.22LR fascination? Please explain.

[xtry51]

I can shoot my M&P15-22 at an indoor range but not my wife's M&P15 Sport.
Getting much more available in my area.
$33 for a box of 500 American Eagle 22LR.
I take both when I go to the outdoor range at Uwharrie.

This is actually a great point. If you have an indoor range it's much less obnoxious to use the 22LR platform to stay sharp. Using an AR15 or other centerfire rifle indoors is not nice on the ears or head.

 

[PatMcD]

I propose that, in terms of training, if you can't do it with a.22, you certainly can't do it with a 9mm, .45, .223, .308, etc..

 

[weehooker]

Reason: practice:
If you can't hit it with a .22, your not likely to do much better with a 40 S&W.

 

[weehooker]

This is actually a great point. If you have an indoor range it's much less obnoxious to use the 22LR platform to stay sharp. Using an AR15 or other centerfire rifle indoors is not nice on the ears or head.

Nor does it add ANY value for the extra 35 cents/round when punching paper at 50'

 

[Mountain]

I like to use it for riot control. Hit one guy in the shin and everyone else scatters.


This message brought to you by the letter T and the number 9.

So that was you!!!

LOL, I was shot in the shin with a 22 when I was 15. Mostly pissed me off and I ran home to grab my Sheridan pellet rifle. No such thing as Stingers and the like back then and the shot deflected off my shin bone. Dad (Marine) figured out I was up to something with the angry face and pellet rifle, so he put me on ice then took care of business. I don't know what happened but the cops weren't involved and the guy who did it kept clear of me ever since.

If the Mossad uses 22LR for crowd control, I highly doubt they are shooting legs. Probably sniping balls. Now that's crowd control.

 

[Zappa]

Cuz dad was a cheap bastard, and the twelve of the 14 guns he left me were 22

Because I still own more .22's than any other caliber.

Same here.

Now back to the OP:

Perhaps I'm out of touch. Personally I always got bored quick with the round. Can someone explain the fascination and hoarding I've seen and read about over the last few years?

Reasons I can see and understand.
Ok obviously it's a cheap round.
You just simply never get tired of sending rounds down range.
You have kids you want to introduce to shooting.
Preppers- ok you can carry a thousand rounds across country and survive a post apocalyptic scenerio. ( I think that's kind of silly but hey it's a prerogative I wouldn't fault anyone for).

So what's your reason?

Before this thread morphed into a discussion of bullseye pistols, a very good question was raised. There's a metric shitload of .22's out there, calling them popular is an understatement, people keep buying them, so the makers keep makin' em'.
And I don't see this trend ending anytime soon.
They sheer variety of guns chambered in .22 is staggering.
You can get a .22 version of nearly every popular centerfire rifle or pistol ever made.
Don't have the dough to plunk down for that Uzi ???
For under $300 you can have a new Uzi carbine or pistol, the exact size and weight of the 9mm.
Don't care for the Uzi ??? Ok, you can have an MP5, AR-15, AK-47, Tommygun, whatever.
You can also have your choice of lever actions, single action revolvers, Derringers, single shot rifles, break-actions etc. You name it, you can have just about anything you want, chambered in .22
The variety is simply endless, all for less than their centerfire brethren.

 

[Happy feet]

The exception would be 22 revolvers they go toe to toe with center fire price wise

 

[Loosh]

My wife is a bit sensitive to recoil and loud "bang" type noises, especially on a covered range where there's a lot of reverb, even with double ear protection. .22 is gentle enough on her ears that she can spend an afternoon plinking. She's making progress though; she's thinking of coming to the pumpkin blast to shoot with her camera.

