quote:

Originally posted by Vaftocr:
Looooong time pistol owner. I have owned an AR15 and a Mini 14 in the past. I have shotguns and a .22. I don’t hunt.
I love shooting pistols but never got into rifles. With that background I’m thinking about buying a rifle just to plink with at the range. Recommendations?

You have a .22 pistol and shotguns, you are interested in buying a rifle to plink and target shoot with. My suggestion for that would be a bolt action rimfire rifle, scoped for greater accuracy (but really I enjoy open sights again now that my cataracts have been removed). Savage, Bergara, CZ, Anshutz, Browning, Tikka, and others offer nice rimfire bolt rifles.

The type of shooting you describe is what I mostly do and while I have a number of .22 rifles and a couple AR's, the 3 I use most are:
1) CZ 457 American with a Leupold 3-9 scope.
2) CZ 452 Ultra Lux, open sights. (The current version is the 457 Jaguar)
3) CZ 452 Full Stock, open sight. This is my go to if I'll be carrying it much.

As you see I happen to be partial to CZ but I also have older Remington, Weatherby, Anschutz, as well as other CZ's. CZ's better target .22 is the 457 Varmint MTR which I don't have.

Good luck with your decision!

When I think of plinking, I think fun, informal and cheap. That and .22LR are made for each other. What kind of .22 do you have now? (You could just use that, but that's no fun; we would be poor "enablers" if we didn't tell you to go buy a new gun.) What is your budget?

I have personal experience with CZ (452 "Training Rifle," a bolt-action); M&P15-22 (AR-style semi-auto); Browning Auto-22 for its unusual design and appearance; and the Ruger 10-22, all great rifles. The Browning BL-22 lever action was mentioned. I have always fancied one but never got - and will likely not get - around to it. Unlike other lever actions (but like its centerfire counterpart), the trigger group moves with the lever, no chance of pinching your fingers. I have no idea of the quality, but there is a .22 lookalike of the HK 416 (labeled as HK but made by Umarex). One that would really turn heads at the range is the .22 lookalike of the Sturmgewehr 44, but I haven't seen one for years.