Practicing with a 22 cal rifle question

[Poppy]

I'm thinking of getting a Henry 22 cal lever action rifle to practice and play with, but have some questions....

 

1. Will it need anaction job like my marlin has ?

 

2. Will the difference in rifles (Marlin Vs Henry) help me with becoming a smoother shooter ?

 

3. Should I just practice with my marlin with 38 loads.

 

4. I'm saving for a Taylor's 73, so will the practice help when i switch to it hopefully by February?

 

5. Should I save money for 22 cal and possible action job to just buy the 73 sooner.... maybe just cancel my kids Christmas and buy both :~)))

 

Any other advice or comments will be great appreciated. Been running these question through my head

[G. P. Cobb]

Get the Henry while someone is supercharging your Marlin. It's the best there is, stop there.

[Grumpy Old Man]

I bought a used one, but also handled a new one and they are pretty smooth.

[Chili Ron]

Howdy,

Using a 22 that is similar to another rifle is an age old way to practice and save lots of money.

The Henry may not be identical to a marlin or whatever but it is pretty close.

Just for the heck of it I got one with the big loop lever.

Its accurate, no tin can within 50 yards is safe.

It needed no action job, no scope, no expensive accessories, just ammo and range time.

I did buy a little green case for it. And that case gets grabbed nearly every time I head to the range.

I have back problems and that light little rifle is as easy on me as any.

 

If you have a good marlin dont be in too big a hurry to buy something else.

But if you have to ....

Best

CR

[Captain Woodrow Cahill, SASS # 54363]

If price point is your concern, go with the Henry. They cost about 1/2 as much as the Marlin 39A.

 

There was some concern about the early Henrys due to some plastic parts, but it's my understanding Henry corrected this problem and now they're all metal. The Marlin has always been all metal, but (again, this is anecdotal from other sources) the new Marlins (since the Remington takeover) are pretty rough and not as good as the older ones.

 

To my knowledge, there's no action job that can be done to a Henry. Best thing is to just buy a brick of 22LR and go out and shoot it.

[Widder, SASS #59054]

Poppy,

 

ifn your only wanting the .22 to practice to get better with your Cowboy match rifle, just compare the cost of the .22 and a case of ammo (about 5000 rds) vs. how much reloading supplies you can buy to help shoot the Cowboy match rifle more.

 

Other than that, the Wire Gang will always favor buying more gunzzzzzzzz!

 

Best regards

 

..........Widder

[Guest diablo slim shootist]

ill bring my Henry for you to try out at the next shoot Diablo

[Vance Montana]

Howdy,

get yourself some azoom snap caps and home on the range targets...........

 

or practice one shot drills and transitions, holstering and reholstering with shotgun loading

Vance

 

reason..... the sights will probably different, length of pull different, feel and action job different

[Waimea]

I'm thinking of getting a Henry 22 cal lever action rifle to practice and play with, but have some questions....

 

1. Will it need anaction job like my marlin has ?

 

2. Will the difference in rifles (Marlin Vs Henry) help me with becoming a smoother shooter ?

 

3. Should I just practice with my marlin with 38 loads.

 

4. I'm saving for a Taylor's 73, so will the practice help when i switch to it hopefully by February?

 

5. Should I save money for 22 cal and possible action job to just buy the 73 sooner.... maybe just cancel my kids Christmas and buy both :~)))

 

Any other advice or comments will be great appreciated. Been running these question through my head

 

Hi Poppy

 

I bought a Henry from a pard for $80 and have been using it to live-fire practice ever since. I also shoot a Marlin.

 

I shoot Ruger single six 22's for practice as well. The savings is incredible!

 

I also dry fire my match guns at the inside of the garage doors. The little squares on the doors are almost the same size as the match targets. The dry firing keeps me used to the feel of the guns I use during a match but there is no substitute for live-firing.

 

Go ahead and get the Henry. It's a great little gun.

 

Waimea

 

[Driftwood Johnson, SASS #38283]

Howdy

 

What is this thing called Practice?

[L. G., SASS #48097]

Our club has 2 all .22 matches every year, lots of fun, and the one in the spring we invite everybody to come shoot anything they want as long as it's a .22 and they follow our loading and safety rules. The people with the semi-auto rifles and pistols soon learn that the single action pistols and lever action rifles are FAST!

