Marlin Model 60

The Marlin Model 60 is the value benchmark every other .22 LR semi-auto gets priced against. Marlin has built roughly eleven million of them since 1960, making it one of the best-selling rifles in American history. The current gun runs a 19-inch Micro-Groove barrel, a 14-round tubular magazine under the barrel, and a last-shot bolt hold-open that locks the action open on an empty tube.

Where the Ruger 10/22 wins on aftermarket depth, the Model 60 wins on simplicity and price. There are no magazines to buy: you load rounds through a tube and never think about it again. Marlin's Micro-Groove rifling uses 16 shallow lands and grooves instead of the conventional four to eight, and the platform has a long-standing reputation for printing tight groups with cheap bulk ammunition. At a street price near $250, it undercuts a baseline 10/22 while delivering more on-board capacity.

The tradeoff is modularity. The tube magazine is slower to top off than a detachable box or rotary mag, the barrel is not threaded for a suppressor, and the aftermarket is a fraction of the 10/22's. For a first squirrel rifle, a back-porch plinker, or a cheap way to teach a new shooter, none of that matters. The Model 60 just works.