If rimfire rifles are crack, call Ruger Rick Ross. By my guess, Ruger and their line of rimfire rifles are responsible for more gun owners than nearly anybody else in the industry. Several years ago, they introduced an affordable line of rimfire bolt guns under the Ruger American line, and quickly found a winner. I reviewed one of their first models, and found it to be a great gun for the money. Not content to sit on their hind parts, Ruger has expanded the line to include a Target model that they had on hand for the 2017 SHOT Show Media Day.

Featuring a black laminate stock, bull barrel, “Picatinny” rail, and threaded barrel, the Target model begs to get a nice scope and a silencer – and a couple boxes of ammo. As you’d expect Ruger is releasing this in all the popular rimfire chamberings – .22 LR, .17 HMR, and .22 magnum.

Ruger was nice enough to let me shoot the .17 HMR equipped version with their rimfire can screwed to the end, and I had no problem making offhand shots at 100 yards with it thanks to the crispy trigger, and what appears to be a very accurate barrel. MSRP is $499 which means you’ll probably see real world pricing somewhere between there and $400. Load up the rotary mags, and start burning it down.

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11 COMMENTS

  1. Hey, Ruger? Guys? You listening?
    Number One Fan here, your logo is tattooed on my left shoulder n’ everything…
    I’m left-handed!!! Throw me a bone with a port-sided American in .22LR, will ya?

      • And just give up on the cheesy brite-blue finish, and give us a nice bead-blasted matte.

        And a bead-blasted stainless-steel version too,finished in your Target Gray treatment.

    • I support this message. They’re giving up a big portion of the market share to savage by not making lefty rimfire bolt guns

  2. Hey, Ruger?
    Number One Fan here… got your logo tattooed on the shoulder and everything. ..
    You listening?
    I’m left-handed!!! Throw me a bone with a port-sided American in .22 will ya’?
    Thanx!

  5. “By my guess, Ruger and their line of rimfire rifles are responsible for more gun owners than nearly anybody else in the industry.”

    12MM+ Marlin Glenfield 60s would beg to differ. Not to mention the other millions in the (formerly) fine Marlin family. Even in the ’70s, Ruger was an odd-duck .22 rifle.

    But this is basically ad copy, so, I guess the hyperbole is to be expected.

    • While serviceable rifles, the Marlin/Glenfield line was always considered the bargain-basement brand where I lived; you bought one of those (probably from K-Mart) when you couldn’t afford anything else. My brother had a model 60, it generally worked fine, but deity help you if you pulled out the trigger plate assembly for a detailed cleaning and bumped one of those tiny C-clips off the side.

      Even after the Ruger 10/22 took-off in the aftermarket accessory market, add-ons for the Marlins were extremely limited. It’s only in the last 5-10 years that any amount of stuff for the Marlins has become available and popular, where Ruger 10/22 accessories have been selling like hotcakes for 30+ years.

      The Marlin/Glenfields were decent enough rifles, but not really in the same class as the Rugers, and anyone who was shooting semi-auto .22 rifles in the 80s/90s and later, and had experience with both, should be able to confirm this.

    • The Marlin Model 60 is probably one of the guns for which I’d charge a premium to disassemble, clean and inspect. I’ve not had to deal with any of them to date, since they’re not popular in this area, the Ruger 10/22 and older .22’s seem to rule the roost.

      The first Model 60 I met up with caused me to turn the air bluer than I’ve ever done so over a firearm.

      After that, I started to use a little bit of masking tape to contain the C-clips from flying around the room.

    • I shan’t argue takedown with DG, I’ll just offer that they work, a helluva a lot more accurately than the POS 10/22.

      I thoroughly know that the 10/22 has a metric f-ton more accessory gee-gaws. Which means precisely f-all when you’re plinking at 100M. Or actually trying to kill game. The 10/22 is no Nylon 66.

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