A pre-cut hole at the rear of each receiver allows easy insertion of a cleaning rod to clean the bore from the chamber. The Brownells BRN022 receiver will take all accessories/parts made for the Ruger 10/22. You can order factory bolt parts, and a premium barrel.
Now you can build the ultimate 10/22 with an affordable billet railed receiver. Precision-machined from billet 6061 aluminum, the Brownells BRN-22 receiver is fully compatible with components for the Ruger 10/22 platform. Brownells offers both standard factory 10/22 top profile (with drilled-and-tapped scope mounting holes), and a Railed Receiver (shown above) with an integral Picatinny top rail. We think most buyers will get the railed version shown above. At $89.99, it’s only $10 more than the basic version.
Some folks may ask — “Well why not just purchase a production Ruger 10/22 rifle from the factory? It will come complete with barrel, trigger, and stock…” The answer is the components. By starting with a bare bones receiver you can have better-than-factory components from the start — a better barrel, a premium trigger. Plus the Brownells BRN-22R Railed Model comes with a built-in Picatinny rail — that makes it easy to mount optics. And, if you want a specialty stock — say for rimfire tactical games — you can purchase an aftermarket stock that fits your requirements. Finally, the action has a port in the rear so you can insert a cleaning rod to clean from the breech end. This avoids accuracy-compromising cleaning rod damage to the muzzle.
The first part of the video features the all-new Brownells BRN-22R Railed Receiver:
Railed Receiver with Installed Barreled for $159.99
Brownells also sells BRN-22 receivers complete with pre-installed .22 LR barrels. The BRN-22 Barreled Receiver features a 16″ long barrel in either sporter or heavy contours, threaded at the muzzle. Price is $149.99 standard, and $159.99 with Railed Receiver. Then you can add the remaining components — your choice of trigger, stock, sights/optic, and muzzle device.
NOTE: This is NOT a complete barreled action — you will still need bolt, bolt handle, and trigger group — but all those parts can be easily acquired by direct mail-order. Like the bare BRN-22 receiver, this barreled receiver is the “gun” component for ATF purposes, so this must be shipped to your FFL. If you don’t want the rail, get the standard barreled receiver and save $10.00.
BRN-22 Barreled Receiver Features:
Receiver machined from 6061 T6 aluminum billet
Matte black hardcoat anodized receiver finish
1/2″-28 tpi muzzle threads for brakes and suppressors
Matte black oxide finish on barrels
Compatible with all components that fit a factory Ruger® 10/22®
FFL required for purchase
Barrels are available in Sporter and Heavy profile, both in 16″ length, while the Heavy barrel is also available in a short, 10″ length for pistol or SBR builds. All barrels come with ½”-28 tpi muzzle threads for the installation of a compensator, flash suppressor, or silencer.
There’s a nice article in the Western Powders Blog that any varminter will enjoy. In this hare-raising tale, gunwriter Jim Waddell explains how he used a self-loading Savage A17 rifle to take care of a serious jack-rabbit problem on a rancho in California. “[My friends] purchased a huge amount of acreage that had some existing alfalfa fields and [surrounding sagebrush]. Sagebrush is home to jack rabbits. Lots of jack rabbits. The previous owner of this property didn’t do any varmint or predator control[.] The ink wasn’t dry on the escrow papers before [my friends] started asking for help shooting rabbits. A problem in taking these critters is it has to be done at night when they come out to feed as they lay low in the bush during the daylight hours.”
Savage A17 Comes to the Rescue
Initially Waddell and some friends took on the jack-rabbit hordes using Ruger 10/22s and a .44 Magnum Marlin lever gun. Neither option was ideal. The .44 Magnum just couldn’t keep up the desired shooting pace (it took too long to reload) ant the .22 LRs were too anemic. So Waddell decided to give the more potent 17 HMR a try. He acquired a Savage A17 and went back for a second bunny-busting session. He came away convinced that the 17 HMR cartridge in the modern semi-auto Savage works great for small varmint control.
