ORIGINAL: cumquat
the steel i shoot at is 16G, .22l goes through it or at least gets stuck in it. i will probably be using it at the range more than my back yard for obvious reasons but i will squeeze a few round off every now and then out back.
i have a small issue with the round though, its hard to find in bolts. i found one but its up there
http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/34009-55.html . a bit pricey for me right now.
Savage Arms makes a nice bolt action .223. Its called the 10FP I think. My friend bought one a few years back, he paid like $450. We went out camping with it and brought like 1000 rounds of surplus Russian ammo. We shot at just about everything there is to shoot at in a forest, and still had about 500 rounds to spare.