The rifle itch.... it burns!!

[tahoe2]

Hey Corrado, welcome aboard. "My Opinion"... 22's are great for learning the mechanics of shooting at a low cost (both gun & ammo), but to become proficient with a big bore, you need to shoot a big bore, and shoot it often. I have several 22's, but I don't shoot them all that often, because I am always developing loads for my hunting guns. As far as caliber goes, that depends on your needs, if you ask 10 people, you will get at least six different answers. All of them will probably suffice, ... it's a matter of personal taste. Narrowing down some specifics(coyote,hogs,deer,bear, etc...) will help in your determination.

[L_Killkenny]

Thanks for the info guys. In all honesty, I would love to start out with a .22 but... I'm don't like to buy otherwise useless guns. Everything I buy has multiple purposes. It's why I didn't start out with a .22 handgun. I REALLY wanted a Ruger Mark III Hunter (or whatever it was called) with a 6.8 inch long barrel. It would have been a tack driver. It would have taught me great skills since there is almost no recoil whatsoever. I stewed for months on it, going to the store, handling the guns etc. But in the end I convinced myself to buy a 9mm. Why? Because the gun can be used for more than just basic target/small game shooting (and is powerful enough to use for defense, if need be.)

Every gun nut should own a Ruger 10/22 (I suppose you could substitute some other .22's but I won't) but I can't say that for ANY centerfire rifle. As a matter of fact if it wasn't for big game hunting and coyotes I'd find very little need or want for a centerfire rifle and consider them nothing more than a drain on the wallet. From plinkin to practice to serious target shooting to long range shooting there is nothing a .22 won't do. Useless my butt.

[Hawg]

There's much better guns for the money than a 10/22. Its great IF you want to customize. If you want accuracy out of the box there's better.

[g.willikers]

How about this:
Two guns, one centerfire and a twin in .22.
That way you get all the fun and practice you want.
Many of the competitive rifle shooters do this.
The .22 has about the same behavior at 100 yds as most centerfires do at 300.
So, it provides meaningful, inexpensive practice for the centerfire.

[L_Killkenny]

There's much better guns for the money than a 10/22. Its great IF you want to customize. If you want accuracy out of the box there's better.

There's a big ol' load of BS right there. 10/22's are $200 NIB, You name me one semi-auto .22lr that is better, let alone MUCH better, than that for that price. Sure there are better .22's out there but you ain't gonna get em for $200. As for part 2 of your BS the 10/22 doesn't need customized. Contrary to internet lore the 10/22 isn't inaccurate for it's intended place in the shooting world. The 10/22 was intended to be a durable, reliable, fast handling plinkin and small game gun and in that role it's great. Accuracy to spare in that role. Low and behold it's not a target gun out of the box, cry me a river. If that's what you want go buy a .22lr bolt gun cause none of the lower priced semis are gonna come close out of the box.


Now I'd be full of crap if I said there wasn't more accurate semi-auto .22lrs for comparable, maybe even less $$$. But there is more to a .22lr semi than SLIGHTLY smaller groups sitting at a bench. I'll take all the positives of a 10/22 over an extra fraction of an inch gain in accuracy any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

[Joe Chicago]

Another vote here for a .22 bolt action to start with. You can buy a good new one for well under $300 and a good used one for well under $150. I recommend a CZ452/455 or a Marlin.

[Hawg]

There's a big ol' load of BS right there. 10/22's are $200 NIB, You name me one semi-auto .22lr that is better, let alone MUCH better, than that for that price. Sure there are better .22's out there but you ain't gonna get em for $200. As for part 2 of your BS the 10/22 doesn't need customized. Contrary to internet lore the 10/22 isn't inaccurate for it's intended place in the shooting world. The 10/22 was intended to be a durable, reliable, fast handling plinkin and small game gun and in that role it's great. Accuracy to spare in that role. Low and behold it's not a target gun out of the box, cry me a river. If that's what you want go buy a .22lr bolt gun cause none of the lower priced semis are gonna come close out of the box.

Marlin model 60 is 150.00 and is more accurate out of the box. I never said the 10/22 was inaccurate just that there's better for less money. I do own a 10/22 and a Marlin 60. The 10/22 needs mods to shoot as well as the Marlin.

[L_Killkenny]

Marlin model 60 is 150.00 and is more accurate out of the box. I never said the 10/22 was inaccurate just that there's better for less money. I do own a 10/22 and a Marlin 60. The 10/22 needs mods to shoot as well as the Marlin.

See, you are equating a slight increase in accuracy to quality. Not so fast. I've seen el'cheapo Marlin/Glenfield 25's out shoot Marlin 800 series bolt actions, seen Savage MK's out shoot CZ's, seen Savage centerfires out shoot Sako's, bet there's more than one M60 that will out shoot the average CZ semi .22 or Henry may out shoot a Marlin 39 or a Winchester 9422, etc etc etc. Does that mean they are better than the competition? Heck no. It means the cheaper, less quality gun is more accurate than it's competition. That's all it means, absolutely nothing more. You measure quality by a number of traits for any given product, accuracy being one of many when it comes to guns. You can't take that one trait your product is better at and claim it's top of the food chain when it comes to quality. The 10/22 wins easily on a handful of other fronts.