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Rimfire magic rifles

Rimfire magic rifles

Roger Francis is the innovative proprietor of South Yorkshire Shooting Supplies, and his latest brainwave is an improved chassis system to fit his own Rimfire Magic action - and all Ruger type actions as well.

…And For My Next Trick

The Rimfire Magic action takes Ruger magazines and uses the cast bolt of the Ruger 10/22. Similarities end there however, suffice to say I do not own a Ruger built 10/22 action, even though I have lost count of the number I have shot and tested over the last fifteen odd years. I do on the other hand own and shoot two Rimfire Magic actions. One is set up as a Mini Rifle and the other is for Gallery Rifle target competitions.

The Mini Rifle version is used solely with high capacity magazines, it has a green paint job and a gangster grip (as all the squaddies I know call a forward hand grip). I also fitted my own quick magazine release system made out a piece of steel bar bent to shape. It has a standard Ruger barrel cut down to just over 300mm with a ported SYSS muzzle brake; it is fed on CCI mini mag ammo to ensure it does not jam during the heat of a Mini Rifle stage. It’s fair comment to say it’s the rifle to beat at the club for MR and so impressed was I with the action that I wanted a dedicated Gallery rifle gun built using the same action.

My Gallery rifle has a tasteful bright orange paint job courtesy of my good friend Dave Wylde of Valkyrie Rifles. I went for a Volquartsen stainless steel fluted barrel (as I thought the Mini Rifle gun a bit too light for TP1 and MT events) which added considerable weight onto the front of the gun but was superbly accurate. I shot this at the Phoenix meeting at Bisley but struggled a bit – in fact my scores actually went down compared to when I used the lighter Mini Rifle Rimfire Magic rifle on TP1 and Multi Target. I had a bit of a better shoot at the Derby Open with a win in Multi Target in “A” class with the long fluted barrel. I was still finding the barrel heavy and even more so when I changed scope. I took off a Leapers 3-12*44 compact and put on a Bushnell 2.5-16*42, which is a much bigger and heavier scope. After I did that my mind was made up so I swapped the big heavy barrel for a lighter 12 and a half inch Volquartsen carbon fibre barrel, this transformed the rifle and made it much easier to shoot. Time and the National at Bisley will tell if I was right. 

Losing Zero

Enough of the action behind SYSS’s current success and back to the RM22 chassis; the beauty of such a system is the capability to “bolt on” different butt stocks, barrel shrouds and even pistol grips to suit the individual shooter. Roger had been using Nordic Components chassis systems for five years for this reason and the fact that it looks like a “Black rifle“.

SYSS’s Rimfire Magic aluminium actions have been made for over three years with an integral scope rail. SYSS also made stainless steel actions using the separate screw on scope rail attachment purposely for use with the popular Nordic chassis system. This is because the Nordic chassis (and the new Ruger SR-22 system) use the tapped screw holes in the top of the action which are normally used for fitting a scope rail.

The top section of Nordic/Ruger SR-22 chassis is screwed into the action via these tapped holes and this top section has a scope rail machined onto it. They have done this for a very good reason, it makes the sight rail the same height as an M4, so it can be used for training purposes with super cheap .22R ammo. The problem with this system is you have to take the top section off to remove the action from the chassis for cleaning. This takes the sight with it, thus losing your sight’s zero as your red dot or scope is attached to this removable section. That’s why Roger came up with the RM22 chassis, he saw this major sight zero losing flaw in the Nordic chassis system.

His RM22 chassis does not have this separate top sight rail section. He uses his alloy Rimfire Magic action which has a 145mm long integral Picatinny type sight rail on its top, so any optical sight can be attached here as normal. The one piece alloy action fits into the RM22 chassis, for cleaning the action with the sight attached can be taken out of the RM22 chassis. That is why Roger no longer now even makes a Stainless Steel Rimfire Magic action which has the separate scope rail. He has a few Stainless Steel actions left in stock but as they say “when these are gone they are gone“.

