My dilemma with the 22 rifle

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Glock Glockler

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"Everyone needs a 22" or so the general thinking goes, and I happen to agree.

Unlike many shooters, I started on pistols and then went to rifles, and I began to notice that my rifle skills were not up to par and something needed to be done. Probbaly my biggest problem was that I was not shooting rifles that much, so my answer was to get a 22 rifle so I could shoot all day for pocket change.

While strolling through my local shop one fine day I happened upon a nice Anchutz bolt 22 (I forget the model) and it was on sale!:) Well, I grabbed that and took it home expecting a long and fruitful relationship. I mean, how could one go wrong? They are reputed to be fantastically accurate, and anything German is wonderful.

The one problem with this bolt action rifle was that I found out you actually have to work the bolt after each shot. It seems kinda obvious, but it never really hit me until I was at the range and had to do the deed, while everyone else with a semi-auto was happily blasting away. I put the Anschutz aside, and I'm still considering selling it, but more importantly decided to get myself a semi-auto.

Next stop: Thompson Center 22!

I saw some reviews for this gun and it seemed to hit the spot: ellegant looking, accurate, and they are based a few minutes from the town where I live, what more could I want? That question was answered for me: reliability and more than 5 rounds. This thing would fail to feed, fail to eject, stovepipes, and it would occasionally double and triple fire. I brought it back to Thompson 3 times and the malfunctions are still there. To their credit, Thompson has agreed to either give me a new rifle or refund my money.

On to Marlin country!

I have never heard anything bad about these guns, and they are extremely reasonabley priced. Hmmm, could this be the one? I had consulted my good friend and fellow TLFer, Ahenry, about this and he gave it his highest recommendation. I also asked another friend of mine, and Glocktalk moderator, Turbonatr, and he also had nothing but praise for them.

I went to my dealer to take a look at them and I kinda like the Model 60 with the wood stock and the tube magazine cause it looked stylish and would ont have a magazine to potrude out and bother my forearm. I picked up this girl and was off to the range.

I was shooting very low and actually did have some malfunctions with this gun as well. I was thinking that this might be proof of the existence of God, and that God hated me. What do I need to do to get a satisfactory 22? I spoke about my dilemma to a friend and he said that I should adjust the sights to solve the first problem.

"Adjust the sites?" It seemed to be just on solid piece of metal for the rear sight, who knew? He showed me how to do that and I raised the rear sight one notch and it was shooting dead on at 25yrds:) but it was still fialing to feed and eject occasionally.

"Hmmmm....maybe it's the ammo" The only stuff I was shooting was Federal stuff. I tried the Remington Yellow Jacket stuff that was nightmare to the TC 22, and it began to work like a charm. I easily put several hundred rounds of Remington stuff through it without the gun malfunctioning once.

All in all, I'm very satisfied with my Marlin after I switched ammo. The gun is accurate, reliable, inexpensive, and has the ever sought after quality of style and grace. It's too bad many people write Marlin off as being "cheap" through association of their low price. They're not just a lot of gun for the money, they're a lot of gun, period.
 
Got my dad a Marlin 60 in .22LR for fathers day. IT came with a scope, and within a few minutes, he was punching out X-rings pretty consistantly.

I'm surprised you didn't like the Anschutz. The only thing I can think of is that you secretly wanted a semi. Good thing is you can probably recoup your cost...they usually do.

Regards,
S.
 
Glad to hear you finally found something that works for you. Enjoy it.

Marlin makes a good gun for the money, as does Ruger. You could have also gone with a 10/22. Both are great choices.
 
Stock, I think the Marlin is a better rifle than the Ruger, but OH how you can play with the Ruger! I have 3 Marlins and all of them can out shoot me (a low standard) and do anything you could ask of a 22. I'd bet that as the rifle gets broken in a little you will find it is even less ammo sensitive. Glad you found a keeper.
 
Marlin Mod 60 is a great rifle as is the Ruger 10/22. I prefer the Ruger because you can accessorize the darn thing to death! Hell, it is a great gun to shoot and play with.
 
My favorite 22 was a Marlin. Still is a Marlin I suppose, but I haven't seen it for quite a while.
 
My first rifle (and gun) was a Marlin 60. At first I was really happy (I only used premium ammo), but soon I began to think that it was becoming unreliable (of course I was buying the cheap bricks at that point). I have a Remington 581 bolt action that I don't like much (really accurate and reliable but kinda boring). I was unhappy and I wanted a Ruger 10/22. I was kicking myself for saving the $50 and getting the Marlin first, it was a fun gun but only when it worked.

Well, I finally got a Ruger. It wasn't that much more reliable and it wasn't nearly as fun to shoot.

I then cleaned the Marlin thoroughly (I was going to give it one more chance). I went to the range with a box of the cheap bricks and the Ruger often had trouble but the Marlin failed amost every mag. I was getting frustrated, only the boring bolt action seemed reliable.

Then I switched back to good ammo, Yellow Jackets, CCI Stingers and Mini-Mags and guess what, both rifles became reliable. The Marlin almost never snags up on good ammo and it is tons of fun. It is easily my favorite .22 (I now kick myself for wasting my money on the Ruger). That is an extremely fun gun and it is probably the best $100 I ever spent.
 
