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Ruger 10/22 Magnum
terrygbr
Member Posts: 16 ✭✭
i was wondering why the ruger 10/22 magnum was discontinued. is it a nice gun? will ruger start selling this gun again?
thanks
thanks
Comments
"Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee
When items are discontinued it raises red flags/questions to me, such as whats the problem ?? ugly design, little market/desireability, mechanical/reliability problems, etc. You can bet there was a reason, companies don't drop successful products but for some reason there's people who think those items are gold, go figure.
The reason the 10/22 Magnum was dropped, is that id did not meet the bean counter's expectations. Part of it was that Remington had a piece of junk out before that, and the shooting public had determined that unless it was a volquartsen, it woldn't work. Ther Ruger didn't sell good, untill ruger discontinued it...then the prices went thru the roof.
Your theory of quote: When items are discontinued it raises red flags/questions to me Doesn't ring true with Remington. There are several pieces of falling apart junk they still market.
Best
They wer'nt much more than a 1022 when they were making them.
Price wise, no they were not much more...like $425.00 or so. But they were a lot more rifle. Steel reciever, vs aluminum.
quote:Had a very estabilished gun dealer tell me that a few guns were getting cracked receivers
I don't believe that to be true. Ruger done their homework on this model, and aside of not having a "target model", these were every bit as good as the Volquartsen reciever.
Best
I bought my Ruger 10/22 Magnum about 2005 for a cost of $250.00 new in the box. The rifle was hard to come by at that time. I was lucky and called a gun store owner inquiring about a 10/22 magnum at the same time he received one and I bought it 30 minutes later.
My opinion was the Ruger 10/22 was fine well made rifle. The receiver was made of steel and I never heard of read of one single rifle with a cracked or damaged receiver. It was a safe package of cartridge and rifle.
My belief is the rifle was discontinued because it could readily be converted into 17 HRM by swapping barrels. I believe this made the rifle marginally unsafe. When enough after-market 17 HRM barrels became available, there were reports of feeding and extraction problems with the donor rifles, i.e., the Ruger 10/22 Magnum. There were also reports that due to the higher pressure of the 17 HRM, the breach of the rifle would open prematurely while pressure was too high. Since this rifle was of blow-back design, I think this was probably quite possible, especially since the recoil and hammer springs could be had in a variety of different weights.
My humble opinion is that once the genie was out of the bottle (a variety of easily obtainable 17 HRM barrels became available to convert the Ruger 10/22 Magnum) Ruger realized their 10/22 Magnum would be unsafe for this conversion. Not wanting the product liability, Ruger discontinued their 10/22 magnum rifle. Ruger knows what the potential problems may be, but they sure aren't going to discuss it and introduce themselves to a lawsuit. I also know some custom barrel makers quit making the 17 HRM barrel for Ruger 10/22 magnums conversions about the time. One barrel maker stated he quit making the barrels because the conversion was inherently unsafe.
When the 17 HRM fist came out all the rifle manufacturers were scrambling to make new rifles or converting existing models to this new caliber, such was the craze and their profits. Ruger, for a short period, even produced their own 17 HRM rifle based on the 10/22 magnum receiver. This is the time when I believe they discovered it was not a good combination and potentially unsafe. Conversions based on their bolt action rifles were fine, because the breach would not open on its own under pressure, but the 10/22 Magnum held that possibility. I believe this was one of the reasons the Ruger 10/22 Magnum was discontinued.
I still own my Ruger 10/22 Magnum and I like it. I have the box, the lock, and owners manual plus a custom made 17 HRM barrel and think I will hang on to it for some time.
Best,
Heavyiron