New .22 Day!

Sharp looking rifle

Enjoy.

Nice!!! I bet it'll be a great shooter

Spats McGee said:

Several months ago, I went to the range with my Two-Question FriendTM. Now, some of you may not know what a Two-Question Friend is, but everybody needs one. The TQF is that friend that you call at 3:00 a.m. when things have gone seriously sideways, and the TQF only asks two questions: (1) Where are you?; and (2) Should I bring tools or bail money? Anyway, he and I decided that it had just been too long since we'd gone shooting, so we agreed to meet up one Saturday morning at the Arkansas Game and Fish range in Mayflower, Arkansas. He wanted to go shoot .22s, as he'd picked up a couple that he was really digging.

So I packed up my Standard Issue 10/22 and my Ruger American Rimfire, and off I went. When he arrived, he unpacked his .22s -- a Ruger 10/22 and a Ruger American Rimfire. My buddy had always liked my 10/22, but it had taken him many years to get around to getting his own. But there was a big difference in our Ruger American Rimfires. Mine was the Standard model, albeit in a Copper Mica stock, as seen here:

His was a Target model, with the threaded bull barrel. Naturally, I stuck my Dead Air Mask on the end of it and went to town. I really, really liked it. Don't get me wrong, I still like my RAR, but there wasn't much question about whose rifle was more accurate.

So on Saturday, I went to the local gun show. I sold my Glock 19 and all of its accessories. I looked at a Hungarian BHP clone, a S&W M&P, a Beretta U22 Neos, but couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger on any of those (as it were). There were no bull barrel 10/22s or RARs at the gun show. I looked high and low. So I decided to head to Don's Weaponry in North Little Rock, and lo and behold, for less money than I'd gotten for selling my Glock, was an identical rifle to TQF's, new in the box.
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I will probably just move the scope from the other RAR to this one, at least for the moment. That said, I'm also considering splurging on some serious glass for this one.

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Everyone needs a TQF, especially one with good taste in .22s!

I looked long and hard at the RAR Target when I bought my 457, and while I don't regret buying the 457, I think I'd have been just as happy with the RAR-T.
Glad you found one, and that your happy with it. Enjoy and keep us in the loop of how it shoots.

That is a nice looking rifle. Enjoy!

Great looking rifle.
I love suppressors. Need to get myself a dedicated 22lr can.

I love the look of that copper mica stock. Very cool.
Don's is great. I've bought 2 revolvers and a lot of reloading components there. They stay pretty well stocked.

Spats

Fine looking rifle you bought there! I would love a suppressor but just don't have the money for one right now (recent move), or a gun with a threaded barrel to attach it to.

Nothing better than new .22 day! 7 of the last 10 guns Ive bought have been .22s.

Nice Ruger American Rimfire Target, Spats. What's that notch in the foregrip for?

Never knew such an animal existed! Of the 3 you looked at, at the gun show, I own 2 and a Hungarian PPK copy from FEG. Me; I’d have bought the BHP clone then scorched my checkbook with that RAR. Very nice rifle you bought there, add me to the list anxiously awaiting a range report.

Spats McGee said:

Two-Question FriendTM. Now, some of you may not know what a Two-Question Friend is, but everybody needs one. The TQF is that friend that you call at 3:00 a.m. when things have gone seriously sideways, and the TQF only asks two questions: (1) Where are you?; and (2) Should I bring tools or bail money?

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I would add a third...do I need a gun? Albeit, that is assumed unless told otherwise.

rabid wombat said:

I hope the rest are as good

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Well, lessee- M17, Springfield M1922, Romanian M69, M41, DW 22, Savage 23A and a Colt Police Positive. So ya, good stuff.

The RAR .22 IS pretty tempting for the price!

Ive never warmed to the10/22 though. Had several and they were "meh" at best for me. YMMV, of course.

Spats McGee said:

That said, I'm also considering splurging on some serious glass for this one.

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I’ve got a VX-3 4-14x40 on my CZ. Using good glass on an ultra accurate rifle is true pleasure. For too many years I thought quantity over rode quality. Now, I’d rather have one really nice rig than ten mediocre ones

I fully expect my rifle to keep all five in one hole at 50 yards every time. If not, it’s me, not the rifle

sparkyv said:

Nice Ruger American Rimfire Target, Spats. What's that notch in the foregrip for?

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I did some internet research over breakfast. The Alexander Henry forend notch is apparently for sticks or a bipod.

Nice RAR Spats. While I never warmed up to semi auto 22 rifles (not for lack of trying) I do like bolt actions in 22lr.

As an old fart with all the old fart existing (no stinkin "pre" needed) conditions I've as hunkered down as possible now since March. That's meant lots of time to pull out old 22s that hadn't gotten out to play in decades and likely had been put up wet to dry anyway and give then a complete Spa Day experience.

When possible then I've taken each to the range first thing in the morning for function tests and jess plain fun. Often some small niggling annoyance has shown up that was enough justification for me to take them all down again and play gunsmith again. The biggest issue was on what I had always found to be the most reliable; the old JC Higgins 42 bolt action magazine fed that was actually a Marlin 80. First it was failure to eject. Feeding and extraction were great but each empty case jess sat there like it had decided to stay put forever. That was a perfect reason though for yet another full tear down Spa Day cucumber sandwich and some judicious bending on the ejector. Soon it was tossing snap caps into the next county.

As each of the oldies got it's time in the sun I found at least one small issue that I could futz over. On the Savage Springfield the bolt would not lock open. On the New Haven (Mossberg) 251c once the slide locked open I could not get it to release unless I used a screw driver to pry the handle out of the recess. The JC Higgins 28 (High Standard) would also not lock the bolt open but after really checking how the thing was made I realized that that was just how it was supposed to work.

Back to the range for more function checks and I found that one of my magazines for the JC Higgins 42 was about as unreliable and anything I'd ever encountered. A pleasant afternoon though of trying to get it to work was totally fruitless with it getting worse by the moment. After suitable ceremony it was buried in the cat's litter box. But I can live with three magazines for it even though they only hold 7 rounds each.

Spats McGee said:

I certainly wouldn't turn my nose up at a CZ 457. That's the one you meant, right?

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Yup, that's the one. Got the .22lr and 17hmr combo a few months ago, and am enjoying it. Right then the RAR-T would have cost me 5 something, and the 457 combo was just under that. So I went with the 457, mostly to get the 17 barrel as well as the .22 I wanted.

Turns out the .17 shot fantastic, and the .22 was....very .22 esk. So ended up buying a heavy LW barrel, and now I basically have the same thing i would if I bought the RAR-T to begin with lol!

Those are a nice combo you guys now have with the addition of the RAR-T, a plinker in the 10-22 and a seriously accurate target rifle. You can’t ask for much more.

As for the Alexander Henry forend, Ruger put them on most of their No. 1 single shot models. I think they add a bit of class without becoming rather narrow-splinter-sized near the tip like the Schnabel tip does.



Stay safe.

I've recently had the quantity over quality notion with my CZ, too.
CZ455 Range Day

redneck2 said:

I’ve got a VX-3 4-14x40 on my CZ. Using good glass on an ultra accurate rifle is true pleasure. For too many years I thought quantity over rode quality. Now, I’d rather have one really nice rig than ten mediocre ones

I fully expect my rifle to keep all five in one hole at 50 yards every time. If not, it’s me, not the rifle

Click to expand...