22mag levergun?

[Goat]

While I would love to have a Marlin 1894M or Winchester9422M I can't justify the expense of either. I really don't want a Henry so I think that only leaves the Ruger 96. Does anyone here have any experience with the Ruger? Does anyone know if the safety can be swapped to left-hand operation? I know I could reach under but that would slow things down...
Goat

[meanc]

Just what is it precisely you don't like about the Henry?

[rangerider7]

You can't go wrong with the 1894M Winchester. Save up.

[Lastmohecken]

Save your money and get the Winchester 9422mag, you will be happier in the long run.

[AJMD429]

I don't know how to type the sound of a pompous clearing-of-the-throat as a pretense of knowledgeable authority and experience - but I'll try...

Hgrrumph-Hmmm...

Anyway, I've got two Ruger 96/22 Magnums; one I just bought and have only 'function fired' (flawless 9 shots in 1-1/2" at 50 yards), but the other we've fired quite a bit, and it currently wears a 3-9x scope it 'earned' by consistently shooting under 1" at 75 yards (3 shot groups) with a 36x BSA cheapie scope I test all my new guns with just to see their 'potential'. My plan is to similarly test the new one, and whichever is better will get the scope, and the other will get a Williams FP-RU-TK aperture sight (requires drilling the receiver).

My 96/22 LR's (actually one is my daughter's) are not as accurate, but that depends greatly on the ammo used. I'm going someday to do a serious test of my Paco Kelly 'Acu'rizer' tool and see what I can accomplish accuracy-wise with which ammo.

My PRIZE Ruger 96 is probably got to be my .44 Magnum one - it has become my MAIN whitetail gun, due to several factors, including:

• detachable magazine - nice when crossing roads, in/out of vehicles, not having to lever-out a tube magazine
  one-piece stock - MORE of an asset than 'stainless' on a regular levergun if you get wet/muddy (try cleaning under the forend of a Marlin or Winchester quickly and easily)
  1:20" twist - nice if I ever use longer/heavier bullets
  built-in scope mount - I use a scope for better twilight visibility than peeps

Anyway, back on topic - the 96/22 Magnum seems reliable, accurate, and if you don't mind using a hand-file to cut an extra extractor groove, you can 'customize' them by easily installing any 10/22 barrel on them - i.e. if you get tired of your .22 WMR, you can have a .17 HMR with only a barrel swap. (In fact, according to folks on RimfireCentral.com, you can actually conver the long-receiver .22 Magnum 96's to use .22 LR or .17 Mach-II, by swapping just the barrel, then using a spacer behind the shorter magazines; I'd just rather buy a separate short-action 96, but some people just love to tinker...)

The detachable magazine is nice for rapid loading or unloading if you step out the back door when varmints are around, but want to unload the gun inside, or for switching from 'plinking' loads to 'game' loads if a chance occasion arises. Plus, they are about as 'flawless' as one can get. Some outfit even makes 20-round extended ones, if you like that kind of stuff.

The lever throw is VERY short (and smooth) - short enough your thumb never needs to leave the top of the stock, which makes for fast and fun and accurate shooting.

As far as the SAFETY - the part number is "B52" for the 10/22, which has Volquartsen aftermarket safeties of both right and left hand configuration available for $9.95, and "L52" for the 96/22, but I've not seen (or looked for) reversable ones for the 96/22 - I'll bet they either interchange, or would be easily adapted. My only concern would be that if someone ELSE were to handle your gun, that they might assume the safety were the 'normal' direction of operation, and it lead to an accidental discharge. I know that before handling any gun, even if it is a model I'm familiar with, I should look it over to see if it's 'like mine', and the owner should tell me 'hey, remember mine is made differently', but you know how that goes... Maybe a rotating 'flip-down' safety like some guns have in the same position could be manufactured with a piece of metal dowel, a file, and some patience, and it might be more 'ambidexterous' vs. 'reversed', and therefore less likely to be mis-used...?

But. . . are they a 'legitimate' levergun...??? - not according to die-hard slab-side fans; but I think if they left off the barrel band and used better wood/finish, they'd be no odder looking than the Savage 99's, and they're definitely prettier than the "classic" Marlin Model 62 shown below, even with their M1-carbine-10/22 look-alike barrel bands.



Besides, my 96/22 Mag is a 'working' gun, not a safe-queen, or 'collectible' - if that birchwood stock gets a ding, I'm just not going to lose ANY sleep over it..!

They're compact and handy - here is mine next to my bull-barreled Ruger 77/22...



A custom stock (Rimfire Central poster) can make one look downright 'MODERN'...



