Hello and welcome back to another edition of The Rimfire Report. TFB’s ongoing series covering rimfire firearms, history, ammunition, and sports, continues on from last week’s article covering Project Appleseed and how it has made practical marksmanship more accessible to civilians via its purposeful inclusion of commonly available 22LR semi-auto rifles like the Ruger 10/22. It seems some of you took issue with the fact that people are using simulated distance targets for rimfire, implying that proper marksmanship can’t be accomplished at those distances with those guns. However, I’d also like to point out that a considerable portion of what Project Appleseed does is serve as an education program for both adults and young children and it’s why you almost always see children involved in the pictures Project Appleseed posts on their Facebook page. While I’m all for kids learning to handle full-sized weapons, I don’t think we can realistically expect the average-sized 8-year-old to properly handle both the weight and the recoil of an M1 Garand or M1A rifle, especially from a standing position. In any case, and no matter what level of marksmanship knowledge these kids are receiving, I think it’s a net positive rather than any sort of detriment to a child’s or even an adult’s understanding of the basic principles of marksmanship. With that being said, this week’s subject is back to another review, this time featuring Italy’s Chiappa Little Badger 22LR survival rifle. Let’s get right into it.

More Rimfire Report @ TFB:

• The Rimfire Report: Project Appleseed – Affordable Marksmanship
• The Rimfire Report: The XRT Drop-In 10/22 Trigger from Tactical Solutions
• The Rimfire Report: Special Edition – The Pinfire Report

The Rimfire Report: Italy’s Chiappa Little Badger 22LR Survival Rifle

The Chiappa Little Badger we are reviewing today is on loan to me from a friend of mine who has made a few minor modifications to his rifle. However, none of the modifications really affect the function of the rifle aside from not being able to mount additional attachments. The Little Badger we’re checking out today is of the Blued 22LR 16-inch barrel variety (SKU: 500.092) and is probably the most common iteration of the Little Badger.

The Little badger lineup of rifles all feature a single-shot breech-loaded break-open action, a fixed M1 military-style front sight, and an adjustable M1 rear sight. The bare rifle weighs in at 2.9 pounds and can mount optics, vertical foregrips, lights, lasers, and much more straight out of the box. These models retail for about  $228 but you can find them online for around $180 or less.

The Chiappa Little Badger lineup has been expanded recently with the release of the Little Badger Take Down Xtreme Rifle which features a more streamlined stock, and the ability to be quickly disassembled for even more compact stowage than the original Little Badger. Versions in 22WMR and .17 HMR are also available featuring the original blued receiver, and non-takedown stock.

Construction Quality

These firearms are fairly inexpensive and you might assume that the coatings, polymers, and handiwork might match up with how little you’re paying for one of these rifles. If you do indeed assume that, you’d be about half correct. This old Little Badger I’m reviewing today has seen its fair share of abuse and while a more durable rifle featuring steel sights might have fared better, I think this one is holding up quite well given the amount of use it’s seen.

The gun is primarily made up of polymer for its sights, shell holder, buttpad, and some of its quad rail sections. The remainder of the rifle is made up of alloy and steel for its frame, barrel, wire stock, and trigger assembly. As you can see in some of the photos, the rifle’s polymer M1-style front sight has been damaged. Steel sights may be more durable but they would inevitably increase the overall cost of the rifle so I think this is just an example of a small compromise being made for the sake of affordability.

The rifle’s blued finish seems to be pretty weather resistant and I haven’t seen any signs of corrosion or rust taking place anywhere on the rifle’s steel parts in the time I’ve spent with the rifle. However, the rifle has been stored in a wet range bag and has seen multiple cycles of being exposed to moisture without any oiling or cleaning and this is a definite bonus if you’re planning on using the Little Badger as a backpack survival rifle.

Reliability and Accuracy

During my range trips with the Little Badger, I have used a wide variety of 22LR ammunition and even some 22 CBs. All of the ammo tested worked flawlessly with the Little Badger. A large part of this obviously has to do with its single-shot nature: with no semi-auto action, there can be little room for malfunctions aside from ignition and extraction. The rifle features an almost rock-solid lockup after reloading and this further insures consistent ignition with its single-action hammer and fairly short firing pin. Speaking of the firing pin, the pin strikes at the 12 o’clock position, and there is a corresponding cutout on the chamber face presumably to allow clearance for the firing pin to strike the 22LR cartridge on the edge of the rim as much as possible.

My first range session with the Little Badger was more to get a feel for the rifle’s operation and handling and of course to get a read on its reliability with various types and brands of ammo. During that time I took some pot-shots at an 8″ plate at around 70 yards and had pretty consistent success using just the plastic M1 style sights. For later range trips I adopted the use of a budget-friendly Crimson Trace CTS-25 red dot on a short riser which still allowed the iron sights to be used should the red dot go down. I put the Little Badger on paper at 25 yards and had fairly poor results in my opinion.

The best group I was able to produce measured about 2 inches wide at best, and 3 inches wide with one round that got away from me. For comparison, I also happened to be shooting another rimfire rifle that day for a future Rimfire Report edition and produced a much better group using only iron sights at the same 25-yard distance. However, given that the Little Badger’s role is to fulfill that as a small-game hunting survival rifle, it gets a pass in the accuracy department as I think any competent marksman should be able to reliably hit a squirrel with it at a reasonable distance.

Final Thoughts

I really like the Chiappa Little Badger. I think if I were to buy one for myself, I’d opt to get the new Take Down Xtreme version as I like how much smaller it is to stow than the original Little Badger we took a look at today. Beyond its use as a survival rifle, the Little Badger is also pretty fun to shoot if you’re in for a casual and affordable range day, not only is the rifle inexpensive and lightweight, but you can also mount a suppressor on it and optics right from the get-go which should make it a great rifle to introduce new shooters to the sport.

As a final note, I know the Little Badger is wildly customizable due to its included Picatinny rail sections and all sorts of other creative things people have done to dress up their rifles. As this was a loaner rifle from a friend, I wasn’t able to do any of that. However, I’m considering picking one up for myself, and putting my own spin on the Little Badger Take Down Xtreme. Let me know in the comments if you’d like to see an article covering my modifications when I get around to it. Otherwise, let us know what your experiences have been with the Little Badger and what you think of the platform overall. Thanks as always for stopping by to read The Rimfire Report and we’ll see you guys next week!