Waddell writes: “I wanted more than a .22 after seeing the problems my pals had with their [10/22] bullets not anchoring the rabbits. Armed with my new Savage A17 it was time to head back to the alfalfa fields. This time my hunting partner was Dan, my son-in-law from Seattle. We hunted for four nights. Each night was either raining, windy or both. My question about whether or not rabbits would be out in the weather was answered immediately. They were everywhere. As miserable as the weather was, we got all the shooting we wanted and that Savage rifle was up to the task. We got so many rabbits it was impossible to count.” CLICK HERE for the full account of Waddell’s jack-rabbit adventures on the California rancho. It’s worth a read. Here is a sample:
Wabbits, Wabbits Everywhere — Even Running Right at You
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw a sea of rabbits as far as the lights would shine and when the light beams hit the bunnies, they became confused and as often as not, would run right at the lights so a good percentage of our shots were literally in spitting distance. It was also a new experience shooting at targets that are running TOWARD you. Most of us who’ve done much hunting for game or varmints have experienced moving targets but how many of those targets are coming at you?
We believe in the benefits of rimfire cross-training. With a rimfire rifle that has the same ergonomics and “feel” as your centerfire rig, you can practice more often and more affordably. You can get good rimfire ammo now for under $5.00/box (ten cents per round). Compare that to centerfire factory ammo at $1.40/round or handloads for about $0.70 (bullet, primer, powder, and brass depreciation). We know some successful PRS shooters who shoot five rimfire rounds in practice for every centerfire round.
For a tactical cross-trainer, you want a rimfire rig that feels like your centerfire rifle. McMillan now offers a stock that fits the bill. McMillan’s new A5-22 stock shares the same look and feel as McMillan’s popular A5 centerfire stock. The A5-22 is able to accommodate 10/22 type actions including KIDD 10-22 models with rear tang attachments. McMillan says: “The A5-22 is dimensionally the same as our standard A5 with some minor changes in the tang and floor plate areas. It is available in a fixed comb configuration or with an adjustable saddle-type cheek piece.”
While the new McMillan A5-22 stock was designed expressly for the Ruger 10/22 barreled action it can be inletted to fit other rimfire actions: KIDD 10-22, Volquartsen VCL (Sporter and Magnum), and Volquartsen WSM. With a basic inlet, the A5-22 costs $390.00. Uninletted (flat-top) version costs $338.00. Available options include cheekpiece, pad, studs, and rail.
Rimfire Cross-Training Resources
Quality Affordable Ammo for Rimfire Cross-Training
Looking for good, affordable .22 LR ammo for your rimfire training rifle? We suggest Norma’s Tac-22. This has shown very good accuracy in both bolt-action and self-loading rimfire rigs. The target photos above come from Champion Shooters Supply, which reports: “We have found this to run very well in Ruger rifles, handguns, and target pistols. These are 5-shot groups at 50 yards with an Anschutz 1913 rifle. This is an incredible value.”
Tac-22 ammo is available from many vendors. MidwayUSA currently offers it for $4.49 per 50rd box or $34.99 for 500 rounds. That’s just seven cents per round with the 500-count box — a great deal.
Rimfire Practice Targets
SPECIAL BONUS–Rimfire Tactical Precision Targets
These FREE targets by DesertFrog are offered in Adobe Acrobat format for easy printing. CLICK HERE to download all six targets as a .ZIP archive.
The Concept Behind the Rimfire Tactical Match
Many guys who shoot long-range tactical matches practice with .22 LR rifles of similar configuration. Rimfire ammo is way more affordable than centerfire, you do not need a big range facility, and shooting rimfire saves wear and tear on your centerfire rifle. Further, for learning how to read the wind, there really is no better training tool than a .22 LR, even as close as 50 yards. In California, various clubs have been running rimfire tactical matches for more than a decade now. Hit/miss reactive targets are typically placed from 50 to 150 yards. Some matches combine steel plates with bullseye paper targets so accuracy is important. An accurized 10/22 can be competitive in these matches.