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All Rimfire Magic actions come with a new Ruger factory cast bolt with EDM extractor, recoil buffer and take down screw and factory bolt handle assembly. The actions are fitted with SYSS’s own CNC machined trigger housing featuring fully tuned trigger, automatic bolt release, extended magazine release and trigger overtravel screw. They come as standard in either in a black or silver Duracoat finish.

The Test Rifle

To fully test the system Roger put together a new RM22 chassis with his aforementioned aluminium action and SYSS‘s tuned trigger unit. The only change on the action was a Power Custom Titanium extended bolt handle; I have these fitted to both my own guns. It was also fitted with a Rimfire Magic barrel made for SYSS by the Green Mountain barrel company of the USA. These are standard profile match grade barrels threaded ½ UNF with a 1:16 twist rate. I really rate Green Mountain barrels and was keen to see what the Rimfire Magic version shot like.

The chassis was fitted with a Choate A2 solid butt stock and one of the many hand guards SYSS have in stock. The RM22 chassis can take any M4/M16 hand guard and Roger keeps a wide selection of these in stock. They are free floating attaching by a standard hand guard thread at the front of the chassis. The RM22 chassis to fit over the action can be purchased on its own for £150 for those who already have a butt stock, pistol grip and hand guard. More popular at SYSS is selling the complete RM22 kit to fit an existing Ruger 10/22 barrelled action. Due to the choice of pistol grip, butt stock and hand guard this can range from £320-£380, depending upon the customers requirements. The other beauty of the system is that it is truly ambidextrous too.

I fitted a Sightron 10*42 scope for range testing at 50m along with my own muzzle brake, which screwed directly onto the threaded barrel. It turned out to be another blisteringly accurate Green Mountain/Rimfire Magic barrel, shooting a 9.9mm centre to centre five shot group at 50m with bog standard CCI sub-sonic ammo. For a mini rifle event such accuracy is a bit wasted, but I have a mate who has bought a Rimfire Magic RM22 system with a 16.5” barrel for both Mini Rifle and pest control work, and boy does that shoot well too.

Reliability

It’s really the rifle’s reliability that counts the most for the short range work in Mini Rifle events. To check the Rimfire Magic’s reliability I used high capacity Tactical Inc. TI25 round magazines and filled them up with 25 rounds. It sounds a bit daft, but for those in the know if you want 100% feeding with never ever any jams then only putting 20 rounds in a TI25 is the way to go. I have fired thousands of rounds out of my six TI25 magazines with only 20 rounds in and never had a jam, only when I try to go higher than 20 have I ever had any problems. Until now that it! The rifle simply would not miss-feed. I tried my damnedest with differing ammo, Mini-Mag mixed with sub-sonic, but no, the thing kept on going even with 25 rounds in the magazine… well you learn something every day.

Later on I tested the new Ruger BX-25 high capacity magazine and this works much better than the TI25 I must say. SYSS sell the BX-25 for £32, so I’ll be stocking up as soon as the next shipment comes in; they are going like the proverbial hot cakes. As for the furniture Roger fitted, the hand guard was very comfortable to use, having a large knurled area for grip. The butt stock did not look very tactical, or rather not as tactical as a collapsing type but it gave the rifle a pull length of 14 ½ inches (370mm) so it fitted me perfectly. 

Conclusion

I do like the RM22 chassis system and would have liked to have had that choice when I had my Rimfire Magic Mini Rifle made up. The basic RM22 with a Rimfire Magic action comes in at £850-920, depending on what the buyer wants. The test rifle itself was the most reliable semi auto rifle I have ever tested, and coupled with its accuracy I was very upset to hand it back to Roger. With certain items getting harder and harder to get out of the States it’s good to know SYSS and Rimfire Magic are well ahead of the game and actually producing equipment better than our American cousins.

PRICE:
£150 chassis (without butt stock, pistol grip or hand guard) see SYSS build list of options for complete chassis £320-380

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gun
features

  • Model: Rimfire Magic RM22 based .22R rifle
  • Features: Modular chassis system for Rimfire Magic or Ruger 10/22 actions
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