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What's your favorite .22 rifle ??

174K views 359 replies 255 participants last post by  mogunner 
#1 · (Edited)
shooter45 us
Senior Chief Moderator Staff
Posts: 121
(3/23/01 12:06:52 am)
Reply What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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For hunting ? For target shooting ?
Mine are for hunting - Remington 541 S Custom Sporter. For Targets - Ruger 10/22 T with lots of work.

Edited by: shooter45 us at: 3/25/01 6:57:51 am

Bob In St Louis
Senior Chief Moderator Staff
Posts: 93
(3/23/01 8:12:25 pm)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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I kinda like the Calico with the 100 round helical drum mag. I had the rifle in 22, and had the 9mm pistol version. Awesome weapons. Sold em both to buy more old Spanish steel. Dummy me.

Actually, I still have the Remingtom Speedmaster 552 semiauto I got when I was 12. Still my most dependable 22.
Support the Dead Party, vote Harry S. Truman for Missouri Senate in 2002!

AntiqueDr
Moderator
Posts: 31
(3/23/01 9:14:44 pm)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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In bolt action, for hunting, Winchester 75 Sporter or Kimber 82. For target, Winchester 52 - nuff said.

In slide action, Winchester 1890.

In semiauto, Winchester 63.

Hey, is there a pattern here?


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TallTLynn
Senior Chief Moderator Staff
Posts: 80
(3/23/01 9:27:51 pm)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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Hmmmm a pattern???

Maybe you like Winchesters just a bit?

AntiqueDr
Moderator
Posts: 32
(3/23/01 11:35:24 pm)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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I've been accused of it, yes...

Purveyor of Fine Firearms to the Enlightened Few

shooter45 us
Senior Chief Moderator Staff
Posts: 124
(3/23/01 11:54:20 pm)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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Soon, there will be a Winchester shortage in Texas.

Tac401
Administrator
Posts: 368
(3/24/01 2:20:23 pm)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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My favorite .22-rifles are #1. My Pre-ban Feather
AT-22 and my Ruger 10/22 stainless on a Butler Creek
folder.

Tac
The Firearms Forum Vietnam Memories Bulletin Board Contact Administrator

Zigzag2
Senior Chief Moderator Staff
Posts: 115
(3/25/01 6:50:17 am)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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Sure like my Browning grade 2 lever action =)

Xracer
Moderator
Posts: 57
(3/25/01 10:24:46 am)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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Ah......nostalgia time! When I was a kid in a small town in Maine, a family friend used to loan me his Winchester Model 1903 .22 Auto to go shoot rats at the Town Dump. (Try doing that at your local "Sanitary Landfill" nowadays!!!!)

It took a special Winchester .22 Auto cartridge (made only for the '03), which, strangely enough, the local hardware store kept in stock.

What a sweet shooting little honey that was!

shooter45 us
Senior Chief Moderator Staff
Posts: 130
(3/25/01 10:34:52 am)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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Xracer, my father-in-law has a win.1903. He has never fired it.I've been to a "rat killin'",sure was fun. It has been brought up at our town council meeting. We don't have an answer yet.

Xracer
Moderator
Posts: 59
(3/25/01 10:45:58 am)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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Shooter.....yeah, what a sweetie that '03 is. Too bad he never shot it.....and now he never will! Winchester .22 Auto is now a collector cartridge.......hasn't been made for years.

It was brought out when .22LR was available in both black and smokeless powder. Winchester didn't want blackpowder .22 LR rounds used ('cause they would gum up the works) so they brought a special cartridge for this gun, their first .22 auto.

Too bad it's just a wallhanger now........take my word for it, it really was a beautiful shooting little piece!

AntiqueDr
Moderator
Posts: 35
(3/25/01 10:55:07 am)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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Occasionally someone will make a run of .22 WRF and/or .22 Rem Spl. I remember that Olin made some about 10 years ago...


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Xracer
Moderator
Posts: 60
(3/25/01 10:56:01 am)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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BTW, Shooter.......please tell your father-in-law not to try shooting .22LR through it!!! If it feeds and fires, it will blow the case!

The Win. .22 Auto cartridge had a longer & wider case (.665 x .250) than .22LR (.595 x .224).

