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19 Comments

1. Good review for this week!

2. Do your mags fit wherein you have to get them a REALLY good smack to make sure they are seated? They do on mine and I don’t really care for that.

   Mark II series have always been good weapons. We have a couple that have some pretty high mileage. When my wife was first learning how to shoot she took it to a 3 day Tactical pistol class. She wasn’t yet comfortable shooting something bigger at the time. And the best part was the ammo for her for the weekend only cost me about $30. (1990’s prices).

3. Right on the mark, Pat. There’s just something special about the .22. When I found an old battle scarred, single shot pull-back bolt action pre-64, I snatched it for 45 bucks recently.

   There are two kinds of marksmen that really appreciate the 22: beginners and serious survivors.

   I love my High Standard Camp Gun and have used it in the wild for subsistence. But those Mark model Rugers! Amazing accuracy and reliability so are carried by many outdoor professionals, ranchers, trappers, and others who live outside. In the redoubt we EDC’d them on the prairies.

4. Mags don’t have to be slammed in, they fit perfectly – no effort to seat them.

5. I was concerned about take down for cleaning, as I’d heard horrible things about the Mk III vs the ease of the Mk II. But you answered that question in your review. Thank you.

6. Thanks Pat for the article. I so remember the first .22 that I bought at 16 yrs. old that came from Western Auto which was a auto parts, hardware, sold firearms and ammo as well. I still own that bolt action rifle a model Revelation 115 produced by Savage arms. Its still going strong 44 years now.

7. The .22 rimfire is another of the great American innovations! It is how we all learned to shoot, and in the ” good ole days” every high-school in America had a shooting team using .22 rimfire target rifles. Now every high-school in America teaches anti-gun philosophy! What the h*** happened to the USA????????????????

8. There was a time when K-Mart first opened and had racks of military surplus rifles; I was 14 and had a whopping $25.00 burning a hole in my pocket. I traded that silver money for a fine M-1A, two mags, and a box of ammo. The guy at the counter very sternly look at me and admonished me “don’t kill yourself.”
   My dad laughed when I got home and basically told me the same thing. I did’t kill my self though I did find out about recoil and good spot weld to shoulder science the hard way. But my first and still owned rifle was a Sears .22 bolt action single shot …. it still shoots as accurate as hen I first bought it.

9. I remember buying my first gun from a Firestone Tire store when I was fourteen, no questions ask. Of course everyone in our small town knew everyone. I bought a Winchester Model 94 Golden Spike for, as I recall, $140 dollars. It is in my safe to this day.

10. Sturgis,KY! I bought my first .22 at a western auto about 20 miles down the road at Marion, KY. Brings back some great memories. Thanks for the article.

11. Logic and common sense forbids me from sending you any hate mail about your liking of .22LR. But having been on the web for some time now, I understand your reticence about even saying you like .22LR at all. I admit that long ago, I got in flame wars with other people, especially the 5.56 vs 7.62 variety. Having used the 5.56 in the jungles of VN, I can attest to it’s lethality, but that never seemed to allay the devotees of the one true religion of .30 caliber who had never used it in an actual gun fight. .22 is great in all the ways you describe, and more. I taught all my children and grandchildren to shoot using the .22 pistols and rifles, and I still shoot those .22’s to stay in practice.

12. I had been without a 22 pistol since I gave my girls my Smith and Wesson model 41’s when they came of age. I was intrigued by the 22/45 lite at a gun store a few months back and purchased it. What a fun and accurate gun this is. Best gun purchase I’ve made in a long time

13. Love .22s. I have two favorites

    Have a Ruger 10/22 with peep sights and an improved trigger and a Ruger MkII that I installed adjustable sights on. Someday I will put a better trigger on it as well but the one that is in it is pretty good as it is. Both weapons were used when I bought them. I think I paid $100 for the 10/22 and I traded a set of heads that head been setting in my garage for 10+ years for the MkII.

14. Back when I was a young’un, my brothers and I were restricted to bb guns for every day use. We had shotguns for bird hunting, me a Mod 37 Win in 410 and my brother an LC Smith double in 20 ga. (what a gun) Deer rifles were whatever we could borrow, ususally old 30-30 or 32 levers. We were forbidden to associate with 22’s as my Dad’s brother had been killed with one and he didn’t like them……….One Saturday afternoon in 1963, my parents were off shopping, I was doodling in the back yard. A neighbor three houses up yelled at me and asked if I wanted to buy a gun….I hopped fences and he presented a Win Mod 67 22 in pretty good shape. He wanted the princely sum of $5.00. I bounced back home and came up with $4.87 and was the proud owner of a 22!

