Browning T2 (.22 LR)
Kim du Toit
September 20, 2007
8:41 AM CDT
There comes a time in one’s shooting life when shooting your .22 rifle has become, dare I say, a little ho-hum. I mean, you’ve blown away countless bricks of the lovely stuff in your 10/22 or whatever, and you’re looking for a gun which is, I don’t know, a little more than just a bullet-delivery vehicle.
I’m talking about something a little more sedate; something which forces you to make each shot count. A bolt-action .22 rifle.
Well, there are lots of them to be had, of course—and for those with a penchant for extreme plinking accuracy, there’s always the venerable Remington Mod 513T. But most “target” rimfire rifles are hellishly heavy, which is fine for a bench rifle, but not so fine if you prefer your plinking to involve a little walking in the woods and fields.
Enter the equally-venerable Browning T2 (also called the “T-bolt"), with a straight-pull bolt action, five-round magazine and wonderful accuracy (at least, in every T2 I’ve ever fired).
There’s nothing fancy about this little rifle. It’s a simple-to-operate piece with a plain stock, and a regular “ramp” back sight. Nothing to write home about in the looks department.
It’s also very spendy, at around $700-$800 for one in excellent shape like this one. (Beware T2s which are a great deal cheaper than this—they’re probably in lousy shape, or missing parts.)
Browning doesn’t make them anymore*—they only made them for a 10-year period until the mid 1970s, from memory—and they never sold many of them in the first place, so the older T2s are quite rare (hence the price). It’s a niche rifle—competition-quality accuracy in a plinker style—and the bolt-action is like, so old-fashioned compared to semi-auto.
But that straight-pull bolt makes for a lightning-quick second shot, and the feeding mechanism is flawless.
Like I said: this is not a “first” rifle or a “kid’s” rifle; the price militates against that. But if you want something a little different, something which will hold its value and appeal, while you shoot up brick after brick for the rest of your life, then this would be an outstanding choice. (If you want something which looks a little more fancy, you could hunt around for the really scarce Grade I or Grade II upgrades. They can be identified by the serial-number prefixes “116xxxx” for Grade I and “216xxxx” for Grade II.)
I have to tell you all: if I was only able to own one .22 rifle, this one would be on the shortlist.
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*Browning has reintroduced the T2 in a specialist “varmint" package (no iron sights, heavy barrel), but it’s definitely not the same rifle as the old plinker.
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