Best 22LR Rifle under 1K

[thinhorn_AK]

If your friend decides on a T1X, I would budget for a better stock/chassis. The factory tupperware blows. Put a KRG Bravo on mine, it works well. Factory muzzle threading is nice, made it an easy decision to order a can.

I don't know if this is still a problem with recent production rifles, but the ejector wire on mine badly needed to be bent outward as it was pushing rounds to the outside and shaving off lead as a round would enter the breech. Easy fix. A reduced power trigger [spring] is another cheap and simple upgrade. Solid little rifle for the $.

The newer ones have a different ejector.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

16” T1x and a SWFA 6x

Definitely get a suppressor.

Add a KRG Bravo or Stockys VG to it if you want.

I had mine like that for awhile but pulled the 6x off and put a 3-9 rimfire back on for a lighter grouse/ptarmigan setup.

I havnt done the KRG bravo thing with it but mine has the vertical pistol grip thing, a mountain tactical bottom metal and I ditched that plastic recoil “pad” and put one from a t3x onto the stock. It feels about like my other tikka rifles now.

 

[waspocrew]

I've been happy with my Bergara B14R. Shoots the SK standard + very well.

 

[MTtrout]

Tell me more about yardage with a .22. Did you say 200-300 yards! My mind is blown. I have a t1x for several years and the accuracy at 50 yards is impressive. I never thought about reaching out more. But this has me thinking for fun range time

 

[BLJ]

I like my ruger rpr 22 and it shoots great.


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If a person was inclined to, I’ve talked to a few people that have installed a Shaw barrel on these with fantastic results.

What scope or scopes do you like for this? I feel like I've been looking for one with these features for years, but haven't found anything quite right. How much a magnification for shooting way out there?

We’ve used Athlon Midas Tac’s with great success over the last 3 years

 

[ChrisAU]

Depends on your price range. Also since it's a .22lr with almost no recoil (plus you're shooting at smaller things a lot of the time) you can take advantage of higher magnification.

Below $1,000: Bushnell MPED 5-30x56, Vortex Strike Eagle 5-25x56, or maybe some flavor of Arken?

Below $2,000: Very uneducated on good NRL22 scopes in this price area but I imagine you could wait until the Zeiss S3 6-36x56 goes on sale again they were selling at $1,875 from October through the end of the year. Heard they're a hell of a lot of scope and extremely hard to beat at that pricepoint.

Above $2,000: Vortex R3 6-36x56, Nightforce 7-35x56, Leica PRS 5-30 (maybe), any flavor of ZCO or TT

The Bushnell/Vortex both have about 30 MIL of internal travel which is a fair bit to work with and they both parallax down to 15 yards. A fair bit above that pricepoint, I just put together an NRL22 build and put a Vortex G3 6-36x56 on it. There seem to be a surprisingly number of dudes using ZCO's on their builds which I greatly envy.

I chose the LRP S3 4-25 specifically for its range of elevation travel. With a 50 MOA rail and a 30 MOA mount I have somewhere around 48-49 MILs of up-travel left in the erector. My scope had 55-56 total MILs of travel. It allows you to dial way out there. Just for fun of course. Longest they do in the competitions I’ve shot is 300.

 

[Macintosh]

What scope or scopes do you like for this? I feel like I've been looking for one with these features for years, but haven't found anything quite right. How much a magnification for shooting way out there?

Our matches always have a 340-360 yard target, occasionally out toward 400. It takes a lot of useable travel to reach 350 yards or so, so it depends a bit on your rail, but a 20moa rail and a scope with over 30mils of total travel will see you through about any 22lr course of fire. My dope chart below so you can see—my gun has a bit longer barrel so I need a little more travel than other folks, but you get the picture. Remember, a scope with 30 mils of travel only has 15 useable…so you need the rail to make up the difference.
If you are shooting like this toss the 6x “traditional rimfire” scope on a different rifle, this is the rimfire equivalent of a 1000yard center fire rifle. id want a ffp scope with a minimum of 15x magnification, and yes, lots of folks use a lot more, 25-30x is totally standard. The exact same scopes you see being used at 1000+ yards on a centerfire are what folks use on a 22–remember, targets are scaled so you are shooting at targets that are realistically as small as your cone of fire several hundred yards away, and often hard to see. Scopes I see a lot are vortex (my pst gen2 does not hold zero) pstg2 and razor g2 and 3, trijicon tenmiles, athlon cronus and ares, leupold mk 5hd, etc. i’d invest more on the scope than on the rifle. Midas tac scopes are popular, for a scope that tracks well even if it needs re-zeroing occasionally, they seem to hit the sweet spot for a lot of folks. I have a athlon cronus btr gen1 that I like a lot and I see plenty of others using at nrl22 matches, mine is on a centerfire now but its less $ than some of the big names, competes well, mine has held zero and tracked reliably for going on 5 years now, and it parallax’s down to 10 or 15 yards.

