New Ruger 10/22 Light Varmint/Target Rifles from AcuSport

Back in June of 2009, I did a review of the Ruger 10/22 semi-automatic 22 rifle, and since then have also reviewed the Ruger 10/22 Tactical Target rifle. With all that recent information available, I will not attempt to plow the same ground here, but instead refer the reader to those two previous reviews.

Here we are looking at three variations of the Ruger 10/22 that are being manufactured for AcuSport, a large firearms distributor in Ohio. AcuSport sells firearms to dealers all over the United States, and these three similar but slightly different Ruger 10/22 rifles are worth a look, if one is in the market for a good, accurate, and reliable rimfire rifle.

The Ruger 10/22 is probably the fastest-selling rimfire rifle on the market right now, with millions of them being sold over the past few decades. It is a handy, reliable rifle that is easy to shoot, and the most popular rimfire rifle in the competitive action shooting sports today. Ruger offers around thirty different variations of this rifle, the exact number depending upon when the numbers are checked, as special versions go in and out of production on a limited basis. Same with these rifles shown here. They will be produced for a limited time, and when they are gone, these three versions of the 10/22 may or may not be produced again, as they are not current catalog items for Ruger.

Starting with the wonderful Ruger 10/22 action, these new rifles all three have very good-looking checkered hardwood stocks that wear a walnut stained finish. The stocks also have a good synthetic rubber butt plate, and thankfully, come with sling attachment loops already installed, as should every rifle that is intended to be used for hunting. It is quite popular to put heavy barrels on Ruger 10/22 rifles, and the aftermarket is flush with such barrels. Most have a diameter of .920 inch the full length, and the make for a muzzle-heavy feel, contributing to the rifle’s practical accuracy, but adding substantially to the weight as well. With these three rifles, the barrel is heavier than standard, but tapers from .920 to .705 inch at the muzzle, providing good balance and plenty of stiffness, but does not produce an excessively heavy rifle. The barrels are twenty inches in length, and the taper feels right and looks right on these rifles. Ruger calls this the Light Target/Varmint barrel. Also common to all three rifles is that they have Ruger’s target trigger installed. Now, this is not really a match-grade trigger like on an Olympic target gun, but is instead is a very good hunting trigger that also works well for informal target shooting, and is much better than the trigger pulls found on most rimfire rifles. On the three rifles shown here, pull weights varied from a low of three and three-quarters of a pound on the all-stainless rifle to four and one-quarter on the blued gun.

These 10/22 rifles wear no sights, but come with scope bases. The bases can use both Weaver-compatible or tip-off type rings. The magazines hold ten rounds each, and the rifles can use any Ruger 10/22 type magazine. The bolt does not stay open after the last shot, but the 10/22 action has a manual bolt hold-open latch located just forward of the trigger guard. The safety is a crossbolt type that pushes from right to left to fire the weapon, and in the safe position blocks the trigger.

For accuracy testing, I fired only one of the rifles. I saw no need to shoot all three, as they are essentially the same, except for the finish and barrel material, and I know that I can’t buy all three of them, and will be returning two of them to AcuSport. I mounted a Burris target scope atop the blued rifle using Bushnell tip-off rings. I tried several brands and types of ammunition in the Ruger, and as expected, functioning was flawless. The Ruger fed, fired, and ejected every round offered to it without failure of any kind. What did surprise me was the accuracy. The groups shown here include the best and the worst groups fired. Even the cheap stuff was amazingly accurate out of this AcuSport 10/22. The smallest groups fired at fifty yards measured one-quarter inch, and was repeated with three different types of ammunition. Looking at the pattern of the one-quarter inch group fired with the Winchester DynaPoint ammo shows me that the dispersion was all my fault, and might have been better with a better shooter pulling the trigger. However, that ammo still turned in a stellar performance out of this rifle! One-quarter of an inch at fifty yards is better than many high-dollar target rifles will do. DynaPoint is my favorite 22 Long Rifle hunting ammo, and I am happy that it shot so well out of this rifle.

These new 10/22 variations that Ruger is building for AcuSport are some of the best 10/22 rifles ever produced. At least they are some of my favorites. They look, balance, handle, and shoot really well. Weighing in at just under six pounds, they are easy to carry all day, but still have a real-rifle feel to them. I normally do not list prices in my reviews, as prices change over time, so I usually refer the reader to the manufacturer’s website. However, I can’t find these rifles listed on Ruger’s website, and only dealers have access to information on the AcuSport website, so I will list that information here. I also could find no mention of these rifles under the Distributor Exclusives section of Ruger’s website, so the information is listed in the chart below.

*ITEM*	1234R	1235	1237R
*CATALOG NUMBER*	K10/22-LVT	10/22-LVT	10/22-LVTSB
*BARREL*	Matte Stainless	Matte Blued	Polished Stainless
*RECEIVER*	Silver Alloy	Black Alloy	Black Alloy
*STOCK*	Walnut-Finished Hardwood	Walnut-Finished Hardwood	Walnut-Finished Hardwood
*MSRP*	$394	$379	$381

Have your dealer to contact AcuSport at 937-593-7010 to order, or he can log on to www.acusport.com to get set up as an AcuSport dealer.

Author tested for accuracy using a Burris target scope and the Model 500 Rifle Rest from Target Shooting, Inc.

The AcuSport 10/22 proved to be 100% reliable and extremely accurate with a wide variety of ammunition.

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