Ruger 10/22 250th Anniversary 22 LR Rifle 18.5 in. – Superb Hardwood Carbine

Description

The Ruger 10/22 250th Anniversary is the rifle almost every American shooter learned on, wearing a receiver engraved to mark 250 years of American liberty. Underneath the engraving it is the same 10/22 that has been in continuous production since 1964, which is exactly the point.

There is no mechanical novelty here and Ruger has not pretended otherwise. What the Ruger 10/22 250th Anniversary offers is a plain hardwood stock, a blued 18.5-inch barrel, the rotary magazine that made the design famous, and a receiver marked for a year that will not come around again.

What sets this one apart

• The alloy steel receiver carries “Made in the 250th Year of American Liberty” engraved into a satin black finish.
• A hardwood stock rather than the birch or synthetic found on the standard carbine, with the grain left visible under the finish.
• The receiver is drilled and tapped, and a scope base adapter is included in the box.
• Adjustable open sights are fitted, so the rifle is usable the moment you unbox it.
• Everything else is standard 10/22, which means every aftermarket part ever made for the platform fits it.

The rotary magazine and why it still matters

• The ten-round rotary magazine sits flush with the stock, so nothing hangs down to snag on a fence rail or a truck seat.
• Rounds are held in a spiral rather than a column, which is why 10/22 magazines feed as reliably as they do in a caliber that is notoriously fussy.
• The magazine drops free with a paddle release at the front of the trigger guard.
• Twenty-five-round BX-25 magazines fit and work, if you would rather spend the afternoon shooting than reloading.
• The 1:16 twist suits standard 40-grain ammunition, which is what almost everyone will feed it.

Ruger 10/22 250th Anniversary specifications

• Caliber: 22 Long Rifle
• Capacity: 10+1, detachable rotary magazine
• Barrel length: 18.50 in, satin black
• Overall length: 37.00 in
• Weight: approximately 5 lb
• Rate of twist: 1:16
• Receiver: alloy steel, satin black, engraved, drilled and tapped
• Stock: hardwood, fixed
• Sights: adjustable open sights, scope base adapter included
• Action: semi-automatic
• Manufacturer part number: 11030
• UPC: 736676110308

22 Long Rifle is a standardized cartridge, with dimensions and pressure limits published by SAAMI, but rimfire is still rimfire. Every 10/22 has brands it prefers and brands it stovepipes, and the only way to find out is to buy two or three and keep notes. Standard-velocity 40-grain round nose is the safe starting point for the Ruger 10/22 250th Anniversary.

For volume, a 1,500-round jug of Winchester Wildcat 40 gr is the cheapest way to feed one, and Armscor 36 gr HVHP is the high-velocity hollow point option when you want a bit more out of it on small game.

Two accessories earn their money immediately. A BX-25 magazine two-pack turns a range trip into shooting rather than loading, and a Lula loader and unloader set saves your thumbs on those twenty-five-round magazines. Anyone who has loaded a hundred rounds of 22 by hand understands why.

If the engraving is not what you are after, the standard 10/22 Carbine in birch is the same rifle for less money. For a rimfire built on an AR pattern instead, look at the S&W M&P 15-22 Sport.

Mounting an optic on the Ruger 10/22 250th Anniversary

The Ruger 10/22 250th Anniversary receiver is drilled and tapped and Ruger puts the scope base adapter in the box, which makes it sound as though the job is already handled. It is not quite, because that adapter is a Weaver pattern cross-slot rail, and most inexpensive rimfire scopes are sold with 3/8-inch dovetail rings meant for a grooved receiver. The two systems do not meet, and no amount of tightening will make them.

That is worth saying plainly, because we stock a scope that falls on the wrong side of it. The TRUGLO 4×32 duplex is a sound little rimfire optic and it comes with 3/8-inch rings, so it will not clamp to the base that shipped with your Ruger 10/22 250th Anniversary. It belongs on a grooved-receiver bolt gun, and we would rather tell you that than sell the two together.

What does mount is a one-inch tube scope in Weaver pattern rings. The Hawke Vantage IR 3-9×40 with the rimfire reticle is the right glass for the ranges a 22 actually gets used at, and Weaver Precision one-inch rings in medium will usually clear a 40 mm objective over the barrel-mounted rear sight, with the high pair removing the doubt entirely. The Ruger 10/22 250th Anniversary keeps its open sights usable underneath either way, which is not true of every mounting solution.

Magazines, and what changes once you go above ten rounds

One BX-1 rotary magazine comes in the box with every Ruger 10/22 250th Anniversary, and it is the magazine the rifle was designed around: nothing protrudes to catch on a sling or a truck seat, and the rifle will sit flat on a bench or a bag. A three-pack of BX-1 ten-rounders is the least exciting and most useful purchase anyone makes for a 10/22, and we hold them in the thousands.

Above ten rounds the handling of the Ruger 10/22 250th Anniversary changes, and it is worth knowing how before you buy. The BX-15 adds five rounds and only a short spur below the stock, so the rifle still rests on a bench. A 25-rounder does not; it hangs far enough down to become the thing the rifle stands on, and it puts a little weight forward of the trigger guard. Worth it for a day of plinking, a nuisance from a bipod. If you are going that route, the clear-sided 25-round version lets you see the count without pulling the magazine, which is the sort of small thing you appreciate on round four hundred.

Two more exist for reasons that have nothing to do with capacity. A five-round magazine covers ranges and clubs that cap magazine capacity, and a single-round magazine is the honest way to start a new shooter, because the rifle simply cannot fire a second shot until they have stopped and thought about it.

One closing note on this particular 10/22. The engraved receiver is the whole reason the Ruger 10/22 250th Anniversary exists, so keep the box, the manual, the base adapter and the factory magazine together, since commemoratives are valued on completeness. We would also leave the hardwood stock alone: the great majority of aftermarket 10/22 stocks are cut for a 0.920-inch bull barrel and will sit loose around this rifle’s tapered barrel and band, so a swap costs you the look and buys you nothing.

Why the Ruger 10/22 250th Anniversary earns its place

• Sixty years of production means parts, magazines and gunsmith familiarity everywhere.
• A hardwood stock and an engraved receiver at a price close to the plain carbine.
• Adjustable sights and a scope base in the box, so there is nothing else to buy on day one.
• Cheap enough to shoot to run a whole afternoon for the price of a box of centerfire.
• The rifle most people should own first, and the one most people keep longest.

Be realistic about what an anniversary marking is worth. The Ruger 10/22 250th Anniversary is a standard 10/22 with nicer wood and an engraved receiver; it will not shoot tighter groups than the birch-stocked version sitting beside it. Buy it because you like the wood and the marking, not because you expect it to appreciate.

What it will do is everything a 10/22 does. It will teach a child to shoot, take squirrels off a fence line, run a rimfire steel match, and absorb whatever aftermarket stock or trigger you decide to hang on it in five years. The Ruger 10/22 250th Anniversary is the rifle that outlasts the enthusiasm that bought it.

In stock now at MAG5 Firearms in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Transfers to your FFL, and we answer the phone.