There is no better feeling than holding an old .22 rifle. The glazed wood and years of oil residue will transport any shooter back in time. There is something familiar and nostalgic about a .22 that is unrivaled.
Most people learned to shoot with that caliber and that hasn’t changed for years. The .22 round is one of, if not the most popular and practical rounds available. Everyone from beginning to advanced shooters should have a .22 in their arsenal for lots of different reasons.
Easiest To Learn On
If you’re just picking up a gun for the first time, it will probably be a .22. This is because any .22, rifle or pistol, will have very little recoil. This makes learning the basics of shooting much easier for someone who is untrained. Anyone from a small child to an elderly person can pick up a .22 and shoot it.
If you have never shot a gun before you will find the kick on a bigger caliber to be intimidating and hard to control. It may even discourage you from continuing on with firearms, which is just unfair! Learn to shoot on a .22 and work your way up to a bigger caliber when you are ready.
Price
Probably the best part of shooting a .22 is the price. The cost of shooting is dirt cheap with these rounds and you can get hours of practice for the same price as one box of the bigger stuff. The price of .22 ammunition makes practice much more financially possible because you can fine tune your skills at a much cheaper price. If you’re just trying to work on your basics, why spend 5x the money on a bigger caliber to get the same results?
Rounds aren’t the only cheap part about a .22. The actual guns themselves are dirt cheap as well. There is an endless variety that you can choose from; anything from the iconic 1911 to an AR15 will have some kind of .22 variations. Most popular firearms manufacturers make their guns in both bigger calibers and the 22.
Hunting Small Game
The .22 round has been optimized for hunting small mammals. Most rifles of this caliber are pin point accurate and extremely effective against smaller animals at medium ranges. They are also very quiet compared to their counterparts. So whether you’re hunting small game or eradicating varmints, you have a much better chance at not scaring them off if you happen to miss.
Size
The size of the .22 round is minuscule. This makes it easier to carry lots with you if you are hunting, plinking, or surviving an apocalypse. You also can pack way more rounds into a magazine than with bigger calibers which increases your effectiveness because you won’t have to reload as often.
Will Always Be Used
The .22 has been used for decades and nothing has ever replaced it in terms of practicality, price, or effectiveness. You won’t find anything else as well-rounded. Firearms are a controversial subject and you never know what the future holds. If somehow the government finds a way to ban guns, at least the .22 will be left alone, or has the best chance to be. People aren’t worried or focused on small calibers, so if the worst happens, at least you’ll have your trusty ol’ 22.
FUN! Just Fun!
.22 is just fun. Whether you’re plinking, practicing, or reminiscing, it’ll be hard to replace the entertainment of throwing lead down range without much thought to it. There’s no stress about how much money you just burned through and you can completely refine your skills with this great, little round.