 

[JohnJohnson]

Tell me more about yardage with a .22. Did you say 200-300 yards! My mind is blown. I have a t1x for several years and the accuracy at 50 yards is impressive. I never thought about reaching out more. But this has me thinking for fun range time

Check out NRL22 and NRL22X. The idea is that .22lr is about 10-15% of the cost of a centerfire to shoot and you don't really have to worry about barrel life either. You get a lot more practice per dollar spent. Also shooting a .22lr at 200-300 yards is equivalent elevation-wise to shooting out to and past 1000 yards with a centerfire. Makes for great practice as long as you take it seriously and act as if you're shooting a centerfire (mainly to avoid bad habits related to recoil management). It's especially useful for people who don't have easy access to 1000 yard ranges too, such as east coast guys like me.

Some of the most fun you can have shooting is to have a nice .22lr and some reactive targets like the KYL rack below. It's addictive.

Know Your Limits (KYL) Target - HD Rimfire Edition (3/8" SR500+)

This target ships for FREE! CNC Laser cut 3/8" SR500+ steel for clean, precise cuts Target Sizes: 2" - 1.75" - 1.5" - 1.25" - 1" - .75" - .5" - .25" The kit comes with everything you need except (4) 2.5' lengths of 3/4" EMT Conduit and 2.5' of 3/4" Black Pipe Targets do NOT come painted You...

www.atlastargetworks.com

 

[Antares]

Couple references to CZ 457 in a Bravo above; I agree, that's a nice setup. Mine is currently in a Bravo.

 

[BLJ]

RABBIT HOLE ALERT!!
RABBIT HOLE ALERT!!

Everyone who reads this thread has been officially warned.

 

[JohnJohnson]

RABBIT HOLE ALERT!!
RABBIT HOLE ALERT!!

Everyone who reads this thread has been officially warned.

Man my .22 setup is about $8,500 altogether I think. I'm way past saving.

 

[wind gypsy]

Do CZ 457 triggers suck as bad as the 455 triggers? I've been waffling for a long time about upgrading my 455 but not sure I want to go full send on a vudoo or rimx

 

[BLJ]

Do CZ 457 triggers suck as bad as the 455 triggers? I've been waffling for a long time about upgrading my 455 but not sure I want to go full send on a vudoo or rimx

I prefer the factory trigger with a Yo Dave spring to the Timmeys I’ve tried. IMO

 

[Ramem7mm]

I recently bought a CZ 457 MTR and have been practicing out to 300 with Eley Match Ammo. Its been pretty fun. CZ's do have lots of aftermarket support too so one could upgrade if they wanted to go down the rabbit hole. I adjusted the trigger to about 1.5lbs and its pretty smooth however its a little picky on the settings to get it right.

 

[Antares]

I recently bought a CZ 457 MTR and have been practicing out to 300 with Eley Match Ammo. Its been pretty fun. CZ's do have lots of aftermarket support too so one could upgrade if they wanted to go down the rabbit hole. I adjusted the trigger to about 1.5lbs and its pretty smooth however its a little picky on the settings to get it right.

I could never get the trigger adjusted to my liking on the factory trigger. I found the adjustment to be very finicky. I went to a Timney and have been happy with it; I find it much easier to adjust than factory.

 

[ChrisAU]

RABBIT HOLE ALERT!!
RABBIT HOLE ALERT!!

Everyone who reads this thread has been officially warned.

Yeah, shoot 22LR because its "cheap". You saw my rifle earlier in the thread lol. Its ridiculous how fun they are to tinker with, and super easy. My 2 year old could change a barrel!

 

[Antares]

Yeah, shoot 22LR because its "cheap". You saw my rifle earlier in the thread lol. Its ridiculous how fun they are to tinker with, and super easy. My 2 year old could change a barrel!

Who makes that barrel?

I want a Lilja so bad for mine I can taste it. I keep telling myself I don't need to put a $600 barrel on a rifle that already shots better than I do, but the want persists.

 

[ChrisAU]

Who makes that barrel?

I want a Lilja so bad for mine I can taste it. I keep telling myself I don't need to put a $600 barrel on a rifle that already shots better than I do, but the want persists.

It is a Area 419 Lilja. And yeah, my factory barrel was fine lol.

 

[Ramem7mm]

I could never get the trigger adjusted to my liking on the factory trigger. I found the adjustment to be very finicky. I went to a Timney and have been happy with it; I find it much easier to adjust than factory.

I would like to get a different trigger but I will be shooting factory division for PRS 22 matches and the rules do not allow you to swap it

 

[Thinkingman]

I prefer the factory trigger with a Yo Dave spring to the Timmeys I’ve tried. IMO

I updated my 452s with the Brooks trigger kit, prior to YD...That's how old I am!
I think it's excellent.