Thinking of picking up one of these but leaning towards the Sport first and circling back and getting the 10/22 at a later date. Already own the Mark III Hunter...

Thoughts?
Thanks!

It all depends on your needs and wants. It is probably easier to find ammo for the Sport than it is for the 10/22 right now, lol. The simple answerwould be to get both!

Just get yourself an AR chambered in .22lr... best of both worlds.

Like previously said, depends on your use and what you want to do with a rifle.

I have a sport with a CMMG .22 conversion. Best of both worlds in one package.

.22 LR is coming back. Buy what you currently need. Just remember that you can buy two 10-22's for the price of one Sport and have enough left over for ammo and a good scope.

I think you are confused in what you really want and/or need. You're question is similar to "should I buy a truck or tractor?" What was your thought process and or purpose with each firearm? Are these just pure range and target guns? I've had friends jump into an AR and they only end up shooting >800 rounds a year due to ammo costs. You could meet half way for both and get the m&p 15-22.

There are a few guns that every gun owner should have. They are:

• Remington 870 12ga
• Smith & Wesson Revolver (you pick the model)
• 1911
• Either a Remington 700 or Savage 11 center-fire rifle
• Ruger 10/22 rifle

These are classics. They are all reliable and have been around since Sequoias were seedlings. Thus, I vote for the 10/22. AR prices have come down considerably this year, but everyone needs a 10/22.

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Freedom isn't free.

Make it a Savage Model 10 HB and we are good to go. Be Safe

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I BACK OUR BLUE

10/22 are good firearms, but so is a sport. What do you want to do with either one. One is a .22 the other a centerfire .223/5.56. You could get a sport then a dedicated .22 upper and have two rifles in one. As I already have AR's I would get a 10/22 TD. Like others said if you got the money get both you can never have too many firearms.

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Psalm 23:4

Lets see how I stack up to the list...

Don't got one of those. I do have a Benelli Supernova Tactical.

Don't got one of those. I do have a Taurus M66B6. The design comes from the time when S&W and Taurus were corporate 3rd cousins.

Had one. Never liked shooting it. Replaced it with a Sig P220.

Don't have one of those. I do have a Ruger American .308 compact for the rare occasions I get to shoot past 100 yards.

I got one of those!

I agree that everyone needs a 10/22. I'll add that if you don't want to get sucked into another modification black hole, consider the Marlin 795. The 795's micro-groove barrel is tops. I'd have to swap out my 10/22 barrel to get the accuracy & precision potential that the 795's barrel has out of the box.

But during this seriously odd long lasting .22lr shortage, buying a .22lr wouldn't be high on my list. Where's the fun in shooting a .22lr that is supposed to be affordable to shoot when the ammo costs more than 9mm? A firearm chambered for .22lr was a no-brainer when you could shoot all day on a 550 rd brick that cost $17.

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-John

You really need to decide what you are going to use the rifle for. The 10/22 is a great rifle for target shooting, plinking, and small game. The .223/5.56 is good for all of the above as well as larger game, and of course, home defense. Both are a hoot to shoot. it just kind of depends on what you are going to use it for.

And, as a side note, You can invest in just about as many accessories in a 10/22 as you can in an AR. Don't ask how I know these things.

This is a little over the top don't you think? Around here an expensive box of .22LR is $10/box of 50. On my best find 9mm are $13/box of 50.

Yes, the gap has closed a little, but not that much. A normal box of .22s is still around $4/50.

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Freedom isn't free.

Nope. Not over the top at all. In my neck of the woods, .22lr is scarce. When the gun shop has it, they only sell it to people shooting on the range. One box only. $15/50. That's not even counting the guys selling bricks from their stash. 550rd bricks are going for $120 face to face.

22¢ to 30¢ per round just for plain old 36gr., HP, copper plated plinking ammo. I haven't seen any of the premium match .22lr in a year and a half. I don't even want to know what that goes for.

I can buy 1000 rounds of Freedom Munitions 115gr remanufactured during free shipping promotions for 19.5¢ per round. I use that for plinking and practice.

For me, the fun of shooting .22lr was being able to spend $18 for a Wally World brick of 550 (3.3¢) per round. It wasn't that long ago, maybe a year and a half to two years ago. I could shoot about 6 rounds of .22lr for the cost of 1 round of 9mm. I could shoot 12 rounds of .22lr for the cost of 1 round of .45 ACP.

If the cost of .22lr starts to match and/or eclipse the price of center-fire, then .22lr isn't as fun anymore. Why buy a 10/22, Marlin 795, S&W M&P15-22 when I could build an AR-15 9mm carbine? If .22lr remains scarce, then 9mm makes more sense. No point in buying a firearm you can't shoot because you can't find ammo.

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-John

JaPes, I am still getting .22lr for $.04 - $.06 per round. Granted, I can't just stop in and buy it on a whim, but with a little searching, both internet and brick and mortar, I am still shooting .22lr on the cheap. I get CCI Blazer for $.06 per round, Remington GB for $.04, with Federal and Winchester loads falling in between.

Wow! Things are bad there in IL.

Yes, I agree with this. When .22s are more than center-fire, they've lost their usefulness.

And, yes, .22s are scarce. Not long ago, I couldn't find any at any price. Now, they've started to come back a little. The highest I've paid was $40/500. That's mostly because I'm cheap. I could have bought some for more, but just couldn't bring myself to pay those exorbitant prices.

In that situation, yes, I might not recommend a 10/22 either.

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Freedom isn't free.

You're lucky. You probably also have more gun stores and places that stock ammo than in my area. It's a side effect of living in a Chicago "collar" county.

