The Firearm Blog

Some years ago Ruger was not giving customers what they wanted but they have really turned things around. Following on from the recently launched tacti-cool Ruger SR-22, the newest in the 10/22 line is the Ruger 10/22 VLEH Target Tactical Carbine. It is essentially a new version of the Ruger 10/22T (Target) styled after the Ruger M77 Hawkeye Tactical, which was also launched this year.

Ruger 10/22 VLEH Target Tactical Rifle

The 10/22 VLEH¹ features a Hogue OverMolded stock, in my opinion the best for the Ruger 10/22. The barrel is 16" heavy .920" profile match-grade barrel with target crown. It has the same trigger group as the Ruger 10/22T, which is much superior to the standard factory trigger. To top it all off, a bipod is included.

The VLEH configuration is almost identical to my favorite 10/22 configuration. It makes perfect sense for hunting and general plinking. My only complaint would be the lack of iron sights, although few people will miss them.

Hat Tip: Down Range TV

The Chiappa 1911-22 is a .22 pistol patterned after the M1911. The action is not that of a 1911, but a fixed-barrel recoil system and is manufactured from steel and "Chiappalloy" (presumably a pot metal).

The market for this pistol, and its not-yet-on-sale competitors the GSG 1911, are 1911 shooters who want to practice with cheap ammunition but would rather have a dedicated gun than purchasing a .22 conversion kit and having to swap it in and out of their .45 1911.

I was incredibly surprised to open an email a few days ago and see photos of the mythical Australian F88T Austeyr. Quite a long time ago I had scoured the internet searching in vain for photos of this gun.

The F88T Austeyr

Note the subcaliber magazine insert - the only giveaway that it is chambered in .22 LR

Almost no information about this rifle is available online. This is very surprising because the rifle is currently in service with a major defense force.

The F88T Austeyr was developed by ADI Limited (now known as Thales Australia). It is, as far as I know, the only variant of the Steyr AUG chambered in .22 Long rifle. A page on the, now offline, ADI website described the weapon as:

ADI has developed a .22 calibre training rifle for use by the Australian Army. The weapon provides an economical training alternative, with very low ammunition cost, which can be used in environmentally sensitive training areas and indoor areas for special force training with reduced risk to trainees and instructors.

This paragraph sums up just about all the information available online! Because of the lack of information I was convinced that very few of these had ever been built, but I stumbled across the minutes of a meeting from an Australian Air Force conference where they discussed an order of 200 F88T's which were going to be used for cadet training. Presumably there are more than 200 in existence.

Australian cadets also train with .22 single shot bolt actions rifles.

I do not have any technical information about the gun. Most .22 semi-automatics share similar features. The gas system will be non-functional because a .22 LR cannot generate enough case to cycle an action. The action will be a standard blowback system. The barrel is probably the same as the regular Austeyr. While this is not optimal for accuracy I can't imagine it would have been worth the cost of producing dedicated .22 Long Rifle barrels.

I am sure that the owners of the civilian Steyr AUG SA, which went on sale this year, would love to have a .22LR conversion kit. Realistically, a third-party American firm is much more likely to develop a conversion kit than Steyr is too either develop their own or license the design from Thales Australia.

Many thanks to Jon for the photos.

If you were wondering why Remington would recall their entire line of .17 HMR Model 597 rifles just take a look at these photos which show a magazine and cases fired from a .17 HMR Model 597. This type of damage was not uncommon!

Cracked Remington 597 magazine


Blown out case head.


Split Case

Thanks to Joe for the photos.

Remington have decided to recall and buyback all .17 HMR Model 597. They have also announced they will buyback any Remington .17 HMR that was purchased for use in any semi-auto rifle.

If you have a semi-automatic firearm chambered for 17 HMR ammunition, immediately discontinue use of Remington 17 HMR ammunition. If you have any Remington 17 HMR ammunition that you wish to return to Remington contact the Remington Consumer Service number below. Do not return the ammunition to the dealer. Remington will provide you with a $10.00 coupon for each complete box of 50 rounds of Remington branded 17 HMR ammunition you return to Remington. This coupon will be good for the purchase of any Remington ammunition at your local dealer.

In light of the ammunition manufacturer’s notice, it is very important that you immediately stop using your Remington Model 597 17 HMR semi-automatic rifle. If you own a Remington Model 597 17 HMR semi-automatic rifle and wish to return it to Remington please contact the below Remington Consumer Service Number. In return for your Remington Model 597 17 HMR synthetic stock semi-automatic rifle, Remington will provide you a coupon valued at $200.00 good for the purchase of a replacement Remington firearm. If you have a laminate stock Remington Model 597 17 HMR semi-automatic rifle, Remington will provide you a coupon valued at $250.00 good for the purchase of a replacement Remington firearm. Remington will also reimburse you for the actual postage to return your Model 597 17 HMR semi-automatic rifle to Remington.

Please allow up to 6 weeks after Remington receives your Model 597 17 HMR semi-automatic rifle or your Remington branded 17 HMR ammunition for the appropriate coupons to arrive. Instructions for redemption of the coupons will be contained on the coupon.

For any consumer questions or instructions on how to return of your Model 597 17 HMR semi-automatic rifle or your Remington branded 17 HMR ammunition, please contact the Remington Consumer Service Department at 1-800-243-9700, Prompt #3.

Problem with the Model 597 and .17 HMR is not uncommon. Gun manufacturers seem to have a very hard time in trying to convert .22 blow back actions to the more powerful .22 Magnum and it’s child cartridge the .17 HMR.

A reader of TFB recently had the exploding-597 problem (darn … I lost he photos he emailed me) and Remington said they would refund the purchase price, instead of fixing it. I did not read too much into their response at the time, but in hindsight I can see now that they were considering this action a couple of months ago.

I think Remington have taken the right action. I hope they let this offer stand for sometime so that all potentially dangerous guns can be returned.

Wilson Combat have added a complete .22 Long Rifle AR-15 upper receiver to their AR-15 product line. It is in the M4 style with a quad rail, 16″ barrel, front flip up sight and a A2-style flash hider. The price will be $995.

When they release more information I will be sure to publish it on the 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:

Click to expand.

* 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.

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.

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

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.

Click to expand the photos.

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.

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.