Winchester Wildcat SR 22 LR Rifle 16.5 in. TrueTimber VSX – Superb Threaded Plinker

Description

The Winchester Wildcat SR 22 LR is the short, threaded, camouflaged version of a rimfire that has quietly become one of the more thoughtfully engineered .22 rifles on the market. Most of what makes it interesting is invisible until you go to clean it: the entire lower receiver drops out at the push of one button, which turns the worst job on any semi-automatic rimfire into a thirty-second task.

The SR designation covers the two things that matter most here. The barrel is 16.5 inches rather than 18, and the muzzle is cut 1/2×28 with a knurled thread protector fitted. As a threaded 22 LR rifle it is ready for a can or a brake the day it arrives, and the shorter tube makes the whole rifle handier in a truck or a blind without costing anything meaningful in velocity at rimfire pressures.

On top of that sits a ghost ring rear sight and a ramped post front, which is a far more useful arrangement on a working .22 than the open notch most rifles ship with.

The details that separate it from a basic plinker

• One-button lower receiver removal for cleaning, with no punches and no dropped pins.
• Precision button-rifled barrel with a recessed target crown, protected from the knocks that ruin accuracy.
• 1/2×28 threaded muzzle with a knurled protector already fitted.
• Integral Picatinny rail molded into the top of the receiver, plus a second rail under the forearm with a cover.
• Reversible safety button, a slide lock button and a separate bolt release, so the controls suit either hand.
• It accepts aftermarket 10/22 magazines as well as its own rotary ten-rounder, which is the single most useful compatibility decision Winchester could have made.

Sights, stock and controls

• Ghost ring rear sight with a ramped post front, adjustable and fast to pick up in poor light.
• Molded polymer stock in TrueTimber VSX camouflage, skeletonized through the butt to save weight.
• Front and rear sling eyelets fitted as standard.
• Gray Perma-Cote on the barrel and receiver, which shrugs off damp far better than bluing.
• Ten-round rotary magazine with a bolt stop that holds the action open on the last round.
• Ambidextrous magazine release, operated from side rails or a release tab.

Winchester Wildcat SR 22 LR specifications

• Model: Winchester 521141102
• Caliber: 22 LR
• Capacity: 10+1
• Barrel: 16.50 in., button rifled, recessed target crown
• Muzzle: 1/2×28 threads with knurled protector
• Barrel and receiver finish: gray Perma-Cote
• Receiver: polymer with integral Picatinny top rail
• Sights: ghost ring rear, ramped post front
• Stock: molded polymer, TrueTimber VSX camouflage, skeletonized
• Forearm: Picatinny rail with cover fitted
• Controls: reversible safety, slide lock button, bolt release, ambidextrous magazine release
• Magazine: one 10-round rotary, with 10th-round bolt stop
• Magazine compatibility: accepts aftermarket 10/22 magazines
• UPC: 048702024832

The 10/22 magazine question, answered

This is the feature that should decide the purchase for a lot of buyers. Winchester built the magazine well to take Ruger 10/22 pattern magazines as well as the Wildcat rotary. That means the deepest, cheapest magazine supply in rimfire is open to you rather than one proprietary part you have to hunt for.

In practice that means a BX-25 two-pack turns this into a fifty-round afternoon without a single reload, and the clear-sided 25-round magazine lets you see what is left. A LULA loader and unloader set is the accessory nobody buys until their thumbs hurt.

Who this rifle is actually for

A Winchester Wildcat SR 22 LR earns its keep in three roles. As a first centerfire-free rifle for a new shooter it is light, quiet and cheap to feed, and the ghost ring rear sight teaches sight alignment better than a notch does. As a working farm or pest rifle the camouflage, the Perma-Cote and the short threaded barrel are all practical rather than cosmetic. And as a training stand-in it handles enough like a carbine, with rails and a magazine well, that the drills transfer.

It is not a target rifle and does not pretend to be. There is no bull barrel, no adjustable stock and no match trigger. What there is, is a rifle you will actually clean, actually carry and actually shoot, which is worth far more over ten years than a heavier rifle that lives in a cabinet. Browse our rifles category for the alternatives.

Threads, cans and the law

The 1/2×28 muzzle is the standard rimfire thread, so brakes, fake suppressors and thread protectors all fit without adapters. A real suppressor is a National Firearms Act item: approved ATF Form 4, tax stamp, and a wait measured in months. MAG5 Firearms does not stock them and nothing here is an offer to sell you one. A .22 is the cartridge most people suppress first, so it is worth saying plainly rather than hinting at it.

Ammunition, and an honest warning about it

Semi-automatic rimfires are the fussiest guns in the catalogue about ammunition. Bulk bargain .22 will run in some rifles and short-stroke in others, and no two examples agree. Buy a couple of different loads before you commit to a case. Winchester Wildcat 40gr copper-plated shares the name for a reason and is a sensible first thing to try in this rifle; if it runs, the 1,500-round jug is the cheapest way to shoot all summer.

Keep the chamber and bolt face clean. A .22 semi-auto that starts failing to feed after a few hundred rounds is almost never broken, it is dirty, and on this rifle the one-button lower receiver removal means there is no excuse not to get in there.

Why the Winchester Wildcat SR 22 LR earns its place

• Takedown for cleaning is one button, which on a rimfire semi-auto is worth more than any other feature.
• A ghost ring rear sight beats an open notch for speed and for old eyes, and it is fitted as standard rather than sold as an upgrade.
• Threaded from the factory with a protector already on it.
• Two Picatinny rails, so an optic and a light or a bipod both fit without buying a chassis.
• It eats 10/22 magazines, which removes the single biggest ongoing cost of owning a proprietary rimfire.

If you would rather have the longer barrel and a different camouflage, the Wildcat in Strata with an 18 in. barrel is the same rifle in field dress, and the shadow gray 18 in. Wildcat is the plainer, cheaper way in.

The obvious alternative is the rifle whose magazines this one borrows. The Ruger 10/22 Carbine is the most common .22 in America and has an aftermarket nothing else can match, while the stainless M-LOK 10/22 is the closer match to this rifle on specification. Both are honest comparisons and we stock them deeply.

Browse the rest of our firearms range, and read the factory description at Winchester Repeating Arms. Every transfer goes through a licensed dealer.