Sturm, Ruger & Co. announced a new version of the popular 10/22 Takedown rifle that has a target barrel. The new gun uses a .92″ diameter, cold hammer forged barrel. The barrel length is 16.1″, and it is threaded (½”-28) for a sound suppressor. It does ship with a thread protector cap. The barrel is fluted which helps with weight reduction and heat dissipation. The barrel and receiver are finished in matte black.

The rifle is also fitted with the company’s Modular Stock System. The system allows the shooter to swap out modules to adjust comb height and length of pull. Both comb heights and the standard length of pull modules ship with the rifle. Also shipping with the rifle is a soft sided carrying case.

Fully assembled, the rifle is 34.5″ long and weighs 5.3 pounds. When taken down, the longest piece of the rifle is only about 20″ long. The suggested retail price is $629 – $200 more than the previously most expensive rifle in the 10/22 Takedown line.

I expected to see Ruger introduce something like this by the SHOT Show. Companies like Adaptive Tactical and Volquarsten have been introducing replacement barrel assemblies that promise to increase accuracy, and I didn’t expect that Ruger would simply concede that portion of the market to other manufacturers. Even though the $200 jump in the Ruger pricing may sound steep, it is still less expensive than many of these other options.