More on the BLUE Ruger takedown 10/22

It's become temporate, or relatively so for the normally stultifyingly hot and humid month of August, in the past week here in my part of Texas.  Don't fear though, because the heat and humidity have only momentarily gone away. It'll likely be early October before we get this kind of weather on a regular basis.

And that will be when El Fisho Jr. and our friends will get to do some trapsing through the woods. And although many in my friend group have handguns and long guns I want to shoot, I'm looking forward to shooting

I got to handle the umpteeth edition of the Ruger 10/22  today, the tribute model to the US Olympic shooting team. It's a takedown model, as mentioned in my previous post, and it's more or less identical to the stock black takedown version save for the coler, and perhaps the color of the tote bag.

I'll note it is lighter than the wood stocked, thin barreled 10/22 we currently have. It's far lighter than the bull barreled "Fancy" 10/22 Target model I had back in the 90's. I wish I hadn't of sold that one too. It had a marvelous striped stock and shot very well with the fairly inexpensive scope I had on it.

The recent introduction of the Ruger factory 25 round mag for the 10/22 bodes well for the use of this rifle for a myriad of purposes. Over at Gunblast.com, nearly every article about a .22 handgun of any kind includes a discussion about folks who are elderly, physically weak or infirmed or who just don't like bigger calibers using a .22 or a .22 magnum as a defense weapon.

And it's true. The .22 can be an effective defensive caliber, despite those who say otherwise. True, that's not my caliber of choice for either daily carry or home defense. But there are a lot of plus signs for some of the features a .22, even a .22 rifle, offer for home defense.

I don't have any stats to back it up, but I'd say that over the years the lowly .22 has been responsible for more homicides outside of wartime than probably any other caliber. Notice I said "probably" any other caliber. To be sure, it's been responsible for many that I've seen in decades in law enforcement, although it seems like now you're more likely to encounter a poor and broke thug with a crappy 9mm of some suspect manufacture (the word "pot metal" comes to mind) than with a .22 revolver, there was a recent time when that wasn't true.

I could see using the 10/22 in it's many flavors as a defensive weapon at the home, depending on the home's layout and the type of 10/22 that you have. A 10/22 with a 25 round mag and perhaps an inexpensive laser sight and flashlight hanging off the barrel would make quick work of anyone seeking to do you harm. Little to no real recoil and the ability to fire repeated shots in the same target area with a laser/flashlight combo would enable a homeowner to protect himself well.

I have a lot of friends who own a lot of long arms for hunting but who have little or no use or interest in a handgun other than as a backup. Their interests range from the .17 caliber to the .50 caliber and even more in rifles, and mostly hang in the 20 to 12 gauges for their shotguns, although several good friends use their 16's to exclusion of everything else.

Almost all of these folks have at least one .22 rifle of some sort. Sometimes a scoped Ruger bolt action or the like, but often times it's the venerable 10/22 for plinking or small animal hunting/control around the hunting camp or their own place.


I went to high school in a half suburban and half rural school district near Houston. Lots of the kids I went to school with lived on ranches, farms and dairies and had several hours work before and after school at the family place.  Back in the day when folks, even at my high school, carried rifles and shotguns of various sorts proudly displayed in the back window gun racks in their pickup trucks and this was all over Texas. Point is, except during deer season, most of those gun racks had one slot occupied by a .22 rifle.

Sometimes the other slot was occupied by a cattle prod, or a shotgun or some sort. But during deer season, usually a .30-30 Marlin sat in one of the spaces. And there was no law or school regulation against it at the time, and no one ever pulled a firearm on anyone at our school. Many folks, mostly the mechanical type, the hot rodders and motor cycle riders and FFA (Future Farmers of America) kids  often carried LARGE folding belt knives, mostly the venerable Buck Hunter. There were never any stabbings or displays of weapons or threats to do same ever during my 4 years there.

Boy how times have changed. I primarily like the takedown aspect of this new Ruger 10/22. Entirely practical for many reasons. Storage in a car, tackle fishing rod bag or lots of kinds of backpacks, duffles and the like. A complete breakdown fishing rig consisting of a few different types of fly and other types of tackle, including several rods and reels and the tackle to support them, as well as the takedown Ruger would fit into a nice duffle.

It's not so expensive or rare that you worry too much about it getting stolen and being irreplaceable. It's reliable as all get out, and I've had nothing but good luck with factory Ruger mags in any Ruger product I've owned, including the new BX-25 large capacity Ruger offering. Especially the new BX-25, when compared with the many competitors out there on the market offering sub-standard performance.

It's a good rifle for kids as well, and you're supporting future shooting efforts by our country and our kids by snagging one of these special models, since Ruger is making some kind of donation to the US shooting team based on each sale.

As my local gun dealer and frequent shooter said the other day, with the appropriate Federal Firearms Licenses being in place, the Ruger Takedown would be an ideal weapon to have either a integral barrel/suppressor combo installed as a mod by an experienced 10/22 and suppressor gunsmith or a shortened barrel with a screw on suppressor, one of the newer, shorter and easier to clean models.

All this costs lots of cash for the fees and licenses for whatever Federal licenses you have to get for short barreled rifles/shotguns and suppressors. In advance, I might add.