 

[boscru]

The exception would be 22 revolvers they go toe to toe with center fire price wise

TRUE!!! i wish it wasn't. as mrs. bos cru has a hard time racking a slide with arthritic hands. trigger pull is not an issue, she can handle that. friggin .22 revolver prices are over the top though. yes she will get what she wants, but paying almost $500.00 kills me when i can build an ar for the same price

 

[dwarven1]

TRUE!!! i wish it wasn't. as mrs. bos cru has a hard time racking a slide with arthritic hands. trigger pull is not an issue, she can handle that. friggin .22 revolver prices are over the top though. yes she will get what she wants, but paying almost $500.00 kills me when i can build an ar for the same price

Have you checked out the EAA Bounty Hunter? Single action convertible 22LR/22WMR and pretty affordable.

 

[mac1911]

Same here.

Now back to the OP:



Before this thread morphed into a discussion of bullseye pistols, a very good question was raised. There's a metric shitload of .22's out there, calling them popular is an understatement, people keep buying them, so the makers keep makin' em'.
And I don't see this trend ending anytime soon.
They sheer variety of guns chambered in .22 is staggering.
You can get a .22 version of nearly every popular centerfire rifle or pistol ever made.
Don't have the dough to plunk down for that Uzi ???
For under $300 you can have a new Uzi carbine or pistol, the exact size and weight of the 9mm.
Don't care for the Uzi ??? Ok, you can have an MP5, AR-15, AK-47, Tommygun, whatever.
You can also have your choice of lever actions, single action revolvers, Derringers, single shot rifles, break-actions etc. You name it, you can have just about anything you want, chambered in .22
The variety is simply endless, all for less than their centerfire brethren.

Soon to the list a M1..... not sure if these are out yet
http://www.kingstonarmory.com/products/kingston-garand/

 

[exo]

Soon to the list a M1..... not sure if these are out yet
http://www.kingstonarmory.com/products/kingston-garand/

That appears to be a 10/22 stuffed into a Garand stock

 

[AHM]

Wow, you really keep stats on your range trips.

A couple of lines of notes go onto a legal pad for every ammo/user combo, and get appended to text files. Those are processed into an sqlite database that I store on my desktop, phone and tablet. A smattering of SQL queries let me review stats like "for each ammo type, how much did I pay for it?" (Pennies Per Pow), or "what bricks are in which ammo box?".

Doesn't it take the fun out of it.

At the range it definitely brings down the tempo near that of watching paint dry, sigh. But it's nice to be able to poke at the phone in a store to remind myself of whether I've recently paid less for this-or-that ammo.

Perhaps something like this? Shooter's Diary. I have it installed but haven't actually used it. Maybe I should start.

(Right or wrong), analyzing our targets is still for the future. If that app uses standard scoring, I could learn a lot from it, thanks.

 

[soloman02]

Great for first timers and kids. Beyond that I really don't shoot 22LR much at all despite having several guns.

I think the best by far is the M&P15-22. Great way to get kids familiar with the AR platform. Accurate out of the box and you can mount stuff to,it right off the bat to teach kids how to use different optics.

Personally, my least favorite 22LR gun is the, IMO, highly overrated 10/22. I've used two new stock ones. The interface is clumsy and unlike any other firearm and both of them jammed repeatedly, unless you were using match ammo. I very rarely have an issue with the 15-22, so constantly needing to baby the thing was irritating. The standard box mags are also lacking and pale compared to the stock 25rd 15-22.

I think the only reason you hear so much about them here is because MA gets screwed on high cap mags making the 15-22 less desirable. Personally I'd never buy a 10/22. I have three other 22LR rifles and a conversion kit for my AR and they all outshine my experience with the 10/22

I've not had any problems with my 10/22. Ruger has updated the gun a little from the original design. The magazine release is easier to use (they extended it). The model I have has a flash hider (aka thread protector lol). It still has the same mediocre trigger but I fixed that by polishing the hammer and sear as well as trimming the spring. The trigger now has much less creep, has a nice break and is much lighter and all it cost me was some sandpaper.

The ubiquity of the gun is why is is worthwhile to have one. I will probably pickup a 77/22 at some point as well.