Rimfire Tactical Series
A new .22 LR rimfire shooting discipline has been developed, copying the PRS series. The ELEY Practical Rimfire Challenge series matches are positional shooting events in field conditions out to 300 yards. You can use either a bolt-action or semi-auto .22 LR rimfire rifle. Much like PRS (Precision Rifle Series), competitors will shoot from a variety of positions: prone, strong/weak shoulders, standing, sitting, and kneeling. There will be shots from barricades, and movement from position to position during stages.
Nightforce is running a pretty amazing promotion to mark its 25th Anniversary. Here’s the deal — if you purchase a qualifying Nightforce scope, you’ll get a Special Edition Nightforce Optics Ruger 10/22. Buy scope, get rifle for free. Can’t argue with that. Here is the promo announcement: “To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Nightforce Optics, we are offering a complimentary Special Edition 25th Anniversary Ruger 10/22 at no additional charge with the purchase of select Nightforce riflescopes. This offer is good on qualifying purchases made from October 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017. Eurooptics.com has all the qualifying scopes in stock now. Check out nightforceoptics.com/1022 for details and rules.
Even seen an integrally suppressed rifle? Ruger offers this technology with its new Silent-SR ISB, a multi-baffle integrally suppressed barrel (ISB) for Ruger 10/22 takedown models. This system reduces sound levels to an average of 113.2 dB with standard velocity ammunition. That’s very impressive — consider that an unsuppressed .22 LR firearm can produce noise levels as high as 140 dB with standard velocity ammunition. That’s well above the threshold where irreversible hearing damage begins. (Source: NC Silencers).
Even if you are not interested in a suppressed rimfire rifle (or live in a state where suppressors are forbidden) we think you’ll be interested in Ruger’s technology. The Silent-SR employs a long, multi-element “baffle stack” that can be easily removed for cleaning.
Watch Integrally Suppressed Barrel in Action. CLICK HERE to View Video on Ruger Site. Scroll to bottom of Ruger page after jump!
Here’s what Ruger says about its new ISB (Integrally Suppressed Barrel) for the 10/22 Take-down:
The Silent-SR ISB quickly and easily assembles to any Ruger 10/22 Takedown or 22 Charger Takedown, and features an induction-hardened breech with cold hammer-forged barrel that provide easy takedown and accurate return-to-zero.
Reducing sound pressure levels of .22 LR to an average of 113.2 dB with standard velocity ammunition, a 10/22 Takedown rifle equipped with the Silent-SR ISB is as quiet as a bolt-action rifle with a thread-on silencer. The relatively long barrel of the Silent-SR ISB (compared to other integral suppressors) means the bullet generates energy near that of a 16″ gun for consistent, accurate and effective performance on target. The pushed-cone baffle geometry has been stretched to utilize the volume under the barrel maximizing suppression of the gunshot without disturbing the travel of the bullet.
Disassembly for cleaning is as simple as separating the barrel from your firearm and loosening the Silent-SR ISB’s single assembly screw using the included 5/32″ hex key tool. Once loose, pull the screw to remove all six 17-4 stainless steel baffles, spacer and front cap free of the sleeve for cleaning. The sealed baffles keep the fouling away from the serialized sleeve, yet easily come apart even after thousands of rounds. Finished with Cerakote, the Silent-SR ISB is engineered and built for a lifetime of hard use without clogged ports, seized components or loss of suppression that often plague other integrally suppressed rimfire barrels.
Readers often ask us: “Is there an inexpensive way I can get started in position shooting?” The answer is “yes” — across the country CMP-affiliated clubs host Rimfire Sporter matches. You can use a wide variety of .22LR rimfire rifles — manual actions (such as a Winchester model 52) or semi-automatics (such as a Ruger 10/22). There are prone, sitting/kneeling, and standing stages. CMP rules provide separate classifications for scoped rifles, open-sighted rifles, and aperature-sighted rifles. The matches are fun, the ammo is inexpensive, and everyone has a good time while improving their marksmanship.
Our friend Dennis Santiago recently helped run a CMP Rimfire Sporter Match in Southern California. Dennis reports: “You want something challenging? Well that X-Ring 50 yards away is the diameter of a 50 cent piece, and there are people out there that can womp that thing with iron sights.”
