Hi everyone, this is Gary-Michigan and I have my rifle in the finals. Someone told me it was being discussed so I thought I would drop in and explain the idea behind it.
First, if I had my druthers, I would have submitted a steel and wood rifle but my understanding is that Ruger is going to design their own Anniversary model and this contest was to give 10/22 fans a way to come up with a version in honor of the 50th. In other words, "Hey fans were gonna give you a chance to design a rifle for our anniversary, not necessarily THE anniversary rifle." That's why I went for practicality instead of fancy.
So the concept of mine is a practical all weather rifle that addresses the failings of most production rifles out of the box. The first is sights. Most factory rifles have horrible iron sights which I guess is because they expect people to mount scopes on them. I put protected adjustable peep and post irons which not only are good sights but they emulate military sights for training purposes. Learn on the 22 and it directly translates in to most military type sights. The next issue is that if companies expect you to mount a scope why isn't the comb of the stock high enough to see through the scope? Problem solved by using the stock from the new American Rimfire bolt action. (I bought the American Rimfire bolt action and the first thing I said when I brought it home was "they have got to put this stock on a 10/22!"
That stock also solves the problem of the stock being too long for kids and smaller people or too short for adults. I put a integral scope rail on the top and of course the stock already comes with sling studs.
I teach a lot of kids and new shooters to shoot rifles in the Appleseed program. The flash hider is really intended to protect the muzzle from digging into the sand, dirt, mud, snow or being banged on cement when we shoot in prone. It is also useful in the field while hunting as well. We started putting flash hiders aka "mud guards" on our rifles to prevent damage. The best way to do that is by threading the barrels which also allows the use of other attachments such as sound suppressors. It just adds versatility.
All of those things, the stock, sights, threaded stainless upper are already made by Ruger in one form or another. Using them on this design keeps the manufacturing process simple and affordable.
Finally, I am pretty sure you will see a wood stocked take down rifle in the next year regardless of who wins. However, I sure would like to see a practical out of the box 10/22 be made. So, if you don't mind helping that happen, vote for Gary-Michigan.