I bought a Marlin Mod 60 in stainless last year because I had one (blued) as a kid. Came with matching scope.

Made the "mistake" of letting my teenage daughter use it .... can't get it back!

(She can put 14-rounds in a quarter sized circle at 50 yards with it.)

The tradition lives on!

Rusty

++++++++++

Edited to add:

(Chiam is right, they like quality, HIGH VELOCITY, cartridges in the brands he mentioned. If you want one that will shoot cheap-o ammo, get a Winchester lever action.)
 
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I had a Marlin Model 60 when I was a teenager. It was good gun and accurate, but it got traded off.

I now have a base model Ruger 10/22 which I love. I prefer a detachable box magazine to a tubular magazine. I lucked out with this 10/22, since it's very accurate - 1" groups at 40 yards offhand.

Most .22s are finicky with respect to ammo, IME. Even if a semiauto .22 functions reliably with a particular kind of ammo, that may not be the most accurate ammo in the gun. Or, a semi may not function well with certain kinds of ammo. It's important to try out several different kinds of ammo in a new .22 to see what it likes best -- then stock up!
 
I bought one of those 10-22 with the heavy barrel and laminated stock a couple of years ago and then spent half the cost of the gun searching for an accurate load. I tried Rem, CCI, Win, Eley, RWS, PMC, etc, etc. Nothing from this rifle would group under an inch at fifty yards. My old Marlin M-60 (long ago retired due to multiple worn out parts) would group slightly over an inch at 100 yds on a calm day.

I traded the 10-22 for a 77-22 and the magic is back, it shoots the cheap Winchester Dyna Point like a dream and loves any of the premium brands.

But shooting any .22 is all good

Rick
 
GlockGlocker, I think I'll just hang out near you and wait for you to get another gun you'll be disappointed with. I would have offered you $300 for that Anshutz and you wouldn't have even had to drive to the store! ;)
 
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Steve, but you're probably more right than you know;)

I do tend to be finicky when it comes to hardware, but I'm starting to get into the habit of actually shooting a gun before I buy it. Well, the Anschutz is still sitting pretty in my bedroom, but I hope the Marlin becomes a more stable partner than one of Henry VIII's wives.

If all goes well, I'll only end up buying another marlin 60 or two;)

I'll let know know how the Marlin does after my next trip to the range.
 
.22's in general tend to be very finicky with ammo. Yuo need to find one or two brands of ammo that work well and stick with those. I occasionally have a few FTE/FTF problems with my Model 60, but it is usually very reliable.
 
My 10/22 sits idle

It is so reliable and accurate that I got bored with it.

All my .22 shooting now is with my CMP M-44 with peeps.

Sweet.

-J.
 
My Remington 552 will outshoot anything I own. At 50 yards 1" groups are common w/o a scope.
 
10/22s just don't "do it" for me

as far as semi-autos go. I'm hoping that TC will have all of the bugs worked out with their new Target version of the Classic. I hope that I may actually be available to buy one sometime before Thanksgiving rolls around.:rolleyes: I was thinking about giving the Remington 597 another try, but I figure the all-steel TC can be had for less than $100 more, so I hope the Target won't be too much higher.

In a bolt, I'm actually comtemplating the investment in an Anschutz right now due to the fact they are just about it in a 'quality' left-handed action for under a grand. I like the Savage well enough, but by the time you add the trigger and a better stock, you might as well step up.

It's confusing at times, for sure.

:cool:
 
I .22, I ended up preferring manual actions for reasons of reliability. Twoblinks Remington 522 (?) pump and my Mossberg work when both 10/22s I've tried stopped working due to cold. Same deal with an old Marlin 80 vs. Marlin 795.
 
With you on this one, Oleg. I've owned a number of semi-auto .22's, but have never found one that was completely reliable with most major ammo. brands. I went to the Henry lever-action (fun!), and most recently traded in the Henry against a lovely Browning lever-action .22, complete with Leupold 4x scope, that some idiot had traded in at my local gunshop for far less than its actual value. Got gun and scope for $200 - less than the new price of the scope alone!!! :D :D :D Boy, that was a great day... It's my favorite .22 at the moment.
 
Learn to work the bloody bolt!!

Holy cow!

For that matter, single feed your
first brick, learn to hit the target exactly
where you want, then go out and
start "happily plinking away" like
so many other folks at the range who
are just there burning up ammo, and
never really learning how to hit anything.

That's a nice rifle. Take it to a CMP
.22 shoot sometime, and see how
those folks who hand feed each
.22 shoot relative to the "plinkers".

Nothing wrong with popping away
with a 10/22, it's a great way to pass
the time. But that isn't what the Anchutz
is all about.
 
Make mine Marlin

I just got back from the range and put about 200 more rounds without a gun related malfunction. I am very pleased with these rifles.

No, the Anschutz isn't about plinking away all day, but I enjoy that, and I'm not going to shoot a gun if I don't enjoy the experience. The fun plinking gun is going to help more in making me a better rifleman.

And I know how to work a bolt, I just don't like it:)
 
i have a 10/22. i love it. like the other dude says, its so accurate and reliable its almost boring. there is no challenge in hitting anything under 50 yards.

btw i have a cheapo bushnell sportsman 4x-12x - 40 that does pretty good.
 
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