What's the cheapest .22 LR currently made?

[TruthTellers]

That's not a semi auto. I'm considering getting a .22 rifle that can shoot cheap .22 ammo that my 10/22 doesn't like.

The cheapest I could find is Rossi bolt action for under $150 online, I'm sure there's more out there even less than that, but IDK.

 

[FITASC]

One could look for a used bolt action, especially if can handle shorts, longs and long rifle

 

[Mike38]

I've seen Remington "500 series" bolt action rifles sell at auctions for $70-80. Most are a bit on the rough looking side, but still have good bores.

 

[Ricklin]

The beauty of .22 LR

Those greasy ol .22 rounds do offer an extreme advantage for those that do not clean their bores. It's fairly hard to find an average .22 plinker with a poor bore unless it has a zillion rounds through it. These days it would get mighty costly to wear out a .22 bore.

 

[FrankenMauser]

New in the current market, the cheapest I've seen is the Rossi RB22, which can also be found as a badge-engineered Mossberg 802.

But you can find cheaper options on used racks.
If I reorganized, I could fill a safe with old .22s that I got well below prices for anything new.
I have half a dozen, maybe more, that I picked up for $40-80; and (twice?) that many, again, in the $80-150 range. All are better rifles than the RB22, even if old, battered, and ugly.
One of my favorite and best-shooting .22s of all time, a 1930s production Springfield Model 56 in visually terrible condition, cost me $8 at an estate auction.

 

[hammie]

@Truth teller: "Franken" always has good advice. I live by his words. However, like real estate, used guns seem to be driven by location and market conditions. Here in central texas, the local gun shops don't have a lot of used bolt action 22's, and the ones they do have, look like they've sat in a barn for 5 decades and cost only about 50 bucks less than the price of a new one. But (as franken said) a used gun may be your best bet if you're lucky or if you can find a good deal from a private seller.

At the end of last August, "Aguila Blanca" (a moderator and staff member here) posted a thread asking essentially your same question. It might be helpful to search for that thread by the original poster's name (Aguila Blanca) and review his thread.

If you go for a new rifle, the only thing cheaper may be one of the mini single shot bolts (Savage rascal), but I don't think you would want that. In the 200 to 300 dollar price range, you would get, in order of increasing price: the mossberg plinkster, the savage mark II and the winchester expert 22. (And I didn't realize that the mossberg was a re-badged rossi.. thanks franken.) Beyond that you get into the ruger american, CZ 457, and then ultimately the bergara and tikka, followed by an Annie (anschutz) and Christensen. I think Christensen is now offering 20 year financing with a buy down on your interest rate. /s.

You may want to consider the winchester expert 22. It's not really a winchester. Instead it's a re-badged turkish gun, but it has good reviews on you tube. Plus the winchester uses the ruger 10 shot rotary magazine, which may be a desirable feature since you already have a ruger 10/22. Anyway, good luck. Half the fun of a new gun is the planning and finding stage.

 

[gwpercle]

That's not a semi auto. I'm considering getting a .22 rifle that can shoot cheap .22 ammo that my 10/22 doesn't like.

The cheapest I could find is Rossi bolt action for under $150 online, I'm sure there's more out there even less than that, but IDK.

For that exact same job , ammo my Ruger 10/22 and S&W model 41 refuse to shoot ...

I picked up a Ruger Wrangler for $199 . It may not be the absolute cheapest 22 LR on the market but it shoots any and all 22 LR ammo ( I have a good stash / hoard of many not so-great brands for picky semi-auto's ) with its fixed sights and shooting at short ranges it is a great value , shoots every ammo tried and accurate enough at close range ... Tin cans at spitting distances is FUN !
During the course of two 22 Shortages ... I picked up some things like Thunder Bolts and Winchester Wildcats ... my semi-auto's just wouldn't function with ... the SA Revolver will shoot anything that fits in the chamber ... I love it !
Gary

 

[tangolima]

For inexpensive 22, a semi auto is probably a better deal overall than a bolt action. A locked action (bolt) is not necessary for .22 rimfire, and it costs more to make. I'd rather they put the money on the barrel.

Mossberg barrels are good, at least used to be.

