Integrally Suppressed Ruger 10/22

When I was a young kid growing up in the woods of Northern Wisconsin it was not unusual to see me walking around the property, plinking away, with a .22 caliber rifle. I recall having a tube-fed semi-automatic .22 rifle that my Father or Grandfather had given to me. It was nothing overly intriguing or special, but it was my rifle. I vividly recall being out in the yard one summer day, walking with my rifle plinking away at sticks and branches, anything small enough to make me feel like a real Marksman until I was completely out of ammunition.

Later that afternoon I found a box of funny looking .22 ammo. As a kid I was confused because I had never come across this strange ammo before; It was a box of .22 short. I slid a few of those down into the tube magazine under the barrel, charged the weapon, aimed and then pulled the trigger. The only thing I remember was the awesome sensation of firing a weapon with very, very little noise. From that point forward I was always interested in suppression, although it would take decades for me to get to a place where I could afford to play in that arena.

My Father had a Ruger 22/77 bolt action rifle that was often the topic of “precision trick shot” talks as a boy. I remember him talking about shooting the buds off of the Poplar tree branches in the spring, I thought that was neat. Being a young country boy I, of course, wanted to shoot fast. So, my interest fell more in line with the Ruger 10/22, arguably one of the most successful .22 caliber rifles ever manufactured and virtually as accurate as my Father’s 22/77.

Fast forward 25 years later to the photo above, my backpacking rifle. This is my Ruger 10/22 takedown rifle with a factory integrally suppressed barrel and an entry level Vortex scope. I’m no longer shooting .22 short but I know one thing for certain, this gun is even more quiet than I ever imagined possible as that young boy plinking away in the Northwoods of Wisconsin.

I chose this firearm as the topic for today’s Caliber Club Talks Blog post after reminiscing recently about the tube-fed .22 of my childhood. The barrel-over-tube magazine design from my childhood gun looked a lot like the expansion area utilized by the integral suppression system of this modern 10/22. The resemblance is uncanny yet the functionality is fixated in advanced sound suppression technology. This gun is QUIET, and I love it!

There is simply nothing like throwing lead downrange, at steel, while running suppressed. Some bigger-bore, faster-shooting platforms don’t recognize the low DB levels that are, of course, commonplace with subsonic ammunition. If you have not had a chance to shoot a suppressed .22 at steel plates I highly recommend trying it out, it’s more reminiscent of a primitive weapon experience than that of the contained violent explosion most of us are accustomed to.

If you’d like to try shooting some suppressed weapons then look no further! The Prescott Caliber Club will begin offering our “Shooting Experiences” very soon and we look forward to booking your event!