.22 underlevers

[JS569]

Hi All

My friend is always on about an underlever .22. After using my 44 years ago he fancies one for plinking and shooting rabbits. I shot one a long time ago and more recently a winchester one. He will want a shooter rather than a collectible, is there anything he should look for or any good sources of them. He keeps asking me about them but they are something I have little to no knowledge of.

thanks in advance.

[Sim G]

Winchester made a 9422 in both .22 long rifle and magnum. Serviceable, accurate and available in all sorts of grades, from plain to fancy. Generally run around the 250 to 350 mark. Some Win 9417's are around as well. That's guns chambered in .17HMR.

Browning BL22 and Miroku ML22 are basically the same rifle, just marked up differently. Again both are available in a number of grades, but, have seen these for as little as 100 quid.

Marlin have the model 39. Generally the most expensive of the bunch, with the AS offering a 24" heavy barrel and pistol grip stock. S/H these will set you back 350 to 500 quid. The Marlin 39 Mountie is cheaper by a hundred quid, but has a 20" barrel and straight stock. Original Marlin 1892's and 1897's are knocking about, but they do command collectors money now.

Uberti did a Winchester '66 Yellowboy and a Winchester '73 in .22lr. Expensive if you can find them, but very authentic. (Winchester did actually make a .22lr 1873, but this would be several thousands of pounds!)

Henry also make a rimfire lever gun in lr, magnum and HMR. Again, there are some good bargains with these.

Erma did a high quality 9422 version, but these are thin on the ground these days and prices vary, as does condition.

Ruger did the model 96 in lr and magnum, which actually uses 10/22 mags and is the easiest to load/unload.

All of the modern guns, except the Ruger, are tube loading. Fitting a moderator for bunny bashing, if not already done, would involve shortening the mag tube or using some sort of spacer on the mag tube stud that pushed the tube away from the barrel. That said, it may still have to be the case that depending on the type of moderator, it would still have to be removed to load or recharge the rifle.

All of them mentioned, except the Uberti '66 and '73's, have a facility to mount a scope.

[JS569]

HI Sim

Thanks for the very informative response, you appear to cover all the bases!

I guess they are pretty solid guns with not a lot to go wrong on them. Are there any pit falls or specifically anything i should look out for?

thanks

[Sim G]

Nothing specific except perhaps sloppy lever movement on some of the older Marlins. Maybe watch for those that are already threaded and had the mag tube moved away from the barrel. I've seen one or two where the rube has been bent and is creased under the fore end and ammo gets caught up on the crease.