22 LR benchrest shooting

[gunauthor]

I've got some shoulder pain which won't allow me (hopefully for the short tem) to shoot anything that kicks. So, I am looking for a 22 rifle to do some "benchrest" shooting (shooting over some home made sand bags). I would like to find something with accuracy potential, but don't really require a full on target rifle. Any thoughts? New or used is fine. Thanks for your help.

[Win94ae]

My neighbor has an old 22 rifle that impressed me; it was a Sears rifle made by Savage, a model 101.16.
The thing about it was that it was a semi auto with an option to push in the bolt handle locking the bolt in place; which made it much more precise.

Good luck!

[LUCKYDAWG13]

I would be looking at a CZ https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/gun-review-cz-455-varmint/

[Greg S]

The old Mossberg/H&R 5200 target rifles that were government contract. Stay away from the Kimbers unless you have a good supply of 10x. You missed the boat on the Government t Rem 40x a few years ago, mines a shooter with Blazer and CCI.

[tazman]

I second the CZ. I have two of them and they both are very accurate.

[rancher1913]

the one I would recommend you probably would have a hard time locating, its a German ss sniper rifle, grandfather brought some home and boy do those things shoot.

[NSB]

Also a CZ. I have an Anschutz (my second one), have had other guns, and custom builds, and now have a CZ. The CZ shoots 98% as good as either Anschutz at 40% of the cost. The added bonus is that in rimfire you can get extra barrels for .17HMR and .22WMR. It has a real walnut stock, decent trigger, and overall excellent finish. You can buy one new for around $500 and get a better price on a good used one.

[country gent]

There are some sleepers out there that can be had reasonable.

Winchester 75. mine is accurate and reliable. A good rifle and use able
Mossberg target (cmp / dcm) these are very good Ive heard, I had a civilian model that was good. A lot of the surplus cmp guns had broken trigger guards and are hard to find.
Kimber govt model mine shoots very well.
Model 52 Winchester.normally very accurate but more expensive
Remington 40X are good but again expensive.
Remington 541 are usually good, The club had some for the junior program and they were very capable rifles.
Harrington and Richardson had some also that were decent.

As far as I know the CMP/DCM is out of most the 22s now. Check their websites for north and south store. A trip to the North store might prove productive.

Another that turns up occasionaly is the martini target 22s a very nice single shot very accurate and a nice rifle.

[Uncle Grinch]

I had a Mossberg 44 US and it was very accurate using the peep sight an lobe front. It is heavy and the magazines are expensive, plus it’s not drilled and tapped for a scope, unit will shoot. If you can find one...

[PNW_Steve]

One more for the CZ's.

I have a 452 that is accurate and fun to shoot.

[Outpost75]

Remington 513 and 521 are also sleepers which are good buys.

Older Remington 37 and Winchester 52 target rifles are golden.

[Mk42gunner]

Remington Model 581 is the cheaper sporter version of the 541. 582 tube mag.

Another worthy of consideration is the MAS 45, the French built version of the Mauser KKW. IF you can still see iron aperture sights it is great, but not easy to mount a scope on.

Buying new, I think I would go with a CZ.

Robert

[15meter]

Ruger made a laminated stocked stainless steel bull barrelled "target" model 10/22, I think it may still be available.

Three guys at the club bought themselves each one to play with on rainy days when they didn't want to shoot skeet in the rain. (covered benches on the rifle range).

All three shot ridiculously well, they were shooting the staples off each other's targets at 25 yards just for fun.

They also shot them in the club's 100 yard egg shoots and did well.

Only short coming of the rifle was the trigger and there is a stunning number of trigger upgrades on the after market to cure that.

Or start with a plain vanilla 10/22 and gussie it up as far as you and your wallet want.

I've a plain vanilla one that's been treated to a carbon fiber barrel, new sear, trigger, hammer, springs and other assorted goodies that shoots very well. Is it equal to my Gov't Kimber or my Model 52? No, but it shoots pretty darn good.

And it's way easier to cart around.

I've also have a 77/22 that all I did was change the sear, float the barrel and make sure it was tight in the stock to get it to shoot well. And to my eye, it's a sharp looking little rifle.

[15meter]

And if you're going to scope it look at the finest crosshairs you can get.

The old adage, aim small, hit small doesn't work with fat crosshairs.

[Dapaki]

Ruger 10/22 all the way!

