#.22lr

Welcome everyone to the 111th edition of ‘Hot Gat or Fudd Crap?’, one of our many series here on TFB. If you’re new to the series, this is where we look at the most obscure firearms that are actually for sale and ask the question – is this Gat a sweet deal or only has a Fudd appeal?  Each week the TFB staff weighs in with their thoughts, but readers get the final say in the poll at the bottom of each article.

In recent years, Star Wars fans have begun to ditch their dreams of building a Mauser C96 based replica of Han Solo’s DL-44 blaster due to soaring costs, and have a new hope in the much more affordable AR-15 DL-44 clones. Enter Canto Arms, which, at present have a dedicated line of AR-15 DL-44 clones for sale, both as complete .22LR pistols, and as parts kits, plus many other accessory options to complete the DL-44 build you never thought possible. Purists will no doubt scoff at a non-Mauser blaster clone, but with Canto Arms’ Nocturne 22 Heavy Blaster, you can have a close representation of Han Solo’s blaster for less than half of what a C96 conversion would cost, and you get to save the remaining Mausers at the same time.

A couple of weeks ago, we published an article telling about the release of the  Standard Manufacturing G4S rimfire rifle. Despite its modern look, the design elements of this rifle indicate that it is likely based on the Standard Manufacturing 1922, a scaled-down semi-auto rimfire replica of the Thompson submachine gun. This started a discussion about Thompson SMG replicas in the comments section of that article and one of our readers, Mike Johnson, posted the above-embedded picture and commented: “I wanted a Tommy gun in .22lr, so I made my own. This is what Thompson or Standard Manufacturing should have made. It uses 10/22 fire control and magazines“. It looked really interesting and intriguing both to this author and many TFB readers, so I asked Mike to share more details and pictures of the project and to give permission of using the information for writing an article about his rimfire Tommy gun. Mike kindly agreed, and today we’ll see how exactly he designed and built this hot gat.

Some of you may recall the survival gun build by Booligan I covered last June. Well, Booligan continued to improve it and ended up with a much more streamlined version of that survival pistol built with the very affordable Keystone Cricket as the base firearm. Booligan’s new chassis design is built to be as light and handy as possible, which also included a storage slot for his .22LR suppressor and built-in cartridge holders on both sides. His chassis as pictured and designed was made around the pistol version of the Crickett, but will accept Cricket rifle actions as well. For anyone still scratching their head about “survival guns” I’ll risk quoting myself below from the AllOutdoor.com article.

Standard Manufacturing has announced a new semi-automatic rimfire rifle called G4S. The company states that their new rifle is “the ultimate in semiautomatic rifles chambered in .22LR” and adds that it is “ideally suited for plinking and precision shooting“. Judging by the receiver shape, location of the charging handle and the design of other elements of this rifle, I think the G4S is likely based on the Standard Manufacturing 1922, a scaled-down rimfire replica of the Thompson submachine gun.

The American-180 is a rare .22LR submachine gun developed in the 1960s which fires .22LR from a wind-up pan magazine. It originated with the Casull Model 290 that also used a flat pan magazine. Only 80 Casull M290s were built. The American-180 is an improved version of the Casull design. Today, James Reeves speaks with Brad of Blue Force Gear about this rare .22 SMG.

Welcome back to another Silencer Saturday brought to you by Yankee Hill Machine, manufacturers of YHM Nitro N20 multi-caliber suppressor. Last week we got a quick look at the 9SX pistol can. This week we are going to try out the Innovative Arms Slingshot Ti on the hot and new Beretta Bobcat 21A Covert. Why is this my favorite Innovative Arms suppressor to date? Let’s take a look.

The Browning Buck Mark line grows with a new model that should be of interest to many of TFB’s readers, a 2021 SHOT Show Special. It features a lightweight Vision barrel in .22LR with an all-black aluminum outer sleeve. Gold Cerakote finish covers the inner steel barrel and there’s a Picatinny rail for your optics if you don’t want to use the fiber-optic front sight and adjustable rear sight.

At the beginning of the past year, we reported about the prototype machined copper .22LR bullets that were being developed by Cutting Edge Bullets. Fast forward a year and the company has just released the first product in their new line of machined .22LR bullets dubbed CuRx. Let’s take a closer look.

Originally announced in April 2019, the Ruger Wrangler was offered in three distinct Cerakote colors: black, silver, and a very handsome burnt bronze. Well, the color options keep coming. Davidson’s has teamed up with Ruger once again, and has announced the new Davidson’s Exclusive Ruger Wrangler.

The Henry Repeating Arms Company has announced that they’ll be donating 100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of 65 rifles to help a 3 year old Michigan girl that’s been diagnosed with Acute lymphoblastic leukemia.  As of the time of publishing, 63 of the rifles have already been sold, and the remaining two rifles are up for auction on Gunbroker.com.  The campaign has been dubbed “Prayers for Preslie”, and the donated rifles reflect the campaign name on the stock and in the serial numbers.

Welcome everyone to the 57th edition of ‘Hot Gat or Fudd Crap?’, one of our many series here on TFB. If you’re new to the series, this is where we look at the most obscure firearms that are actually for sale and ask the question – is this Gat a sweet deal or only have Fudd appeal?  Each week the TFB staff weighs in with their thoughts, but readers get the final say in the poll at the bottom of each article.

Who doesn’t enjoy shooting suppressed .22s? Terrifically quiet, smooth and easy-shooting, and far less expensive to blow through rounds than probably any other gun you own except a Daisy Red Ryder. Tons of people enjoy hushed plinking for fun, and many shooters also use .22 firearms for more purposed endeavors like small varmint hunting and rimfire competitions. TFB publishes the Rimfire Report which routinely hits on suppressed .22 fun, and Silencer Saturdays frequently delve into this baby bore as well. One potential issue with .22, however, is that it tends to run quite dirty. But now  CCI Ammunition has declared they have come up with a solution to this: Clean-22 Suppressor ammo.

Bainbridge, Georgia-based Rossi have announced the launch of a new lever action rimfire rifle – the Rio Bravo. Chambered in .22LR the Rio Bravo is based on Rossi’s line of center-fire R92 lever-action firearms. Available in either German beechwood or black synthetic stocks, the Rio Bravo has a 15 round tube magazine and is available with traditional (on the beechwood model) or fiber optic sights (on the synthetic model) sights.

Ruger’s 10/22 rifle is fondly considered by many to be a much-beloved classic. In his ode to the legend published in the “Rimfire Report” series last year, TFB writer Luke C. said, “The first rifle experience many of us probably had was the Ruger 10/22. This rifle often holds a special place in our hearts.” Since its inception in 1964, more than five million of these iconic Ruger plinkers have been produced, earning this friendly little .22 the distinction of being the best-selling individual civilian rifle model ever made.