Xracer
Moderator
Posts: 61
(3/25/01 11:06:37 am)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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Hi Doc.......yep, but WRF was originally made for the early Winchester & Remington .22 pump rifles, it's not the same as .22 Winchester Auto, which was made ONLY for the Model '03.

And, of course, nobody should try to use .22LR in any gun chambered for either .22 WRF or .22 Win. Auto.

shooter45 us
Senior Chief Moderator Staff
Posts: 132
(3/25/01 1:50:10 pm)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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Xracer, he has just over a box of ammo. Good thing , huh?

AntiqueDr
Moderator
Posts: 36
(3/25/01 2:15:48 pm)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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Absolutely right, X.

By the way, Old Western Scrounger advertises .22 Win Auto at around $12.95 / 50.

Purveyor of Fine Firearms to the Enlightened Few

Xracer
Moderator
Posts: 63
(3/25/01 5:45:43 pm)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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Boy, I'd love to see Rossi (or somebody else) bring out a reproduction of the '03 in .22LR.....the way they did with that pretty little Winchester pump.

Kdubya
Moderator
Posts: 42
(3/26/01 5:32:19 pm)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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My favorite is my old original Marlin model 39
My classy rifle is a Kimber Classic Model 82 stainless (barrel)
My messing around and hunting rifle is a Ruger 10/22 with switch barrels/stocks.
Keep off the Ridgeline!!

polishshooter
Moderator
Posts: 40
(3/26/01 10:08:21 pm)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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Don't laugh, I've owned alot, including Mossberg 1942 targets, a slew of 10/22s, an AR7...a bunch more, not counting pistols....

My all time favorite is the Marlin 25 BA with the el-cheapo Tasco 4-power I got for Xmas when I was 12...I was heck on starlings and grackles! Traded my Dad for the AR-7 when I was in college, cause he used to yank the scope off all the time and use it anyway(he hated scopes). I had and still have no clue why or when he got the AR7! The AR-7 is long gone, but that Model 25 is still behind my Mom's bedroom door. She had me show her again how to use it after Dad died, seems her and Dad used to go out back and shoot it now and again for fun, even though he was in a wheelchair. He even bought an extra clip for it...She likes having a gun around the house now that she's alone, but never liked to handle Dad's shotgun.

The only one I own now? A Glenfield 75C tube-fed semi-auto carbine with an el-cheapo Tasco 4-power...

Bought it used for $55 at Friendship not long ago just to have one to teach the kids, now is my favorite squirrel gun. Those old Marlins just last and last, and shoot pretty well too...as long as I keep it clean.

warpig883
Registered User
Posts: 7
(3/30/01 7:54:00 am)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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Love the old Stevens. The Stevens Visible Loader is the coolest pump gun ever. The Crackshot and Favorite are good uns to.
I fear we have awaked a sleeping giant and filled it with a terrible resolve. Jap. Admiral Yamamota directly after Pearl Harbor

wundudnee
Registered User
Posts: 2
(3/30/01 9:03:53 pm)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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My favorite is the model 1890 winchester. But 1906, 61, 62a, and my latest a factory scoped model 63 could be my favorites. Of course the old 1902 winchester is still fun. And yes I think I may see a pattern starting here too. Not all of the pretty little 22's have migrated south.



remingtongeo
Registered User
Posts: 3
(4/11/01 8:12:38 am)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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I've got a pattern too.

Pump: Remington Mod. 12CS, that's in 22 Rem. Special (WRF), and you can still get ammo.

Semiauto: Remington Mod. 550-2

Single shot plinker: Remington Mod. 4

Bolt repeater: Remington Mod. 541X

Bolt single shot: Mauser Mod. 51

Target: Anschutz Mod. 54 1413

Tac401
Administrator
Posts: 621
(4/11/01 8:50:19 pm)
Reply
ezSupporter
Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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Welcome aboard Remingtongeo!