The rapid-fire sitting or kneeling stage of a CMP-sanctioned .22 Sporter Match consists of two, 5-shot strings. A manually-operated or semi-automatic rifle may be used for this match. Below is a video Dennis made that shows a sitting/kneeling rapid fire stage.
Dennis notes: “There are six (6) stages of fire on a tough little target. Notice the rifles that can be used run the gamut from pump and bolt actions to variations on the semi-auto theme. All still require a good eye and a steady hold to earn one’s bragging rights for the day. A match takes about an hour and a half per relay. The slowest part of the match is initial sighting in. It’ll take longer than the allocated 5 minutes for the typical first timer coming to a club match.”
At Dennis’s Burbank Rifle & Revolver Club (BRRC), procedures are modified a little bit: “What we typically do at BRRC is run two relays. Experienced competitors shoot per the full rulebook. New shooters are afforded a bit more relaxed environment to make the experience more fun and inviting. We do the same thing in our M-1 Garand Clinic/Match series.”
Rimfire Sporter Match Basics
The CMP Rimfire Sporter Rifle Match is an inexpensive, fun-oriented competition using .22 caliber sporter rifles (plinking and small game rifles) commonly owned by most gun enthusiasts. To compete, all you need is a basic rifle, safety gear, and ammunition. No fancy, high-dollar rifles are required.
The event is shot with standard sporter-type, rimfire rifles weighing no more than 7 ½ lbs, with sights and sling. Rifles may be manually-operated or semi-automatic. Shooters with manually-operated actions are given extra time in the rapid-fire stage to compensate for the difference. (See Video).
There are three classes of competition — the standard “O Class” for open-sighted rifles, “T-Class” for telescope-sighted and rear aperture-sighted rifles and “Tactical Rimfire” class, which is a .22 caliber A4 or AR15 style rifle. Firing for all classes is done at 50 and 25 yards on a target with a 1.78″ ten-ring and an 18″ outer one-ring. Even new shooters can get hits on this target, but it’s still tough enough that no one yet has fired a perfect 600×600 score.
The Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) has a CMP Guide to Rimfire Sporter Shooting. This FREE, 50-page digital publication covers equipment, positions, course of fire, rules, scoring and much more. You’ll find helpful “how-to” sections on aiming, sight picture, hold control, and trigger control. Reading these instructional sections can benefit any prone or three-position competitive shooter.
How well does the reigning National High Power Rifle Champion handle a Ruger 10/22 in rapid fire? Very well indeed it turns out. Here’s footage of SFC Brandon Green at the 2015 NRA World Shooting Championship (WSC) in West Virginia this past weekend. Brandon shows some serious speed with the little semi-auto. Brandon’s comment was: “10/22s are just too much fun!”.
Watch SFC Brandon Green speed through a steel plates stage with a Ruger 10/22:
Brownells’ Do-It-Yourself (DIY) video series provides logical, step-by-step installation help for triggers, stocks, and springs. Nine separate videos cover Brownells various DIY Kits. Not sure if you’re up to the project? Just watch each video to see what’s involved. The nine DIY kits are:
Ruger 10/22 owners should cheer. Victor Company USA has finally started shipping its new Titan 1022 stock for Ruger’s popular 10/22. We like Victor’s new stock, and we think it will be a great for tactical rimfire matches and cross-training. We bet a lot of varmint shooters will grab one of these Titan 1022 stocks as well. At just $169.99, it’s quite affordable. (MSRP is $189.99, but Victor Company’s website currently shows “Introductory Pricing” of $169.99.)
CLICK Image for full-screen version
Victor’s Titan 1022 Precision Rimfire Stock features a vertical-style grip and a wide, beavertail forearm with molded nibs for enhanced grip (max barrel diameter is 0.920″). In the rear, the buttstock features a cut-out for the user’s off hand with a deeper “keel” for riding the bags. With “Introductory Pricing” of just $169.99, the stock is available in two colors: Flat Dark Earth (above) or Matte Black (below). A Ruger 10/22 never looked so good. Visit www.victorcompanyusa.com for more details.
