When Ruger introduced to 10/22 takedown model, preppers and backpackers rejoiced. The venerable and well-loved 10/22 in a takedown configuration? What could be better than that?
Like many preppers, I picked one up several years ago. My model of choice was the “Gallery Of Guns Exclusive” 10/22 Takedown with stainless barrel, flash hider (and more importantly a silencer-ready threaded barrel), which packs down into a sling backpack style case.
Does the gun live up to it’s billing as the “ultimate bug-out rifle?” or is it all hype? Let’s find out.
10/22 Takedown Philosophy Of Use:
The obvious POU for the 10/22 takedown is as a backpacking/camping/bug-out gun. I’ve reviewed a couple of other guns in this category, the Henry AR-7 which I recommend, and the Chiappa Little Badger which do not. In the conclusions I will compare and contrast these three guns for the POU of bugout/backpack gun, so stay tuned for that.
The “not so obvious” POU for the 10/22 takedown is “anything you would use a high-quality .22 semi-automatic for.” Unlike the two previously mentioned guns, the 10/22 does not compromise on the build quality, toughness, fit an finish to make it lighter and more portable.
That makes it every bit as useful as a standard non-breakdown 10/22 for everyday situations, which is a real plus when it comes to the value equation of this firearms. But… that heavy sturdy build quality comes at a price… and that price is weight.
10/22 Takedown Design:
The gun is available with many different options and those are outside of the scope of this article. Basically, the 10/22 takedown model involves a mechanism that divides the gun into two halves: the first half is the stock and receiver, the second half is the barreled end.
To assemble the gun, the barrel is inserted into the receiver with the front stock about 30 degrees off of center. The front stock is then twisted into line with the rest of the gun, and it locks securely. There is an ring in front of the receiver that is used to adjust the tension, to keep the two parts firmly in place. This description sounds harder to do than it actually is to assemble and disassemble.
The barrel inserts into the receiver. Fiber optic sights.
The receiver is typical 10/22 on the back end, and the gun uses the standard 10/22 trigger group (more on that later).
To remove the stock from the receiver for cleaning, on the back half there is one screw which is loosened, and then the receiver is easily removed from the firearm. Standard 10/22 disassembly rules apply from there. If for some reason you need to remove the barrel from the front stock (I don’t see any reason to normally do this, unless the gun got wet and you need to dry it), the front barrel band is loosened as is one screw in the bottom of the front stock.
The gun is actually easier to clean than a standard 10/22 (ease of cleaning has never been a 10/22 selling point) because the barrel. when removed, is accessible to run the cleaning rod/brush “the correct way”, which is from the breech.
The gun fits together quite well and build quality is excellent.
The 10/22 takedown’s front sights are fiber optic, and they work well… with one major caveat… if you install the included scope mount, it makes it impossible to use the iron sights. Therefore, you are forced to either rely on the optics or take the entire mount off the gun. With a take-down gun, to fit in the nifty bag, you need to remove the optics and that can cause the gun to go out of zero (depending on the scope/mount). That’s a pain.
Speaking of the bag, it’s very well made, but I do have two gripes against it. Gripe one is that it only has a single shoulder strap. I’d rather it was backpack style. This is personal preference and should not be taken as a real knock against the bag. The other complaint I have is that the non-waterproof bag doesn’t come with a moisture cover. If you are carrying this gun around with you, it’s going to be wet, and who wants a wet firearm?
Let’s look at the specs for this rifle, as taken from the Ruger website.
10/22 Takedown Tale Of the Tape:
- Stock – Black Synthetic
- Front Sight – Fiber Optic Hi-Viz
- Rear Sight – Adjustable Fiber Optic
- Material – Stainless Steel
- Barrel Feature – Threaded Barrel with Flash Suppressor
- Thread Pattern – 1/2″-28
- Capacity – 25 (or 10, depending upon the magazine supplied/state where purchased)
- Twist – 1:16″ RH
- Finish – Polished Stainless
- Overall Length – 36.75″
- Barrel Length – 16.40″
- Weight – 4.6 lb.
- Grooves – 6
Ammunition:
Many, many 10/22’s are exceedingly picky on the type of ammunition they like to eat. My 10/22 takedown isn’t as bad as some, it will eat most any type of high-velocity rounds just fine. It’s favorite food in CCI Mini-Mags. In preparing for this article, I took the gun out of the case (where it’s been stored for 6 months unfired) and put 100 rounds of rotgut cheap junk Remington Golden Bullets, and I had only one malfunction, a failure to fire. The bullet showed a strong firing pin strike, it pretty clearly looked like just a bad round. CCI Mini Mags are flawless in it.
