Hello and welcome back to another edition of The Rimfire Report! This weekly series is all about the rimfire firearm world. SHOT Show 2020 was a blast for all firearms enthusiasts but I feel like rimfire junkies got their fair share of awesome releases too with guns like the Ruger LCP II Lite Rack and the Glock 44 that made their dent in the rimfire semi-auto pistol world around the start of the year. This week we’re going to go over a few of my hopes for the future of the rimfire world as we reach the time where companies start to make big announcements about their upcoming or soon to be released firearms. So what are my hopes for rimfire in 2021?

The Rimfire Report: My Rimfire Hopes for 2021 and Beyond

More Semi-Auto Rimfire Rifles

I think a few underrated concepts lie in wait to be taken advantage of by many firearms manufacturers.  The .22 LR is by far the most popular selection for rimfire shooters but rounds like .22 WMR and .17 HMR are still out there and I think they are quite underrated for how well they both actually perform. Even fewer companies have taken advantage of these rounds. Kel-Tec and Rossi are the only two manufacturers off the top of my head that actually make semi-auto .22 WMR rifles.

The Rimfire Report: My Rimfire Hopes for 2021 and Beyond

My personal hope is that more companies will take a page out of Savage Arms’ book and make a semi-auto .17 HMR like the A17. I know Volquartsen came out with their straight-pull Summit rifle which was a neat concept but I feel like a semi-auto from them would make things that much better. The technology is out there and waiting to be used and companies like Savage and Kel-Tec have shown the firearms community that these rimfire calibers have potential in the semi-auto market.

Personally, I feel like expanding on the concept of the CMR30 would be a great place to start for a lot of other companies. Currently, that style of rifle isn’t being emulated by anyone that I can think of right off the bat, and with it being such a compact and lightweight rifle I think more companies should get in on the concept to push it a little further. Even though it would be cool to see a few new semi-auto rimfire rifle concepts out there, I think the market is currently trending more towards the precision rimfire scene as rifles from companies like Vudoo, CZ, Tikka, and Ruger have all come out with some insanely popular precision rimfires. That being said, I can still hope.

More Polymer Wonder Plinker Pistols

Taurus with their TX22 and Glock with the 44 have shown us there is a substantial market out there for full-sized .22 LR pistols. For one, it still remains the cheapest practice ammunition out there and given that we are in a massive ammunition shortage, the value of .22 LR for keeping your pistol shooting skills up to scratch cannot be understated. I think what the market could really use right now is a few more .22 LR versions of popular polymer pistols.

The Rimfire Report: My Rimfire Hopes for 2021 and Beyond

In particular, I think the unveiling of a SIG P320 but in .22 LR would blow the market away. The P320 has gone beyond expectations and evolved into something genuinely impressive with the use of their unique Fire Control Unit (FCU) system. I know there are currently caliber conversion kits out there for other SIG Sauer pistols but personally, I feel like the P320 needs a dedicated upper and frame built to fit around the FCU. Not only would it provide us with a great practice tool for the centerfire version, but it also wouldn’t add another “firearm” to our collection – just a few useful parts for when we want to take our P320 out and plink.

I’d also like to see Glock expand on their new venture into rimfire pistols. I could see a lot of people getting on board with a competition model or even a compact model built to about the size of a Glock 43 or 42 for those who want to either carry a rimfire sub-compact or just practice with one in order to get used to the grip and handling of those smaller carry options. Honestly, there is a lot of room for Glock to expand into in regards to the rimfire pistol market so I wouldn’t be surprised if a few new rimfire pistols were on the horizon for them.

What are you hoping for

This has all just been my musings. I don’t have any inside knowledge or info as to what the industry is doing right now. To be honest, it feels like the industry is making incremental improvements at this time to their existing lineups instead of releasing whole new firearms. However, with it being close to the SHOT Show time, we could quite possibly see some new platforms come up from some of these companies and the ones mentioned above are just a few of my hopes for the rimfire market in the new year.

If there are any new rimfire firearms that are going to be released, you can expect us to cover them and possibly even demo them in our upcoming Gun Fest 2021! Keep a lookout during the week that SHOT Show would normally take place for our coverage on this new event to bring the latest firearm releases right to your eyes. In any case, that’s all I have for you today on The Rimfire Report. Be sure to leave a comment down below letting us know what you’d like to see come out of the rimfire firearms world in the coming months in 2021! Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas!

All Photos Credit to their Respective Manufacturers where applicable.