Ruger Reveals New SR-22 — Rimfire AR Look-alike

Ruger has just announced the new SR-22, which is a Ruger 10/22 shamelessly tarted up to look like an AR-15. For tactical and 3-gun competitors needing a practice weapon that shares the ergonomics of their AR15 match gun, the SR-22 makes sense. Otherwise, frankly, we lament the addition of the wobbly and poorly-designed AR-style collapsible stock to a firearm that works just fine with a conventional stock. We do like the integrated Picatinny-style rail on top of the action. This allows you to easily mount Red Dot sights or other optics. But does anyone really need rails on the forearm or a Mini-14 flash suppressor on a 22LR? No, but these features will probably sell more rifles. Anything that looks “tacticool” these days seems to sell well.

CLICK HERE for SR-22 Specifications Sheet

MSRP for the new SR-22 is $625.00 and we expect street price to be about $575.00. That’s more than twice the price of a standard 10/22 that, frankly, performs pretty well once you’ve upgraded the trigger. Is it worth paying double to get a pistol grip, AR-style buttstock, and Picatinny scope rail? Ruger is banking on the fact that AR devotees will say yes and shell out big bucks for the SR-22.

AR Egonomics with 10/22 Economy and Simplicity
According to Ruger, the “SR-22 Rifle allows shooters to use economical .22 LR ammunition, while still enjoying the look and feel of an ‘AR’. [The gun] faithfully replicates the AR-platform dimensions between the sighting plane, buttstock height, and grip. Like the 10/22, the AR-style SR-22 Rifle also has an extensive array of accessories available, allowing shooters to select a custom configuration that best suits their tastes and needs.”

The SR-22 uses standard SR-22 rotary magazines. Indeed, at its heart, the SR-22 is pretty ordinary. It features a standard 10/22 action inside an aluminum Nordic Components chassis that provides the rail mount, buttstock mount, and AR-style grip mount. The SR-22 ships with a six-position, telescoping M4-style buttstock (on a Mil-Spec diameter tube), plus a Hogue pistol grip. Buttstocks and grips may be swapped out for any AR-style compatible option. The wobbly, collapsible buttstock is the first thing this editor would toss on the SR-22.

Interestingly, the round handguard/float tube is secured with a standard-thread AR-style barrel nut, and the handguard is drilled and tapped for rails at the 3, 6, 9 and 12 o’ clock positions. Picatinny handguard rails are available from Ruger so you can add rail-mounted gizmos to your heart’s content. There is a barrel support V-block in the handguard so you can easily swap barrels or install after-market 10/22 barrels. The SR-22’s 16-1/8″ barrel is capped with an Mini-14 flash suppressor mounted with AR-spec ½”-28 thread.