Somewhere I had noticed you had one so I was hoping and I was waiting for your reply. Thanks for replying in such great detail I really appreciate it. Oh, and I have given some thought to one of those Grade VI's but with my New Original Henry still in the works not sure I'm going to go there for this one. Always a sucker for that better looking wood though.North Country Gal wrote:Actually, we have four Browning SA 22 rifles. Yes, they are that good, as far as I'm concerned. Three are more current Miroku made SA 22s, but one is a Belgium made gun, made in 1962.
The general consensus among SA 22 fans like me, is that the Belgium guns are to collect, but the Japanese guns are made to shoot. In other words, no difference in accuracy and really no difference in fit and finish, either, between the Miroku or Belgium made guns. The only difference in the Belgium made guns is that the engraving on the receivers was done by hand on the Belgium guns, machine on the Miroku guns. That, and there were also a few variations in the sights on the Belgium guns, over the years. Really, though, have shot them side by side and no difference. Could even interchange parts if I wanted to.
Triggers on individual guns can vary just a bit as far as pull weight, but it's a rare SA 22 that doesn't have a nice crisp trigger. About as good as it gets in an out of the box trigger on a semi auto 22 rifle. My latest, a new SA 22 I bought last fall, had a fairly heavy trigger, out of the box, but has smoothed up and lightened, nicely, now that I've been shooting it. Scope is a Nikon 3-9x EFR that I used for accuracy testing. The gun wears a smaller scope, now.
Accuracy with the SA 22 will compete with a typical bolt gun, too, certainly as good as the best 22 lever guns. This is not that well known or advertised outside of SA 22 circles, probably because the little SA 22 doesn't look like or handle like a typical gun you would shoot off a rest. It's there, though, if you take the effort to treat the little gun like it's accurate and not just a plinker. Here's the first outing with my 2018 gun I mentioned, above. Not a fluke, by any means. Shot similar groups, afterwards and also similar groups with all of our other SA 22s.
This really is more of a fun gun and I love it for offhand shooting, especially. This is the way I use the SA 22 the most. Bottom three were before adjusting elevation.
For me, the big attraction of the SA 22 is its traditional all steel and wood construction quality and, believe me, it is all wood and steel. No cheap anything, anywhere on an SA 22. Also a delightfully easy gun to takedown for cleaning, as shown here.
Last, but not least, given that this gun dates back to 1914 (first imported to this country by Browning in 1957), it is now the 22 rifle in longest regular production, now that the Marlin 39 is now a custom shop, only gun, with Marlin. It was also John Browning's last gun design.
Expensive, yes, but given the superb construction quality and performance, it's worth it to me. I understand that not everyone will want to spend this much on a little 22 autoloader, though. Each to their own.
And just because I had to have it, got this new Grade VI at a great price. Doubt I'll shoot this one, much, but it sure is pretty. Pics just don't do it justice.
Wow, four of them. That's quite a testament to how you feel about this gun. Nice to know you've at least confirmed that I have a good eye for a good gun. I'm just kicking myself for being such a newby that I hadn't been aware it until just a few days ago.
Real glad to know the quality on the new rifles has pretty much been retained.
The last one is a real beauty, Congrats!!
Thanks again.
Dan
PS: Historically are the Grade VI versions something they always offer or are they more limited in nature and something you need to pickup up before they disappear and they don't come along very often?