I bought a stock model at a gun show and spent my money on upgrades, new barrel, thumb-hole, stock, better trigger, good glass (I like the Vortex Diamondback) and the kids call it the "Daisy cutter" as they shoot Dandelions off the stems at 100 yards from a bench.

More to the point though is your choice of ammo, my Marlin Micro-groove rifles will shoot minute of gopher head at 50 yards with normal 36gr hollow points while the 10/22 will do MOA at 100yds as long as the air is still with HP but will not shoot Armscor 40gr better than minute of table saw blade at 100 yds.

Federal seems to shoot well across all my .22's and Eley (of course) is the most consistent on paper hands down but Federal HV Match comes in a close second but at less than half the cost of Eley Club.

[PB234]

If you eyes are not young consider fine crosshairs with a target dot. Also is this is the one and only 22 consider the rifle and scope's versatility. Some rifles best for the bench are not wonderful for all other uses. Same with scopes.

[Baltimoreed]

Depends on how deep your pockets are and how deeply you want to get in. Any .22, old or new, with a heavy bbl, good glass, correctly shaped stock and a timney or volquartson trigger would make a good bench gun. A Ruger would be my first suggestion. Buy American. My newest old .22 is a 1924 vintage Winchester Model 52 preA. A great 96 year old gal. BTW, I shoot my steel offhand with lyman peeps from my deck, no bench or paper other than sight in. Stay safe.

[BigAlofPa.]

My Savage A22 target and Marlin XT are great target rifles. As far as my modern guns. I have some old timers too. And they are tack drivers.

[sigep1764]

CZ455,CZ452, CZ457. Have fun. They are all wonderful shooters. Rimfire Central has a ton of info on them. For less money, Marlins and Savage Mark II's are well know to be inherently accurate. I have a Marlin 60 that is scary.

[robg]

cz are great but my bsa martini international out shoots most non target rifles but its a heavy beast to carry.

[dverna]

Lots of good choices above.

My favorites are the Anschutz repeater my dad gave me over 55 years ago (still shoots less than 1.5 MOA with junk bulk ammo), a Winchester M52 sporter and the 10/22.

If I was buying one now, it would be the CZ.

[georgerkahn]

I bought a CZ452 Varmint, and put a Weaver Classic 3-9x Rimfire scope atop it, and a Harris Bi-pod under. So impressed, I purchased a second, identical set-up for a son. I had a Winchester 52B .22 lr S/n 52xxxB made in 1943 (424 made) w/ Litschert scope for benchrest -- complete with wooden carry box -- but, bion, my target scores from the CZ452 Varmint were not significantly different. (And, the Win is soooo heavy :( ).
If I was in the market, today, for another bench-rest set-up -- bion, I'd seek another exactly as I have.
BEST!
geo

[centershot]

Last summer I bought a Savage Mark II FV after handling one at the range one day. Mine is the heavy barrel model, weighs about 7 pounds with the scope on it. It has been very accurate and competitive at the local BR-50 matches. IIRC, I paid $325 for it.

[samari46]

I bought a H&R model 12 from the CMP for the grand total of $300. This included a Mint Redfield Palma rear sight and a Big Bore globe target front sight and an envelope full of inserts. Really never had the time to devote to this rifle to see what exactly what she would do. My Rem 513T isn't the prettiest gal but shoots well enough for me. My 1946 Win Model 52B was in need of a new stock. Some fool chopped it for reasons only known to him. Finally found a new stock so have to strip off the old finish,stain and tru oil the stock. The smaller BSA 22rf martinis can be very accurate. You would be better with a old school externally adjusted scope like the Lyman Super Targetspot or Redfield 3200 which is an internally adjusted scope. neither is made today. Dewey Greiner google him for scopes mentioned. And if you find an old Unertl buy it. Probably the best one for your chosen sport. Steve Earl another google search makes bases for these scopes. Reason for the old style scopes is there isn't much room especially on the martinis to load a round in the chamber. Unless you use high scope rings. Ammo, we could sit here all night talking about 22 rf ammo. The usual suggestion is find a brand that YOUR rifle likes then buy all of that lot number you can find. Somewhere around here is a cardboard box with about ten or so brands of expensive 22rf target ammo. Tried to find what worked in one of my BSA martinis. Big suprise as the el cheapo Russian brass cased 22 shot very well in that little rifle. Unfortunately no longer imported into the U.S. Federal used to make a 22rf loading that won some olympic matches, but now they don't. Then again I never heard of one of the big BSA International rifles being inaccurate as well as cheap. They do cost some serious coin. Not made any longer. Frank

[Greg S]

Don't rule out an old Savage Anschutz either. Look at the older 1400 series Anschutz too. As mentioned above some of the old Remington too.

