Rifle and Ammo Purchase Advise

alan0387

Hi folks,

Currently in process of acquiring either a .22lr or air rifle. They are both obviously licensed and 2nd hand I can find them for near enough the same money. My main use will be target shooting, most likely in Courtlough.

Basically is there any advantages one over the other? And what Ammo do people recommend for .22lr? My only experience is with CCI hollow point sub sonic 40gr

Thanks!

Tackleberry.

Sk Match or Standard ammo is good buy, I moved away from CCI standards because they where heavy coated in wax and started to cause jams on my gun.. my2 cent..

Luckysasha

Problem I found with courtlough is that they want you to buy your ammo from them and bringing in your own ammo is frowned upon. If this is the case your limited to whatever selection they have. Unless your doing any field shooting then you can shop around for ammo. I found a huge difference in price when you start ringing around. For example my range was charging me €75 for 500 CCI standards, versus €85 for 1000 from a dealer in Kildare.

alan0387

Tackleberry. wrote: »

Sk Match or Standard ammo is good buy, I moved away from CCI standards because they where heavy coated in wax and started to cause jams on my gun.. my2 cent..

Thanks, I have not shot enough to notice myself as I would be using my father in laws .22 and we would shoot clays 4 out of 5 times anyway!

Luckysasha wrote: »

Problem I found with courtlough is that they want you to buy your ammo from them and bringing in your own ammo is frowned upon. If this is the case your limited to whatever selection they have. Unless your doing any field shooting then you can shop around for ammo. I found a huge difference in price when you start ringing around. For example my range was charging me €75 for 500 CCI standards, versus €85 for 1000 from a dealer in Kildare.

Yea this is something I've heard before which is why I was leaning towards an air rifle for cost of Ammo. I'm still on the fence as to which to go for.

Tackleberry.

Luckysasha wrote: »

I found a huge difference in price when you start ringing around. For example my range was charging me ?75 for 500 CCI standards, versus ?85 for 1000 from a dealer in Kildare.

CCI Standard 1000 rds for €75 is the going price right now, I last bought them at €70 for the1000 the SK match/Standard is €65 a box of 500 and rarely got for €60..

ligertigon

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057747278

my post #15

Courtlough's rifle range is licenced for 22 hp only, I suppose only way to enforce this is that you buy it off them.(im open to correction as this is the reason).

But they have planning in for a very impressive rifle range at present and probably good to go end of year.

Baker.22

The best .22lr ammo is expensive. For target shooting you would need to be using Eley match or Tenex, RWS R50 or Lapua centre x or Midas. There is very little air rifle comps in Ireland but quite a few with Rimfire. Look at NRBAI Facebook page etc, 9 national comps a year all open to members of shooting ranges

alan0387

Thanks for all the info guys, so is it recommended to go the .22lr route over air rifle then?

extremetaz

You'll never regret buying a 22LR - there's a reason they're the most popular caliber on the planet.
There's plenty of competition options, expensive ammo is half the price of cheap ammo in any other caliber, it'll take most vermin at modest ranges, and most importantly, it's not only a fantastic way to learn to shoot, but it's just incredible fun.

Pitching it against air then - a good 22LR will be about half the price of a good PCP air rifle. They'll also hold groups out to greater distances, and they're lighter to carry. Versus springers or rams then it's really down to what you want to do; they're all very fun rifles that are cheap to run and good to learn on (although the springers do make it a little tougher).

If I was only going to have one or the other, I'd stick with my 22LR; but there's plenty of space and application for both in any gunsafe.

alan0387

extremetaz wrote: »

If I was only going to have one or the other, I'd stick with my 22LR; but there's plenty of space and application for both in any gunsafe.

Thanks, for now will be just one, so I'll go 22lr I think! I would like an air rifle too in future so I'll just keep saving the pennies!

ezra_

alan0387 wrote: »

Thanks, for now will be just one, so I'll go 22lr I think! I would like an air rifle too in future so I'll just keep saving the pennies!

Good choice I think - .22lr is a great round, very versatile, can be used in the field and there are a lot of competitions around the place that you can enter into.

Airgun doesn't have the same range of options.

alan0387

ezra_ wrote: »

Airgun doesn't have the same range of options.

It's just a shame the powers that be cannot see the advantage of having laws similar to the UK regarding airguns. The revenue alone in VAT would surely have enticed them. As we all know it's not the law abiding citizens that cause trouble anyway

MysticMonk

Airguns are basically poweful toys,buy a.22 lr. Courtlough have a nice lever action winchester copy for sale for peanuts

alan0387

MysticMonk wrote: »

Courtlough have a nice lever action winchester copy for sale for peanuts

I was planning to go up and have a look this weekend
I like the Ruger 10/22, a friend has one with a synthetic stock, but I really have a soft spot for a nice wood stock bolt action like the CZ Brno :cool:

alanmc

What sort of work are you going to be doing with your .22?

I had a CZ452. Really accurate rifle. However, I had a go at some gallery rifle shooting a few weeks back and the semi-auto guys had the better of me every time ... especially on the timed events. The Ruger 10/22 is far more suited to Gallery than the CZ IMO.

For slow target shooting though, the CZ is hard to beat. Again IMO.

alan0387

alanmc wrote: »

What sort of work are you going to be doing with your .22?

I had a CZ452. Really accurate rifle.

Would just be target shooting at the likes of courtloughs range. I don't know any farmers to get permission so it would just be to go up on a weekend morning and plink a few targets initially.

Right now a cheap bolt action is all I will need. Maybe in future if I compete in timed events etc I would upgrade to a better semi auto like the 10/22 but my budget is limited right now. I've seen a few like the cz452 for sale at quite reasonable prices.

I would like to do a bit of hunting in the future should I get the opportunity however!

alanmc

alan0387 wrote: »

Would just be target shooting at the likes of courtloughs range. I don't know any farmers to get permission so it would just be to go up on a weekend morning and plink a few targets initially.

Right now a cheap bolt action is all I will need. Maybe in future if I compete in timed events etc I would upgrade to a better semi auto like the 10/22 but my budget is limited right now. I've seen a few like the cz452 for sale at quite reasonable prices.

I would like to do a bit of hunting in the future should I get the opportunity however!

The CZ452 seems to be the perfect choice in that case. Good rifle for hunting as well. Nice and light.

Luckysasha

I have a Cz 455 .22lr. Can't recommend it enough. On a side note it has interchangeable barrels so if in the future you where to get in to the hunting side of things you can buy a .17 hmr barrel for €250 and swap it out with your .22lr barrel as needed. Having both calibres gives you a broader range when out hunting. Oh and the .17 hmr barrel will require a separate license

alan0387

Luckysasha, I didn't know that about the cz455! Thanks!

I really appreciate all the info and help from everyone on this forum

Thanks folks! :cool: