Another wild hair is growing

[cayuga]

First off.. I do not need another rifle. But I want one. And normally that is all that is important. Also, I have three or four .22 caliber rifles now. My main rifle is a 40 year old Remington Fieldmaster pump action .22 rifle. It has a 4x32mm scope on it, and will ring gongs and spin targets all day long. Its also a pine squirrel's worst night mare if they get around my house.

But I want something different. At first I looked at a Henry Lever action .22 rifle. Very nice rifle. But I have decided.. a lever action is like a pump. They are accurate and fun to shoot, but just not what I want. So I have scratched that off the list.

The other rifles I really have my eye on are tactical rifles. Some call them black rifles. Some call them assault rifles. I call them fun rifles.

I was at a local Wal Mart looking for cleaning patches and some Breakfree CLP. I walked by their gun case (bad mistake) and they had three rifles that caught my eye. One was the Henry Lever action which I have finally eliminated from my wild hair list.

The other two were;

Sig Sauer model 522 in .22 caliber. 10 shot magazine. 1-16 twist. Peep sights. Polymer stock and forearm. Stock is folding and extendable (the folding part would not mean much to me). 6.4 pounds in weight (which surprised me because it looks like a plastic toy). $497.00 It was very well balanced for an assault type looking rifle, shouldering very nice and coming to eye each time. The trigger pull is said to be around four pounds, but they would not let me play with the trigger part in the store. With the Picatinny rail up top, I figured I could throw a Red Dot on it. Would be a lot of fun to shoot by the looks of it. Additional larger capacity magazines can be obtained "I was told."

and of course

Smith & Wesson model M&P 15-22 in .22 caliber. 25 shot magazine. Semi Automatic. Cost $427.00 This rifle reminds me of the ones police carry for some reason. the MP5. The Stock was extendable. The Picatinny rail up top would allow the installment of a Red Dot. The rifle TO ME NOW.. did not shoulder as well as the Sig Sauer. I had to constantly move my face to get the peep sight lineed up. Then I shortened the stock one click in, and it lined up much better for me. Weight of the rifle is 5.5 pounds, almost a pound lighter then the Sig. That surprised me. The trigger is rated at 7 pounds. Can this be right? Also it is 33 inches over all length, two inches shorter then the Sig Sauer. And the barrel is a 1-15 twist.

I posted on other forums for any experience with these rifles and was told about another couple of rifles..

American Tactical Import GSG-5 which looks just like the MP5 but in .22 caliber. That also has great reviews. But every placed I checked.. they are out of stock.

and

Mossberg Tactical .22 caliber rifle. This rifle interests me but I can not locate one. I was told not to purchase a Tactical rifle unless I could really hold it and examine it. This rifle looks like an AR15. And I would be interested in it.

So if you have any information on these... I would appreciate it. I just wnat to walk in my back yard and have fun. Spinner targets, gongs, and such. I figured I would put a RED DOT on the thing for fast shooting. And then make some noise. So far I am leaning towards the Sig Sauer. Just a real solid nice feeling rifle. And every video I have seen on them leads me to believe they don't jam, they shoot the cheap wal mart ammo, and are very accurate. So what do you think?

 

[Nimrodder]

Dave, I have a SIG 522 in the safe. Its more reliable than my old 10/22 and even more fun to shoot. You can also get 25 round magazines for them.

 

[cayuga]

I watched a video on them and they don't look hard to clean at all. I am kind of leaning towards that rifle. How accurate is it?

 

[Nimrodder]

Dave, I sighted it in at 25 yards. Never shot paper at a greater distance but I can hit clay pigeons at 100 yards. IMO it is the easiest semi-auto .22 to clean. Very fun to shoot you'll burn thru a brick of ammo before you know it.

 

[cayuga]

Thank you... You have made up my mind. I was going crazy watching videos of the different tactical 22 rifles. Maybe I need to drive to the city tomorrow. It beats the heck out of cutting wood.

 

[Nimrodder]

Dave enjoy your trip to thebig city 8) . You guys still getting snow up there?

 

[sqezer]

Dave, I have 2 friends that have the S&W MP15-22 and they just love them, I'm going to Eau Claire on Monday to pick up a Ruger Vaquero .45 old sytle GUNFIGHTER Model. I'll be shooting the MP 15-22 also to see how I like it.

 

[vabowhntr]

Both the Sig and the M&P have worked very well for my coworkers and me, but the mossbergs (2 of them) both had a lot of reliability issues.

 

[cayuga]

Dave enjoy your trip to thebig city 8) . You guys still getting snow up there?

Just a few flakes fell yesterday. And real heavy frost in the mornings.


Sqezer, the reason why I am going to get the Sig over the Smith MP5 is almost every video I watched on the MP5, they had minor feeding problems and they were ammo sensitive. I was told in the manual for the MP5, they warn against Remington ammo. The Sig fired anything and never failed with any ammo. And the accuracy of the Sig was very impressive in the videos. Once Nimrodder told me about his, that kind of sealed the deal for me.

 

[sqezer]

sounds good Dave, I'll take along different type's of ammo and see how it works.

 

[cayuga]

Remington Golden Eye gave that rifle the fits. The Winchester and Federal shot good. And the CCI were the best of them all.

 

[cayuga]

Today, I went to the city and purchased my Sig Sauer 522 Tactical Field Rifle at a Wal Mart. Because it is the field model it has a 10 shot magazine. Peep sights also.

OBSERVATIONS...

