The Essential Guns: .22 Rifle

The basic farm rifle.

A while back, I wrote, “Do You Need a Gun to Be Prepared?” and I meant to follow it up soon after with a gun recommendation post, but didn’t. But I’ve received a lot of gun questions lately, so I guess I should get around to that.

Actually, no need, this guy did it for me:

Barrett Joseph Kearns II @BarrettKearns

@BowTiedCaiman The minimalists gun collection 1. AR15 in 223 2. Glock 19 3. Rem 870 in 12Ga with a couple of barrels if feasible. 4. Stainless steel Bolt action hunting rifle in 30-06, I’d recommend Tikka T3X Superlite 5. 22LR rifle, I’d recommend a 10/22 or Tikka T1X

This is a pretty good list that covers pretty much anything you’d need a gun for, but let’s talk about why you would want each of those guns, a few different options, and what order you should consider them in.

Let’s start with the basic .22 rifle. To be more specific, the caliber is .22 Long Rifle (shortened to .22LR), not to be confused with the less-common .22 Long and .22. Short (no, really). .22LR is a very small caliber, which brings certain advantages and disadvantages, but makes it great for plinking and small game, but poor for self defense.

.22LR rounds are tiny.

Actually, first start with out gun safety basics guides if you haven’t read it already. Keep your booger hook off the boom switch.

Who Needs a .22 Rifle?