Tac
The Firearms Forum Vietnam Memories Bulletin Board Contact Administrator

timberbeast
Registered User
Posts: 6
(4/19/01 12:28:04 am)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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My favorite is a Winchester 62 pump I picked up from a buddy for 200 bucks, so clean, so tight. I picked up a Rossi copy for my daughter. Most accurate I've fired is a BRNO a buddy of mine has. Second place for accuracy is my dad's old Remington 41 Targetmaster single shot. An unsung hero is the venerable Rem. Nylon 66. Hits where you aim, keeps shooting no matter what. Have to have a 10/22 also. No reason not to! I always wanted a Browning Autoloader, the sleek little guy that loads through the side of the stock, but didn't have the funds, so I got a Norinco copy. It's a nice little rifle.

reedbuster
Member
Posts: 6
(6/23/01 1:19:04 am)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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I'm in with polishshooter, nothing fancy a Marlin model 60 I bought when in the service. I mounted a cheap bushnel 3x9 and have shot alot of rabbit and prarie dog with it.

ibtrukn
Member
Posts: 40
(6/23/01 10:00:41 am)
Reply whats your favorite 22 rifle
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.22's and pearl handled knives, bud lite and black jack. livin large!
love them all, but my own 2 favorites are my Haenel KK Sport(3 different rear sites and a palm rest) that shoots better than i ever will and my preWW2 Savage mod29, equal or better(in my not so humble opinion) than any big W . runner up probably Rem 541s that i stupidly sold and cannot bring myself to part with 4-5 hunnert for another. GOOD THREAD!!!

Different name
V.I.P. Member
Posts: 136
(7/14/01 2:39:42 pm)
Reply
ezSupporter
Re: whats your favorite 22 rifle
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Its really my best and most favorite 22. A Remington 541T rifle, heavy barrel w/ Weaver 3x9x38.
Very very used to accurate performance. A tack driver.
Also, I'm fond of Weatherby's XXII Mark 22. They are getting rare.
Charlie D
------------------------
Makes those 500 yd. rapid fire targets jump for joy.
Of course thats, using a mirror shooting backwards
in high winds. No sweat!

Any comments on a "1450 Anschutz 22 Target???

the real fredneck
V.I.P. Member
Posts: 138
(7/14/01 4:10:43 pm)
Reply Re: whats your favorite 22 rifle
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Stevens Little Scout my grandfather got as a kid and cut his initals (same as mine) in the bottom of the barrel with a file

ghoti thumper
Member
Posts: 5
(7/16/01 2:39:31 am)
Reply Re: whats your favorite 22 rifle
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I bought my first ruger, a 77/22 stainless with the heavy barrel, put a 3x9 leupold on it, told the wife it was "for the kids", so they'd shoot their hunting rifles better. I'm starting to really like that little rifle. Also have an old mossberg model 402 lever thats pretty neat, I've got a Glenfield/marlin model 60 that I've had for a little better than 20 years. Many rounds on the 60 have taken their toll. A lot of memories in that one though.

Chuck from arkansaw
Member
Posts: 1
(8/6/01 2:33:16 pm)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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My favorite .22 rifle is my C.Z. 452 American Clasic. It looks and shoots like center fire rifle. If you are looking for a man sized, all steel and wood .22 rifle and can't afford a Kimber, by all means check out the C.Z. Mine will shoot 5/8" 50 yard
groups with CCI Mini-mags and 3/8" with target ammo. It has an adjustable model 70 style trigger, a hand checkered walnut stock, and a forged and machined steel reciever. I got it for $290 including tax. This is the ideal squirrel and small game rifle.

Tac401
Administrator
Posts: 1860
(8/6/01 3:18:30 pm)
Reply
ezSupporter
Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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Welcome Aboard Chuck from arkansaw!

Thanks for the info on the rifle, glad you have
joined us, hope you jump in often!
The Firearms Forum Vietnam Memories Bulletin Board Contact Administrator

Alphamale
Senior Chief Moderator Staff
Posts: 597
(8/6/01 8:49:36 pm)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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Welcome to the board Chuck
To run from trouble is foolish, to look for it... even more so

Bagoosh
Member
Posts: 5
(8/6/01 10:40:44 pm)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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I shot my friends Marlin 22mag in stainless. The smoothest, best balanced 22 ive held (keep in mind i have not held them all), very very accurate and flat as a high power rifle. For fun and plinking i like my Marlin Papoose breakdown 22 semi/auto in stainless. I put a red dot scope on it, and have a lot of 10rd mags. I can shoot it all day and still be having fun.

