Those who know me by my taste in weapons know I'm a knife-guy with a deep interest in martial arts. Sure, I own a handgun or two, but I could by no means be labeled as a hardcore shooter. A recent trip to an outdoor gun range with the resident gun-guy here at SB&T had a large impact on my enjoyment of target shooting. Aeric had purchased a Ruger 10/22, which I thought was pretty cool, until I handled the rifle, and nailed bullseyes from respectable distances with it and its capable Bushnell scope. From the moment I squeezed off the first round of many a few months back, the experience stayed with me. I found myself in a rare and decent financial situation, working again after a long hiatus and decided to think about getting my own 10/22. Man, I really wanted to wait to do a write-up until I'd had some real time with my 10/22, but there's no time like the present! I might as well talk about this gun while I'm fully excited by its 'newness' and still have the smell of powder and the sound of shots on my mind. I decided on the All-Weather black synthetic stock model that retails for just over $300 USD, I paid about $270 at a very cool gun shop in my old stomping grounds, Totem Lake. I got home from work today after thinking about the gun for the last 48 hours and wanting to break it in. I quickly called up a neighbor who'd mentioned an empty field suitable for shooting a few weeks back. He'd had some pals here from the UK, and wanted to teach them the joy of discharging guns American Style. I got rough directions to the location and drove there quickly. It's private property that allows non-vehicular recreation use, according to the sign posted at the gate. As I walked toward my mysterious destination, it was eerily quiet, and rather hot out. No animal noises, no people, just me and my new rifle. It's a large former clearcut area bisected by two gravel roads, evidence of reacreational shooting litters the ground, but other than that, it's almost pristine wilderness, tall grass and thick brush. Sweating like Mickey Rourke at a pig roast,
I removed my rifle from its temporary home in an old guitar gig-bag. I popped in some foam plugs and loaded the included 10 round rotary mag, then the aftermarket 'Hot Lips' 25 round banana magazine, made by Michael's of Oregon, known for 'Uncle Mike's' holsters and gun accessories. Iron sights, no scope, no problem.
The durable little rifle ate approx. 200 rounds of CCI high vel. mini-mag and aside from a hot barrell made hotter by the afternoon sun, not one single malfunction. The CCI rounds all had a waxy coating that rubbed off all over the magazines and my hands, I assume it's some sort of factory applied corrosion resistance measure. A web search for "waxy ammo" verified that it's fairly common, though something I've never seen in pistol ammo. I'm going to try my best to feed my new Ruger cleaner ammo in the future, I won't be buying CCI again, if I remember correctly, I had some bad experiences with some of their cheap .38 spl. in a revolver several years ago. I rapid fired several of the 25 round clips and I'm still surprised at just how rapid "rapid-fire" really is with the little gun. I shouldn't be though, as that's a lay definition of a semi-automatic gun, it'll fire as fast as you can pull the trigger. I was sold on the 10/22 after using Aeric's, but now I'm very pleased with my decision to get this awesome little plinker while my money situation was good, rather than wait. Customization options and aftermarket parts are virtually unlimited and pretty inexpensive. I'll post updates of any inevitable new work or action this gun sees. Now comes the part I used to enjoy but now loathe....cleaning my new gun.
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