Favourite .22 Rimfire Rifle

[achjimmy]

Awesome thread guys and isn't great to be having a chat about our guns?  Half the people you meet nowdays look at you strange when you mention firearms. Even though I have owned a mirrad of military rifles I still love the .22 rimfire.

I have a Winchester model 69 it was my dads and I have roughly dated it to pre war. Sadly in the last few years the old man had it dovetailed for a scope and the gunsmith kept the peep hole aperture rear sight, so it's probaly damaged it's value some but the scope has made it even better to use. The gun is so light and the action is great.

Also got a Anshutz 1450, and a lakefield (savage) which I gave to my boy to use.

I love the Lithgow both single and 10 shot and the only reason I haven't got one is i don't use the rifles I have enough so really don't need anymore.

[bullfrog]

Stop it you blokes!! You're just teasing now  :'( :'(. Used be involved in Clay Target club + other shooting, Jude was also shoot secretary with the club. Favourite .22 was an old Sportco Mod 61 that I stripped & refurbished, a great little rifle to shoot, very accurate. Most of my stuff was shotguns, had a soft spot for a Mossberg AT600 pump gun I bought. Jeez I miss the smell of gunpowder in the morning.....

[SteveandViv]

I'm rather partial to the Rugers in rimfire - got a .22rf, .22WM and .17HMR all in Rugers.

I love Rugers. Saved all my pocket money so I could get my first when I was 12. While I didn't have the .22 the 270 was a beaut for deer shooting in the mountain of NZ. But as said, how times have changed unfortunately
Had a Winchester .22 for the Possums as they are a pest over there.

[TrackTrailerTourer]

Have had a few .22's over the years, currently have an old Krico, 70's model, shoots great. My favourite was a 60's era Model 2 Brno. Have always regretted selling that rifle.

Cheers

[bullfrog]

An old mate of mine has a Winchester Rolling Block single shot .22. Model is unknown, but a very old rifle. The O/D of the barrel is huge for a .22. It would be one of nicest 22's I've seen from a build quality point of view, simply beautiful.

[austastar]

Hi,
  mine had to be handed in as it didn't meet the new regulations.  Bummer!

It was a semi auto Browning, 13 up the stock and one in the spout. Lovely little weapon, light, smooth and accurate. Could carry it effortlessly for miles.

Great for bunnies and would bring down a wallaby for the pot if the range was close enough.

I really miss it.

cheers

[Campfire]

You know guys just rolling through the threads my radar picks up on certain words and models and from what I am reading there are some great little .22's out there.

We all know there is one .22 LR in this country which deserves cult status for popularity and use, the Legendary BRNO .22 especially the older models.

I'm seeing some names mentioned which brings back old memories everytime somebody mentions either Sportco or Lithgow.

I see premium guns like Anschultz or Krico being mentioned, the Anschultz is a great gun and an excellent example of precision German engineering.

I still like the old school mentality of a childhood up bringing where your father taught you to hunt / shoot and fish on trips away ( no females) and the other skills associated with camping/ hunting/ fishing like outdoor skills.

While we do live in the WWW, I have made it an important part of my kids upbring to show them there is more to life than eyes glues to a tv or computer. My son is learning how go bush, hunt, fish, track game, skin and prepare game meat, safety and common sence, camping & bush skills.

When he is old enough I will be putting him into the military cadets for self development.

There is nothing more enjoyable than sitting around a fire after a hard day bowling rabbits with the humble .22 on a boys trip. How many of have grown into adult hood living in an urbanized rat race with fond childhood memories of doing such trips with our dads. More importantly how many of us now have made it a priority to show our kids the experiences we had in more simpler or innocent times.

I take my son away each year and it always become more than just a rabbit Hunting trip, I see it as a time to share with my kids as their dad and help develop his perception of what it is to be a strong male role model, as we often talk about everything and anything around the campfire after a hard days slog chasing the bunnies.

Cheers

Campfire

[bullfrog]

Know what you mean Campfire. Just this afternoon I took my youngest ( just turned 10) out to pick some bush lemons from a clump of lemon trees that I have been going to with my old man for the last 35yrs, he pulled timber out of the area for years.She has been bush lots of time ( from a few months old) & it's amazing what she said today about things that she had been told before about the area. Not all is lost on the young.

[MrCruza]

I still have the Slazenger single shot  my dad gave me in 1985, don't use it much now but used to pick fleas off 'roos before they were dog tucker.  He gave me a Browning pump action to use when I left home to work at Charleville.  That is one beautiful little rifle.  Heavier than a lot of others but great to use.

