10 Things You Should Know About 22 LR Rifles: A User's Guide

There is no rifle and cartridge combo out there that's more useful, more versatile, and more fun than a .22LR. It's what most shooters, myself included, started out with, and you never really outgrow it. For a fun afternoon of plinking, formal target shooting, small game hunting, or refining the fundamentals of marksmanship that translate to bigger, more powerful firearms, a humble rimfire rifle does it all. But as common as they are, there's a whole lot that most shooters don't know. Maybe they didn't have a mentor, maybe they believed some myths, or maybe they overlooked some things that aren't so obvious. In this video, we'll be correcting all of those deficiencies, because I'll be telling you 10 things you should know about .22 rifles. I've got a lot of ground to cover, so let's get going. As I said, for so many shooters, their first shots left the bore of a .22LR rifle. It makes perfect sense. Low noise, negligible recoil, and cheap ammo make for a fun and unintimidating day at the range. Naturally, these guns make great gifts or purchases specifically for the purpose of training younger shooters. But for kids, there's one mistake I see made over and over. Well-intentioned adults get them a standard .22 rifle. They have lots of great attributes, but sometimes they have an overall length, length of pull, and even weight that are similar to much larger guns. This isn't always an issue, but it can make it tough for junior shooters to properly handle the rifle, especially if they're going to be shooting offhand. A better bet is to get a purpose-built youth model. Same cartridge, of course, but these pipsqueak rifles have greatly abbreviated dimensions and are much, much easier for kids to handle, no matter how they're shooting. Ruger, Henry, Savage, Smith & Wesson, Cricket, and others all make good youth model .22s. This is a constant source of irritation for .22 buyers. Whereas the vast majority of other rifles these days rely on a picatinny rail for mounting optics, we don't find such a level of standardization when it comes to .22s. This is especially prevalent with vintage guns. .22LR rifles might indeed have a picatinny rail, especially ones of modern manufacture, but it's just as likely to have a dovetail rail or a weaver rail. Be especially vigilant about the specs you're working with when kitting your rifle out with rings for a scope or any other object that direct mounts. You'll still run into plenty of people who use these terms interchangeably, but I promise you, they are anything but. Dovetail rails look just like the shape you're imagining, and the one you've probably seen used as a woodworking joint before. They're noticeably short and skinny compared to weaver and picatinny rails. Weaver rails look like picatinny rails, but typically have only a few slots, and they aren't always evenly spaced. Weaver rails are also dimensionally different from picatinny rails. When in doubt, consult the manual, call the manufacturer, or take the gun to a reputable gun shop or gunsmith for assistance if you have any doubt. There's a huge, and I mean huge variety of .22LR loads on the market. Many are general purpose, some are optimized for hunting or competition, and still others are what you might call special purpose rounds. In the latter category, we have such oddballs as CB caps, which rely on the primer only for propulsion instead of a powder charge, and extra heavy bullets that might weigh upwards of 60 grains with a correspondingly long overall length. Here's a trick with getting good results and a trouble-free life with your .22 rifle. You should pick an action type based on the ammunition you are most likely to use. If you're running long hyper-velocity cartridges, or using those extra heavy bullets, you'll want to go with a manually operated bolt or toggle action, and preferably one with a long throw and an enlarged ejection port. If you're going to be running standard or high-velocity rounds, then anything goes, be it a lever gun, semi-auto, bolt action, or whatever. Said another way, don't be surprised if your semi-auto chokes on subsonic loads or other oddballs. Most shooters I know tend to think of the .22LR as a point-and-click rifle, meaning that when it's shooting at typical ranges, you don't have to worry about drop very much. Out to 50 yards, shooting high-velocity ammo, you'll only have an inch or two of drop depending on how you have your sights regulated. At 100 yards, anywhere from 2 to 4 inches. But, shooting the more pedestrian stuff, or even worse, low-velocity subsonics, your .22LR has a trajectory that looks more like a mortar. You could be facing 4 inches of drop at 50 yards, and potentially 10 inches or even more at 100. Obviously, it will get way worse beyond that point. Unlike most other centerfire cartridges, there is a huge range of performance inherent to the .22LR, so pay attention to your load and zero your sights or optic accordingly, understanding that switching to a different load might radically change your POI versus your POA. Speaking of point of impact, now's a good time to remind everyone that you should expect to put in more time testing different loads if you want to squeeze all the accuracy possible out of your chosen .22 rifle. Every gun is different, and even among guns of the same model, you might find that your particular gun greatly prefers a specific load for best results. But in my experience, seldom will you find fussier guns than .22 rifles. Your gun might shoot like garbage with one manufacturer's load and split the atom with another. Heck, that might even be the situation shooting two different brands from the same manufacturer. If you're hunting or target shooting seriously, or just want to look like you know your stuff at the range, I advise you try no less than six different brands and shoot each of them for accuracy before picking the winner. Then buy it in bulk and put some away. I've got five more need-to-know facts about .22 rifles just ahead. But before we move on to the next one, do me a huge