Volquartsen 22 LB pistol
By: Mike Wells
Mike Wells gets to grips with the Volquartsen Long Barreled .22R pistol
As a UK pistol shooter, albeit restricted to shooting in Belgium, Germany & France, I was delighted to be asked to review the latest Section One long arm described as a long barreled pistol, for the purposes of marketing.
The Volquartsen is derived from a Ruger Mk III .22 LR pistol. Mike Chinery of Stockade products is the importer of this unique product, which is made especially for us Brits, as the UK mainland is the only place in Europe where cartridge pistols are prohibited. Mike and his daughter Gaynor are well known on the Gallery Rifle Competition circuit and have been able to work with USA based Volquartsen to design this high quality Long Barrel Pistol specifically for the UK market.
600mm/300mm – UK legal
The polished stainless steel beauty arrived, the first thing that impressed me was the superbly contoured Hogue rubber grips, and it felt great as soon as I picked it up. To be UK legal the Volquartsen must be 600mm overall in length with a barrel of 300mm. To achieve the 600mm overall length a stainless balance rod is permanently fitted to the bottom of the magazine well. The balance rod is offset and did not touch my forearm, when aiming; in fact the balance is perfect.
The Volquartsen is equipped with two ten round magazines and is a semi automatic action. The customizing process starts by Volquartsen tuning the action using their own Ruger MKIII accuracy kit, as well as installing a pretravel adjustment screw to the trigger to achieve a crisp, clean 2.25 lb. trigger pull.
Volquartsen use only stainless steel “match” digitally gauged barrel blanks on all of their pistol models, and use the same chamber and bore dimensions on each of their pistols models, as well. The chamber is hand cut using Volquartsens own unique reamer. The feed ramp is also hand polished to ensure proper functioning.
Each pistol comes standard with a Volquartsen TL Rear Adjustable Sight and a .125” wide front dovetail sight. This model also sported a Weaver style mount to accommodate a red dot optic or scope if required.
How does it perform?
I set up a PL14 target at twenty yards on the range. I used standard Geco Club .22 LR cartridges, and loaded each magazine with five rounds. The Ruger cocking grip positioned at the rear of the slide is quite unique as opposed to a slide normally found in semi auto pistols such as the Browning Buckmark or the Colt 1911 derivatives. The cocking was smooth and effortless, the trigger was crisp with no hint of creep, the first round as a “sighter” was a little high at 12 o’clock in the 4 ring, the following nine rounds grouped well, for a first time outing without prior practice. The 300mm lightweight carbon fibre barrel shroud has a compensator permanently fixed to the muzzle; this is topped with a superb green fibre optic foresight.
The balance of this firearm is superb, to date the finest example of these section one firearms that I have had the pleasure to shoot. The retail price of £2000 reflects the sheer quality and craftsmanship that this firearm offers.
The Volquartsen Long barreled pistol to give its marketing title is a superb piece of engineering and well worth the money, as they say “you get what you pay for” and in my book this is the best on the market.
Mike Chinery informs us that future variants will include a Tactical model, Long Range Pistol and a Full Race Bianchi Gun that we will bring you news of as soon as they are available.
| Technical Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Model: | Volquartsen Long Barreled .22R pistol |
| Action: | Semi-automatic |
| Calibre: | .22 Rimfire |
| Capacity: | Two 10 round magazines supplied |
| Overall: | length: 600mm |
| Weight: | 1.425kg |
| Barrel length: | 300mm |
| Trigger weight: | 2.25lb |
| Sights: | TL adjustable rearsight/ Hi viz foresight |
| Price: | £2000 |
All Prices Are Guides Due to the Changes in US & European Exchange Rates
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