Ruger 10/22 Carbon Fiber Rifle: The X-22 Factor

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Ruger’s new Carbon X-22 is possibly the snazziest semiauto rimfire I’ve ever put my hands on. It’s fitted with a 16.1-inch barrel sleeved in carbon fiber and a lightweight Magpul MOE X-22 stock, and the whole caboodle weighs just 3.5 pounds.

A contender for the most popular .22 semiauto ever—more than 7 million had been sold by 2015, which is the most recent number I have—Ruger’s 10/22 design features a simple, incredibly reliable blowback action fed by a unique rotary 10-round magazine. Initially, Bill Ruger gave the 10/22 styling reminiscent of the M1 carbine of World War II and Korean War fame. It has since morphed into myriad configurations ranging from full-stocked Mannlicher types to chassis-stocked precision variations. It is easily modified and is a favorite for custom builds using aftermarket stocks, barrels and so forth.

I doubt buyers will feel the need to make any modifications to the new Carbon X-22 version. For enthusiasts of light weight, excellent accuracy and extremely good ergonomics, it’s just right.

This rifle’s heart is the classic 10/22 action, with some refinements. Each Carbon X-22 is fitted with Ruger’s BX-Trigger, which is a darned nice go-switch. It’s been engineered to have a distinct reset, which is important to those who revel in rapid-fire capabilities, and minimal overtravel, which is crucial to accuracy aficionados. It’s advertised to have a light, crisp pull of 2.5 to three pounds. My test sample measured a tad heavier than that, registering three pounds, six ounces on a Lyman digital scale. Still, it’s an excellent trigger with a very good feel.

Refinement

Another excellent refinement of the original 10/22 action is the addition of an extended magazine release lever. It’s molded against the front profile of the trigger guard, and it’s easily activated by the tip of the trigger finger. The lever is ambidextrous, featuring a minimalist flare on each side, and it’s low in profile so you won’t bump it and drop your magazine accidentally. But at the same time, it’s perfectly placed so you’ll never miss it when in a hurry to reload.

As for the trigger guard itself, it and the complete “bottom metal” assembly are made of a high-impact composite that Ruger lists as heat-stabilized and glass-filled. It’s tougher than a wheelbarrow and much lighter than metal.

Up top, the action has a factory-installed optic rail made of one solid piece of high-strength aluminum. This sure makes it easy to mount a scope. To wring out its accuracy potential at the range I mounted Steiner’s new 2-12x42mm H6Xi compact precision scope. It has parallax adjustment that ranges from 25 yards to infinity, so it’s ideal for accurate work with a rimfire.

A matte black finish covers the complete action assembly. Composite parts are the natural black of the glass-filled polymer, and the machined aluminum action itself is anodized.

The Action

As I like to say, the heart of a rifle is the action, but the soul lives in its barrel. The Carbon X-22 has a beautiful soul. Made of cold-hammer-forged stainless steel, it’s sleeved in carbon fiber and features barrel tensioning.

Tensioning is an accurizing method pioneered by handgun silhouette shooters decades ago. In essence, tensioning applies a bit of stretch to the core of a barrel that’s sleeved inside a shell. It’s a technique being employed in some of the most accurate centerfire barrels on the market today.

Carbon X-22 muzzles are threaded 1/2x28, making it easy to install a suppressor or other muzzle device, and each rifle comes with a tasteful thread protector. I confess I don’t enjoy cleaning out the added blowback fouling that finds its way into the action when shooting a semiautomatic .22 rimfire suppressed, but it’s worth the effort.

Barreled actions are mated with Magpul’s MOE X-22 stock, which is factory-finished with Magpul’s exclusive TSP texture and white speckle on black paint. The MOE X-22 is the perfect stock to marry with lightweight hardware, as it’s super light at 18.9 ounces and features wonderful ergonomics.

Stock and Build

Sling swivel attachment points are molded into the stock at the tip of the fore-end and in the toe of the stock. A short, two-slot section of M-Lok rail is inletted into the bottom of the fore-end, making it easy to install M-Lok-compatible accessories. For accuracy testing, I installed a disk-lock adapter for a Spartan Vidarr bipod.

Naturally, the fore-end channel in the Magpul MOE X-22 stock is free-floated, ensuring that no accuracy-degrading contact between barrel and stock will occur.

Ruger’s composite trigger guard and magazine assembly fit nice and flush, showcasing Magpul’s attention to detail and quality. The pistol grip has a near-vertical angle and is quite slim. The resulting feel is fantastic; it positions the shooting hand and wrist torque-free and the index finger comfortably on the trigger. Trigger reach is close enough for small hands to manage easily yet not cramped for beefy hands like mine.