I have picked up several used ones from local shop's bargain as-is rack. The one I use weekly for mocked long range training is a marlin 81. It is a bolt action. It has a broken cartridge guide, so I got it for $79. I never fix the cartridge guide as it is more convenient to shoot single load without. I made mods to make it feed from the tube magazine, just not as smooth.

Some auto loaders have provision to work like a straight pull by locking the charge handle.

-TL

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[FrankenMauser]

I just remembered the Citadel TRAKR.
Not the cheapest thing on the market, but usually close to the price of the RB22.

 

[TruthTellers]

New in the current market, the cheapest I've seen is the Rossi RB22, which can also be found as a badge-engineered Mossberg 802.

But you can find cheaper options on used racks.
If I reorganized, I could fill a safe with old .22s that I got well below prices for anything new.
I have half a dozen, maybe more, that I picked up for $40-80; and (twice?) that many, again, in the $80-150 range. All are better rifles than the RB22, even if old, battered, and ugly.
One of my favorite and best-shooting .22s of all time, a 1930s production Springfield Model 56 in visually terrible condition, cost me $8 at an estate auction.

Not around me, it's doubtful I'm going to find something around $100 and if I did I have to weigh the pros and cons of it vs a brand new Rossi, which seems to be the cheapest option that holds more than 1 round.

Gunbroker isn't worth considering once I factor in shipping and fees.

I do also have a Mossberg 702 and a few mags for it, so if the Rossi bolt action is compatible with those magazines, then I see no reason to bother spending gas money to hit up LGS' every other weekend hoping to score something cheap and not beat to crap.

Now the question is do I go that route or spend a bit more for the more interesting pump action Rossi.

 

[hammie]

UH...pump action Rossi. Or...I dunno...pump action Rossi.

 

[FrankenMauser]

Buy a rifle that will shoot; not known garbage, just because it is cheap.

 

[TruthTellers]

Buy a rifle that will shoot; not known garbage, just because it is cheap.

Why? The goal here isn't accuracy, it's a rifle that won't be picky regarding cycling or feeding various ammo and a single shot to me is useless.

 

[FrankenMauser]

"I have ammo that I consider garbage. I don't want to do anything useful with it. But, to dispose of this waste of money, I am going to spend money on a rifle that I don't like or want."

Logical.

 

[ballardw]

Given the stated "problem" I would likely sell the ammo.

But since I have revolvers, bolt lever and pump action rifles not to mention break-open pistol I don't have the problem. Sometimes the "chore" is finding which one likes which ammo best.

 

[603Country]

Just prowl the pawn shops.

Many old 22 bolt actions, if not all of them, don’t have bolt locking lugs. The bolt handle closes the action by bearing on the rear of the action frame. That area will wear over time, to the point that the rifle may not fire due to the action not being closed enough for the firing pin to successfully set off the primer. I never would have noticed that but I bought a really old 22 cheap. It would fire sometimes. Took me a while to troubleshoot the problem.

 

[stagpanther]

Get a Heritage rough rider revolver--I bought one new a couple of years ago for $125--I know they've gone up in price a bit. It's the perfect don't care what I hit garbage disposal system.

 

[TruthTellers]

"I have ammo that I consider garbage. I don't want to do anything useful with it. But, to dispose of this waste of money, I am going to spend money on a rifle that I don't like or want."

Logical.

I have thought strongly about getting the pump Rossi, but if a cheaper bolt action does shoot better I would consider it. I said accuracy isn't the goal, but that doesn't mean it's not a factor if the price and build quality is satisfactory.

Regardless, I would like a manual action .22 rifle for the purposes of shooting cheap ammo autos don't like or ammo that is underpowered like CCI Quiet or .22 Shorts.

 

[TruthTellers]

Get a Heritage rough rider revolver--I bought one new a couple of years ago for $125--I know they've gone up in price a bit. It's the perfect don't care what I hit garbage disposal system.

Having owned two, I don't mind the Heritage as a handgun, but IMO it is a near useless novelty as a rifle.

 

[stagpanther]

Few years ago I bought Marlin XT in 17HMR--cost $220. I know they are not in production now--but you could probably find one in 22lr used at a good price--and the bonus is it actually shoots quite well.