Since the firearms buyback following the 2019 Christchurch mosque shooting the only semi-auto rifle Kiwi's can own are .22 LR's with mag capacity restricted to 10 rounds. This has lead our 3-gun and multi gun shooters to embrace what the Europeans call "Mini Rifle" in lead of their centre fire rifles.

I have just returned from two days shooting in and acting as an RO for our IPSC Mini Riflefle Nationals" and thought I'd share some purely subjective and non-scientific observations.

I have grouped the guns into 15-22's, Rgger 10-22's and all the rest, invariably using the AR platform.

First the Ruger's. I know that there are many 10-22 owners out there who are fanatical about their chosen platforms but my experience has been different. Now both myself and my brother owned Min-14's which we had to surrender. They were both nice rifles with later day barrels and so accurate out to 100 meters. But as for 10-22's, the only one I personally have fired had a horrible, about 20ib, trigger and I just could not hold it and fire on a bunny sized target past 20 meters.

There were three 10-22's in my squad. One was a stock standard stainless/plastic used in the "open sight" category. The factory magazine, which the shooter used to pre-charge the chamber, would not drop free at all. It needed to be pried out with a pocket knife. During stages the shooter had a number of double and one triple magazine which he was able to pull free, but that single mag was a problem.

The other two were customised, one heavily. The heavily customised gun would not extract a live round from the chamber with the bolt, it had to be fired into the rear berm every time. It was also prone to misfeeding from the mag into the chamber.

The second one, lighter customised, would fail to extract around 50% of the time but misfed more. I suspect that ammo choice was responsible for the misfeeds, but the failure to extract?

Both rifles should have been set up properly by whoever customised them, who also should have advised what ammunition they had been tested with.

"The rest" of the AR platform ranged from an expensive Crisp to a "budget" (under the price of the 15-22 basic package) Tipman. The Tipman is made from aluminium and has a reputation for the frame cracking and the stock tube collapsing under use.

Only one (I forget the brand) was absolutely reliable. It was used by a father and son duo, the 17 year old son becoming National Champion, and was basically flawless in operation. As for the rest, there were misfeeds and failures to extract among almost all of them during the two days. Again I suspect ammo selection issues as I will explain shortly.

Now for the 15-22's. Yesterday I shot my own basic spotter model. About 4 months ago I took it to the range after cleaning and sighted in a new Crossfire red dot. I put it straight back into the safe afterwards. A month ago I took it to the range and test fired two full magazines. Again it went back into the safe. I used it all yesterday over eight stages, including two 40 round stages without any issues at all arising.

Two of my mates have almost identical rifles to mine. One suffered a single misfeed I saw, and late today an ejected case caught between the bolt a breech face. The other, like mine ran flawlessly.

This morning I had to be at the range, a 50 minute drive from home, by 7 am. I set the alarm for 5 am and left home at 5:45 allowing me time to pick up a coffee on the way. At the first hit of caffeine on my still tiered body I realised I had left my rifle in the safe, and it was too late to go back and get it!

Luckily my mate offered me his gun to shoot. Again it performed flawlessly with both my CCI Standard velocity and his copper washed high velocity ammo.

Of the other five or so 15-22's in our squad of 16, there were very few misfeeds or failure to extract.

Over the course of the two days ammo selection was discussed several times. It seems that those with the better performing guns were using CCI Standard ammo. Any issues arose with high velocity, especially hollow points designed for small game.

I accept this comparison is unscientific and many issues will probably be ammo related, but my observations over the competition made me glad I had researched and selected the 15-22, which one UK YouTube video called the "best" mini rifle available, as well as the ammunition they seem to prefer.

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View from down under

I own a 15/22 and three 10/22's so I believe I can offer some informed comment on the subject, but first to address your comments regarding your experience with 10/22's. My comments are at least as unscientific and subjective as yours.

The problems with the two customized 10/22's really don't count towards an objective review of 10/22's, because they were customized. There is no telling what the owners did or didn't do correctly by adding or modifying aftermarket parts. Hard to hold Ruger or 10/22's in general accountable for people fiddling around with them. I won't buy someone else's customized 10/22 for the same reason I won't buy customized 1911's.

As for the stock 10/22 not dropping the magazine, that's a magazine issue. I have a box full of 10/22 magazine, both factory and after market. Every once in a while I run across a 10/22 magazine that is a bit thicker than spec and it won't drop free. I set them aside and when I have time I've always been able to slim them up by buffing the sides with a bench grinder and a very fine wheel and they work fine afterwards.

As for the trigger, I've never seen one with a horrible 20 lb trigger. 10/22 trigger assemblies are simple devices and I've performed a complete disassemble on them many times. Without seeing the rifle first hand, I'd guess that you had one that was extremely dirty, but that's just a guess.

