The Firearm Blog

Albert at The Rash Outdoor Chronicles has written a detailed tutorial, with lots of photos, explaining how to disassemble, clean and reassemble the Ruger 10/22 rotary magazine.

Read it here.

TALO are producing a limited edition Ruger 10/22 featuring a absolutely beautiful french walnut stock.

I have emailed my contact at TALO asking what the MSRP. I will update the page when he replies.

UPDATE: The MSRP is $419

James @ The Next Chapter bought himself a .22 / .410 M6 Scout take down rifle.

Taken down and packed for transport.

More photos and information at The Next Chapter.

American Tactical Imports will be selling the GSG-5 rifle in an SD configuration. The SD is patterned after the MP5-SD, a suppressed variant of the MP5. The main difference between the SD and the standard GSG-5 lies in the bigger stouter fore grip which is patterned after the MP5-SD integral suppressor and a fake over-barrel suppressor. It will be available in April/May as a complete rifle and later in the year as a conversion kit.

What is really cool is how the gun came into existence. Chris from ATI told me that last year after the original GSG-5 was introduced they noticed many people on the ar15.com GSG forum voiding their warranty to achieve the SD look. Late last year they flew to the GSG HQ in Germany to discuss these modifications. They worked out a plan.

This is a fantastic example of a company listening to it’s customers. I wish more gun companies would do this.

MP5SD3. Photo from Wikipedia.

The Carabinieri (Italian gendarmerie) have seized a pen gun from a mobster in Naples.

.22 Short rounds and one standard (subsonic) .22 Long Rifle

My memory is pretty bad but I think it was 6 months ago when the Italian police captured one of those cell phone guns from another mobster.

SFGate reports:

A Carabinieri paramilitary officer holds a .22-caliber pen gun that was confiscated from a man in Naples. According to reports, Carabinieri were investigating if the weapon has been used in crimes or “acts of intimidation.”

Hat Tip: Zeon @ MP.net

The latest addition to the M&P15 family of AR-15 rifles is the M&P15-22. S&W have designed what they call “the ultimate .22LR platform”. From the press release:

“In designing the new M&P15-22, our engineers pulled out all of the stops to develop the ultimate .22LR platform,” said Tom Kelly, Vice President of Marketing for Smith & Wesson. “The rifle’s operating features, functionality and durability are exactly what you would expect from any of Smith & Wesson’s tactical rifles. By remaining true to the standard AR-15 design while offering all of the preferred features found on the M&P Rifle Series, the M&P15-22 is well suited for a variety of recreational shooting applications while also being an extremely viable training firearm for law enforcement and military personnel. Shooters will find the M&P15-22 to be a great firearm for multiple uses with the reduced recoil and economical .22LR caliber ammunition.”

The rifle features:

* A3 style flat top upper receiver
* A2 front post sight
* A2 rear sight
* M4 style collapsible stock
* Quad rail handguard

Specs:

Barrel length: 16″
Magazine capacity: 25 rounds
Barrel twist: 1:15
Upper Receiver: A3
Weight: 5 lbs (unloaded)
Length: 31″ (stock collapsed)

UPDATE: The MSRP is $499 (Matt from S&W PR confirms this),

S&W M&P15-22. Click to expand.

Murdoc has a photo of the rifle posted at GunPundit.

Sig have launched the Sig 552. It is a .22 Long Rifle version of the 5.56mm Sig 556, which in turn is a civilian clone of the Sig 550. Externally it looks identical to the Sig 556 Classic with the swiss-style folding stock and handguard.

From Sig:

The Look and Feel of the Classic SIG556 ™ in Affordable .22 Rifle SIG SAUER, Inc., the leading manufacturer of commercial, law enforcement, and military firearms fuels the demand for the legendary SIG556 performance but in an affordable .22 LR caliber with the new SIG522 semi-automatic rifle. Featuring SIG556 parts including a Swiss type folding stock and polymer forend on a durable metal receiver with integral Picatinny rail, and a Mini Red Dot sight. The SIG522 provides the avid sport shooter plenty of action on a classic military style platform that give the look, feel and dependability of our full size SIG556.

Specs:
Overall Length: 29.8 in
length w/Stock Collapsed: 29.1
Barrel Length: 17 in
Rifling: 1 in 7 in
Sight Radius: 14.4 in

The MSRP is $515.

Austrian gun designer Wolfram Kriegleder ,who designed the Walther P22, has designed a new pistol in response to what American shooters said they wanted in a target and shooting pistol.

The M-22 features:

* 3.5″ or 5″ match barrels.
* adjustable rear sight.
* Weaver style rails.
* Multiple safeties (many will call this a bug not a feature).
* All black model or nickel framed two tone model.

