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Ruger 10/22 in Rare .22 Magnum
Regulator1954
Member Posts: 3 ✭
I've wondered for years why Ruger doesn't make a 10/22 facsimile in other calibers with the rotary magazine, especially in a 22 Magnum, but now I know.
Why did Ruger stop making the 10/22 Magnum?
The official answer from Ruger was lackluster sales. It was manufactured for 9 years and only about 50,000 units sold. Compare this to over 5,000,000 sold of the 22 LR version. Then there is the other assumed answer that the 22WMR was discontinued due to extraction issues and breaking bolts. Collector rifle or not, now I'm wishing I hadn't bid on it. I want a gun that works.
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Comments
to be fair a good number of them worked fairly well, but it got a bad rep right out of the box which could never be overcome and Ruger cut bait and stopped trying to make it work right , and just gave up trying to help owners get their rifles to do what was promised, shoot when you pulled the trigger without continuous stoppages .
Works flawlessly.
I also heard the main reason for its demise was the 17 HMR conversion people were doing.
The 10/22 magnum was only made from 1998 and discontinued in 2006. I was always of the impression the 10/22 Magnum was in demand because I knew several people who were looking but could never find one. I only got mine when a shooting acquaintance called me to advise he had just seen a brand new one on a sporting goods store shelf in Augusta Georgia. I went to the store the same day and the owner told me there had been several people in the store that day looking at it. I purchased it on the spot for about $250.00 and that was the last new one I saw for sale.
I can vouch for the story about the 10/22 magnum being a potential problem when converted to 17 HMR. After purchasing the rifle, I purchased a custom target grade 17HMR barrel from Jarvis Inc. It took a while for the new barrel to be built and it turned out to be a very accurate barrel. I contacted Jarvis again to make me a sporter barrel as well. I received an email from Jarvis himself and was informed that his company would no longer make 17 HMR barrels for converting 10/22 magnums because there was a technical problem with the conversion.
For a while after the email from Jarvis, some after-market manufacturers developed and started selling an "increased mass bolt" (a heavier bolt) for the 10/22 magnum. (I don't know if these are still being sold or not.) At that point it became clear. Apparently, there must have been reported incidents of the breach opening prematurely before the pressure had dropped to a safe level and perhaps causing the rims and heads of the casing to distort or blow out. It didn't happen to all rifles all of the time - but it could and must have happened under certain circumstances. A possible reason was the 17 HMR cartridge might generate slightly more pressure under certain circumstance exceeding the design specifications of a rifle designed for the 22 magnum.
My guess was that Ruger learned of the problem when it was too late. They were producing their own 17 HMR rifles and the after-market was full of after-market conversion related parts by that time. I am not saying this is the only reason for their decision to discontinue the rifle but it might have been a contributing factor in their economic assessment.
Best.
Heavyiron