 

[Knob Creek]

I propose that, in terms of training, if you can't do it with a.22, you certainly can't do it with a 9mm, .45, .223, .308, etc..

+1 I've seen a quite a few smallbore rifle shooters become great high power shooters. Not so much the other way.

 

[PatMcD]

+1 I've seen a quite a few smallbore rifle shooters become great high power shooters. Not so much the other way.

Yep. Depends on the shooter, but smallbore requires better fundamentals.

 

[dwarven1]

I've not had any problems with my 10/22. Ruger has updated the gun a little from the original design. The magazine release is easier to use (they extended it). The model I have has a flash hider (aka thread protector lol). It still has the same mediocre trigger but I fixed that by polishing the hammer and sear as well as trimming the spring. The trigger now has much less creep, has a nice break and is much lighter and all it cost me was some sandpaper.

Which spring did you trim? Trigger reset?

 

[jibbr71]

You know, I took my 6 year old out yesterday and she put her first rounds through her Cricket. That right there is enough to keep me fascinated with .22lr. I also put a bunch through my 22/45, and found some mechanics to work on, which was easy to do with cheap, not recoiling ammo.

 

[soloman02]

Which spring did you trim? Trigger reset?

Yes.

I polished the Hammer and sear with very fine sandpaper and trimmed the spring on the trigger return plunger. There was a video that noted you can do this to lower the trigger pull poundage. It was noted to be careful and to not overdo it or you could have problems. Basically, trim a little and test. I do not remember how many coils I cut down but it was probably no more than two.

 

[weehooker]

Because if your not skilled enough to hit it with a ,22, chances are your not going to hit it with a .44 either..

 

[KBCraig]

Because if your not skilled enough to hit it with a ,22, chances are your not going to hit it with a .44 either..

And that concludes this thread.

 

[Zappa]

Because if your not skilled enough to hit it with a ,22, chances are your not going to hit it with a .44 either..

Depends on the target.
If you're shooting to cut a playing card in half, a .44 doubles your chances.

 

[timbo]

Depends on the target.
If you're shooting to cut a playing card in half, a .44 doubles your chances.

Actually, it quadruples your chances...

The surface area of a .22" diameter circle is .038 sq inches. Surface area of a .44" diameter circle is .15 sq inches.

 

[dcmdon]

Actually, it quadruples your chances...

The surface area of a .22" diameter circle is .038 sq inches. Surface area of a .44" diameter circle is .15 sq inches.

Area is irrelevant. Since any additional area gained by greater vertical reach doesn't matter. All that matters is width. So a .44 gives you twice the chance.

Look at it that way. You could be an INCH off target vertically and still hit the card.

Don

 

[dcmdon]

One great use of the .22 is for teaching shooters (not just new shooters) to concentrate on trigger squeeze and sight picture. Since there is no recoil, there is no recoil to anticipate.

I've instructed people who have shot for years and can't hit sh1t. 15 minutes with my Ruger .22 revolver doing the ball and dummy drill (google it) and their groups are a quarter the size they were when they started.

Far Far too many people start shooting guns that recoil too hard too soon.

You can do a ball and dummy drill with a semi-auto. It just takes 2 people. Tell a friend to load either 1 round into your gun or leave it empty, have him place it down for you to pick up and shoot. The idea is for you not to know if the gun is going to go click or bang. Now watch how you jerk the trigger and shove the gun down when its empty. There's your problem.

The joys of a revolver is that you can do it for yourself. Load 2/3 of the chambers randomly, turn your head away and give the cylinder a spin before closing it.

Don

 

[KBCraig]

Area is irrelevant. Since any additional area gained by greater vertical reach doesn't matter. All that matters is width. So a .44 gives you twice the chance.

Not quite twice, since .22LR is 0.223" diameter, and .44 Magnum is 0.429".

Pedants gonna pedant.

 

[kalash]

Because if your not skilled enough to hit it with a ,22, chances are your not going to hit it with a .44 either..

It's so easy to hit with a .22LR though...