Ruger's Rabbit Hole

I have made the argument in the past for the venerable .22 Long Rifle being the greatest round of all time. I’m here to bang that drum once again. Stevens introduced the .22 LR in 1887, stemming from other .22 rimfire rounds that preceded it by half a century. It would take another fifty-plus years for Bill Ruger to drop the absolute classic 10/22.

The Ruger 10/22 is a semi-automatic rifle that comes in about as many configurations as you can imagine. It has rolled off the factory line as replicas of M1 Carbines, Mannlicher-stocked versions, pistol variants, and heavyweight bull-barrel models.

The true joy of the .22 LR paired with the 10/22 is dialing it in. Almost any variation of the handy little rifle will knock a pop can off a fence post. Right out of the box, they can be counted on to shake a bushy tail from the treetops. Like most red blooded Americans, we can’t leave well enough alone, though.

The Ruger 10/22 is arguably the most customizable firearm in the world. It is the gateway drug into chasing accuracy and dabbling in gunsmithing. A search for stocks will bring up pages upon pages of options. One can go from heavy laminated wood in fluorescent colors to aluminum chassis systems that soar to triple the price of the original gun. Trigger groups will have you digging into spring rates and overtravel like a NASA engineer. From breathe easy trigger pull weights to appropriate hunting poundage, it’s all on the table.

Receivers start dropping buzzwords about dual rails, integrated scope mounts, and milled T6 aluminum, all while we go along believing we need every bit of it. The barrel, however, is the darling attention getter of all the building blocks. It’s believed to have the most sway over accuracy. While the truth is that all components must work together, the barrel is indeed the prom queen of the build, drawing most of the focus. The ol’ metal tube that we chunk lead through will have us spending late nights hiding in the bathroom, phone in hand, reading reviews for an hour at a time. Names like Magnum Research, Volquartsen, Shaw, and Green Mountain will fill our search history as we empty our wallets.

All of this on a build that we only hope will shoot with improved accuracy over our factory rifle. Why do we chase this maddening cycle? I’ll have to let you know when I get the merry-go-round stopped myself. It’s a hobby. It’s an addiction. Possibly an obsession. The joy of building and the chase for accuracy. The reward of putting hours of work into a simple little rifle designed for plinking and converting it into a ragged hole puncher.

The lowly .22 can cover the bases from glorified gallery gun to bench rest king. I have yet to encounter any caliber or rifle that demands more.