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-John

I'm not hurting for .22lr ammo. I've had no issues satisfying my .22lr jollies over the past two years. Back when .22lr was $17.97 per brick of 550, I'd by two boxes. One to shoot, one to set aside. I did this almost every two weeks. Because I can't readily replace what I shoot, I shoot at a slower rate.

The .22lr shortage had the side effect of decreasing the attachment I had for .22lr firearms. I sold off a M&P 15-22, M&P 22, Ruger 22/45RP, Sig 1911-22. All I have is my MKIII standard and a 10/22.

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-John

Come to Idaho! I've had folks from Washington, Oregon, Montana, Colorado, and from just about every county in Idaho come into the shops here. Standard question, do you guys have any 22 ammo? Standard response is, we had some last week, was gone in a day and we're not sure when we'll get more.

As to the OPs question, get the Sport. You'll get more use out if it right now. Get the 10/22 once the ammo situation is back to normal.

Good Luck and good shooting.

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SFC, US Army, Retired

Believe it or not, the bulk of my .22lr has come from Cabelas online, or Walmart. Local gun stores charge high prices, if they have it.

Yes Rastoff, things are still bad in northern Illinois as far as .22lr. I'm a little west of JaPes in the Rockford area, which is much more rural, and .22lr is still hard to find. People still line up at Walmart and buy out the shipment every Tuesday morning. I haven't seen Mini-Mags on a shelf in 18 months. But, I can get all of the .223 I want.

As to the OP's question, in their original forms the Sport and the 10/22 are very different configurations. If you intend to tacticool a 10/22, i suggest buying the Sport and either a dedicated .22lr upper or a CMMG conversion. I had a conversion in a different AR I had and if kept wet it worked great. POI is different due to velocity but you'll figure that out.

If you want a .22lr semi in traditional carbine form, I'd suggest an older Marlin 995. It predates the current 795 and comes with a walnut stock. The 995 is more accurate than stock 10/22 and at $150+/- it is a better deal.

As far as Rastoff's must have list, I have most of them, I did go overboard on acquiring four 870s, so far- and looking at another now. I agree on the S&W revolvers and a 1911. I'd change the 10/22 out for a pre-Remington Marlin .2lr. A 995 or 60. Also, I'm short the Remington 700 or a Savage because hunting around here is pretty much limited to shotguns, except we are able to use centerfire rifles for coyote. My father in law has a Ruger 77 that has taken its share of the critters

I think the point of the above posts is this:

Research how easy it is to get 22lr ammo from where you're at. If you can get it cheap, then a 10/22 is worth it. If ammo is hard to get, then a 10/22 won't be worth it, cuz you won't be able to shoot it!

The fun of shooting a .22 is that you can blast away at targets and not blast away at your wallet. However, if 5.56/.223 and .22lr cost the same, I would be shooting my AR a lot more.

"Once the ammo situation is back to normal"... I hear this all time. But what is normal? I don't think we are going to see bricks at less than $20 ever again. And how long does this shortage on .22lr have to go on before it *is* the normal? Why haven't manufacturers done anything to increase their output to meet the demand? Why no new comers to the game making ammo since established manufacturers aren't keeping up?

Can you imagine if S&W started making ammo, particularly .22lr with all their 15-22 customers in mind? It's kind of silly they haven't done it... instant revenue stream.

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686/M&P9 Pro/M&P15X/M&P15-22

I believe it's down to ~$20 a brick locally, from what I hear. I haven't actually seen a brick since before Newtown. The goofy hoarders and resellers line up every day and buy it all.

I've said this before, but I hope the panic keeps up. I only use my .22's for squirrel hunting. I have about 700 rounds. Way more than enough to last the rest of my life.

The more people obsess and pay 2-3 times retail price on .22, the less they'll have to spend on the calibers I like to shoot.

Just my twisted "logic".


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How much capital would be required to start up this instant revenue stream? And at a retail price of $.05 per round, how long would it take to become a profitable revenue stream?

Not only that, but that exact problem is hoarders. Sure demand might skyrocket initially but once the hoarders get their fill they'll just not buy anymore. Producers need continuous demand to justify their investment in the capital needed for ammo production.The only reason hoarders are buying now is because of scarcity. It's a circular phenomenon.

Honestly, I respect views such as prepare for the worst, shtf, but really man, shoot your damn ammo. That way there will be no shortage and you can have fun AND prepare.

Curious as to how this mass shortage started. Was it because of the Newton shootings?

Yeah, started with the shootings.
But I think demand has gone permanently up. There are a lot of new shooters, new .22 shooters. I believe the demand is there for permanent increased production. Yes, the demand for AR15's subsided and there is excess because production increased during the panic. But ammo is different: you buy a gun once, but need ammo for it indefinitely. Again, lots of new shooters and increased interest to shoot particularly .22, that demand isn't going to subside. Unless production doesn't increase, in which case people will stop buying .22 firearms and/or sell the ones they have (such as one poster above). Why buy them if you can't get cheap ammo? Why shoot them if you can shoot 9mm or .223 for basically the same price. Yes, some people are doing alright finding .22 ammo at reasonable prices consistently. But that is NOT the norm, and takes much more effort than it should. It wasn't that long ago that finding .22 ammo didn't involve advanced planning, dedication and diligence. It's really absurd that that's what it takes now.

There may be some lingering artificially high demand from horders and/or resellers, but it's not just that as their ability to dive market price is limited in both scope and length. Overall demand has gone up and will never return to pre panic levels. Production needs to increase, permanently.

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686/M&P9 Pro/M&P15X/M&P15-22

Ruger 10-22. No contest.