Anybody have an Anschutz .22?

Anybody have an Anschutz .22? I know that they are crazy expensive, but they have always kind interested me. I don't think that it's the kind of thing that I would purchase outright, but I do have some redundancies that I've been thinking about trading in, so maybe that would be a painless way to get there. I imagine that they hold their value pretty well. I've always enjoyed rim fire target shooting but I've never even fired one of these. I'd like to hear from someone with some first hand experience.

I learned to shoot on one. It was an older model with wood stock and open sights that had been used in some sort of competitive shooting. It was a bolt action gun. I was new enough that I didn't ever use the magazine. I can't even estimate the number of groundhogs that gun knocked down.

It was a great gun. Small patterns all day long!

I know they are big bucks for a 22, and at least around here 22 isn't cheap or easy to come by (thanks Appleseed). You might also want to look at some of the .177 rimfires.

If you are looking for a very accurate .22 target rifle you will find it hard to beat Anschutz. I did .22 target shooting of all types for ~50 years and had several Anschutz rifles. The only gun I found that was better was a Remington 40X that I had put a Shilen barrel on and had done some stock work to.

I also grew up shooting one. It was a used gun 30 years ago when my dad got it. Fantastic gun. We used to set up clay pigeons at 100 yards and knock them down consistently. Shot a lot of squirrels. Yes, we used to carry a target gun in the woods for fun.
My brother and I will fight over that gun someday.

A friend in high school had one. It was a beautiful gun that was far better than the school's .22s that I used.

I have two, for metallic silhouette competition, I have used for many years. The 54 action is the top of the line, very heavy for .22 rimfire. Not heavy to handle, just "ovebuilt." A 54 just cannot be worn out. The 64 is a much lighter and less expensive action, but still the basis for several very good rifles. There are lighter and cheaper Anschutz actions than the 64 so you want to understand the various differences before you think you're getting a fantastic deal. Anschutz two-stage target triggers are among the very best, but expensive. Lots of people, including me, adapt them to highpower rifles. Anschutz target-grade barrels are excellent.

I once heard a guy tell a match director: "You're pronouncing it wrong. It's AHN shutz, not ANN schutz." The response was: "Well, when I met Dieter at the factory, he introduced himself as ANN schutz."

In the 70s, a fellow grad student friend of mine had one that he bought in Germany while he was in the army. It was a nice shooting rifle.

Wally wrote: A friend in high school had one. It was a beautiful gun that was far better than the school's .22s that I used.

I'd like everyone to take a moment and think about this statement.

KyAllroad wrote:

Wally wrote: A friend in high school had one. It was a beautiful gun that was far better than the school's .22s that I used.

I'd like everyone to take a moment and think about this statement.

Hell in college we had an indoor shooting range and competitive team. You would see students walking across campus with their rifle. Of course school was once a military school (we had an armory) and had built in gun racks in the wardrobes.

I have cousins from New Hampshire who would hunt before school in the morning. At 7 am, they would walk out of the woods, leave their rifles in the principal's office and pick them up at the end of the day.

I shot 3 and 4 position NRA small bore at a local high school range around '77 to '80 or so with an Anschutz 64. I'd gotten to the point where I'd shot most of the targets for my Distunguised Expert and ran out of steam/discovered girls and beer. For the life of me I can't recall who I sold it to. Really nice basic (non-adjustable stock) rifle.

My basement is over 10 meters long so I've considered some sort of match-grade air rifle to see if I can still do it.

In reply to motomoron:

I had set up a 35 foot rimfire range in my basement for a while. I tried all kinds of .22 but once I discovered Aguila Super Colibris, I stuck with that. No smoke, not enough energy to knock the shrapnel out of the bullet trap and quiet enough to shoot in the basement without ear protection. Of course, with just about anything other than .22LR, you're pretty much limited to revolvers and single shot rifles as the rounds don't have enough energy to cycle semiautomatic actions.

In reply to KyAllroad:

I started shooting with the PAL in 7th grade. We shot 22s competitively at a range in the basement of the elementary school. In high school we had a rifle team until around 2000 or so when the teacher that ran it retired and there was no one to take over. When I was in high school in the early 90s bring the guns to school and to other schools for competitions was not an issue.

Woody wrote: In reply to motomoron: I had set up a 35 foot rimfire range in my basement for a while. I tried all kinds of .22 but once I discovered Aguila Super Colibris, I stuck with that. No smoke, not enough energy to knock the shrapnel out of the bullet trap and quiet enough to shoot in the basement without ear protection. Of course, with just about anything other than .22LR, you're pretty much limited to revolvers and single shot rifles as the rounds don't have enough energy to cycle semiautomatic actions.

My garage is long enough for this. I won't lie, the thought has crossed my mind.

Woody wrote: I have cousins from New Hampshire who would hunt before school in the morning. At 7 am, they would walk out of the woods, leave their rifles in the principal's office and pick them up at the end of the day.

Hell at my old high school they just left them in the rack in their truck. Same with my college.

In reply to mazdeuce:

They can barely break paper at 75 feet. They're almost like a BB gun.