just like you said). However, if it was hanging off one side, and tapping it over .042" put it pretty much equal in the groove, then I'd say it was way off from the factory and just needed to be set right by the shooter.

[DeltaCypher0]

Well, I did mount TechSights on my 10/22 which are aperture sights very similar to to ones on an M14 and allow for windage and elevation. I still had to adjust the windage severely over to the right to compensate for the 5in deviation to the left at 50yds. I guess most factory sights can be adjusted, I never thought of moving the rear sights over in the dovetail. But, I guess what it really comes down to is which brand makes the most accurate .22 rimfire rifle? And again, I'd prefer it to be American made although I'm hearing CZ is very good. Price isn't much of an issue.

[jdh]

If you can find one in good used original condition it is hard to beat a Remington 511, 512 or 513 in the target version. They had good apature sights.

[Bart B.]

It's nye impossible for anyone to pick up any rifle with iron sights and be assured it will shoot where they aim it. We all hold rifles differently, align the sights differently, use the trigger differently and follow through differently. Add all these up and one might understand why that even after getting a tack driver zeroed at some range every person will have different sight settings for zeroing it at a given range. And yes, even a rimfire 22 has enough recoil while the bullet's going down the barrel to make a difference.

Besides, what if the user shoots different ammo that what the factory person sighted the rifle in with?

The most accurate sporting .22's these days are probably made by Anschutz. A 1416 D KL Classic .22LR retails for about $950 with iron sights that are adjustable.

[gwnorth]

I'd also add that most manufacturers do not sight in weapons by live fire. Sights are installed usuing a jig or other mechanical alignment system. Usually a single or two test rounds are fired (usually from a full clamp rest) to test function, then it is packaged and shipped.

While you may get lucky, factory sights will almost always require some adjustment, of windage, elevation or both. One of my 1892s was sighted very close to true out of the box, but I've never really had a new gun with iron sights that did not need a bit of adjustment. The winchester manuals do discusses using a mallet to adjust for windage as necessary and I would hope any gun with dovetailed sights would also have a similar section.

[Eghad]

Add a scope to that 10-22....

[sholling]

Im new to The Firing Line, and a new shooter in general. I picked up my hunting license this spring and plan to hunt small game during season. I picked up a Ruger 10/22 and i'm not impressed with it much. Out of the box, it shot about 5 inches left at 50yds bench rest. I had to mount TechSights on it and severely adjust the windage to zero it in. I'm interested in picking up another .22 preferrably in bolt action, and I was wondering which brand makes a quality rifle that would be very accurate with its stock iron sights. Id prefer an American company, but ive heard good things about CZ. any advice would be great. Thanks in advance.

10/22s are fun reliable rifles but right out of the box are only capable of 2-3 MOA groups (1-1.5" @ 50yds) with bulk ammo. That said if you're that far off in one direction then there is something wrong with the rifle. I rebuild them into absolute tack drivers as a hobby and have 6 or 7 that I've done in my collection so I know a bit about the subject. The first thing to check is to make sure nothing is pushing the barrel off to one side. It's unlikely but it can happen - it can even be a defective stock pushing the barrel to one side.

The next thing to check is the attachment of the barrel to the receiver. It's not super uncommon for the block holding the barrel to the receiver to be torqued down unevenly causing the barrel to be pulled to one side. Pull the action out of the stock by removing the barrel band and takedown screw and check that the barrel is held in correctly by loosening the attachment block and then tightening it evenly. There is almost nothing on a 10/22 that you can't fix or replace yourself. It's idiot simple which is why there is such a huge industry producing goodies to tune them and enhance accuracy. You can have some serious fun modifying that 10/22 and with money and patience it's possible to make them just as accurate as a CZ.

The last possibility is that the receiver's scope mounting holes (used by the Tech-Sight) were drilled incorrectly. If that's the case it's the one thing that would require a trip back to Ruger.

You can tune that 10/22 with a few hundred in replacement parts and a lot of patience or just go buy a very accurate CZ455 Lux. The Lux model is designed for use with iron sights while the American and Varmint versions are designed for scopes. I've owned a CZ453 Varmint and it was a pretty nice rifle, but just my luck my 1st one was a lemon that patterned like a shogun. CZ replaced the rifle with no hassles but I eventually sold it and bought an Anschutz.

Just keep in mind that no rifle is going to give you 1-MOA accuracy with cheap ammo. If you want to squeeze the last bit of accuracy out of the rifle you'll have to do it with match ammo. But 22s are weird and there is a lot of trial and error to find which brand and model of match that your rifle likes best.

[j3ffr0]

I'm pretty new to shooting myself and recently bought a 1022 Takedown. Mine is well zeroed out of the box, but I didn't expect that. The rear site on the 1022s they are putting out now is adjustable and I was prepared to do tweak it the first trip to the range.

[SteelChickenShooter]

I agree a 10-22 is not so great for out of the box accuracy, and I know standard ammo can be much more accurate than high velocity. I was not happy with my initial 10-22 accuracy, but that was blamed on a really crummy trigger. I replaced it with a Timney kit and that resulted in a much tighter group. The rifle then was acceptable for my intended plinking. Certainly this model can be worked on to give really good results covering a wide range of user purposes.

[DeltaCypher0]

Sholling, thanks for the advice. I just took my 10/22 apart and I'm not sure where the resting block is, but I did notice that the piece holding my barrel in was crooked. (Is this the piece you were talking about?) I loosened the hex screws and took off the part and realigned my barrel and refastened the piece back in so it was squared off with everything. I hope this improves my accuracy, I can't wait to get it to the range tomorrow.

[sholling]

Sholling, thanks for the advice. I just took my 10/22 apart and I'm not sure where the resting block is, but I did notice that the piece holding my barrel in was crooked. (Is this the piece you were talking about?) I loosened the hex screws and took off the part and realigned my barrel and refastened the piece back in so it was squared off with everything. I hope this improves my accuracy, I can't wait to get it to the range tomorrow.

That's it. I suspect that was your problem but next time that you have it apart I'd also examine the stock for warpage and also examine the barrel band for defects.

Edit: Let us know how it shoots.

[mr.t7024]

How much do u want to spend? I like the Savage with the accu trigger, enough models to make you happy! Cliff

[rtpzwms]

Take a look at these.