New Ruger American Rimfire Rifles in .22 LR, .22 WMRF (VIDEO)
Ruger is expanding on their latest series of American rifles with several new models chambered for rimfire cartridges, .22 Long Rifle and .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire.
These new additions expand on the American series, making it far more flexible, while adding a host of new features not included with the non-rimfire models.
Like the centerfire versions, they’re simple bolt-action rifles built using new CNC machining techniques to produce inexpensive receivers that don’t sacrifice quality or reliability. They also use charcoal-colored polymer for the stocks to keep weight and costs down.
But the new rimfire Americans have a few things the centerfire rifles don’t, including iron sights for the purists — although the front is a Williams fiber optic sight, to make it easier to pick up. The receiver is drilled and tapped for conventional Weaver #12 scope rings but also has a 3/8-inch rimfire optic mount as well.
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Another new feature to the rimfire versions is a modular stock with interchangeable cheek welds. This ensures that shooters using the rifle with a scope have a sufficiently-raised comb that can be swapped out for the standard comb for shooting with irons.
The new rimfire American rifles will come in four variants, two standard and two compact.They maintain the American series’ user-serviceable trigger which can be adjusted from three to five pounds, as well as the original models’ “Power Bedding” locking bedding system that free-floats the blue-finished, hammer-forged barrel. Both of these contribute heavily to these inexpensive rifles’ accuracy, and we expect a lot from the rimfire versions.
The standard rifles weigh six pounds even and have 22-inch barrels for the extra sight radius and have 13.75-inch lengths of pull. The compact rifles are more kid-friendly with 18-inch barrels and 12.5-inch lengths of pull. The compacts also weigh less at 5.38 pounds.
Ruger is selling the different stocks separately so it is possible to put a standard stock on a compact rifle and vice-versa. The stocks run $20 and use a quick-detach system that lets users swap stocks in seconds. This is a great move for families that shoot together.
All models use Ruger 10/22 magazines, including standard 10-round BX-1 rotary magazines as well as the extended BX-25 and BX-25×2 magazines. Models chambered in .22 Mag use existing flush-fitting JMX-1 9-round rotary magazines.
Like the centerfire American rifles, they’re priced to move. They all sport MSRPs of $330 and the street price of these ought to be well under $300. They’re already shipping to distributors and should be in stock at stores now or very soon.
The original American rifles are chambered in full-house rifle cartridges like .30-06 Springfield and .308 Winchester.
Hopefully this is a sign that Ruger will continue to develop the series with intermediate cartridges following suit. Ruger American rifles chambered for .223 Remington and 7.62x39mm would absolutely fly off shelves.
For more information about these rifles and the original American series, head over to the Ruger home page.