The iconic Ruger 10/22 semi-auto rimfire rifle just got a facelift, and the changes are more than cosmetic. The rifle, which has appeared in numerous variations during 61 years of continuous production, is now available in the most lightweight version Ruger has ever produced.

Shooting the Ruger 10/22 Carbon Fiber

The new 10/22 Carbon Fiber rifle weighs just 3.5 pounds, which makes it an all-day squirrel or varmint gun, or a handy plinker or camp rifle. The standard wood-stocked 10/22 carbine, in contrast, weighs 5 pounds.

Bull-Barrel Rigidity Without the Weight

As its name implies, the gun’s reduced weight is largely due to its carbon fiber barrel. The rifle is equipped with a 16.1-inch cold-hammer-forged, stainless-steel barrel that’s wrapped with a tensioned carbon fiber sleeve, giving the barrel the rigidity of a heavy-profile barrel without the weight. This, in combination with other components, pays dividends in accuracy, as I discovered in testing.

The barrel has a 1:16 RH rate of twist, which works well with most 22 LR ammo. The muzzle is threaded ½-28 to accept muzzle accessories. It comes with a knurled stainless protective thread cap.

A Proven, Reliable Action

The 10/22 Carbon Fiber is, of course, still built upon the simple and highly reliable 10/22 blowback-operated action. In this system, expanding gas from a fired shell drives the bolt rearward, extracting and ejecting a spent shell, while spring pressure drives the bolt forward, chambering the next round from the magazine. In the 10/22 action, inertia and spring pressure hold the bolt closed until a round is fired, and hammer pressure against the bolt slightly retards bolt opening. A disconnect mechanism in the trigger prevents firing of multiple rounds with one trigger pull.

The only drawback of the venerable 10/22 action is that the bolt does not automatically lock back, with the breech open, after firing the last round in a magazine. You must manually operate the bolt stop, while holding the bolt open, to lock it back. You do the same to feed a round into the chamber. It’s a bit cumbersome until you get used to it, but it’s important to do so when finished shooting – and to visually inspect to ensure there’s no round in the chamber – in order to render to gun safe.

Atop the action, you’ll find a Picatinny rail, measuring a little over 4½ inches in length, for mounting optics. The gun employs a standard push-button, cross-bolt safety with a red ring showing when the safety is disengaged and in the ready-to-fire position.

Firing controls on the Ruger 10/22 platform.

Magpul Stock

The 10/22 Carbon Fiber uses a Magpul MOE-22 stock, which also saves a bit of weight. This synthetic stock has M-LOK slots at the bottom of the forend for attaching accessories. It also has molded-in sling loops. The black-with-white-speckling finish of the stock nicely complements the clear satin finish on the barrel’s carbon fiber sleeve. The bottom of the forend is flat, so it sits securely on sand bags or rests. The semi-vertical pistol grip, which has a bit of texturing, helps ensure consistent placement of the trigger finger on the trigger, and the non-slip butt plate has an angled toe to minimize snagging.

Ruger also makes a version of the 10/22 Carbon Fiber with a folding stock that features ambidextrous QD points and a forend with M-LOK and Arca-Swiss compatibility.

The gun comes with the reliable, time-proven Ruger rotary magazine. It fits flush with the bottom of the stock, and drops freely into the hand when you operate the paddle magazine release positioned in front of the trigger guard.

Ruger 10/22 Carbon Fiber topped with a Trijicon scope.

An Excellent Trigger

The rifle’s BX-Trigger is a huge improvement over the trigger used in the 10/22 years ago. Those triggers were, by today’s standards, simply awful. Some had a pull weight of 6 pounds or so. The trigger on my test rifle had a slight amount of take-up before breaking cleanly at an average pull weight of 2 pounds, 14 ounces. It also had minimal overtravel and a fairly short, positive reset.

On a rifle this light, a good trigger is an absolute must in order to minimize sight disturbance or any trigger-finger-induced wobble. The BX-Trigger is one of the best you’ll find on a semi-auto rimfire rifle.

Good Accuracy

In my experience, a semi-auto 22 rimfire will seldom deliver the accuracy of a match-grade bolt-action 22 rimfire rifle, but some semi-auto rimfires are more accurate than others. I found that the 10/22 Carbon Fiber delivered very good accuracy for a semi-auto.

For testing, I used a Trijicon Ascent 1-4×24 scope and started at a distance of 25 yards with an Aguila Eley Prime Match 40-grain load. With three, five-shot groups, that load produced a best group of 0.28 inches and average groups measuring 0.45 inches. I then moved out to 50 yards and shot the same load. Group size increased, but was still one inch or better. I was impressed. That’s excellent accuracy for a semi-auto rimfire rifle.

I wasn’t as fortunate with three other tested loads, with bullet weights ranging from 36 to 40 grains, because a full-value wind gusting to 12 mph kicked in. Wind is the enemy of 22 LR shooters. A 10-mph wind can displace a 22 LR round 1.5 inches at 50 yards. That proved to be the case with the three remaining test loads, which produced average groups measuring 1.39, 1.72 and 1.81 inches. Those were still good results considering the impact of the wind. Muzzle velocities for the four loads ranged from 1,032 fps to 1,179 fps.

Functionally, the 10/22 Carbon Fiber ran without a single issue. There were zero failures to feed, fire or eject. The gun has a MSRP of $649, but with some sleuthing, you can find it for as little as $500. That makes it a bargain in my book.

For more info, visit ruger.com.