Victor Company 1022 Precision Rimfire Stock (CLICK photo for full-size image.)
Cross-training with a .22 LR
Shooters can improve their centerfire skills by cross-training with a .22LR rimfire rifle. In terms of wind drift, shooting a .22LR at 150 yards is equivalent to shooting a .308 at 330 yards. (See Chart)
.22 LR vs. .308, Distances for Equal 10 MPH Wind Drift
This table shows the corresponding distances at which a 10 mph full-value crosswind pushes a .22 LR bullet and .308 projectile roughly the same amount. Values are based on 0.130 BC for a 40gr .22 LR bullet, and 0.496 BC for 175gr .308 bullet.
22 LR 40gr 1050 fps
50 yd Wind 1.0″
75 yd Wind 2.2″
100 yd Wind 3.8″
125 yd Wind 5.8″
150 yd Wind 8.2″
175 yd Wind 11.0″
200 yd Wind 14.3″
.308 Win 175gr 2650 fps
130 yd Wind 1.07″
180 yd Wind 2.15″
230 yd Wind 3.68″
280 yd Wind 5.63″
330 yd Wind 7.98″
380 yd Wind 10.71″
440 yd Wind 14.56″
Along with the training benefits, rimfires are fun to shoot, with less noise, less recoil, and a much lower cost per shot. If you like competition, many clubs around the country offer rimfire tactical matches, or something similar (multi-distance matches shot from a variety of positions). With paper and/or reactive targets from 25 to 150 yards, tactical rimfire matches are fun and challenging.
At AccurateShooter.com, we do love ultra-accurate rifles that can shoot quarter-MOA (and better) on a good day. It’s nice to own a state-of-the-art rig built with a custom action and premium hand-lapped barrel, fitted with high-end optics. Quality is its own reward.
On the other hand, a truly utilitarian firearm has its own practical appeal. And perhaps no rifle is more utilitarian than a take-down .22 LR Ruger. Easy to store and carry, a take-down 10/22 makes a perfect “truck gun” for a ranch or farm. A 10/22 is also great for plinking with young family members, blasting pesky rodents, and doing general duty around your property. You can even use a take-down 10/22 in the CMP’s rimfire sporter matches.
Considering the merits of a take-down rimfire rifle, we were pleased to see that Davidson’s is now offering a Ruger 10/22 Takedown kit, with a special fitted NRA-branded Cordura soft case. The NRA logo and block letters are on the bolt-face, and the rifle comes with a natural gear camo finish. Street price is about $390.00, including the Cordura case.
The rifle comes with a Coyote Tan Cordura case, high-viz sights, a scope base adapter, and a drilled & tapped receiver. Separating the two halves of the rifle is easy. First lock the bolt back and verify the rifle is unloaded. Then push a recessed lever, rotate the sub-assemblies, and pull them apart. That’s it. The take-down locking system allows for a secure connection of the barrel and action and returns the firearm to zero, even when receiver-mounted optics are used.
Helping the Cause
For each rifle sold, both Davidson’s and Ruger contribute $10 to the NRA Institute for Legislative Action. So — if you purchase this package, you’ll be helping the effort to defend our Second Amendment rights. This exclusive NRA 10/22 Special Edition is available now at Davidson’s dealers nationwide and GalleryofGuns.com.
Our friend Dennis Santiago recently helped run a CMP Rimfire Sporter Match in Southern California. Dennis reports: “You want something challenging? Well that X-Ring 50 yards away is the diameter of a 50 cent piece, and there are people out there that can womp that thing with iron sights.”
On the other hand, a truly utilitarian firearm has its own practical appeal. And perhaps no rifle is more utilitarian than a take-down .22 LR Ruger. Easy to store and carry, a take-down 10/22 makes a perfect “truck gun” for a ranch or farm. A 10/22 is also great for plinking with young family members, blasting pesky rodents, and doing general duty around your property. You can even use a take-down 10/22 in the CMP’s rimfire sporter matches.
