.22LR rifle

[Wheeler]

If your child is learning to eventually shoot a rifle with a pistol grip (if most of your big kid rifles are ARs), the 15-22 would be a better choice. There are a few differences in techniques and shooting positions when comparing a hunting rifle with a service rifle.

That's a good observation. I wonder if the SR-22 rifle would fall in the OP's price range?

[SLG]

That's a good point. I didn't buy the 10-22 with steel matches in mind, I bought it to bump my son up from single shots and as a reward for some hard work he had put in unrelated to shooting. I have been pleasantly surprised by how well it has run with a wide range of ammo. The fact that it will allow me to nip at the heels of the big dogs is a bonus in my book.

All of that makes sense to me as well. I hope I'm not coming off as biased towards the smith, because that's not my intent. Personally, I stopped shooting my 10/22's when the 15/22 came about, but I'm not using it for anything too serious. If a weapon like the ruger works better than the smith, that wouldn't really surprise me given that the Ruger is a mature, well understood system. The Smith is still pretty new, and is very reasonably priced for what it is. I'm sure some improvements could be made.

Actually, now that I think about it, though my Smith has seen the volume of rds that I mentioned before, at the Appleseed that I shot a 249 at, I was using a TacSol upper on a standard Smith M&P 15 - not a .22. So I recant on my accuracy statement from before. My Smiths have been very accurate, but that Tac Sol definitely has the edge in accuracy. Also worked beautifully.

[SLG]

I love .22's, and so I love this thread. I have quite a few, including CZ's (ridiculous accuracy), Ruger's and Smith's. I also have quite a few conversion kits for Glocks, 1911's, AR's and even Ruger pistols. I mention all this because my last post made me realize that I need to throw a plug in for the Tac Sol stuff. All of mine have been very accurate and as reliable as any .22 I've ever seen. If you don't want to buy a complete gun for whatever reason, their kits are a great way to go. I also use their .22 suppressors and they work great as well. Really ideal for teaching people to shoot with, and I love to squirrel hunt with a suppressed 22. Did I mention that I love 22's?:-)

[Odin Bravo One]

I love .22's. Did I mention that I love 22's?:-)

Me too.

[Little Creek]

I vastly prefer the 15/22 to the 10/22.

Me too and I had a 10/22 for years before I got an M&P 15-22. It is such a great understudy for the M4.

[jc000]

That's a good observation. I wonder if the SR-22 rifle would fall in the OP's price range?

Nope, trying keep to around $400. May be willing to go a bit over for a 15-22.

[LittleLebowski]

Me too.

I really want to shoot that one .22 of yours.

[Jared]

Those of you with 15-22's,

How picky are they about ammo brand/flavor?

Or do they just gobble whatever you feed them? (Obviously not counting exotic rounds like the Aguila Colibri)

Sample of only 3 here (mine, a brother has one, and wife has one) but in my experience, they eat domestic produced High Velocity ammo with ridiculous reliability. Seriously, best 22LR semi-auto I've ever seen. Switch to the more sedate standard velocity stuff, or go with some imported ammo, and you are out of the area I've tested them. I did feed mine a brick of Aguila one time, and it ate it fine.

Mine has never been "cleaned," although I have pulled the "bolt group" and lubed it on different occasions. One Winter, every Saturday, my father and I would put 500 rounds (or 525, 550, whatever was in the bulk pack) through mine. That was before I did a real good job of record keeping, but the vast majority of stoppages were failures to fire, with rounds that we couldn't get to fire in any other gun. Dad was really, really impressed with how well it ran.

[rudy99]

Any thoughts on a bolt action in 17 hmr? Although the ammo is about 2x as expensive as 22LR, it does have at least twice the range.

I bought my kid a 15-22, but since he is only 2 years old, I'll have plenty of time to break it in for him. That and I suspect, as many others have, I will start him on a bolt action of some sort.

[Odin Bravo One]

I really want to shoot that one .22 of yours.

Which?

Suppressed, SBR 15/22?

Or the M-Fin' 1400 rpm of .22LR "Get Sum".

Or one of the others?