October 22nd, a.k.a. 10/22 in American date notation, is here. Well, if you live in a day/month/year area, it's probably already the 23rd, but I stand by the year/month/day order as the superior method despite the stupidity of month/day/year in common use, but regardless, it is still the evening of the 22nd here as I write this post. But that tangent aside, this is just an excuse to show something neat about a cool rifle. I also wrote about it last year in the context of survival rifles, but I have a new spin this year.
The Sturm, Ruger & Co. 10/22 is nearly 60 years old, and it's a fine little carbine. The original 10-round magazine fits flush with the stock, making it remarkably handy. Simple blowback operation is about as reliable as you could ask for a semi-auto.
Customization options abound, and now there are variants designed as takedown rifles or target pistols as well. I have a 2006 book from Brownells (pictured here) listing all kinds of options from barrels to stocks to triggers and more. The market has exploded since then. You can build an entire rifle with zero Ruger parts if you so desire. It is one of the most versatile and customizable rifles whether you want a plinker, small game rifle, survival carbine, or target gun.
The .22 Long Rifle is the oldest round still in common use today, and the only rimfire cartridge with any real market share at all. This older style of cartridge has a flared rim filled with primer compound. When any part of that rim is struck, it should crush the priming compound and spark the main powder charge. This powder burns very rapidly, and the gasses produced by combustion push the little bullet out the end very, very fast. Since every action has an equal and opposite reaction according to basic Newtonian physics, the cartridge case is pushed the other way as well. However, it meets the resistance of a much more massive bolt under spring tension, so it accelerates backward relatively slowly. Long before the bolt opens enough to vent that gas, the bullet has left the barrel and pressure has dropped to a safe level for whoever is holding the rifle.
The two downsides to the .22LR are that the primer is not always evenly distributed, or otherwise unreliable; and the bullet is not the most effective option on the market. It isn't particularly speedy, and carries low mass at those speeds. It's more than enough for small game, vermin, and basic marksmanship though. Low power means low recoil, so it is not intimidating to novice shooters. Since so much of the combustion gas is used to spit that bullet down a rifle barrel, report is also relatively low. Wear hearing protection anyway though, OK?
The really neat part of this rifle is the magazine. When it was released, most competing rifles had a tubular fixed magazine under the barrel or inside the stock, and those that did have a detachable magazine usually had a single-column box magazine. This elegant little rotary magazine has good capacity and relatively easy reloads without adding a snag point on the firearm. This end view shows how they curl around that fluted red drum.
Of course, aftermarket and factory magazines soon added capacity. There are other magazines available too, including drums if you really want a 10/22 Tommy Gun look, and don't live in a state with stupid capacity restriction laws. The "banana clip" (ugh...) is an older Butler Creek model, also made of clear polycarbonate. It has the same geometry at the top to fit the wider magazine well, and keeps the magazine spring beside the cartridge column instead of under the follower like typical magazines. Unfortunately, it cannot be disassembled for cleaning. It has metal feed lips, so it is reasonably reliable. Newer Ruger BX-25 magazines have metal feed lips and can be disassembled for maintenance.
Note that plastic feed lips on cheap mags get chewed up by the mechanisms of most semi-auto firearms, and can even flex enough to prevent reliable feeding. Don't use those if it can be avoided, unless it's something like an AR15 that plays nice with its mag system. Cheap magazines that don't work are a bad investment, not smart savings.
Have you ever fired a Ruger 10/22, or other .22LR rifles? Share a story, a target photo, or the like in a comment!
