I had one in Apache Black with chrome barrel and receiver cover. It was the handiest rifle I have ever owned and required very little maintenance.
It had one oddity. It was more accurate with open sights than with a scope. I decided that the receiver cover must have been shifting a tiny amount.
If I had one of those tiny but excellent Redfield .22 scopes it might have done better.
Anyway it was as accurate with the good iron sights as one could want and it was far handier without the scope.
My experience with open sights vs. scope mirrors yours.
Agreed. With the engagement ranges that a .22 is used at iron vs scope is really just a matter of personal preference. Simo Hayaa used iron sights and raised hell with the Russians.
One drawback of learning to use a scope on a .22 is developing the bad habit of being too close to the eyepiece then shifting up to something like a scoped 30-06. At least the error is self correcting. Ouch.