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Hello and welcome back to another edition of The Rimfire Report! This ongoing series is all about the rimfire firearm world and its guns, ammunition, shooting sports, and history. Last week we dove into a relatively obscure semi-auto 22 Magnum rimfire rifle, the Excel Arms MR-22 Accelerator. This American-made rifle obviously wasn’t very successful, however, these rifles definitely still garner about $600 on auction sites meaning at least a few gun owners out there like to have them around. This week we’re getting into another obscure rimfire rifle, this time from Italy – the Sovereign SM64 Takedown chambered in 22LR. This is another early example of a 22LR takedown rifle that I’ve yet to run into and so once again we’ll be going off of people I’ve talked to about the gun, as well as what we’ve been able to glean from the online archives discussing it.
More Rimfire Report @ TFB:
- The Rimfire Report: The Obscure Excel Arms MR-22 Accelerator Rifle
- The Rimfire Report: The B14R SOLUS – An Unholy Combination of Parts
- The Rimfire Report: TFB Reader Builds a 22LR Dragunov Sniper Rifle
The Rimfire Report: The Italian-Made Sovereign SM64 Takedown 22
Sovereign Model SM64 Takedown
- Country of Origin: Italy
- Receiver: Cast Aluminum
- Magazine Capacity: 10-founds
- Stock: Checkered Hardwood stock and Forearm
- Sights: Fixed front, Adjustable rear
- Barrel Length: 22″
Although the rifles are Italian-made, the name “Sovereign” is allegedly a trade name used for the US distribution of the rifle. According to our resident Italian, TFB Writer Giorgio O, the rifle appears to be manufactured under the name Marocchi, and has similar models being produced more recently by Sabatti.
The rifles are typically shipped in cardboard boxes with user manuals featuring a detailed parts list. I couldn’t find any solid information on a starting MSRP for these rifles when they were released, but both online forums and auction sites give a wide range of pricing ranging from $40 on the low end in private deals, to about $250 for some more recent online auctions. However, there are very few examples online that are in “like new” condition and most of these rifles seem like they’ve seen better days.
Many online forums such as the popular Rimfire Central forum have a lot of users saying they’ve found theirs sitting around in storage sheds, basements, and other forgotten spaces. The rifles were imported by Exacam Inc. which is still in operation today as an importer of mostly Erma and Uberti firearms.
Features and Operation
The SM64 featured your typical 22LR blowback action with the recoil assembly extending into the stock. The rifle fed from detachable 10-round box magazines which looked similar in form to Jager 22 and Whetherby MK XX auto magazines. Allegedly you could also modify these magazines to work with the SM64. The rifle has a pot metal receiver similar in texture and appearance to that found on the Henry AR-7 survival takedown rifle. The SM64 Takedown also featured a small manual safety on the right-hand side of the trigger guard, just forward of the trigger.
The barrel is attached to the receiver via a single screw located on the bottom of the rifle’s receiver. According to several online accounts, this screw locks up the barrel fairly tight but is known to come loose fairly quickly which leads to malfunctions. The nature of the takedown feature is probably why this rifle never gained much popularity, as other rifles like the Ruger 10/22 takedown, or the Henry AR-7 tackled the concept better. However, online reports were that the rifle was more or less pretty reliable and accurate as long as the takedown screw remained tight.
Another strange quirk of the design of the SM64 is how it had its sighting solutions set up. The receiver did feature a ribbed top for the attachment of some sort of optic, but the sentiment online seemed to be that the lockup between the barrel and the receiver felt so poor that there was virtually no hope of having an optic return to zero after disassembly and reassembly. Thankfully the SM64 featured a barrel-mounted adjustable rear sight and fixed front sight.
Thoughts on the Takedown Concept
The takedown concept for rifles seems to be something nearly as old as firearms themselves. Everyone wants a compact rifle that can be assembled quickly and be used effectively. I’ve had the chance to mess around with a lot of old and modern takedown rifle designs and I am constantly going back and forth between liking SBRed 22LR semi-auto rifles, over their assembly-first takedown cousins. The long 22″ barrel of the SM64 no doubt gave its rounds a bit more heft than your 16″ or 18″ barrels typically found on most 22LR takedown rifles. However, given that the 22″ barrel is equally as long as the stock and receiver, the package isn’t really all that compact and the backpack necessary to carry one of these around it would have to be pretty large.
If you do happen to find one of these and pick it up, it’d make for a pretty nifty truck plinker or squirrel rifle. If any of you guys have ever run into one of these rifles out there, feel free to let us know your thoughts on it in the comments. Thank you as always for stopping by to read The Rimfire Report and we’ll see you again next time!