Me too. Still got the old mans in the safe, along with an Anschult 22 magnum.   

[Campfire]

As a matter of interest,

For those who are keen on the rabbits, licensed and more importantly have a strict sense of firearms safety.

If I was to put it out there, just curious how many takers would be keen on guys trip away hunting rabbits on a paid property e.g. Inland Hunting Properties. I am pretty selective who I hunt with ( safety), and it would have to be a small group ( safety), I think a combination of  bowling rabbits with .22's and camper trailers would make for nice short trip. I don't do alcohol ( dry camp) on any hunting trips and stick to this rule religiously.

If there is no takers that's fine, I will drop the idea all together, but if your fair dinkum, licensed and not silly with your safety than PM me and we might be able to organise a great trip away.

Regards

Campfire

[bj4408]

Like a lot of you I had my gun license before my drivers license. Saved up my money and bought a Browning 2000 shotgun as soon as I had my license, worked and saved for a couple of years for that. Also bought a couple of Browning 22 autos second hand. Always carried a rifle in the 4wd on the farm for wild dogs etc.
The boys have been learning with a Gamo air rifle and CZ 22mag and have both gotten their first foxes on one of our camping trips.
We combine camping with hunting or shooting at targets if the opportunity arises, just another skill they have learnt, nothing special.
Always like to control the rabbit population.
Regards
Bruce

[bj4408]

Back to the thread.
I also have an Ansutchz 22 single shot that I restored, wish it had scope mounts. Great little rifle, hardly used.
Regards
Bruce

[dno]

Growing up in a small rural town I used walk home from school (grade 6) past the train station and check if the station master was there and if not that ment time to get me a bunny or two. The station master lived straight across the road from us and loved to shoot as much as me, a quick walk from one side of the street to the other and a knock on the door and out his back gate we were on the railway easement. Two hundred meters down the line and you were in the bush. One of the greatest highlights of my childhood was the freedom enjoyed with guns. The dog and cat always loved a good feed of bunny not to mention rabbit stew is pretty hard to beat   I feel sorry for this mad world, seems to have lost all these great things that so many of us seemed to take for granted and enjoyed so much. Anyway when they ban the semi auto so I gave my .22 Rugar and Mossberg 12G pump to the powers that be and have always felt a little poorer as an Australian.
Great read and it brings back memories of a great time in life.
Should get of my butt and get another oneday.

[Campfire]

Like a lot of you I had my gun license before my drivers license. Saved up my money and bought a Browning 2000 shotgun as soon as I had my license, worked and saved for a couple of years for that. Also bought a couple of Browning 22 autos second hand. Always carried a rifle in the 4wd on the farm for wild dogs etc.
The boys have been learning with a Gamo air rifle and CZ 22mag and have both gotten their first foxes on one of our camping trips.
We combine camping with hunting or shooting at targets if the opportunity arises, just another skill they have learnt, nothing special.
Always like to control the rabbit population.
Regards
Bruce

Nice combo you have there Bruce, I shoot a Gamo CFX Hunter in .177 air rifle and love knocking pest birds with it. I shoot a CZ .22 Mag Rimfire also and always find myself in those " Ford vs Holden" arguments with the die hard .17 Mag Rimfire fans. I think the CZ in .22 Mag is a great gun having owned one for 8 years now and have knocked many rabbits, cats with it. I like all the new high tech ammo for it these days including the 30 grain stuff with polymer ballistic tips.

I have been enjoying air rifle hunting and can't get over how they have improved from the toys I remember as a kid, they are some pretty serious high tech bit of gear these days. I love shooting alloy pellets like the Gamo Raptors.

Cheers

Campfire

[bj4408]

Campfire
We have a CFX as well. Very good value for the $. I made some silhouette targets and we shoot them from the verandah, luckily we are on a few acres and can do this.
Regards
Bruce

[2 Brutal]

Yeah I remember that,

Crazy thing is back in high school for year 11 & 12 in the late 80's, one of the guys I knew actually had permission under strict conditions to bring his SKS to school for a couple of days  as he was making an adjustable bipod ( similar to the Harris bipods) for it for metal work class, it had the guts completely stripped out but the stock, barrel and trigger was still there and stayed locked under teacher control with his parents picking him up to take it home.  I remember it sittin on the floor near the tool board with the bipod on it he made. I was in the same metal work class and
didn't think much of it, but now if anybody did it, I suppose it would make national headlines now.