Aft, the buttstock features a cutout profile on the underside of the stock, which I presume reduces weight and gives the stock a racy look. Contrary to modern precision-shooting design, the comb of the stock has a discernible rearward slant. Although it doesn’t provide the best cheek weld, it seems to help the little .22 mount naturally to the shoulder for a lively, quick-handling feel.

Rounding Up Rounds

In all, the 10/22 Carbon X-22 is a super attractive, ergonomic and appealing package. Enough so that it elicited involuntary “Oohs” from my two boys and me when we unboxed it.

How does it shoot? To find out, I scrounged up several different .22 LR loads, set up a target on the 50-yard line and went prone with the bipod up front and a bunny-ear sandbag under the buttstock.

My test ammo selection included a variety of loads. Zippiest was CCI’s 32-grain Segmented HP, which is a hunting load that features a three-piece fragmenting projectile that I’ve found is often surprisingly accurate. It’s rated at 1,640 fps, which I figured was probably optimistic considering the 16.1-inch barrel. You can compare real-world velocity in the accompanying chart.

CCI’s Clean-22 ammo features polymer-coated projectiles said to reduce airborne lead particulates for indoor shooting, while SK Magazine is a standard-velocity German-made bulk ammo from a company renowned for affordable but very accurate rimfire fodder.

Accuracy

Remington .22 Thunderbolt ammo features a simple lead roundnose bullet and is often more accurate than it has any right to be. To this collection I added Winchester’s classic Super-X roundose load.

I chose to test the standard-velocity SK ammo first, figuring its lead roundnose bullets coated with the company’s excellent lubricant would give the fresh, new barrel a bit of seasoning. Interestingly, it generated very slow muzzle velocity in the 16.1-inch barrel, averaging just 820 fps. It was so mild it failed to cycle the blowback action most of the time. I have no doubt a zestier but still subsonic standard-velocity load cooking up 1,000 fps or so in the 16.1-inch barrel would have run the action just fine.

My old accuracy-standard Thunderbolt load didn’t shoot well at all in the Carbon X-22. Resulting groups averaged 2.29 inches, which is nearly twice as wide as all the other loads. Most surprising was Winchester’s Super-X ammo, which turned in a startling 0.55-inch average at 50 yards. That’s terrific accuracy from almost any rimfire, let alone an ultralight semiauto.

Even in the cold, the Carbon X-22 ran with stellar reliability with all high-velocity ammo. No surprise there; it’s a Ruger 10/22. Even though I was bundled up in winter clothing, handling was as good as my initial impressions had suggested it would be. The little rimfire carbine shoulders well, points naturally and balances wonderfully.

Sound Suppression

Because the Carbon X-22 is so ideally suited for use with a suppressor, as soon as I’d completed the standard RifleShooter accuracy testing, I spun a three-ounce SilencerCo Warlock 22 rimfire suppressor on the muzzle.

Sound reduction was gratifying. When the X-22 was loaded with the slow-velocity SK rounds, I could just about hear the firing pin strike. I’d hoped that the suppressor would increase back-pressure enough to cycle the blowback action, but it was not to be. With supersonic ammo the little rifle was slightly louder but ran without a hiccup.

Ruger’s new Carbon X-22 with Magpul MOE stock is a far cry from Bill Ruger’s original 10/22. It retains the incredibly reliable action but boasts a cutting-edge stock made of durable composites.

The stainless barrel is short and has no sights and is wrapped in carbon fiber, plus it’s optimized for use with a silencer. From recoil pad to muzzle, the Carbon X-22 is made of materials that shrug off abuse and corrosion and abrasion while providing top-shelf performance and reliability. Suggested retail price is $649. I suspect you’ll find the Carbon X-22 on dealers’ shelves for less than that, but even at full price I think this handy, accurate, ergonomic and reliable rimfire carbine is worth every penny.

Ruger 10/22 Carbon Specs

• Type: blowback-operated semiauto rimfire
• Caliber: .22 Long Rifle
• Capacity: 10-round rotary magazine
• Barrel: 16.1 in. carbon fiber; threaded 1/2x28
• Overall Length: 34.1 in.
• Weight: 3 lb. 8 oz.
• Stock: Magpul MOE X-22; textured white speckle on black
• Finish: matte black
• Trigger: BX; 3 lb. 6 oz. pull (measured)
• Safety: crossbolt
• Sights: none; Picatinny optics rail
• MSRP: $649
• Manufacturer: Ruger, ruger.com

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