The rifle is very well built. No rattles or loose feel to it. Even though the stock will fold to the side, it is rock solid. The one flaw I discovered quite by accident was the peep sight does not like to stay in place. The rifle feeds smooth and sure, with no jams or failure to feeds, and I shot approximately 200+ rounds today. The trigger is a real surprise it has a long travel, but breaks very light and clean. Very smooth actually. I was surprised that the trigger was this good. Just as fast as you want to pull that trigger it fires. I actually towards the end of the shoot was double tapping the rifle and it handled just fine.

The failure of the rifle is the peep sights. Like I noted. I fired the first nine rounds as the magazine does not hold ten rounds, the rifle does if you load one and then load the magazine. But I discovered the peep sight problems kind of quickly. I had spinner targets at 35 yards and took careful shots at them. I managed to spin one, but the spinner was not one I was aiming at. So I then OPENED UP on the spinner and did manage to his another one. But again it was not the spinner I was aiming at.

So I moved a paper target in to 16 yards. I thought it was 13 yards but the range finder told me I was wrong. I then remembered I had moved the shooting bench the other day when doing wood. Aiming at the target the rifle shot far to the right and low. So I made a sight adjustment.

Loaded the magazine, went to shoot and the rear peep was not there. Looked around and found it. Put it back in the rifle and this time really tightened the screws down. Shot the next group and again, still to the right. So I moved the sight again. Now I loaded all nine.

I shot group A rather quickly. Then decided to calm down and shoot.

Group B was the next adjustment up. Group C was an adjustment to the left and I discovered the sight had moved down the ramp a little. So I moved the peep up again and shot Group D. Now I decided to really commit and moved the peep far to the left... Group E was shot. On the last two shots, I noticed the peep had moved again. Now I was kind of upset. So I made a final adjustment to the peep sight and thought I put the screws in good and deep. I then shot Group F.

To double check the sights for the last time, I picked out a small circle on the target and shot at that. That is nine rounds.

After that I went back to the spinner targets and was just wheeling them around like a windmill. Nothing to it. I then shot at some square gongs at 50 yards and could hear lots of pinging sounds coming back. So I knew I was in the ball park. Finally I decided I would stop and clean the rifle.

CLEANING THE RIFLE...

This is one easy rifle to clean. Two pins that move aside and the top part of the receiver comes right out. You then lift the bolt and guts out and clean the barrel, then the bolt, trigger assembly and all the interior parts. And the rifle goes back together just as easy as it came apart... until the surprise. Putting the upper assembly back into the lower assembly, I look at the top and .. you guessed it.. No Peep sight. I tore the house apart and could not find it. I was a little upset at this point. Then I went outside and walked my path from the shooting bench to the house and there was my peep sight... laying there on the ground. relief was apparent. I then went in and put it back on the rifle, and lock tightened the screws in place. So we will see if that will hold.

I really like the rifle. Talk about fun to shoot. You can double tap this thing and it just keeps firing . And if the peep sight don't fall off or move, its a pretty accurate rifle. I have ordered a tactical scope for the rifle, and that should be here next week. Good thing I picked up two bricks of Winchester shells.. this thing is a blast. Plus I want to order two of the Black Dog 25 shot magazines for the rifle. Just for a little fun.

Now this is not my hunting rifle. This is my fun rifle. And so far the Sig Sauer other then that peep sight.. is fitting the bill.
__________________

 

[Nimrodder]

Dave sorry you had such bad luck with that peep sight. Gotta admit I've only shot mine scoped.Anyway looked like it was fun Congrats on the new rifle 8) .

 

[cayuga]

I threw a red dot on it today. Very accurate rifle so far. Plus I did a little run and gun shooting on gongs and the red dot worked good for that. So far I put 555 winchester ammo and never had a problem. Other than one round did not fire.

 

[cayuga]

Nimrodder I am sure glad I posted this and you answered. I have not had this much fun in ages on the range. Now granted I have a lot of .22 rifles, but none of them can make me smile like this one. After cutting wood all morning, splitting and stacking.. I needed a break.

With a new box of Winchester 555 cartridges .22 caliber bullets I hit the range. I loaded 10 and then stood and aimed at a steel plate at 100 yards. I was shocked... out of 10 rounds with that RED DOT.. I hit five times. That might not sound like much but the plate was 4x4 and the MOA on the Red DOT was 5 inches. Its the best one for sunlight conditions.

I really think with a scope on this thing I could squirrel hunt. Or better yet, bunny hunt with this red dot. Normally you jump them at 20 yards and if they don't run.. they'd be a goner.

 

[sqezer]

Dave, we took the S&W MP-15-22 out today, what a SWEET shooting little .22, 150 rounds of CCI 22 Mini Mags, and 150 rounds of Federal Target bullets 1 miss fire and NO JAMS at all. I hope your Sig is as good as the S&W. I'll sure be buying one soon.

 

[cayuga]

I have put over 700 rounds through the Sig Sauer and had two fail to fire, but not a single jam. I threw a 1x20mm Nikon scope on it today. And tonight a friend called and wanted to shoot the new rifle. So I went over there and shot at his house. The rifle preformed perfect and with that 1x20mm scope, it was easy to aim and hold. It shot very well. We were picking off cans with ease and rolling them around on the ground. He said when I get the new magazines in.. he would like to shoot it again.

 

[Nimrodder]

I get alot of FTF's with that Winchester 555 bulk stuff also but I get pretty good accuracy with it. Congrats on the new rifle.

 

[cell]

In have a crazy question...by the way cool rifle.

Does it operate like a blow back, or does it have a piston? Just asking because that hand guard is pretty tall.

Cell

 

[cayuga]

It operates on a blow back system I believe. Will not swear by that. It sure is a great rifle to shoot. I have a tactical scope coming any day now. So far I have put 1400 rounds through it. It always fires. And with the 26 round magazines for it, you can really get things hopping.