Shooting & Action:
The gun shoots very well, with one exception, the trigger.
This gun’s trigger stinks, something I’ve found common in 10/22’s over the years. It’s pull weight (as measured by me) is a little over 7 pounds, and it doesn’t break cleanly. If I were shooting this gun regularly, I would put in a replacement trigger group, even if only the Ruger upgrade model trigger.
I’ve had 10/22’s in the past that were of varying degrees of accuracy, generally the older they were, the less accurate they shot. That is not a problem with this gun, here’s a 50-yard group I shot yesterday at the range. 1/2-inch at 50 yards, and some of the variance their was probably comes from me, I wasn’t shooting in a vice or on a proper wedge.
I had a cheap Burris scope on it, and just slapped it on and shot, and it didn’t hold center at all (high and to the left) but the groups were all this strong. Measured out actually less than an inch, with cheap Golden Bullet hollowpoints. Nothing wrong with that.
The Bottom Line:
Is the 10/22 takedown the ultimate .22LR bugout gun? Well… in some ways yes, in some ways no.
It has much better build quality than the AR-7 and Little Badger, it’s exceedingly reliable and rugged enough for everyday use. That, in it’s self, should earn a place for this gun in every prepping arsenal.
Having said that, the 10/22 takedown is over a pound heavier than the AR-7, and over two pounds heavier than a Little Badger. Unlike the AR-7, if you drop it in a pond or river, it’s gone. The AR-7 floats. Unlike the AR-7, when stowed in it’s pack, it is vulnerable to water damage. Additionally, the 10/22 takedown’s pack weighs several ounces in it’s self, and it doesn’t really “fit well” with other bugout/get home pack gear.
If I were using it in my BOB/GHB, I would remove the 10/22 takedown from it’s fancy case and put it in my main bag. That still leads to the issue of being vulnerable to water damage, whereas placing the AR-7 in the backpack doesn’t.
The other “gotcha” with the 10/22 takedown is the fact that if you have the optics plate mounted, you can’t see the iron sights. Therefore, it’s “one or the other”. I don’t like that.
The scope mount is taller than the iron sight. This means you get to choose optics, or irons, not both. I don’t like that.
I’m not really comparing it against the Little Badger in this Bottom Line section because I simply don’t recommend that gun in any way, shape or form so there’s no reason to compare it.
Is the Ruger 110/22 takedown the ultimate BOB/GHB gun? That’s for you to decide. My bag, however, has my AR-7 in it, whereas the 10/22 takedown sits at home in one of my safes. The 10/22 takedown is undoubtedly a better gun pretty well across the board… but not in bad weather… and weather disasters happen… well… in bad weather…
Other Opinions On The 10/22 Takedown & Additional Upgrades
This is my take on the 10/22, our Paranoid Prepper has a different take on this gun, so check it out!
Our friends at Surviving Prepper have a great article on upgrades to the 10/22, check it out as well!
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I’ve had a 1022TD for a while now and, for the most part, I’m very happy with the firearm. The only issue that I had with the gun were the sights supplied with it. I tried an optic with my 1022 and found that the zero was not consistent. Every time I reassembled the gun, the zero was different by as much as an inch at 25 yards. The sight that came with the gun was, in my view, crap, so I started the hunt for a replacement.
I found 2 options, from a place in Canada there is a barrel mounted Picatinny Rail. If you are going to go with this option, a word of caution. The mount has to be installed by a gunsmith and it was designed for after market bull barrels, not factory barrels. Lucky for me it wasn’t a problem returning the mount.
https://dlaskarms.com/collections/10-22-sr-22-dar-22-parts/products/ruger-10-22-takedown-picatinny-rail
The second option that I found, was a barrel mounted peep sight from Skinner Sights. It took me around 10 minutes to install the front sight and the peep sight. I took the 1022 to the range the next day and, oh my what a change. At 25 yards from a rest the 1022TD shoots minute of angle and the zero doesn’t change. Over the course of an afternoon I was shooting at targets that were 25, 50 and 100 yards away. The worst groups were at the 100 yard targets, and they weren’t bad averaging around 2 to 2.5 inches with Federal ammo. And yes, I was using a sandbag rest.
http://www.skinnersights.com/ruger_firearms_22.html
The nice thing about this setup is with the bag it comes with you can have the rifle, ammo, cleaning kit and several 25 round spare mage. Yes the 1022TD a little heaver than an AR-7 but there are trade offs for everything.