Fast Fun Facts About Your Ruger 10/22 Rimfire

Fast Fun Facts About Your Ruger 10/22 Rimfire
Underneath this brand-new advanced Luth-AR custom chassis is a standard Ruger 10/22 rifle.

Fun Facts about Ruger 10/22 Rimfire Rifle

  • The Ruger 10/22 was designed in 1964 by Bill Ruger, Sr. and Harry Sefried II. 
  • With more than 7 million 10/22 in circulation, the 10/22 rifle is arguably the most successful rimfire rifle design in history.
  • When introduced, the unit cost for the base rifle was $54.50 in U.S. currency. That would be about $512 today
The lithe little rifle’s innate modularity has made it an enduring success
  • The MSRP for a base model 10/22 is $379 today. Modern manufacturing techniques and an economy of scale keep prices down.
  • The patented rotary 10-round magazine that comes standard with the rifle was revolutionary for its day.
The basic Ruger 10/22 is built around an investment cast aluminum receiver
Ruger 1022 Bushnell scope
The basic Ruger 10/22 is built around an investment cast aluminum receiver
  • The Ruger 10/22 has seen limited combat use in the hands of Israeli forces battling Palestinian insurgents.
  • The 10/22 is one of the most customized rifle designs ever created. Nowadays, a complete 10/22 rifle can be built from aftermarket parts without using a single Ruger component.
  • Ruger offered a .22 Win Mag version of the rifle titled the 10/22 Magnum from 1998 until 2006.
  • In 2004, Ruger listed a variant of the 10/22 firing .17HMR in their catalog.
  • All modern 10/22 rifles come from the Ruger factory, drilled and tapped for a scope mount that is included. The rifle’s rear sight folds out of the way to accommodate an optic.
  • The 10/22’s unique two-screw, V-block system, allows barrels to be exchanged easily without requiring the services of a gunsmith.
  • As of 2015, Ruger offered the 10/22 in eleven different discrete models.
  • All 10/22 rifles available today, orbit around an investment cast aluminum receiver. The receiver of the short-lived Ruger 10/22 Magnum, was cut from steel.
The receiver of the TacSol X-Ring Takedown rifle is cut to exacting standards
The receiver of the TacSol X-Ring Takedown rifle is cut to exacting standards
  • The standard model 10/22 features an 18.5-inch barrel and is available with either a hardwood or black synthetic stock. 
  • 10/22 Receivers can be had either black anodized or silver.
  • The 10/22 Target sports a 20-inch bull barrel and no iron sights.
  • Magazine options for the 10/22 range from flush-mounted rotary ten-rounders up to fifty-round drums.
Fast Fun Facts About Your Ruger 10/22 Rimfire
The selective fire HK G36 assault rifle on top is unobtainable in civilian hands. The Archangel Nomad clone on the bottom from ProMag is a drop-in fit for a standard 10-22 action
The Archangel Nomad aftermarket stock kit transforms your basic 10/22 into the spitting image of a G36 assault rifle.
  • Aftermarket conversion kits allow you to transform a standard 10/22 into a replica of the HK G36, the WW2-vintage German MG42 belt-fed machinegun, an M1 Carbine, an M1 Garand, or a tripod-mounted crank-fired support weapon.
  • In 2012 Ruger introduced the 10/22 Takedown Model. This version breaks down readily into two halves and comes with a backpack carrying case.
  • TacSol (Tactical Solutions) has made a brisk business out of designing top-end sound-suppressed precision targets and utility rifles that orbit around the basic 10/22 action.
  • Drop-in BX-Trigger offers a Drop-in trigger (model #90462) which takes a 10/22trigger down to 2.75 lbs. It’s reasonably priced and easy to install.
  • Currently, Ruger offers 8 families of Ruger 10/22s with 61 models listed
  • Magnum Research produces a line of custom target rifles called the Switchbolt that is designed around the 10/22 action. At age 19 and equipped with a customized Switchbolt rifle, shooter Chris Barrett set a world record for speed shooting in the Rimfire Rifle Optic Steel Challenge competition.
You custom order a Switchbolt competition rifle via a series of drop-down menus on their website. The good folks at Magnum Research then hand build the rifle to your specifications.
Teenaged shooter Christ Barrett used a Magnum Research Switchbolt rifle exactly like this one to set a world speed shooting record
  • Acadia Machine and Tool, the same company that made the .45 Hardballer Longslide pistol used in the first Terminator movie, once produced a 10/22 clone around a stainless steel receiver. A subsequent lawsuit forced them to discontinue production.

The basic Ruger 10/22 action has come a long way in the past half century Fast Fun Facts About Your Ruger 10/22 Rimfire
The basic Ruger 10/22 action has come a long way in the past half-century

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Article Written by Dr. Will Dabbs MD, GunBroker.com Contributor

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