"On
my honor I will do my best
to
do my duty to God and my country
and
to obey the Scout Law:
To
help other people at all times;
To
keep myself physically strong,
mentally
awake, and morally straight."
That is the Scout Oath, quoted directly from
my Boy Scout Handbook from 1969. Take a moment to go back and
read that again. Think how much better off we would be as a
nation and as human beings if everyone would take that Scout
Oath, and to live by it. Can you imagine the drastic change in
this nation if our elected officials in our nation’s capital
would live by that simple creed? Can you imagine the change in
your neighborhood if all of your neighbors lived by that simple
creed? Can you imagine the change in your life, if you
lived by that simple creed?
The Boy Scouts of America, as an
organization, is 100 years old this year. To commemorate that
anniversary, Ruger has built a special 10/22 rifle. The 10/22
has been in production for forty-six years now, and is the
best-selling rifle in the US at this time. Millions have been
produced in that span of time, and Ruger is still cranking them
out at an amazing rate of production. I
was surprised when I visited the factory and watched the
production of the 10/22 with my own eyes. The way that
production is set up there at the New Hampshire factory, the
rifle assemblers can change in a heartbeat from building
wood-stocked blued rifles, to synthetic-stocked stainless, or
even a special run of pink rifles for a distributor, or any
combination thereof, without even a hesitation in the rate of
production. It is efficiency perfected, and getting a special
run of rifles produced can happen in a matter of hours, instead
of weeks.
TALO is a wholesale cooperative of fourteen
different wholesale firearms distributors. TALO commissions
various special editions of firearms from time to time, for sale
to dealers through their various distributors. One of my recent
favorites was the John Wayne New Vaquero
that was produced back in 2007 to commemorate the man‘s 100th
birthday. There was supposed to be another excellent John Wayne
revolver produced that year that I wanted badly, but by the time
it finally made production almost two years later, I was out of
the mood, and had already been happily shooting my New Vaquero.
The TALO group, with their combined buying power, has the
ability to make things happen, and Ruger came through with a
great-looking and fitting tribute to John Wayne with that New
Vaquero. TALO firearms are not just limited to Ruger products,
but there have been TALO editions from Colt, Glock, NAA,
S&W, Mossberg, and others.
Back to the subject at hand: this new Boy
Scout 10/22 rifle from Ruger is, to my eyes, the best-looking
10/22 that I have ever seen. I had seen pictures of the Boy
Scout 10/22 before, but had not seen one of these rifles in
person until Ken Jorgensen of Ruger showed this rifle around at
Gunsite in Arizona two weeks ago. I will admit that my view of
this rifle might be prejudiced a bit, as in my youth I was
myself a Boy Scout. I have many fond memories, and some not so
fond, of my time in the Scouts. It was a very rewarding
experience, having lots of fun, while at times being pushed past
what I perceived to be my limit of endurance. The Scouts taught
us young boys how to not only survive, but to thrive in the
wilderness. We were taught how to make do with what we had
available, and how to “be prepared” for what might come our
way. We built things from sticks and rope, we cooked on the
ground, we found our way through unknown territories, and we
hiked for many miles at a time. Most importantly, the Boy Scouts
prepared us young boys to be men, not only physically, but
mentally and morally as well.
The Boy Scout 10/22 is a semi-automatic rifle
that is chambered for our most useful and versatile cartridge;
the 22 Long Rifle. The 10/22 has a unique ten-shot rotary
magazine, a tapered eighteen and one-half inch blued steel
barrel, and a beautiful walnut stock. The stock has a Schnabel
forend and a sculpted cheek piece for a right-handed shooter,
but works perfectly fine for left-handers like me as well. It
wears, as should all rifles, sling swivel studs. The 10/22 has a
good set of open sights, with a brass bead on the blade front,
and the folding rear being adjustable for both windage and
elevation correction. The rifle also comes supplied with a scope
base, for those who prefer an optical sight. The 10/22 has a
crossbolt manual safety, and also a manual bolt hold-open. The
magazine release is the extended type, which is now standard
equipment on all 10/22 rifles. The aluminum alloy receiver is
finished in a satin black, which closely matches the finish on
the blued steel barrel and polymer trigger housing. The bolt on
this Boy Scout 10/22 is highly polished, which is a nice touch.