Paladin6
Member
Posts: 1
(8/12/01 6:11:04 pm)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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My early AT-22 for burning up rounds(LOTS of rounds, blisters on the thumb)
Ruger 10/22 (with lots of work) for hunting and paper punching with many stocks(hogues me fav)
Ruger MKI&II's for pistolas
Though I have gone through some nice Marlins and Savage/Stevens and a Henry
A
As long as there is life there is hope, as long as there is hope for a better life it will be better. If you want to take my guns I HOPE you won't mind them bullets first.

Roger Patterson
Member
Posts: 1
(8/12/01 11:30:04 pm)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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It's got to be Winchester's revamped '03, the Model 63. It's the neatest little autoloader around. Mine never misses a beat with whatever high speed ammo I feed it. While it's no target rifle, it's accurate enough for plinking and hunting purposes. It looks nice, handles nice and shoots nice. What more can a guy ask?

I've also got a soft spot for a Savage Model 1903 pump rifle. It's got a 24" octagon barrel, and a 7-shot clip magazine instead of the ususal under-barrel tube other pumps have. For some funny reason, Remington Sub-Sonics clock about 150 fps faster through it than through my 23" barrelled Rossi Gallery pump. I wonder why?

Xzec.

Xracer
Moderator
Posts: 776
(8/13/01 7:17:49 am)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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Welcome Roger! Hope ya stay a while.

Seems like a bunch of us have a love affair with those old turn-of-the-century Winchesters.

bigH
Member
Posts: 3
(9/2/01 7:20:13 am)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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Remington 541-S,why did remington stop making these,great looking rifle ,and as accurate as some of the high dollar imports

9638
Member
Posts: 3
(9/27/01 1:10:49 pm)
Reply Re: What's your favorite .22 rifle ??
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I have a Winchester Model 67 bolt action single shot with the finger grooves that my father gave me. I use it for serious .22 hunting work.

My target/fun gun is the Mitchell Jager M16 look alike that I picked up about a year ago. It shoots great, draws attention, and is a hoot to shoot.

David.
"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in Government".....Thomas Jefferson
 
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#77 ·
I have 2 favorites:
1. Browning BL22 Grade II because it's compact and I like the way it feels and its trim lines. It's not exactly the most accurate .22 I've shot, but within typical .22 ranges with open sights, it does pretty well for its intended use. Mainly I love this gun because it was my first rimfire and because my dad gave it to me for Christmas when I was in my early teens. I can still to this day remember the way it smelled when I first opened the box. It brings back good memories every time I pick it up!

2. Kimber (of Oregon) M82 Super America. This rifle is simply beautiful, and it shoots and feels as good as it looks. Fit and finish are impeccable, and it's stocked in a very beautiful piece of Claro walnut! On top of that, it's also very accurate! I love everything about this rifle! :D
 
#78 ·
My tired old Stevens 44 1/2, after treating it to a new barrel, trigger, extractor, and stock (the #'s still the same!)
It's a project rifle, costing more, by far, than a new rifle, but shoots sub 1/2" at a hundred, and is as reliable a rifle as there is.
Wood is so heavy, it sinks, in water; Bubinga, according to the US Forestry Service, to whom I sent a sample.
Barrel, from Shilen, is superb.
All the rest grew right here, at home, and the combo will kill 125Yd squirrels, with no loss of meat; all head shots, and called.
Scoped, it wears an Unertl 'Small Game Scope', 3X; otherwise, Redfield International Irons, serve yeoman duty.
This is not a reccomendation, but a report.
I have a bunch of winchester 52's, and remington 40x's, that will go down the ramp, before this rifle is ever considered.
But, as to favorite, this is the one.
 
#79 ·
Favorite rifle? My ID gives me away, they're Kimber of Oregon 82s. I have several and they're all my favorites. I'm fortunate in that I have other nice rifles like Rem 541-Ts, a couple of Sako Finnfires, and my first rifle, a Win 72. All are wonderful, but the Kimbers just "fit me" for comfort and accuracy. As a bonus, their darn good lookin' too! :)
 
#81 · (Edited)
And I have to be different.

Mine are:

1. Remington Mod 12 with full Oct. barrel. Beautiful li'l
shooter and beautiful to look at.

2. The rest are all JC Higgins Automatics Mods 26 thru 34.
Lite, accurate and FUN! Sure can waste ammo with'em
but they are a blast to shoot. Sold by Sears in the '50's
& 60's.

