The .22s of Rhineland Arms

Guns Magazine, Dec, 2005 by Holt Bodinson

It's amazing to see some of the creative products flowing from smaller gunmakers around the country. Rhineland Arms of Lewisville, Texas, is one of those hot beds of innovation. Rhineland has appeared between the covers of GUNS before. They're the outfit that supplies those neat, do-it-yourself kits for converting surplus Mausers and Enfields into handy .45 ACP-chambered carbines. Their latest venture into high-tech rimfires is just as interesting. Rhineland calls their new rimfire the R22.

The head honcho, gun designer and machinist at Rhineland Arms is Thomas Seidel. When I asked Seidel what he was trying to achieve in bringing to the marketplace another .22 autoloader, he said, "I set out to make an attractive target rifle that would cost less than $500, look good--indeed, look distinctive--and still be California approved. At the same time I wanted to use as many existing parts as possible to give the customer the ability to fine tune the rifle to his needs inexpensively.

Best Of All Worlds

"The bolt is a slightly modified Ruger 10/22 bolt and feeds from standard Ruger rotary magazines. The trigger is a standard AR-15 trigger, and the trigger pack can accept aftermarket AR-15 target trigger assemblies. The button-rifled barrel with my special chamber is free-floating within the handguard, and headspace is adjusted using the Savage-type locking nut system. Barrels can be easily changed," Seidel added.

"I machine the receiver, trigger housing and magazine well from solid 6061 aluminum while the scope rail/handguard is machined from an extrusion. The stock is a scaled-down HK variant. All the major assemblies are held together by 5/32 hex-head bolts and can be readily separated for cleaning, modification or repair.

"I am sure I put more math into this rifle than I ever did into my high school and college homework."

Sci-Fi Looks

Before long, I had two R22s to examine and shoot. A sporter with a 3/4" diameter barrel, and a 1" bull-barreled model. To say they look "distinctive" is an understatement. The R22 looks like it just came off a Star Wars movie set. It is racy, it is spacey and between its anodized aluminum and blued metal, it is black, but it is made like a Swiss watch. The machining, assembly, and finish on all parts are first rate.

The button-rifled barrels are made from tough 4140 steel and meet the minimum barrel length requirement by being 16.5" long. A straight lathe cut across the end of the barrel completes the crown.

One of the most distinctive parts of the R22 has to be the massive ventilated scope rail and handguard with the cross-section of a FN/FAL forearm. The Picatinny rib alone is 17" long permitting the mounting of any type of sighting device. What's not obvious from the pictures is the handguard is drilled and tapped in a number places for other accessory mounts including sling swivels. The handguard is very hand filling, plus, being flat on the bottom, it's a stable platform over the bags.

The R22 is a comfortable rifle to shoot. The AR-15-type pistol grip with the selector-switch-safety at your right thumb gives you the familiar feel of an AR-15. The trigger pull on the R22s measured 5.5 pounds. The sporter trigger had a bit of creep, though. The straight stock and comb line feel good and correctly position your eye down the Picatinny rail. They're chunky rifles. The sporter weighs 6.75 pounds and measures 35" overall while the bull-barrel model weighs in at 8.25 pounds.

Accurate And Fun

How did they perform? Like all .22s, they had their likes and dislikes when it came to ammunition. The bull-barrel model liked them hot and turned in its best 50-yard performance with PMC Zapper (1/4") and Aguila Super Maximum (5/16" at 1,650 fps!). The sporter barrel did, too, with 1/2" groups being generated with PMC Zapper, Aguila Super Maximum, CCI Stinger, and Winchester Super-X HE The target ammunition on hand was Federal Champion, and it delivered 3/8" groups in both guns.

The only serious feeding problem I had was with Winchester Power Points. The R22 didn't care for the broad hollowpoint nose of the Power Points one bit.

Working with both the steel lipped and plastic "Hot Lips" magazines by Butler Creek, I would highly recommend the steel-lipped magazines for the utmost reliability and longevity.

I might add that all the testing was done with a loaner Leupold 4-12X VX-II with adjustable objective, and I was quite impressed with its clarity and adjustments.

In closing, I asked Seidel what Rhineland Arms had in the works for the future. "Well, we're now chambering the R22 in Hornady's .17 Mach 2 and we'll have a HK MP5-looking model by Christmas," he said, "and hopefully, I will not see a Chinese copy!"

R22

Maker: Rhineland Arms, Inc.
1301, W. FM 407, Suite 201
Lewisville, TX 75077
(972) 342-2105
www.rhinelandarms.com

   ACTION TYPE: Semi-auto, blowback
       CALIBER: .22 Long Rifle
      CAPACITY: 10 (also uses hi-cap mags)
 BARREL LENGTH: 16.5"
OVERALL LENGTH: 35"
        WEIGHT: 6.75-8.25 pounds
        FINISH: Blackened
        SIGHTS: Picatinny rail
         STOCK: Synthetic
         PRICE: $425 in 22 LR;
                $440 in .17 Mach 2
         SCOPE: Leupold VX-II
         POWER: 4-12x40mm
        CLICKS: 1/4 MOA
    EYE RELIEF: 4.7" (4X), 3.7" (12X)
     OBJECTIVE: Adjustable