.22 bolt action suggestions

[Mark II]

Hello all

Hope you are all keeping safe, while I have some time on my hands I am  doing a bit of research into getting a. 22 bolt action rifle for informal target shooting. 

I was thinking along the lines of the CZ455 or 457 varmint.

I am open to suggestions it just needs to be a good accurate rifle that doesn't cost stupid money.

Cheers Mark 

[ColinBR]

CZ455 Precision trainer would be my pick. 

Sold 1 not long ago and regret it. Most accurate rifle I've had. Fitted with a trigger spring kit and it shot amazingly well. 

[Bushdog]

+1 on above. I have no experience of CZ457, but currently have a 455 (not a Precision Trainer, but a 455 varmint that I transferred into a Boyds Tacticool stock), with a trigger spring job and a pic. rail. I like it, and think its hard to beat for the money. Yes, an Anschutz would probably beat it in terms of group size with favoured ammo, but not by much, and not enough to stump up the difference (for me at least).

[Popsbengo]

I shoot bench-rest with my CZ455 16".  My comp average is 99 so I reckon it's a pretty good gun.  It does need a trigger kit as the original out of the box is not good enough.

[Mark II]

Thank you for your input. 

Spoke to a chap at the club with the  455 varmint 16", he said that it was great to start with and just got better the more it was used so looks like it is the way to go 

[PhilM]

Having had a CZ452 they are a bit agricultural but accurate! (I changed out the trigger spring as Pops mentions also).

I now have a HW60J which is a nicer bit of kit to shoot with the two stage trigger etc Much more refined but of kit. 

[les]

I have a 457 MTR, 453 Premium, 452 FS and a 455 varmint. The 457 MTR is just about the most accurate, followed by the 455, but there really isn't much in it.

What sort of target shooting do you actually want to do? If you're just trying to get the best groups that you can, then any of the CZ's will work if you feed them decent ammunition (Eley Match etc). If it's competitions that you're interested in, then look for an Anschutz Match 54 rifle.  😉

[MarinePMI]

The Tikka T-1x is another option.

[Mark II]

I will take a look at the Tikka and 457 MTR.

thank you for the suggestions

[Kevgun]

I have a Sako quad, brilliant little rifle, accurate, good trigger and lightweight.

[Mattnall]

The CZ452/455 are great rifles and good value.

A couple of years ago we bought some CBC MagTech bolt guns as beginner's rifles, and these are excellent value for money and as accurate as the CZ. I was amazed at how good they shot for the money.

[VarmLR]

Personally I'd go for a good used Anchutz model 1450 or 1460.  Nicely made, more refined than the CZ's and accurate little rifles plus not that spendy either.

[Mark II]

12 hours ago, Mattnall said:

The CZ452/455 are great rifles and good value.

A couple of years ago we bought some CBC MagTech bolt guns as beginner's rifles, and these are excellent value for money and as accurate as the CZ. I was amazed at how good they shot for the money.

I believe I know someone with the magtech rifle and he loves it

[Mark II]

8 hours ago, VarmLR said:

Personally I'd go for a good used Anchutz model 1450 or 1460.  Nicely made, more refined than the CZ's and accurate little rifles plus not that spendy either.

I haven't seen either of these so I will take a look.

[Mattnall]

13 hours ago, Mark II said:

I believe I know someone with the magtech rifle and he loves it

I bought a few off Viking when they stopped importing and wanted to get rid of them. They were a big surprise at how well they shot and the ease of use. Not the best finish but certainly good enough and the barrel floats.

My only niggle was we had a few feeding troubles with some of the rifles. It turned out to be a small burr on the inside of one feed lip on the magazine. A little light filing and all sorted. We try to keep mag and rifle together and not swap them around and this works.

[Andrew]

I love 22LR rifles and have too may of them to remember. I own Anschutz, Ruger, CZ's (many of them) Savage, Hammerli, high end Remington and Winchester, and a few others not worth mentioning. The rifles I like the best are my pair of Tikka T1X. I feel like a broken record posting this, but they are one of the most universally accurate 22's I have shot. Not fussy about ammunition. Even the cheap bulk ammo available here seems to generally shoot better through the Tikka than any other rifles it's fed to. Good match ammunition performance is limited by the LOT of ammo and the shooter's skill. The T1X can drop into chassis made for the T3. I have one of mine in a KRG 'chassis' that is pictured elsewhere on this site. I use it for  prone, 200 yard target shooting. My other T1X is kept as it came for hunting. It is as accurate as the target rifle.

I have shot three different T1X. All were exceptionally accurate. When pitted against a heavy barreled SAKO FinnFire there was no difference in accuracy.~Andrew

[VarmLR]

Hard to argue against Tikka Andrew, in any calibre!  They're fab rifles.

[Mark II]

On 4/24/2020 at 1:18 PM, VarmLR said:

Personally I'd go for a good used Anchutz model 1450 or 1460.  Nicely made, more refined than the CZ's and accurate little rifles plus not that spendy either.

I haven't seen either of these so I will take a look.

[Mark II]

Thank you for all your replies hopefully when this is all over we can get back to it.

Stay safe.

Cheers Mark

[Vermincinerator]

If you can find one original Sako Finnfire Varmint takes some beating, superbly accurate

Ian.

[Andrew]

I shot my T1X against an original Finnfire Varmint. There were actually two T1X and the SAKO. Three shooters swapped guns around, shot a large variety of ammo through all of them, and concluded that the Varmint is a nice gun but shot no better than the T1X. That makes sense as the barrels all come off the same machinery.~Andrew

[David will]

Evening Mark.

Over the years I have had quite a number of 22 rimfires. If you are looking for a rifle to use for pest control as well as target work have a look at the HW60J and Sako P94 the original Finfire. Both are target acurate and lovely to pop away at rabbits etc.