I have three of these type. Back when Sears stood for
quality.

Looked back thru page 1 to last on this thread and saw some names I'd almost forgotten. It was nice.
 
#82 ·
Smash, yes and no. It looks like a large 'Favorite', at a glance, but it is more 'different', than 'like', if you get serious.
The Favorite, and all the other Stevens' models, except the 44 1/2, and th 044 1/2, are 'tipping block' rifles, held together, and strength limited by, the pins they work on. The 44 1/2 is a true 'Falling Block' action, the breech block riding in broached ways, in the receiver, like the Win High and Low Wall actions.
The Stevens Company never made it easy to identify a rifle by model number, except the 44 1/2's. The Stevens "Ideal" rifle was built on a "44" action, a tipping block, from the 1880's, also on a "44 1/2" action, from about 1904 to 1916, whereupon Stevens dropped production of it, while continuing to build the Ideal on the "44" action.
And, both actions were barreled in anything from .22 Short, to .38-55, depending on the customer's order.
Harry Pope cut barrels for the company, for a time, in the early 1900's, and the "Pope Stevens " rifles are among the most desirable, to collectors.
Hope this helps you, and others. Terry
 
#86 ·
AZCowboy said:
When young and stupid... an old Remington Mod. 550A. Tube mag. .22 auto that would put rounds through the same hole at 50 yards consistantly, depending on how the heart was beating and the breathing control was at the time.

I just had to have one of them new-fangled Ruger 10/22's when they came out. Traded the old Remington at a gun show. (How dumb can a kid be???)

Currently... it's an Ithaca Mod. 72 made in West Germany. Smoothest lever I've ever felt... pick up a cheap Henry .22 some time. It's the same patent. Try the Henry and then try to vision the same gun twice as smooth! The old Ithaca is also a tack-driver...

Thanks for the memories!

Scott
if i remember right the guy who designed the ithaca levers, his son owns/runs/ started Henry. used the same design of the Ithaca for the Henry levers.
 
#89 ·
Target- Carl Gustaf KKW mounted on a custom Boyd stock with original peep sites. (a 22 single shot built with the same action as a 98 Mauser.)
Varmit- Browning BL-22 with Tasco scope.
All time favorite- A Wamo single shot 22 built to look like a tommy gun. Most dangerous gun I own! Has no safety and a hair trigger. Less than 800 made and a conversation starter anywhere I take it.

Swamprat
 
#92 ·
I see tricked out 10/22's in a pawn shop all the time. The shop owner finds it funny that these people convert these basic decent 22's into who knows what and think its now worth a lot of money. They never even get what they paid for the basic rifle out of the shop.
Most gun dealers in Colorado do not want them as trade unless you can prove the work done by a qualified gunsmith.
That said ....trickin them out is a fun thing to do.
I agree with those that like the Model 60 over the 10/22.
My favorite however is my Henry Goldenboy.
Its all good. I like shootin them all.
 
#93 ·
I only have one and it is a Marlin 795 and it is pretty accurate at 25-50 yrds. (I knocked over 8 out of 10 .308 shells off a tree stump)
 
#94 ·
Am I the only one out there that has an original Browning T-Bolt? I love my T-Bolt. I bought my first T-1 around 1969 while I was in graduate school in Southern Illinois. I fell in with some Tennessee boys who taught me how to squirrel hunt and I've been using it ever since. I've since bought a T-2 from a friend and will put a scope on it also. I refinished the stock on the T-1 because of the salt problem (Browning repired the corrosion spot on the barrel where it bore on the end of the stock). I used Tru-Oil inside and out and haven't had a problem since. I'll refinish the stock on the T-2 also.

My other favorite is a Savage M-24 in .22 and 20 guage. It's my early season squirrel gun. I put a receiver sight on it and shoot CCI .22 short hollow points. It is surprisingly accurate, quiet, and a sure killer. When the leaves thin out, then its time for the T-Bolt with Remington Subsonic long rifle hollow points.
 
#97 ·
I like rifles with plenty of character and age. They not only feel good but look good..Kind of like me..My favorite is the Winchester Model 62A. Also like low wall Winchesters. A friend of mine has a 22 short Low Wall. Big overkill for a 22 short...But looks good, feels good, and the action sounds soooo sweet.
 
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