The walnut stock is laser-engraved with Boy Scout and Ruger
logos, and on the buttstock portion is a replication of a Norman
Rockwell Boy Scout saluting, with the Scout Oath in the
background. These Boy Scout rifles also have a special serial
number series, beginning with the letters BSA. Mine is serial
number BSA-04529, but if I can, I am going to try to find serial
BSA-00527, as 527 was my old Boy Scout troop number. It’s a
long shot, but worth a try. On the pistol grip is engraved the
twelve points of the Boy Scout Law:
"A
Scout is:
Trustworthy
Loyal
Helpful
Friendly
Courteous
Kind
Obedient
Cheerful
Thrifty
Brave
Clean
and
Reverent."
Wouldn’t it be great if everyone obeyed the
Scout Law! These days, so many folks, even some that I know
personally, don’t even try to live by such a creed, especially
when it comes to doing business. I have heard it said many
times; “That’s just business”, as an excuse for being
morally wrong in dealing with others. It would be great if we
all had to earn merit badges in life, as boys do in Scouting.
The walnut stock wears a beautiful satin
finish, and the butt plate is a serrated hard plastic piece.
Around the logos on the forend and pistol grip is very
functional and great-looking checkering, to aid in gripping the
rifle.
Shooting the Boy Scout 10/22 was exactly as
expected. It shoots like a Ruger 10/22. That means that it
functioned perfectly, and was very accurate. My Boy Scout rifle
will cluster the magazine full into one ragged hole at fifty
yards, which is the distance to which I sight all of my
twenty-two rifles. I have many Ruger 10/22 rifles, of various
configurations, and they are each as reliable as, well, they are
as reliable as a Boy Scout. The Ruger Boy Scout rifle comes
packed in a special Boy Scout commemorative box. My six-year-old
grandson, Ethan, slowly read the markings on the box and stated,
“It says Ruger 10/22, Paw. That means it’s the best, right?”
He’s a smart boy.
The Boy Scout rifle handled beautifully. Mine
weighs in at four pounds, fourteen ounces. Ruger lists the
weight at five pounds even, but as with all wood-stocked rifles,
the weight can vary slightly. The trigger pull measured four and
one-half pounds on my rifle. I prefer a lighter weight pull for
target work, but the Ruger trigger works pretty well as is for
general purpose shooting and hunting. Also packed into the box
is a special pamphlet that tells a bit about the Boy Scouts, and
about the Sturm, Ruger firearms company.
The Ruger Boy Scout rifle is a fitting
tribute to the fine organization, and a portion of the price of
the rifle goes to the Boy Scouts of America. As I write this, it
is only five more days until Christmas. If you have a Boy Scout
in your life, whether he is eleven years old, or fifty-one like
me, this rifle would be an ideal Christmas gift. These rifles
are readily available on dealer’s shelves now. If your
favorite gun dealer does not have one in stock, he can still get
it in time for Christmas. Both Lipsey’s and Davidson’s have
the rifles in stock, as most likely do other TALO distributors,
but I do not have access to check the inventories of any other
than Lipsey’s and Davidson’s.
Besides being probably the best-looking 10/22
ever built, the Ruger Boy Scout rifle, to me, has a more
important role to fill. It has a meaning. With its Scout Oath
and Scout Law inscriptions, it brings to mind the good things
for which a Boy Scout stands. It reminds us of what we all
should be, and of the standard to which we all should be held;
to keep ourselves physically strong, mentally awake, and morally
straight. What we desperately need in this world today is a few
more Boy Scouts.
Check out the extensive line of Ruger
firearms online at www.ruger.com.
For the location of a Ruger dealer near you,
go to www.lipseys.com.
To order the Ruger BSA rifle online, go to www.galleryofguns.com.
Jeff Quinn