    Now what to do with it…….I originally hid it, then realizing the consequences, I stood it in a corner till my parents got home, then I told the old man I had bought a gun, a 22 rifle, and told him how much. He wasn’t the least bit upset……..It was a year or so before I was able to go solo with it, but when I did! That gun accounted for more gophers and chipmunks than I can count, I learned that it was lethal on deer with careful shot placement, (deer were a prime source of meat back then, in season or out) porcupines were never safe and squirrels and rabbits were food, too! I kept and used this gun till I was into my late 20’s at which time I had it modified for my young son: Shorten and crown the barrel behind a slight bulge that had always been there but which didn’t affect fit or function, shorten the stock…. great for a kid. The gun was passed from my son to his daughter and while the current rage is all about hi cap mags, black composites and add on’s of all types, the old Mod 67 just keeps on, slow but sure. I would truthfully guess that over 10,000 rounds have been sent down range. Couldn’t ask for anything better for a first gun!
    t

15. My first was a beautiful Remington 550-1 semi-auto .22 rifle. My Uncle Manford had bought it years before, but had never shot it! In the summer of ’72, he offered me this rifle, if I would agree to mow his grass for the whole summer (his yard was about 1/2 acre). This was a no-brainer for the 13 year old that was me, way back then! He demanded a good job, complete with trimming (in the days before Weedeaters!) every week. With the first frost, the rifle was MINE! Perhaps I overpaid a bit, but I was happy, and he seemed to be also, so it was a good trade.
    Call me dumb, but back then nobody told me how to clean the rifle…or even that it needed to be cleaned! After living mostly in the closet for 30 years, I took it out to the range and found that it shot < 1 " groups at 25 yds and cycled flawlessly! Afterwards, I downloaded a manual, and took her apart for cleaning (probably the first time). I was amazed – the only lubricant in the rifle was soot! Shame on me! She's now in much better shape, and lives happily in my safe…and gets to come out and play much more often than every 30 years!!

16. Not much a fan of $550 .22LR pistols, but really do love the concept. I’ve educated two youths on the proper handling and care of a handgun with it, and will very selectively continue to educate on such where I can.

    I found the S&W Compact .22LR (the newer one made by SW, not the ones made by Walther) has been flawless, and shoots straight as an arrow.

    I think that is one of the things people fail to understand about certain handguns. They assume that they will shoot straight right out of the box. Few do, and not a single Glock I’ve owned has. One high left, the other low right, etc…

    Every single .22LR handgun I’ve fired and/or owned shot true from the first round. I’m not a gunsmith, so don’t ask why.

    I can’t agree more with the assessment that a .22LR pistol or rifle is an excellent first prepper firearm. Cheap to fire, easy to operate (thinking .22LR bolt gun), unintimidating for the nervous, and puts smiles on faces for less money than a ticket to a movie.

17. Marlin Model 60. The old version that held 18 in the tube. No other gun will ever be the same for me. I still have it to this day. It will be passed on to my son.

18. I have a Ruger mk2 great shooting handgun, and this is the gun I pack in my get home bag,plus 400 rounds of mini mags to feed it. Be prepared and ready. Keep your powder dry.

19. Yep, a 22 as a first gun is the ticket. I received a Winchester 1890 pump as a birthday present from my grandfather when I was 12. This Winchester had been a shooting gallery 22 short. My grandfather has it converted to 22 LR sometime in the ’40’s. Funny though I found out I could put half a pencil eraser in the lifting gate and it would shot 22 shorts like crazy. I bought three WW2 .30 cal ammo cans of 22 short from Western Auto in Black Mountain, NC in 1976 for $5 a can. The owner said they had been sitting around for years and no one wanted them. I shot every one of those, must have been 3,000 rounds in each can, that summer with my 2 brothers. By the end we were all capable marksman.

    Fast forward to 2018. Still have the rifle, still am a capable marksman. The rifle sits in the safe next to 4 Henry 22 pumps and I sit next to 4 sons. Each learned to shoot on the Winchester. Each one had their Henry ordered within a few hours of being born. First son is about to graduate college (no firearms on campus) and the Second son is 1 year into a 3 year hitch in the US Army. Sons three and four are a senior and a junior in HS. It won’t be long before that Winchester and I sit alone.

    Now they have moved on to other rifles, shotguns and pistols, but they still reach for their 22 frequently. My wife and I look forward to them returning to home now and then bringing their children to learn to shoot on those Henrys as their first experience.

    When we last updated our wills, my wife and I included instructions to the boys to fairly distribute our firearms amongst themselves or any other family/friends as the see fit. The nice part about working so hard to raise responsible, respectful, reverent children is you see the fruits of your labor as the grow up into adults. My wife and know they will be fair to each other. But we still worried about who would end up with the Winchester that they all shot first. It was my wife’s idea and it was instantly settled. After our passing, all four boys will meet behind the machine shed at the family range. Best marksman wins the Winchester.

    Buy, sell, trade, collect, borrow, any firearm. Shoot milsup, vintage, modern, long range, cowboy, three gun, tactical, and anything else. They are all something unique. But if you want something special get a 22 for your first firearm and never let it go.

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