Indeed good to train with IMO...and, I have taken my 13-year-old son out three times the past month alone just to sight in and plink...
That alone is reason enough to own .22's - Good Times.

Ruger 10/22 with a 4x fixed
Ruger SR22 with a Primary Arms Red Dot

How far does a 10.22 shoot flat with regular ammo? Can you shoot pretty flat to 50 or 75 yards?

Not very far.
If zeroed at 50 yards, mine is 5.5" (5.5 moa) low at 100 yards, and another 34" low at 200 yards.(17moa, plus the original 5.5moa = 22.5 moa).
But for 25 yard & 50 yard shooting, it's hard to beat.

You read up on the stuff on the Appleseed site, practice, and you can get your patch in one try. I did it, you can too. Takes a bit of time and work, but it's worth it.

I put together a dedicaded .22 from parts i had and used a cmmg .22 convertion kit . It was an old A1 upper and a 1/9 twist but it shoots pretty good , i just shoot drills and practice double taps on steel targets and spinners . At first i had reliablity problems with it till i flipped the gas tube upside down , did it to keep crap out of the action but now it runs 100% .

I'd have to agree with MikeSSS.

I've had a walmart special 10/22 for years. It's inaccurate, not quite 100% reliable, and the Butler Creek mags can get pretty 'finicky' and start malfunctioning after only one year of moderate usage. And DEFINITELY do not leave your Butler Creek mags loaded - the rolling coil springs will fail if you leave one mag loaded for quite a while... One of my mags is absolute crap after leaving it loaded just 6 months.

That said - I did recently pick up a CMMG 22 EVOLUTION Conversion unit for my AR-15. The mags on that are great, they work with your AR-15's bolt hold-open, and even the forward assist.

When shooting it from my 1:7 twist Sabre Defense upper the accuracy is poor - about on par with the 10/22 box stock wally-world special. About 3" at 25 yards!

When shooting it from my 1:12 twist Colt A1 Government upper with triangle handguards - the accuracy is surprising! About 1.25" standing, offhand shooting, no support, at 25 yards! I'm loving it in my A1!!!

I've been using .22's for practice and warm ups for years. I've also been reloading as a cost saver for centerfire ammunition. I prefer to use .22 versions of my centerfires. They replicate their big brothers in all but recoil. For home use, there is a third option for practice and that's using air guns and wax bullets. I have many air guns that are replicas of my main guns that fire pellets and or bb's. They are not what you'd call inexpensive, on average about $250.00, but they are well made and are accurate. I use them at about 10 meters. The wax bullets I use in revolvers. They use a brass shell that I've enlarged the primer pocket hole slightly to prevent primer set back, 2.2 grains (weight, 3 grains volume) of triple 7 black powder and a wax bullet. Those are spot on at 25 meters but you'll want a good backstop. They are still good out to 10 without the black powder.

i just ordered a citadel m1-22 carbine.

for those not familiar with it, it is an m1 carbine replica with a wood stock that shoots .22lr out of a 10 round magazine.

anybody who owns a USGI carbine knows how expensive they are to shoot.

it has the same dimensions and heft of the real thing. only negative thing i can see about it is there are several polymer parts.
namely the trigger housing, rear and front sights and bayonet lug. but hey, it's under $370 or less if you look hard enough and polymer technology has come a long way.

early production models had a few glitches. you can read about this at length on rimfirecentral.com.

hopefully mine will be a shooter.

range report to follow.

Ruger 10/22's are probably one of the most versatile 22's on the market. The options for stocks, mags, and other accessories are endless. Like you said, it gives you an opportunity to practice and not break the bank. Personally, I'm looking for a 10/22 that I can pull out of the stock and drop into a Red Jacket ZK-22 conversion kit. One of my good buddies is doing the same. Has the stock on order from RJF, and even has 4 BX25 mags, and is just waiting for his shipping confirmation before he buys the 10/22. Hoping to get some range time with it when he gets it done.