Well I happen to own 2 pretty spendy Rimfires, both 10/22 based
The 22LR is a stainless Ruger action with a Volquartsen SS fluted/comped barrel, all Power Custom titanium action parts, Volquartsen thumbhole stock (made by McMilan)
I had a 6.5-20 VX3 Target scope on it for awhile, 50 yards its shoots one “RAGGED” hole with ok ammo like Wolf match grade, when it gets really freaky is when you put some high end Eley in it, simply insane. Just blasting with cheap Remington golden bullet bulk stuff it will still shoot very well.
My other toy is a Ruger action with a Volquartsen Carbon THM barrel on it, this one is chambered in 17 mach 2. This is one of my favorite firearms, the M2 is a blast, packs tons of punch and is deadly accurate, in a semi auto its just too much fun for words. I slapped this rig in a Predator Raptor stock, I take it out EVERY TIME I go shooting. I buy the Remington (made by Eley) ammo of the net and can almost always find it for $3.60 or so per 50, making it a heck of allot cheaper than my HMR’s..
In the end I vote 17 M2 it will shoot almost if not as accurate as match grade 22lr, packs much better ballistics and is 1/3 the cost of HMR and about the 1/3 of the cost of match grade 22lr, it’s a real bang for the buck. I’ve dispatched countless rabbits, crows, ground hogs, squirrels coons…. It’s a super flat shooting round, an inch high at 25 and just about dead on till 120 or so.

What a $2000 10/22 looks like



The Volquartsen Mach2, it now wears much nicer Weaver Classic Extreme 2.5-10X –50mm IR sidefocus glass

for budjet gun I vote Marlin HMR or HM2

$190 rifle marlin 917VR HMR, $90 Barska 8-32X –50mm scope

100 yard group (pretty typical) and yes that’s a 1” center dot, not bad for a sub $300 rig