remington 597
to me, its like how a factory 10/22 should be.
-cheap bull barrel option for like $20 more, accurate with any barrel option(1" groups at 50yds with winchester bulk, 1/4" with target ammo with either heavy or light contoured barrels.)
-5r rifling
-decent synthetic and laminated stock selections
-last round bolt hold open without the use of special finicky mags
-auto bolt release
-tool steel bolt rails
-preinstalled bolt buffer that is rubber and doesnt wear out every few thousand rounds
-magazine release takes one finger to operate and the mag can drop free, similar to ar15 platform but its a sliding switch not a push button.
-pretty good factory trigger(and instant 2.2lb trigger with light polishing, volquartzen hammer, n mcarbo spring kit $60 total,no gunsmithing needed. yes i know 10/22 have kits but the vq one i felt was mediocre for the money and the power custom adjustable was pretty good but he said its like a $100 plus needs fitting for safety, id just spend the money and get a whole drop in assembly from kidd)
not trying to start a war with the legion of 10/22 fans, i just bought a takedown myself. well actually i bought two, but after reading in depth about everything 10/22 i realized i wouldnt be happy until i spent a grand including the gun before i even get to optics.. and even then deep down inside id still wish for an aftermarket receiver with built in rail and rear lug and a bull barrel since that would just look badass and have the performance to back it up. so since i cant afford to build two to my specifications i need to sell one to fund parts to build the other!
i guess i was spoiled by my rem597 that cost $300 total, including trigger mods and shipping/ffl. i forget how much work and money some guys put into their 10/22's to make em as sweet as they are.