Or (another Rimfire Central poster) you can add a slightly modified 10/22 threaded barrel and a suppressor to be 'TACTICAL'...



The Williams WGRS works well on them (I 'grooved' my WGRS so I could use a lower-profile front sight), but isn't as easily adjusted as the FP-RU, although the latter does require drilling and tapping.





This is my 96/22, which wears an admittedly-funny-looking 'red-dot' Wal-Mart scope, but it is THE gun which I almost always have newbie shooters (from age 5 to 95) use, because from a bench, at a steel flip-up, they ALWAYS hit the target first time, and then since the gun is quiet, easy to shoot, and generally non-intimidating, even the ANTI-gun people smile, and want to shoot MORE. After a few magazines-full, we move to a 77/22, which most find 'annoying' due to having to work the bolt. Then we go to a 10/22, and by then they are hitting consistently, and come to enjoy the speed of the semiauto. After that, we escalate to a 'high-capacity' magazine, for a brief lesson on stupid gun laws, then we move to the .22 LR handguns, then gradually to centerfire guns. Within four hours, most novices wind up hitting 5-gallon buckets at 50 yards with a .44 Magnum Redhawk and grinning ear to ear. It all starts with the poor little 'ugly' Ruger 96/22 LR.

You'll get lots of posts to the contrary, as I seem to be one of the few odd-balls on Leverguns who thinks the Ruger 96's are the best of the lever-action rimfires. Everyone here who tells you anything else is, of course, wrong.

[shooter]

I know this isn't what you asked, but I have a Henry .22 mag and I absolutely love it. Very smooth action, and I can put a whole magazine into a spot the size of a nickel offhand at 25 yards. At 50 the group opens up a little, but that's probably me not the gun.

That being said, I generally love Rugers, so I don't see where you could go wrong with a 96.

[Steve Collins]

I'm in the Winchester camp; save your money and get the 9422 you want. You won't regret it.

[gamekeeper]

I've had two 9422M Winchesters, good well made accurate guns. I have often thought of getting the Ruger 96 as I like the detachable mag. but I would not turn my nose up at a Henry either, very smooth action and has been around a long time, even before Henry made them in the USA, ERMA were making them in Germany.

[AJMD429]

Here's a Gunblast review of the Ruger 96/17 - much of the article applies to the .22 WMR version:

http://www.gunblast.com/Ruger_96-17M.htm

This pic convinced me the .17 HMR barrel might be nice to put on one of my .22 WMR ones:



I'm thinking about turning one of my .22 WMR versions into a .17 HMR; the nice part being if I don't like the conversion, I can do/undo it in about 10 minutes (the barrel is held on by a hex-block like the 10/22 so changes super-fast...!

[Rusty]

Well dang it Doc, now you got me droooooling!

[Hagler]

Goat,

I bought a well-used 9422 Magnum for a very, very good price. I sold it fairly quickly without any grief, and I do not have anything negative to say about it. More than 6 years & 10,000 rounds after I bought it (a Henry H001L), I have absolutely no intention of selling my .22LR Henry rifle. I just like the Henry better than any of the other leverguns that I have owned, or handled, regardless of caliber. It is a keeper.

As to the Henry H001M, here is a 7-year-old review of one:

http://www.gunblast.com/CoyoteRifle.htm

Shawn

[Noah Zark]

I have three 22 Mag leverguns -- Marlin 57M

(Photo not available)

Win 9422M in the rust-colored "Wintuff" lam stock



and a Ruger 96/22M




All three are sufficiently accurate with open sights so as to hit an empty oil bottle at 100 yds, and chase it around. On paper, all three are "one ragged hole" at 50 yds off the bench, shooting five shot groups. Although the hole for the 96/22 is slightly larger in diameter than that for the Marlin and Winchester.

I like the Ruger for the 9-shot detachable mag, and with five mags I have 45 rounds at hand, and quickly, if so desired. I like the Ruger for its fast, short-throw action. I like the Ruger for its light and handy feel that is not present with the Marlin or the Winchester. The Winchester is a more solid-feeling gun, but noticeably heavier, IMO due in part to the laminated stock. That stuff is DENSE.

I don't like the trademark clubby, "2x4"-feeling Ruger stock with that archaic carbine band and wide-beamed forend. The 96/22 cries out for a slimmer "band-less" stock like some of the 22LR 10/22 rifles have, like the Wal-Mart specials with the longer barrel.

The most accurate? Marlin.
The one that feels most like a levergun? Winchester.
The one that gets shot the most because it's the most fun to shoot? Ruger.