The “multiple safeties” probably means a magazine safety like the P22. The pistol will be imported by Austrian Sporting Arms and is said to be available in Spring 2009. MSRP is $400.

Promotional video:

Hat Tip: Shooting Wire

Colt and Umarex have teamed up to produce the Colt M4 .22 Tactical Rimfire. The is probably the only real “Colt M4″ you will ever be allowed to own!

I am not 100% sure they are in fact AR-15s. UMAREX USA uses well known brand-names such as Beretta, Ruger and Walther to sell their airguns. This could easily be a AR-15 patterned rifle much like the .22 GSG MP5 or GSG AK.

There will be four different models.

Colt M4 Carbine

* 16″ Barrel
* M4 collapsible style stock
* A4 flat top upper recoever
* detachable carry handle
* A2 flash hider
* A2 pistol grip
* 30 round magazine
* Weight: 5.95 lbs

Colt M4 OPS (includes the following extras):
* Rear BUIS (Backup iron sight)
* Free floated aluminum picatinny rail handguard

Colt M16 (includes the following extras):

* 20″ barrel

Colt M16 SPR (includes the following extras):

* 20″ barrel
* Free floated aluminum picatinny rail handguard
* Flip up read and front sights

Fake suppressors will also be available as seen in the above photo.

It will be officially announced at SHOT Show 2009.

Hat Tip: OnPointFirearms

Volquartsen Custom is selling an interesting muzzle break. It is called the Forward Blow Stabilization Module and is designed for Ruger 10/22 rifles and Charger pistols, but will fit any rifle with .905 – .925″ diameter rimfire bull barrel.

Instead of porting the gas that exists the muzzle to the side or backwards toward it ports it forward at an angle.

From the product page:

Conventional wisdom tells us that compensators/muzzle brakes increase noise to the shooter. Our new forward blow stabilization module is designed to offer the best of both worlds – less recoil without the increase in noise.

.22 LR rifles do recoil contrary to popular belief and you notice this when shooting competitively. Saying all that, you can call me skeptical on how effective this would be. Still, I am willing to keep an open mind and look forward to some intrepid shooter taking photos of this in action with a high speed camera. The device retails for $109.75.

taofledermaus has published a video tutorial on how to fit a Ruger 10/22 receiver, trigger and barrel into a $30 airsoft P90 stock and how to hook up the airsoft trigger to the 10/22 trigger at the rear of the stock. A very clever idea.

Winchester announced their second .22 LR “Hyper Velocity” round. The Xpediter round has similar performance to the new non-toxic Winchester SUPER-X .22 Long Rifle. It pushes a 32 grain lead hollow point bullet at 1,640 fps.

The original Xpediter

I am not sure if this round is identical to the original that used to be produced by Winchester many years ago.
[No doubt its a shrewd marketing plan of Winchester to dole out individual press releases over a period of time instead of announcing everything at once ... ]

Hat Tip: Shooting Wire

It is lead free day here at The Firearm Blog*, this being the second lead-free ammo post!

Winchester has announced a new line of lead-free ammunition.

CCI currently manufactures lead free .22 Magnum called TNT GREEN but as far as I know Winchester are the first US manufacturer to announce lead free .22 LR. It is rumored that more companies will unveil their lead free rimfire at SHOT 2009.

The new Winchester SUPER-X .22 Long Rifle will propel a 30 grain THP (tin hollow point) at 1650 fps. This is a hot “hyper velocity” load which generates 181 foot pounds of energy, only slightly less powerful that the CCI Stinger at the muzzle.

It is likely that the case will be extended in length, like the CCI Stringer. The extended case can prevent the round from chambering in some rifles.

CCI Stinger length compared to standard .22LR (Wikipedia)

The new SUPER-X .22 Win. Mag (.22 Magnum / .22 WMR) pushes a 28 grain JHP at 2200 fps. The under 30 grain bullet means it will won’t perform as well as standard .22 Magnum 30 grain rounds.

SUPER-X .223 Rem lead-free pushes a 55 grain bullet at 3030 fps. Like the .22 Magnum, there is a significant performance hit. The round is being marketed as varmint cartridge..

This new range should be available in Spring 2009.

* That was a joke. I bought 100 rounds of “toxic” ammo today.

Hat Tip: Shooting Wire.

Early next year North American Arms will be selling “The Earl”, a “five shot single action 1860’s-styled mini-revolver chambered in .22 Magnum”. The revolver is named after the gunsmith who developed it.

Click to expand.

To complete the mid-1800’s look they have included a fake reloading. It has a 4″ octagonal barrel and weights 8.6 oz. The MSRP for the standard model will be $289. A model with a .22 Long Rifle cylinder will cost $324.

More info at NAA.