New Small-Bore Semi: Volquartsen Mini Scorpion-X Pistol

The rimfireologists at Volquartsen have just unveiled a smaller version of one of their rimfire pistol platforms. The new Mini Scorpion-X follows a familiar design, but comes with a scaled-down form factor, thanks to an all-new upper.

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Scorpion-X history

The first Scorpion-X pistol came out in 2022, offering a full-sized rimfire pistol platform (is that an oxymoron?) with a flat-top design for universal optic mounting. You can see our initial write-up here.

Apparently, enough people wanted a smaller version of this design that Volquartsen decided it would build an all-new Scorpion-X LLV upper, with a “Honey, I Shrunk The Rimfire” take on the design.

The Mini Scorpion-X

Like the original, the Mini has a flat-top design that’s intended to easily mount a wide range of optics. The real news here is the small form factor; Volquartsen says the pistol is only approximately 8 inches long and weighs only 1 pound, 12 ounces before adding accessories.

The new upper combines with Volquartsen’s VF Target Frame to offer a 1911-style grip angle. The barrel is stainless steel, with a three-inch length and a laser-hardened breech. The muzzle has 1/2x28 threads to attach the device of your choice.

As you’d expect, Volquartsen also threw a bunch of their other high-spec parts at this pistol, including an accurizing kit that delivers a 2.25-pound trigger pull, a DLC-finished competition bolt, a single-port compensator and a “thread protector” that looks like a fake can, a Type III hard-anodized aluminum barrel shroud and other features. The frame itself is black-anodized aluminum.

Volquartsen also says “The Mini Scorpion-X LLV upper is also available as a standalone product for the Ruger MKII, MKIII, and prior Scorpion 22 LR models.

“It is compatible with both the Volquartsen Competition Bolt as well as the Ruger MKII/MKIII factory bolt.” So if you want to do some mixing-and-matching and to build your own one-off version of this pistol, go ahead!

MSRP for the new Mini is $1,350. For more details, check out Volquartsen’s website here.