For optics, I pUT a used 6.5-20 x 40 LR I picked up at a fun show for 3 bills on my 40x after I sent I. To Leupold for a windage problem. I had the switch it over to MK IV turrets and an 1/8th min target dot on a fi e cross hair for $78 shipped.

[samari46]

Mossberg also made a 22rf target rifle was called the 144LS. The LS stood for lyman sights. I believe it had a 5 round nagazine. And the one I had was extremely accurate. And being your and stupid I sold it for something I no longer remember what it was for. Still have a Kenyon trigger around here and one of the triggers (canjar) is set up with a little blade that sticks out from the regular trigger so act as a double set trigger. That one will be going on mu post '64 as I have not participated in matches for many years. Instead it will be a new cast bullet shooter with factory barrel. Frank

[762 shooter]

Cz 455.

762

[1066]

Very pleased with my Sako Finnfire P94s, shot very well with it's standard varmint barrel but now has a Lilja match barrel. Also have a scoped BSA Martini Mk IV, a bit heavy but stunningly accurate.

[country gent]

I have one of the 10-22 stainless targets with the heavy ruger hammer forged barrel. Its a good shooter tuned the trigger up some ( not an easy job) it shot very good but not as good as the true target guns in the rack here We set the barrel back some and cut the chamber with a shorter throat That "tuned" it right up. It now runs very close to the actual target rifles.With the old cmp 22 ammo ( the ones that sold for 80-90 dollars a case of 5000) it will hit bullet holes at 50yds. The other mod to it was bedding the barrel nd flating the light aluminum action.

The 10-22 has earned a reputation for accuracy and dependability in an inexpensive rifle. with a scope the 20" barrel isnt a big issue but with irons the extra 4" would be a plus making "clicks" correct and the longer sight radius.

One smith here specialized in tapping the receiver and threading the barrel in instead of the clamp in. He also drilled a hole in the rear of the receiver so it could be cleaned from the breech. His rifles were sought after as to performers.

If you like too tinker and play around you might consider a sleeoer and tune it up yourself keeping track of the improvements made. Bedding, tuning, ammo,and such.

[Patrick L]

My Ruger American Rimfire continues to just astound me.

It is not quite as affordable as it was just a few years ago, but its still a bargain.

I also love benchresting my 35 year old 10/22. I can't speak for the current ones, but mine is NOT for sale.

[Fasteddie01]

The Marlin 60 is very accurate for its price and the Savage MKII-FV Heavy barrel is just a few dollars more and much more accurate. I feel the 10/22 is more of a plinker until you start spending more money . . . and it starts out higher $$ than these other two around here. I had a 60 back in the 70s and just got a newer one last summer, a 2014 Mayfield KY laminate stock model that was in a closet for several years - still NIB !! I can get it under .75" at 50 yds with a 12x Tasco scope. Now I'm in my 70s with a 'new' 60 !! ;)

[Patrick L]

My 10/22 is definitely more than a plinker, but like I said it is about 35 years old. It is box stock, except I did a trigger job on it myself. With just a little polishing, it had a 3 1/2 # trigger. After I put a $65 Ron Power drop in kit in, the pull dropped to a very sweet 2 1/2#. Curiously, I did try a BX trigger group, but it didn't improve it that much (maybe 1/4 # less,) plus I preferred the metal components my oldie had, so I sold the BX group and bought the Power kit.

With it's factory barrel, my best efforts with the ammo it really likes is right at 1/2 " 5 shot groups at 50 yards. Unless I screw up, pretty much EVERYTHING will do 3/4 - 7/8 " at the same.

[LynC2]

I recently bought a CZ457 varmint .22 and I'm very happy with it's accuracy. Cleaned the bore, headed to the range and shot some different types of ammo. The CCI SV shot a .536" group at 50 yds and some old Wolf Match shot a .37" group. Atn100 yds the CCI SV shot. 1.55" group with it due to vertical stringing of about 1". The Wolf however shot a nice .77" group. Very pleased with it so far.☺

[osteodoc08]

CZ 452/455/457 series. Best bang for the buck IMHO.

If you want more of a bench gun, perhaps a used 40X or similar.

