.22 rifle recommendations

I have two .22LR rifles - a Ruger 10/22 50th Anniversary model and a simple old Remington bolt-action (I don't even know what model) from the late-50's or early 60's. I use them each differently.

The Remington is what I take to the range to introduce first-timers to shooting and when I am honing my accuracy skills.

The Ruger is for plinking and pure fun.
 
For a .22 bolt gun I would look for a 50 year old single shot Remington, Mossberg, or even a JC Higgins (Sears Brand). Most of them are extremely accurate and have classic walnut and blued steel. You can find them for $100 - $150 and there's no reason they won't last another 50 years.
 
I have a Marlin 981T. It is extremely accurate, was inexpensive and I never worry about losing the magazine. Many of the rimfire magazines are ridiculously expensive, especially out of production guns. My one complaint is the steel of the receiver on my gun has started to wear where the bolt rides. I have thousands of rounds down range with the rifle, so it may just be it isn't designed for that much use. I will likely replace it with a CZ FS in the future.

It is hard to say any of the mentioned rifles aren't a good choice.

My biggest complaint about the rimfire guns in general? The sights are trash. Include decent peep sights in your budget and buy a rifle with better sights readily available. Tech Sights are pretty good and available for a few of the mentioned rifles.
If you want quality and don't go CZ or Anschutz, you're generally better off going with an OLD .22 - 70s and prior they were all steel and wood. Now aluminum and plastic.
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Production barrel manufacturing has progressed significantly in the last few decades. The cheap aluminum and plastic guns sold today can often do circles around the old ones.

I wouldn't worry all that much about fit. If you don't own any rifles you probably can't tell the difference anyways and most of these rifles have aftermarket stocks and there are easy ways to adjust their fit if you get serious.
 
The 10/22 is a great rifle, not good but great. It is inexpensive, it works, plenty of accessories available for it. I have one with a heavy bbl. very accurate. I have 2 carbines that are amazingly accurate for stock rifles. I did a DIY trigger job to get the trigger down to 3-1/2 to 4 lbs so I could shoot in the CMP .22 sporter matches, both are capable of shooting all 10s. One has a red dot, the other a Williams peep. The heavy bbl has a 99.00 Simmons 4to12 on it. I also have a 52C, a Mossberg carbine, a Henry Frontier, a Crackshot. The Ruger carbines and the Henry are what usually go to the range for fun shooting.
 
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