I assure you if you were to handle and shoot my three 10/22's you'd walk away with a completely different experience.

I bought my 15/22 over 15 years ago and it's had a lot of rounds through it and has operated trouble free. It has been plenty reliable with most bulk .22LR ammo and accurate enough. I have no complaints with my 15/22. If I were limited to 10 round magazines, it would lesson my appeal to the AR style platform a great deal.

If I had to choose on keeping only one (and fortunately I don't) I'd keep my Ruger 10/22 Takedown LITE. Only because I find the 10/22 design to be a bit more robust and simpler to work on than the 15/22, and if I was limited to 10 rounds I much prefer the rotary magazine. Lastly, I am very pleased with the accuracy of all three of my 10/22's.

I'm just glad, at least so far, that I'm not limited with the restrictions that you guys find yourselves in.

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Live long and prosper

I have very little experience with the 15-22 less than 500 rounds.
I have 50 years experience with 10/22 and have 3 of them.
My 15-22 is the pistol version. It works .
The 10-22’s I have are older model with metal trigger groups.
They do not jam unless you fail to clean them once in a while
Or feed them junk ammo.
I don’t think the 15-22 a better gun. And would trade mine
for any walnut stocked 10/22 in good shape at the drop of a hat.

I own and shoot both 10-22’s and 15-22’s regularly. Both are good, accurate rifles but don’t really interchange. My main matches are an informal, timed steel shoot and CMP Sporter Rimfire. There is no way a 10-22 will be competitive in a timed competition that requires a magazine change. This is where the 15-22 shines, reliable and fast magazine changes with last round hold-open. The CMP Sporter Rimfire match is three position and allows the use of a sling. Personally, I can shoot the 10-22 better from prone and sitting than the 15-22 and it is easier to sling up. The 15-22 requires an aftermarket free float handguard to use a sling and even then can exhibit change in poi with a sling. I wouldn’t give either rifle up.

Two words: Kidd Supergrade

I currently own a 15/22 and over the years have owned or shot about a dozen 10/22’s.
My unscientific perception is the older 10/22’s were very reliable, but the newer the gun is the more likely it is to have fit ( mag easy in or out) or reliability issues.
The newest one I have owned was bought about 15 years ago, and never gave me any problems. I have seen a number of shooters with recent production 10/22’s, and a good friend of mine bought a new “target” version with the thumb hole stock. We shoot nrl22 matches, and despite tinkering with replacement parts could never get through a stage without at least one malfunction.
I think the broad availability of aftermarket stuff for the 10/22 or any gun really, is a double edge sword. While it is nice to have options, and in some cases like Kidd or Volquartsen parts ( critical of course is proper fit and installation!) they can be improvements over factory, there are just as many marginal quality poorly spec’s parts out there that don’t help or may even hurt reliability.
The only issue I have had with my 15/22 is it did launch the extractor out of the bolt once. Luckily I was on an indoor range and managed to recover all the parts, reassemble and it has been fine since ( I did obtain a couple spares just in case though)

It is undeniable that 22’s are more finicky and ammo sensitive than center fires.

In a lot of cases, ammo makes a huge difference in reliability and in precision shooting events accuracy.

Not sure of your ammo availability in NZ, but here in the states ( some my opinion but my experiences and those of others backs me up on this) when it comes to general use ammo ( I am assuming your matches are not a high accuracy demand type of shooting)
The best American made ammo is CCI with the top options CCI standard for a lower velocity, or mini mags for high velocity.
Another good choice is something call CCI AR which has the high velocity of the mini mag, but with a copper plated bullet with a profile similar to the standard.

What is to be avoided like the plague if you want any sort of reliability in a 22 is anything made by Remington or Winchester, with federal just slightly better. And any brand bulk pack ammo tends to be very poor quality.
Especially in a match, I will only use ammo proven for reliability plus the level of accuracy I need for the job at hand ( for low accuracy demand stuff, I use CCI, for accuracy I go to European ammo like SK and lapua)

When properly cared for and assembled, using suitable quality ammo, the 10/22 can be just fine.

However in a speed / action type event, the superior ergonomics of the 15/22 are a distinct advantage.

Both my 10/22 and 15-22 are superb. Lucky I guess. I prefer the 15-22. Speaking of, with your PM "moving on", will NZ have a chance of relaxing the firearms laws?

I've owned 4 stock 10/22s and 2 stock 15-22s and one modified SBR 15-22.

I love all of them with quality ammo. The only difference is the 10/22s start jamming at about 350-400 rds. The 15-22 goes about 900 rds before jamming in my experience.