My Kimber 82 Govt is also a decent shooter

May I also suggest SK as a mid tier ammo for volume without breaking the bank like Hightower end Eley

[303Guy]

Anyone have any idea how accurate Russian Toz 17 rifle might be?

I have a small collection of 22s and am hoping that one of them might be accurate enough for target shooting. I bought a selection of ammo the other day to try them out on. I seem to recall that mini-mags shot quite good within the supersonic range but it may have been SPs. I did my sillywet shooting with SP high velocities.

I tried my Remington Field Master on the range one day and was so disappointed that I put it away. Maybe it was the wrong choice of ammo or the bore needed cleaning or conditioning or maybe the rifle just can't shoot straight.

[Andy45]

Right now the CZ 457 or the Tikka T1X are the two biggest favorites with long range practical .22 LR guys. The Tikka is the more popular of the two. Great value for the money!

I don't know if .22 LR will ever be cheap or plentiful enough again to justify a 10-22 again LOL.

[303Guy]

I recently bought a CZ457 varmint .22 and I'm very happy with it's accuracy. Cleaned the bore, headed to the range and shot some different types of ammo. The CCI SV shot a .536" group at 50 yds and some old Wolf Match shot a .37" group. At 100 yds the CCI SV shot. 1.55" group with it due to vertical stringing of about 1". The Wolf however shot a nice .77" group. Very pleased with it so far.☺
Interesting comment on the CCI SV at 100 yds. I found that at 25 yds with CCI sub-sonic. With a suppressor, the velocity difference from shot to shot was very apparent. CCI sub-sonic is supposed to be 10 fps slower than SV but it was too fast to be below the transition range. I have a few other brands to try but those are shown as higher velocity anyway. An 8 shot group had 1" vertical and 1/8" horizontal spread. I wouldn't have expected that much vertical spread from velocity differences at 25 yds. I never had that with Federal sub-sonics. And I never had trans-sonic bullet crack either.

[samari46]

There was one 22 either made by Suhl that was supposed to be the best one for 22 benchrest. But haven't heard about it in quite sometime. Just got a copy of the Precision Rifle shooter magazine. The Tikka T1X was given high marks as it was designed to fit the after market stocks used by its bigger brothers. Supposedly about $500 and the after market stock was about $400. Stock is adjustable for length of pull, cheek piece adjustable for height and you can get a bipod if you wish. 22rf ammo comes in all sorts of flavors and you will be testing some of them as to which your rifle likes best. Then buy as much as you can afford. Cause maybe the next lot might not shoot as well as the one your rifle likes. I've a Rem 513T (target) is an entry level rifle. The H&R model 12 I bought from the CMP. Best $300 I ever spent. Very heavy with issue stock. Came with a Redfield Palma rear sight and a Big Bore globe front sight. And my old 1946 Winchester 52B is another I haven't shot in years. If your interested check out Rimfire Central website. You can spend hours researching the various 22's for your benchrest shooting. And the BSA International series are probably one of the best for that sport. Ain't cheap but they are extremely accurate. Frank

[Ozark mike]

Not a scope gun but my target master keeps up with the best of em

[ebb]

I got on the CZ bandwagon late but I have 2 now and love them.

[Norske]

My indoor range has a bunch of guys who don't hunt anymore (they are mostly too arthritic) that compete with each other bench shooting 22 LR rifles. The most successful shooters all shoot the Kimber military surplus rifles with Weaver 34X scopes.

[Jniedbalski]

I have a burno model 2 I thank 266567 that shoots really good. The Chinese copy I got 30 years ago also is a very very good shooter. It is a JW15 Chinese copy of the burno model no 1 .They changed the name to CZ I thank in the late 90’s or early 2000.

[Geezer in NH]

Ruger 10/22, Green Mountain SS or blued Heavy barrel. Do a trigger job.

One does not have to spend big bucks to be accurate, just spend to be trendy.

[Jniedbalski]

My Chinese copy the JW15 is a military trainer. The other jw15 I have is a lot nicer looking stock. The trigger on the Chinese trainer is fully adjustable and just shoots awesome. It might be easiest to get a cz or a 10/22 and build into a great rifle

[Pressman]

My Chinese copy the JW15 is a military trainer. The other jw15 I have is a lot nicer looking stock. The trigger on the Chinese trainer is fully adjustable and just shoots awesome.

Is there a way to ID the Chinese copies? I have a receiver fitted with a Shilen barrel and a fully adjustable trigger configured for BR50 shooting.

There is no way to remove the bolt without removing the trigger, would this be typical?