Good .22 squirrel rifle?

[Leaveammoforme]

Deleted

[bubba04]

I am a big fan of marlins as well. my 60 is a tack driver. My Marlin 880sq will shot sub 1.5 moa 5 shot groups at 200 yards and I know it can do better.

[BuzzinSATX]

I shot a friends Ruger American Rimfire that really shot good groups, one ragged 5 shot hole at 25 yards...plenty accurate and the price is good. Uses the same mags as your 10-22.

But most .22s today will kill small game to 50 yards...trick will be to find what ammo best shoots from your particular rifle.

[BuzzinSATX]

Another great option IMO would be a Henry lever gun. They shoot very respectable groups with quality ammo, and their fun factor is hard to beat.

[bundoc]

CZ, all the way.

I agree and since you want it scoped look at the American.

[ST911]

I ran a Marlin 880SQ for rodent work and it did well for me. It could be threaded if needed.

[SkiDevil]

CZ, all the way.

The CZ 452/ 455 series of rifles are absolute tack drivers. I own both and would recommend the 452, but either works.

The scoped 455 American I own shoots dime sized groups at 60 yards with CCI mini-mag hps.

However, I agree that the Savage and Marlin rifles are good value, but the CZs are just made with old fashioned craftsmanship rarely seen anymore.

A quality 3X9 scope should be fine for hunting, both Leupold and Nikon make rimfire models. I use a Leupold VII 3X9 Centerfire on my 455 and works well from 10 yards to 100.

P.S. Mine have taken 6 tree squirrels so far.

[Eurodriver]

Thanks for all of the info guys. I should have mentioned this in the OP but its going to come down to price as well. While I'd love the "best", I don't want to drop $1,000 into a gun I'll use twice a year.

I'll start looking at the CZs. I have felt the Savage FSVR and it is a little heavy for what I want. I never considered Anschutz, so I'll look at those too.

[Averageman]

Some time ago I found a .22 bolt action Charles Daley on the used rifle rack. very accurate gun I believe made by Zastava.
Come with very nice easily adjustable irons, nice stock and a decent trigger. I paid $175 for it and put a Burris Timberline scope on it and I'm very happy with it.
Another thought would be to get a beater 10-22 from a pawn shop and build it up from there. Nice potential, fun gun and lots of aftermarket stuff to get all of the potential accuracy out of it.
I have one that's become a bit of an obsession, Houge Stock, Brownells Bull Barrel with a Nikon 3-9 variable scope with a BDC and a Burris fast fire mounted at an 8 O'Clock position.
Heavy for a squirrel gun but having both scopes you can shoot from 10 to 100 yds pretty fast with hold over/under and no sope adjustment.

[brickboy240]

Go scour the pawn shops for an early Remington bolt action 22 rifle. The Models, 510, 511, 512 and 514.

Some have 6 shot mags, some are tube fed, some are single shots. All have thick and long barrels, wood stocks and great triggers. Most have grooved receivers ready for rings and a scope. All are also VERY accurate.

I have a 1950s Remington 511 with a 3x9x32 Simmons on Millet steel rings. The rifle ran me maybe 100 bucks at a pawn shop and give me dime sized groups at 50yds.

Skip the 10-22 and other semis with their terrible triggers. Skip the 300-400 dollar newer 22 bolt guns...grab one of these Remingtons and put a scope on it and go drop squirrels like mad.

-brickboy240