[Poppy]

Thanks pards.... Diablo, I should have known you would have one :~) I was actually gonna ask you about it at the last shoot that I did not show up for. :~)

[GunClick Rick]

And they are fun as heck to trick out

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y283/gunc...Palomino-08.jpg

 

Get your Henry today

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y283/gunc...hristmas005.jpg

[Pancho Peacemaker]

I think practice with your actual competition rifle is very helpful to develop "muscle memory" in regards to the weight, balance, lever, and trigger pull. One inexpensive training tool mentioned above is a set of those A-Zoom aluminum snap caps. IMHO, running drills of lever,aim,shoot,lever,aim,shoot, . . . with snap caps is extremely valuable.

 

At the distances we are shooting our rifles in SASS, you don't need to be training to be a 'dead eye'. Rather, you need to learn to move your hands with speed and efficiency through the stage.

 

Lots of folks spend time practicing draws, reholtering, weapon transitions, and getting ammo from your body (mostly w/shotshells, but it never hurts to learn how to quickly load a rifle round from your body as well.) A set of snap caps will serve you well in these drills.

 

BTW: You will love that '73. I have a closetful of cowboy guns, but my '73 is one of my favorites.

[Denhamville Mayor]

I shoot in N-SSA competition and this last Spring I decided I needed to practice a bit EVERY DAY.

 

I was using a bolt action, Model 1922, 22 caliber Springfield Rifle, My rule: I fired FIVE ROUNDS EVERY DAY for three weeks until the Nationals.

 

Never missed a day and didn't do any "dry firing." At our Spring Nationals, using a repro New Model 1859 Sharps Carbine in the Carbine Team Matches, I HAD THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF HITS I HAD EVER HAD. OUTSHOT EVERY OTHER MEMBER OF MY TEAM!

 

My point? In my case, even though the firearm I practiced with was entirely different from my competition arm, practice is practice, and my marksmanship improved dramatically.

[gabby the frog 21716]

what is pratice

 

gabby

[Ken K]

Don't know if this helps or not, but I just picked up a Henry H001L large loop 16" barrel .22LR today for just that very thing!!!

There are also a lot of them on Gunbroker too. under $300 too.

Now around these parts:

$40 gets you 500 rounds CCI standard velocity .22LR

$28 gets you 50 rounds Cowboy .38 Special

$280 gets you 500 CB .38 Sp

so $280

-$ 40

= $240 for your match ammo if you shoot .38 special.

Practice is practice..less cost = more practice!!!

Just my 2 bits!!

KK

[Cpt Dan Blodgett, SASS #75655]

The absolute best practice is with the real deal, but cost must be considered.

 

Nothing like shooting real bullets to see if your fundamentals are good.

 

22s for the most part do not recoil, so if the gun moves it was your fault, either jerking trigger, failing to follow thru or some other capital offense

 

It is true we are not trying to put all our rounds in one raggedy hole or 20 in the x ring at 1000 yards, but good fundamentals, sight alignment, sight picture, trigger control, and follow through are still critical. God invented sights for a reason, we really shoot use them and not squeeze the trigger when they are not where they should be.

 

I know easy to say and hard to remember under the clock.

[Poppy]

More good thoughts and advice... Hey Pancho, hope to see ya soon bud

[Anvil Al #59168]

I don't think anything is as good as practicing with you main match gun.

But if you are looking at saving ammo. The .22 may help there.

And for me. The Henry Golden Boy .22 is as close to my main match gun as I have found for me.

Slick out of the box. No action work needed. Everyone I have had has been a tack driver.

But if you want to practice using your main match gun. Don't forget one and two shot drills.

That helps you from burning up so much ammo. And you get to practice transitions in and out of the

gun which will save you more time anyway.

One and two shot drills from cowboy port arms. Same from off a table. Learn how to pick it up and

put it down correctly to save you time. You will shave more time off learning that, than just levering and

burning ammo.

Just a thougth.

[Snakebite]

Shooting a Henry 22 lever gun is NOTHING like shooting a 73. I have both and certainly would not waste my time on practicing with the 22. JMO.... As for the money.... if you are saving up for a 73..... the money spent on a 22 lever gun would certainly go a long way toward getting you what you REALLY want. So........... my advice is to keep building the pot up for the 73 and get it.

 

Snakebite

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

+1 on Snakebite's advice. Buy what you really are going to shoot, get set up to be able to afford the ammo you need to shoot in practice, then go do it. Until then, dry fire. It's almost as good as live fire (in many ways) and certainly helps transitions and gun handling. Even after you are set up, dry fire about as much or more than you live fire. Most folks can't get to the range often enough to live fire their way to the top.

 

Good luck, GJ