Ruger 10/22 – Ch. 10: ALMOST 10/22s

Chapter 10: ALMOST 10/22s

Ruger’s “Almost 10/22s” ALMOST 10/22®s

The Charger

In 2008 Ruger produced a surprise, a pistol based on the 10/22. While it was discontinued in 2013 it was reintroduced early in 2014 with a revised stock, a shorter, threaded barrel, and a lower rail with bipod. In addition to the “standard” Charger, a Takedown version with a fitted hard case very “MI-6”-ish was added.

PITFALL: Don’t try this at home. US law does not permit cutting a rifle down to pistol size. Thus, you cannot legally take a 10/22 rifle and tum it into a Charger.

TIP: However, if you get a stripped clone receiver that has never been built into a rifle, you can build it into a pistol legally. Just don’t add a butt stock, because that too is verboten. And no, the Charger TD barrel won’t fit onto a 10/22TD.

SR-22 Rifle

In 2009 Ruger jumped into the 22LR rifle market with the SR-22. Well, not quite. What Ruger did was to add OEM Nordic Component’s “AR” conversion kit to the 10/22, refine the installation a bit, and call it good. While the controls fall short of providing an AR experience, the SR-22 does have rails that allow duplicating the optics and accessories of your 223/5.56 AR. The SR-22 brings with it the 10/22’s reliability.

Call in the Clones…

…but don’t call them 10/22s! A quirk of US law is that if a firm allows another firm to use its copyrighted and trademarked works, said firm loses the exclusivity of said copyrights and trademarks. Thus, it’s necessary for a company to vigorously defend its intellectual property. The three patents that form the basis of the 10/22 are now in public domain, but 10/22* most definitely is not. A number of vendors offer receivers that are more or less copies of Ruger’s prod-uct, or at least compatible with other components of the 10/22 rifle. NoDak Spud, for example, offers a receiver that’s very close to Ruger’s original, close enough that we cre able to use NoDak’s NDS-22 to refine our 10/22 Cutaway (see the Gallery chapter) without sacrificing complete Ruger rifles. Other vendors offer receivers with features different from those of the Ruger, for example a rear charging handle or integral scope rail. Ruger’s desire to keep the 10/22 affordable may open the door for other receivers and rifles with more bells and whistles, but they won’t be 10/22s and they ll be more costly. Ruger may be fattered, but is cefinity unamused by those who take the trademarked 10/22* name in vain.

To read more purchase the The Ruger® 10/22® Complete Owner’s and Assembly Guide by Walt Kuleck