HTH,

Noah

[AJMD429]

Speaking of stocks and the Ruger 96/22, on RimfireCentral there is a thread showing how one can very easily modify a 10/22 stock to fit the 96/22 series, which opens up more aftermarket options; I think that's where the really snazzy laminate grey one pictured above came from...



Aside from it sounding like we're all lobbying "Get the one I have, get the one I have...", I think the consensus seems to be whatever one you get you will like. If you want the Ruger, you'll likely be finding one on Gunbroker or whatever, used, which isn't a bad thing; our family owns five Ruger 96's, and four of the five were bought used - can't tell the difference. Cheaper that way, too.

[Goat]

Thanks to all for the responses. It sounds like there are no wrong choices to be had. I really am going to have to handle them all again and go from there. I believe that everyone should have some guns that are only there because you want them, and I want one....I just don't know which one(s).
Goat

[AJMD429]

Thanks to all for the responses. It sounds like there are no wrong choices to be had. I really am going to have to handle them all again and go from there. I believe that everyone should have some guns that are only there because you want them, and I want one....I just don't know which one(s). Goat

One approach I've used for different guns I want to try/get, is to just buy the first one in that category I get hold of, and 'check it out' - then get the second one I come across, and compare them. Sell the one I like least, then when I come across a third in that category, compare that with the best one I kept from the first two, and sell whichever of those I like least. As long as you can afford to get a second one each time, you can work your way to exactly what you like.

I sometimes do that with employees, too - if we have a position, I'll hire two part-timers and let them know up-front that one of them will not be staying after 90 days, and the other will get full-time status. It's "mean", but as long as I'm honest up front, it's a good way to sort 'em out...

[Noah Zark]

One approach I've used for different guns I want to try/get, is to just buy the first one in that category I get hold of, and 'check it out' - then get the second one I come across, and compare them. Sell the one I like least, then when I come across a third in that category, compare that with the best one I kept from the first two, and sell whichever of those I like least. As long as you can afford to get a second one each time, you can work your way to exactly what you like.

Exactly what I do. You end up with what works the best for you in the long run, and you have a lot of fun "test-driving" along the way.

I sometimes do that with employees, too - if we have a position, I'll hire two part-timers and let them know up-front that one of them will not be staying after 90 days, and the other will get full-time status. It's "mean", but as long as I'm honest up front, it's a good way to sort 'em out...

Gee, Doc, if you started with 10 or 12 part timers and kept just one, you could have your own reality show . . .

Noah

[JB]

The Henry rifles I've owned never impressed me quality wise. I do have a Winchester 9422M and Marlin 894M. Both are neat little 22 magnums. I don't really care for the Ruger's looks, but it should make a nice rifle.

[HEAD0001]

I have owned three of the Ruger lever action rifles. I guess I was a glutton for punishment. I really like their magazine. But that was where the love affair ended. the performance of all three was bad(at best). They were terrible shooters(all three). So I got rid of all three of them. I also agree with you on the Henry's. Some of the Henry's shoot pretty well. But To be honest the rifle just feels "cheesy" in my hands.

I am a left handed shooter so I realize what it is like to want a certain product, but you can not buy what you want because it is not available. The Winchester and Marlin's are still available. They are bringing a bit of a premium right now. But that premium is only likely to rise. So if you want one then I would figure out a way to get one now.

There is a guy on the "Saubier forum" who is selling a 9422M that is in pretty good shape. However his price is too high. He is wanting $650 for it. It has been listed there for a while. I think he bumped it up today. If you could get him to come down about $100 I think it would be a good buy. It is in excellent shape.

If you are not a member and you want a link then let me know. I will get you a link. Tom.

[Cruise]

I sometimes do that with employees, too - if we have a position, I'll hire two part-timers and let them know up-front that one of them will not be staying after 90 days, and the other will get full-time status. It's "mean", but as long as I'm honest up front, it's a good way to sort 'em out...

You are obviously a fellow graduate of the "Attila the Hun" School of Personnel Management!

[Lawyer Daggit]

I never had a Ruger lever action , but owned a 10/22 before our gun laws took a turn for the stupid. If it is what it looks, a 10/22 with a crank handle, it would be a good gun.

Winchesters- I have owned a 9422 (long rifle) which I stupidly sold, a 9422M (favourite fox rifle since my 18th birthday- I am now 51 yoa) and a 9417 all work flawlessly.

I owned a Henry lever action (back in the days when they were not made by Henry and were made in West Germany.) It had feed problems and was temperamental about how the lever was cycled. I have heard of lots of rifles with this malady, but have no personal experience with the Henry made model.

In the present climate I would save and buy a Winchester, even if I got one that had seen some use and the bluing had gone, it could be worth a bit of love and attention in the off season.