The Firearm Blog

Over the past year Winchester have been doing a major update of their .22 rimfire product offering.

The new Hyper Speed HP load is a very hot load that matches the ballistic characteristics of the CCI Velocitor round. The Hyper Speed HP, like the Velocitor, features a copper plated 40 grain hollow point bullet. The bullet has a published velocity of 1435 fps at the muzzle, which works out to be 183 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

A significant difference between the CCI load is that is will be sold in a 100 round box, rather than the CCI 50-round box. This suggests it may be quite a lot cheaper that the Velocitor. If it is, I will defiantly consider switching to this for my hyper velocity needs.

Winchester are also introducing a 555 round bulk pack, giving it a slight edge quantity wise over the Federal 525 and 550 bulk packs.

The bulk pack features high velocity (36 grain / 1280 fps) rounds with copper plated hollow point bullets. Nothing fancy.

Overall I am quite impressed with the new offerings from Winchester. I don’t think there is much else they can do as far as rimfire ammunition is concerned.

Remington have announced a new addition to their line of Model 597 semi-automatic .22 rifles. The VTR (Varmint Target Rifle) is styled after the AR-15 and features:

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* 16″ target-style heavy barrels.
* A2 style stock or Pardus M4-style collapsible stock
* A2 Pistol grip
* Free float handguard
* 1913 Picatinny rail for optics.
* Black finish on all parts.

It is not clear if standard AR-15 compatible stocks and pistol grips can be attached. I will try to find out from Remington.

Two models will be available. The “Model 597 VTR 22LR with A2 Stock” model will MSRP for $445 (10 round magazine) and $479 (30 round magazine).

The “Model 597 VTR 22LR with Collapsible Stock” features a Pardus collapsible stock and had an MSRP of $445.

UPDATE: According to John, Product Development manager, different AR stocks should be compatible. AR pistol grip interchange will be limited because of the receiver design.

Thanks to Linda from Remington for her help getting me information.

Crossman have licensed a gas piston technology and will be incorporating it into a range of air rifles. The word “gas piston” probably has you thinking of gas operated autoloader rifles. In the context of air guns, “gas piston” refers to the piston system of break barrel air guns. Instead of compressing a spring when cocked, they compress gas. When the trigger is pulled the piston is released, the piston is pushed forward by the expanding gas. The piston in turn compresses air which pushes the pellet out of the rifle.

From the press release:

The heart of gas piston technology is its use of nitrogen as the power, instead of a coiled steel spring.

Unlike steel and CO2, nitrogen isn’t adversely affected by temperature. In addition, the technology allows for much easier cocking. The nitro piston starts engaging the moment the shooter starts cocking the gun. Gas pistons can also be left cocked for long periods of time without degrading and losing velocity, the way steel springs do. Also, when a steel spring uncoils, the vibration is not only annoying, it compromises precision. “Nitro Piston technology solves both by creating a smoother cocking force and releasing the gun’s power more quickly,” said D’Arcy.

The new rifles will not be available until June, but Pyramyd Air have them available for pre-order. They claim the piston system produces a lot less noise (most of the noise from a break barrel airgun is the piston), less recoil, easier cocking and long lasting.

They are available for pre order for $324.99. They comes in .22 and .177 versions (1000 fp/s and 1200 fp/s respectively) and either either a black synthetic or digital camo thumbhole stock. They all feature a bull barrel and two stage trigger.

Air gun expert and blogger Tom Gaylord was involved in the development of the system. If he was involved it must be good! I don’t think he would risk his reputation on an inferior product.

Because of demand from customers have Federal have brought back the .22 Long Rifle UltraMatch Rimfire Target

load.
Two Gold Medal loads are now available: UltraMatch and Match. Both are standard target loads (40 grain subsonic).

The American Tactical Imports / German Sport Guns Kalashnikov has finally arrived. The Kalashnikov, endorsed by General Kalashnikov himself, is a AK-47 patterned rifle chambered in .22 Long Rifle.

An American model holding a German made copy of the iconic Soviet rifle … oh the irony

Two models are available, synthetic or wood, with either with 10 or 24 round magazine. They have an overall length of 34.5″ (an inch longer than the original wood stocked Russian AK-47) and a barrel length of 16.5″. Click to expand the photos:

Synthetic model.


Wooden model 24 round magazine.


Wooden model 10 round magazine.

It was rumored that the wooden stock would be wood-looking plastic, but it is real, and looks really nice. The gas system is defiantly fake, it is a blowback operated rifle that requires high velocity .22 ammunition to cycle. You can see in the above photo that the 10 round magazine has the same AK-like size as the 24 round magazine, which is a nice touch. It appears to be compatible with the AK side mount for optics.

The MSRP is $549 for the synthetic model and $569 for the wood. I think this will be very popular rifle.

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.

Actually its a pink sleeve covering a Advanced Armament Corporation suppressor on a .22 converted AR-15.

Hat Tip: Andy @ The Official AAC blog.

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.

Mossberg’s big muzzle brake, which I call the BFMB (Big “Fraking” Muzzle Brake), first seen on the Mossberg 500 Roadblocker shotgun is coming to the Plinkster line of semi-automatic and bolt action .22 and .17 HRM rifles. Four models will be available with the BFMB.

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Model 817 with scope, thumbhole stock and tip down stock (used as forward hand grip)

Model 702 autoloader

Model 802

Model 817 with scope and bipod.

From the press release:

Muzzle brakes are now available on the following models: the standard 702 Plinkster® (.22 LR autoloading), the scoped 802 Plinkster™ (.22 LR bolt-action with 4x scope) and the scoped model 817 (.17 HMR with 3-9×40 scope). In addition, muzzle brakes will be fit onto a scoped model 817 with a thumbhole stock and Tipdown forend (.17HMR with 3-9×40 scope), and lastly, an 817 (.17HMR) will offer a complete package of a muzzle brake plus an upgraded 4-16×50 scope featuring sun shade, flip open lens protectors and a bi-pod.

I have questioned the effectiveness of muzzle brakes on a low powered cartridge, such as the .22 LR, many times on the blog but this sure looks cool. Do I want one? Hell yes I do

Thanks to Kim for the photos.

The difference is subtle.

Suppressor maker Gemtech will be selling a customized GSG-5 SD rifle that is suppressed. The GSG-5 SD is a .22 rifle patterned after the MP5SD, but the suppressor on it is fake.

The Gemtech GSD-5 is permanently suppressed (you cannot remove the suppressor) and is available in either a 16″ barrel configuration or in a SBR config. The price for the 16″ model will be $1195.

SBR model

16″ barrel model

This video shows it off:

Hat Tip: 7trees @ ar-15.com

An 80 year old Finnish man invented this .22 LR belt fed machine gun. It could be fake but looks legit and is plausible. Jani confirms it is real in the comments below.

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The approximate translation of the caption:

80-year-old hameenlinnalaisininoori developed drilling machine, the machine became a weapon, which became a speed of 420 shots per minute. suitable balance 22 caliber cartridges.

420 rounds per minute! Not bad considering it is powdered by a drill. For comparison a blowback MAC-10 machine pistol fires 9mm around at about 1,090 round/minute. It may use the blow back to reset itself after each round

A big thanks to reader illspirit for the link.

Hat Tip: Scanned image from naurunappula.com

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.

From Chris @ American Tactical Imports:

I can say that it feels just like holding an actual 1911, will come with a 10 round magazine and will be of fine German engineering. We have an expected MSRP of $369.00 on it but that is subject to change once we receive final importation clearance and see all the manufacturing costs. Check back with us later in the year on tat.

More about the pistol here.