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Which new bolt action 22WMR

11K views 83 replies 30 participants last post by  Cronkytonk 
#1 ·
Long time Aussie listener - first time caller..

Am looking to get a 22 mag for everything from bunnies to foxes out to about 120m. Had been considering both 17hmr (probably not heavy enough for foxes at 100+ from what I can gather) and 17wsm (overkill for bunnies in close), but came back to 22wmr as an all 'rounder. May still add a WSM into the mix down the track but am focussed on the magnum for now. This will ultimately be paired with a .223 and possibly a .204 for longer distance/heavier hunting duties. Might even join a club at some stage and send some rounds down the range.

So I'm looking for current recommendations - because I want one more accurate than the old man's Stirling that spits out too many flyers. Needs to be a bolt action. I'm not overly fussed on stock but leaning to wooden or laminate.

Think I'm narrowing it down to CZ455 (or 457 when they get here) or Ruger 77, but am reading good things about the Ruger American too. Accuracy and build quality is more important to me than looks.

Keen for opinions pls - aaaand go!
 
#58 · (Edited)
Two barrels covers it nicely. You can try both and settle on what works for you. Do you actually have 2 barrels?

The difference is 22mag has a wider range of bullets and applications. The charts posted shows how the 30 gr vmax stacks up. There is a 40 grain for little deeper penetration. All things equal that will handle a bigger animal. There is also FMJ which can do a lot, for a very few. The shot loads in a revolver are semi useful. But not a factor here.

One down side on the 17 is cleaning. And, you can form your opinion. How frequent and how much effort? The 22 rod (or a 20) is stiffer and not bending and scraping the rifling. I dont have a 17, so this maybe more smoke than true. You cannot even bore scope a 17.

A lot of people use the 17, I am sure it is effective. Most of the 17 fanboys dont like the 22mag and seem even more to dislike the WSM! I think, myself included. most web advise is pimping your own choice more than helping the other guy. All the logic for the 17HRM vanishes as soon as the wsm topic comes up.

I do like the CZ product line. FWIW. Then I own a lot of CZ, and now you know what I really think about most internet advise.
 
#59 ·
:bthumb:

I don't have two barrels yet - but have asked the shop to order me one. So I will soon. Then I can really start messing around with both in different loads and seeing how many foxes walk from what rounds. I'll happily put up my findings here, both in terms of accuracy and kill rates. I'm not precious about being right or wrong. :)

Cleaning. Yes I understand I'll need to pay more attention to cleaning with the HMR. But its not in the same league as the 17 Remington.

The charts do show 30 grain. But they undersell the speed of the latest 17gn HMR rounds by a fair way too, so its all horses for courses.

I don't have all the answers, but I'm open minded. I figure I'll go with consensus as a starting point given that I can hedge my bets with the 457 - and then try and prove it to myself one way or the other. Remember that my starting point is the WMR. I've dropped a lot of foxes with it from a not so accurate rifle. I'm hoping the HMR will be noticeably better. If its not.. I'll switch back to WMR :)
 
#60 ·
For me it is all about w-w-e ; wind, weight and energy which is why I rate the .22 wmr as the 'Ultimate Warrior' of the two rounds under discussion (get it WWE??)

Add in the fact that you can obtain a Ruger LCR in .22 WMR and the choice becomes a no brainer for me-then again my brain is in almost perfect condition, hardly ever been used.

Disclaimer: I am now an official Old Fart AND in our home Wladek Kowalski ruled the day-loved Saturday TV.....
 
#61 ·
What was ruger thinking with a 6 shot 22mag LCR? The LCR should be 8 shot. I had to walk away on general principle. If they fix that, I be all in for one.

The wind favors the higher velocity rounds. The weight (and types of loads & versatility) favors the 22. The energy does favor 22 at practical distances. Here, I am reading the graphs. Those are a great visual. I downloaded that image to my c-drive.
 