favor and hit like and subscribe if you are enjoying the video so far. Those two clicks mean everything to the health of our channel, and more importantly, by doing so, you'll get notified every time we upload some hot fresh gun content for you. Thanks a bunch! Now, let's move on. I'm a big fan of buying used guns. You probably are too. Saving some bucks on a new piece of iron is always a good feeling. However, I urge you to be cautious if you're shopping for a used rimfire. It's easy to get a lemon, or one that would be more trouble than it's worth. Simply put, lots of .22s out there are beater guns for people. They get shot a lot, handled a lot, dropped a lot, and misused. Most have delicate firing pins or breech faces that are easy to damage. Lots of .22s live a hard life as truck or bam guns, and accordingly, pitted bores are pretty common. Similarly, many .22s are a little tricky to field strip, and so most owners end up punching out the barrels from the muzzle end. That can set the stage for accuracy-wrecking crown damage. It's possible to detect and spot these irregularities with a detailed inspection, assuming the shop or owner will let you tear the gun down. But you've got to know what you're doing and what to look for. The risk of winding up with a lemon or beater that will take your money and time to restore working order makes a used .22 less of a value proposition compared to other chamberings. If in doubt, spring for a new gun. Another thing about .22LR barrels. I don't know how this got started, but there's a nasty myth that's been going around for ages. I remember hearing it when I was a wee lad first learning to shoot. Allegedly, you've got to clean .22LR barrels specifically every time you take them out and shoot. First, this is categorically untrue. Second, yes, I acknowledge that it's good to take care of your guns and maintain them. The problem is that fanatical cleaning of guns is more of a disciplined thing than anything practically good for the guns themselves. Constant disassembly and reassembly, and regular aggressive cleaning, is only going to cause more wear and, in time, more problems than it will prevent. There's no abrasive sediment in .22 primers, no corrosive powder, or any special characteristics of the ammo or the guns themselves that necessitate this more frequent cleaning. You should clean them every now and then when they need it, and specifically give the board some attention if you notice your group starting to open up or drift with no other attributable cause. I'm making a blanket statement here, and since this is my video, it is now the unassailable law of the land. A .22 lever-action rifle is the most fun you can legally have. The end. Seriously though, lever-action rifles are awesome, and lever-action .22s are particularly awesome. The handling, the nostalgia, the sheer tactile joy of shooting these things. There's nothing quite like it, and all for pennies when it comes to ammo. Good stuff! But I warn you, many lever-action .22s, new and old, are surprisingly ammo finicky. It's just the way it is. It might be a certain brand, a certain bullet type. Whatever it is, be prepared and bring at least two, and preferably three different loads with you for those first outings so you can hopefully find one that's 100% reliable. As amazing and versatile as they are, most folks don't reach for a .22LR for self-defense purposes. Obviously, if you need to put down an aggressive human or a dangerous animal, you want something with more punch and deeper penetration. That's true. But what most folks don't consider is that a good high-velocity .22LR load, especially fired from a rifle barrel, will indeed penetrate sufficiently to do substantial damage. The FBI protocols recommend a depth of penetration anywhere between 12 inches and 18 inches, to ensure effectiveness across varying circumstances. Loads like CCI's Minimag, Stinger, and Velociter will do the job, and new stuff like the Federal Punch lineup is also good. This is more than enough performance to strike vital organs and other structures in the body. Considering that most .22s have good capacity, and can be fired accurately as quickly as you can pull the trigger, they aren't pushovers when it comes to serious business, and, in fact, can be a great option for folks who struggle to hold or handle heavier or harder kicking guns. Lastly, it's time to quash one myth that refuses to die, and hopefully do it once and for all. The crown jewel of gun shop gossip, ballistic brainlet opinion, and mall ninjas everywhere. The allegation that the .22LR is actually the most dangerous cartridge on Earth, and the preferred choice of professional assassins, because again, supposedly, this tiny round will ricochet around inside the body or cranial vault, doing untold damage until it finally runs out of energy. Dear viewer, this is absolutely untrue. .22s run out of energy pretty quickly once they start hitting flesh of any kind. They might indeed deflect off bone or skew as the bullet deforms, but they don't bounce around like a pinball. This is pure fiction. Made up. Untrue. False. .22LRs do have something of an infamous history among assassins, but this is for their other qualities and general availability. Namely, they are tiny, relatively easy to suppress, and both handguns and rifles chambering the cartridge are widely available the world over, relatively speaking. Don't believe the nonsense. Okay, and with that, you are officially a fully informed and certified .22LR rifle owner. I hope you learned something new today, or if you are brand new to shooting, that you are getting off on the right foot with these supremely versatile rifles. Let me know what you think about the notion of using a .22 rifle for self-defense down in the comments. Does it have unique merits that justify it, or is it just a bad idea? Also, before you go, do make sure to hit like and subscribe so you don't miss out on any of our great upcoming videos right here on All About Survival. That's all I've got for you today, so until next time, stay safe, shoot straight, and take care.