Thread: What .22lr to buy

You need to buy the 22LR that suits the shooting you intend to do. Lots of answers above - they are not wrong. But you do need to define your purpose, then buy to that. Key questions..

What type of shooting will buyer do? Is it bench, is it competitions, is it predominantly game eg possums/bunnies - or a combination. What's the balance of target and field shooting? This will tell you what accuracy he needs to buy, what weight will be acceptable etc..

What are the field conditions he will shoot in? Will he do very light shooting i.e. something like 2-3 trips a year popping 4-5 bunnies each time. Nice strolls in paddocks with bipod etc, time to setup, shoot, have a coffee, then wander on to next one. For this a more expensive nicely wooded brand will be fine - no scars and scratches expected.

Or is his 22 intended to be a fun worker rifle. Out wandering hills, rocks, scrub, matagouri etc, then into truck, or onto quad for hours spotlighting. This is not the place for more expensive wooded pieces, and frankly you do not need expensive 22s for this job at all. The likes of polished Norincos, accurized 10/22s, Marlins, Savage etc can all do this worker job very efficiently.

Have had beautiful and costly 22LRs but for worker use they stayed in cupboard. After umpteen thousand bunnies, and about 100 22LRs of alot of makes, my two favourite bunny killers overall are a polished chopped JW15 Norinco with a Bushnell on it, and the lethal little Marlin 60 semiautos - deadly wee snipers to 100m. Would you beat them in the field with a Tikka or Annie - no.

Always fun to spend to buy something nice for ourselves, but with this 22LR rifle choice - go back to key questions. Define its purpose, its uses, its conditions - and what rifle suits these best. A last thought - you do not to spend alot on field 22LR optics. Good basic 3-9x or 4-12 in Tasco, Nikko, Bushnell, Simmons etc do this 1-110m job very reliably, effectively.

Happy hunting PS yes Norinco EM332 a wee gem!