#62 ·
fourbore, you walked away from a winner-someone at Ruger understood perfectly what would be THE perfect -civilian- self defense handgun would be and brought it to market. Civilian use of handguns for self defense occur, or should occur at very close distances, they virutally all involve a total of less than two rounds and the incident is over in a few seconds, and this is when any shots have to be fired at all.

But back to the op-on calm cool days at just a bit longer than 100 yds smart people say the .17 :might: be the better choice. As I am not smart I opt to shoot to control pests at under 100yds where I find the .22 wmr performs flawlessly. In a word the round is 'devastating'

Ethics requires that one use the round which he/she is most accurate with for hunting either the .17 or the wmr is capable of getting the job done however at distances over 100 yds I tend to think that the 556/223 should be the choice.
 
#63 ·
Vicko sir nice choice on the rifle :bthumb: The 17hmr has its good points and so does the 22mag...I have plenty of both...and it all boils down to what your shooting at. I had only 22mag for years...even with my older brother telling me about the 17hmrs...it took another 3 years for me to get my first one. The count is 12x 22mags and 5x 17hmrs. Don't worry I have a feeling that another CZ rifle will be coming home soon and it will be a 22mag....then a CZ 527 in 17 or 22 Hornet after that. ;)

When you start hunting larger game the 22mag has more of what you need without going CF unless your talking the 17 WSM...I have not shot one of those or owned any rifles in that caliber because I have not found a nice one in a bolt action.

Congrats on the American :bthumb: I have four CZs on my to get list and they are:

457 American in 22mag and one in 17hmr
457 Lux in both those calibers also.

I bet you will be buying another CZ in less than 6 months....hey guys I am calling it...lets just wait and see if I am correct. :)

We need pictures.

Signalman :mad::):D
 
#68 · (Edited)
Vicko sir I do have a few CZs to play with...so you have some catching up to do. :p ;) :D Your time is coming. :D

Signalman :mad::):D
I think you have a problem... :eek: Its ok - you're in a safe space here :bthumb:

Edit - in all seriousness.. why do you have 12 rifles of the same calibre? And 5 of another calibre? Are you going for 'one of each variant' in a line or something?
 
#71 ·
I can't speak for anyone but myself, and cant claim to have a vast collection of any particular caliber. Although i believe the answer to your question is simple. One word (collection) Why?...because you can, and it makes you happy. This applies to absolutely anything. Some folks choose guns to collect, and many of them hang out here.

I am looking forward to your feedback on the new rifle. Congrats!!!
 
#73 ·
Vicko sir the reason I have 12 of them is because they are all differet brands....like Ruger, Savage, Marlin and CZ...and some have wood stocks and other a plastic stock, most are blue some have a stainless steel barrels on them. Same goes for the 17hmr models...and on top of that most are std sytle stocks...with my CZs I have: FS, Lux, Varmint and American models to round things off. Most are bolt actions and I do have a lever action. Some are too nice to hunt with...while others go out every time. I have them for different hunting situtations or ones I can take out in bad weather. Etc. I do have my favorites and just to be clear I don't shoot any of my 22lr rifles any more...shooting a magnum is so much nicer and I am spoiled by that...being a hunter the 22lr is a joke to me. I was always worried if the game was to far out...wounding game is not right...I like to point and shoot and not worry if the shot will do its job.
If you ever get there and see what I see...magnums are beautiful...that is why I have so many and only look for magnums these days. There are only a few that I have full faith in...that if I miss I know it was me and not the rifle.

Signalman :mad::):D
 
#75 · (Edited)
Good day,

I recently purchased one of the new Ruger Long Range Precision rifles chambered in 22WMR. I am very impressed with the accuracy this rifle produces. Using the Hornady 30gr. VMax ammo at 100 yards (rested) i am getting 10 shot groups that are between 3/4 and 1 inch in size. Nice rifle and reasonably priced. Accurate and ready right out of the box.
 