If anybody is really curious and wanted to know more PM me and I'll give you more details, it was a  High School ( Newcastle / Hunter Region).

Campfire

Campfire

Yep pump action 12g's over the counter at Kmart years ago, you still can in the USA.
Like your mate making a tripod at school, when I was in TAFE at Toowoomba 1 of the guys in our class came back to TAFE after lunch with a gun under his arm that he'd just bought, carried it into class and we all spent the arvo talking guns and stuff with the teacher.

[noel_w]

My dad bought me an Anschutz for my 12th birthday (mainly to keep the bunnies at bay on the property). Had lots of problems with pills sticking in the mag so eventually only used it as a single shot. Wasn't very accurate either so sold that when I left the farm to work in Sydney town & bought me a brand spanking BRNO Model 2 with a walnut stock (1974) out of my first 10 paychecks. Just could not miss with it. Long story short my best mate hassled me for years to sell it to him, he was my best man at my wedding & gave it to him as a present. Thought he was going to burst into tears he was so happy. He still has it locked away with an occasional outing to give the bunnies a seeing to. Oh how I miss it but I do get visiting rights. hehehe. Not much to shoot at in brisvegas & the neighbours just wouldn't understand.

[buff]

Nice to see some shooters sticking their heads up here !
I have a Savage 900S in .22LR and a Krico in .22WMR.
Cheers

[Campfire]

It's funny how the BRNO rimfires really kicked off great in this country, but the BRNO or CZ centrefires never had the same popularity.

I know what you mean about saving up the pay cheques, I saved for a long time to get my first BRNO and now own 2 of them.

Great hunting gun and definitely my favourite on the farm for hunting bunnies.

[Mace]

My two favourites were the Anshutz .22 with a sportco scope that i got for my 13th birthday, and my fathers Lee Enfield 22 Hornet (re-barelled 303) that he used for over 30 years and then used by me for 20.  Both were unfortunately stolen from my gun safe in a remote farm house in 1998 (recovered cut down after use in robbery in 2010).

Currently use a 270 Remington, nothing fancy, synthetic stock and Nikon Scope that  I cant knock about too much when stalking.

[Fivid]

I also got a junior shooters permit when I was about 14 or 15.  Bought a brand new Anschutz 1450D .22 with a Blackhawk scope.  Mate and I used to go shooting south of Bendigo.  Would take rifles on our bikes, shoot bunnies then come home around lunch time.  30 years on and I still have that rifle and it is a great accurate weapon.  When we moved to SA they didn't want to register it, they said the barrel was too short and it came under the category of carbine instead of rifle....  They kept it at the police station for a couple of days then told me to come collect it, all was ok and was registered as a rifle.  Also have a Stirling .22 Mag which feels clunky, heavy and cheap compared to the Anschutz. 

Just starting to get back into hunting again and recently bought a secondhand .308 Whetherby with 3-9 Tasco scope which for a cheap rifle is quite accurate, very impressed.  Now saving for a 22-250 Tikka Varmint rifle and will probably fit a Nikon scope.

 
Dave

[RebsWA]

My first .22 was a Lithgow Model 1 I bought for 30/- when I was 16 and I still have it. An old Daisy air rifle was thrown in with it. I also have an Anschutz .22 which is a good accurate rifle especially now it is wearing a 4 x 32 scope. The scope became necessary with failing eyesight. Without my specs on I could see the target but the sights were a blur and with the specs on I could see the sights and not the target. The fun of getting old.

[achjimmy]

Damn those lithgows look good. A few years ago a mate in a gun shop showed me an excellent Lithgow .22 repeater that even had a period style scope mounted on it and offered it to me cheap. I had to refuse because there was poirities at the time. I regret it all the time, I even have a near new slazenger/ Lithgow 10 shot mag for one.

The things are such a part of Aussie history, for those that are interested there is a museum at the old SAF at Lithgow and it is well worth touring. I abhor modern governments and what they have done to manufacturing facilities like the Lithgow SAF. It is such a shame that such facility is a shadow of itself.

[Burnsy]

I got searchin the net last night after I posted my lithgow drool and found you can get some that would be considered in excellent condition for $150-200.  Might have to investigate getting my licence again just so I can get another. 

[Campfire]

Guys,

If your into the nostalgia trip of .22 hunting with bunnies etc, I would strongly recommend  a great book called " Great Australian Rabbit Stories" by Jenny Quealy. It's full of short stories on the impact of rabbits on this country and covers every angle including hunting.

Campfire