#.22lr

German Sports Guns (GSG) have produced a purple framed version of their Firefly .22lr pistol, which is being imported through American Tactical.  The GSG Firefly has been available since 2016, but this version offers a little more color to contrast the typical modern firearms market.

Welcome to another installment of TFB’s First Firearm Series. This series is dedicated to those that are contemplating buying their first firearm ever, or the first of whichever is the topic at hand. In this week’s edition, we’re covering the classic, practical, and affordable to almost any budget, .22 Long Rifle (lr).

Ruger has introduced a new budget-priced rimfire revolver patterned after the legendary Colt SAA. These new six-shot .22LR revolvers are called Wrangler. As seen in the below-embedded image, Ruger markets this revolver to both new and seasoned shooters by calling it “The perfect revolver whether it is your first or your next“. Let’s take a look at the main features of these little plinkers.

After over a year of waiting, I finally found a Tikka T1x in .22LR (one was sold out from under me while I was at SHOT this year, ironically).  I handled one at SHOT 2018 and was impressed, but acquiring one of my own proved difficult up until now.  The production model I finally found did not disappoint, however.  Getting to the range with the rifle would be another agonizing wait. I received the gun at the beginning of what would turn out to be the snowiest month ever recorded in my area.  After a very long month of constant shoveling and snowplow work, I was determined to get some range time.

Taurus have introduced their new  .22LR striker fired pistol, the TX22. Designed as a competition ready .22 pistol with a 16 round magazine, Taurus boast that the TX22 is a competitively-priced pistol that straight “out of the box, runs like a custom-tuned pistol”.

Kel-Tec has come out with two new firearms for Shot Show 2019. The CP33 and the KS7.

I think many will agree that shooting Rimfire is one of the funniest things you can do, a feeling which will only grow if you throw economy into the equation.

The Ruger 10/22 is an industry leader in the world of semi-automatic .22LR rifles. However compared to the AR-15 and all its clones, there are very few alternatives to the venerable Ruger 10/22. Sure you can get a Volquartsen or a TacSol X-Ring but they are both near the $1,000 price range. Affordable 10/22 clones don’t really seem to exist except in the past like the AMT Lightning or the RIA M22. Well Thompson Center has their own 10/22 clone, the T/CR22 and it is not only affordable it is better than your stock 10/22.

One of the nice things about the Great American Outdoor Show is to see some vendors who did not go to SHOT Show. Keystone Sporting Arms is one such company that does not attend SHOT Show. Their Crickett rifle has been a corner stone for many young shooters learning to responsibly shoot their first rifle. For a long time, the Crickett rifle style has been stagnant. Sure they expanded by making wooden and laminate stocks. But last year they started to modernize their rifle and make it more popular. They released the Crickett Precision rifle.

Volquartsen is one of the top names in quality rimfire guns. Recently they acquired the Summit Straight Pull receiver design from PWS. Pete has one of the original Summits from PWS and I was curious how well it works. I was hoping it would be like a Biathalon rifle setup. If you haven’t seen a Biathalon rifle cycle it is awesome. The shooter pulls the charging handle back with a flick of their index finger. Then their thumb pushes the charging handle back forward. It looks effortless and smooth as silk.

Not only do these look like rounds that Early Cuyler would be “prouder ‘n hell” to shoot with, they will leave one’s firearm and range unsullied by lead fouling.  CCI’s 22 Long Rifle Patriot Pack is a 300-round box of coated .22lr’s with red, white and blue coating.  CCI continues to build on their polymer coated .22lr line.  Relatively new,  TFB’s own Hryachya H has previously reported on these rounds’ introduction as a Christmas-themed pack. I have shot many polymer coated bullets, and while there is sometimes a few flakes of polymer here or there left in the firearm, there is a marked decrease in lead fouling.  This author has personally previously only seen these bullets in centerfire rounds.  Being that .22lr’s are often subjected to very high volumes of fire and can incur nasty lead fouling as a result, this author is excited to see these new rounds and will be sure to give them a try.  It will be interesting to see how clean these really do run.

TacSol has come out with two new barrels and a conversion kit for 2018.

CCI applies the segmented concept to the ever popular MiniMag, making for what ought to be an effective pest control load with more power than the previous versions of their segmented line.

Henry Repeating Arms Company has announced that they have made their one-millionth rimfire .22 model H001 lever action rifle. First such rifles started shipping in 1997 and now, 20 years later, the company has reached this huge milestone of one million .22LR/.22L/.22S  H001 rifles made.

This looks like a fun plinker. Yeh Te up in Canada shared this photo of his Vz 61 Scorpion. The lower is Zastava and the upper is by Czech Small Arms. The lower is railed so he could add a vertical grip. CSA makes a .22LR conversion kit as well as .22lr versions of the Scorpion.