#78 ·
Vicko I have the 455 American in 22 wmr and I'm very happy with it. It took a bit of time to break it in and find the ammo it likes, but it's accuracy is impressive. The only upgrade I made was a DIP rail and a Mcarbo trigger spring, but both made a big difference. My rifle likes the lighter bullets 30-35 gr, it shoots those real nice. I'm sure your going to really enjoy that .17 as it has a lot of potential and give the 22 wmr barrel a chance when you get the chance.
 
#80 ·
Signalman that Marlin looks very nice.

So I picked up the 457 yesterday and ran it through its paces. I'm a happy camper. Took a few pics here before, but the build is terrific, feed and action is perfect.

Sighted it in, in what was quite gusty conditions (probably 30-40km/hr winds) and straight off the bat at around 100 yards its grouping at around half to 3/4 an inch vertically (that'll be the rifle) and around an inch horizontally (that'll be me wobbling about and the wind). Only had a chance to try one round through it in between rain showers - the 17gn Hornady Vmax. Seemed to like them well enough, so with the weather closing in we headed back inside for a cuppa.

So we went back out later with the light for a look, and nailed our first fox with it at around the 100 yard mark. Hopefully the one that took some chickens last week... One shot from front 3/4 as it was working a plantation looking for rats I'd imagine. I picked him up about 3 yards from where I shot him. Saw a bunch more foxes but couldn't get a shot at any of them last night. Next time.

So its currently sitting at 100% success rate :bthumb:
 

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#82 ·
I imagine you may have settled on a mfr. by now, but if not, take a look at the Zastava MP22 WMR.
The stocks are not the fanciest in the world, but good and solid. The metal work will be on equal to the finest out there.

I have had mine for about a year and a half now. It is as accurate as any of the models discussed and cussed so far. I get ragged holes at 60 yards and at or below MOA at 100. The Hornady V-Max 30 grain and the Aquila Silver Eagle 40 gr give equal groups for me. I don't have any ground hogs here in N. GA to speak of, but I have busted crows and pigeons out to 100 yd.s.

I have 2 Zastava .22s [Zastava CZ99 and a Remington Mdl Five], and both of them are very accurate. I have shot starlings and pigeons out to 120 yd.s with both of those. I haven't tried starlings past 100 yd.s with the WMR, but I think I will next time I get out in the country again.

VH :eek:man:
 
#83 ·
Bit of an update here. Took it to the range for a play the other week to try some more ammo out and generally check out long range stuff. (Had a shot of a club members 308 out to 500 too which was ace fun). Even though there was a hefty side wind I figured out that it very much prefers the 17 grn rounds. Not so much the hollow point 20 grn ones..

So I thought I might have another go at home today and glad I did as I'd messed up re-centreing the scope.. was about 6 inches out! Moron. Anyway. As you can see from the pics the first 5 shot group was off the page, but measured 17mm (17/29mm=.58MOA at 100m - by my maths - remember thats metres not yards). Thats with CCI 17grn VNTs. Seems to like them...

I then shot the middle with the same CCIs - I obviously cocked up with one flyer - the rest of the group was similar to the first, adjusted down an MOA, shot the left group with Hornady 20 grn (thats twice now its thrown them around - it did at the range too and worth noting that they're about an MOA lower at 100 than the 17 grn rounds), and then the right group with Hornady 17grn VMax. On the last group I experimented mid group moving my cheek forward and back a bit on the stock to see if it makes any difference.. it obviously did... You can see I repositioned twice. I might have to work on that and find a way to keep my cheek in one spot for consistency.

So anyway, I'm more than happy with that. Its only had probably 60 rounds through it so far, but its an impressive little jigger and should only get better with some more rounds through it.

Also worth mentioning that on the board I was using behind my target (a 30mm MDF sheet) that the hollow points punched a tighter hole. The plastic tipped 17grn slugs fairly tore it up on exit by comparison. Those suckers must expand fairly dramatically.

I'm now looking for a bigger brother for it that can do a bit of long range stuff. Think I've settled on an LA102 in 308.
 

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