A SurpriSe pAckAge - ANSCHÜTZ - Modern Sporting Rifles (MSR)
A SurpriSe pAckAge - ANSCHÜTZ - Modern Sporting Rifles (MSR)
A SurpriSe pAckAge - ANSCHÜTZ - Modern Sporting Rifles (MSR)
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Testfire<br />
By Scott traill<br />
A <strong>SurpriSe</strong><br />
<strong>pAckAge</strong><br />
Brand: Anschutz Model: RX22 Semi Auto .22<br />
The email from Dead Eye Dicks<br />
advised me that the next rifle for<br />
Testfire would be an anschutz .22<br />
rimfire rifle, so naturally I thought<br />
OK, another european bolt action<br />
wood/blued sporting rifle to<br />
review that would probably be<br />
superbly accurate and nice to look<br />
at: fine.<br />
The package turns up at my<br />
workshop, but inside isn’t an<br />
anschutz bolt action .22 rifle,<br />
it’s an fn SCaR 5.56mm tactical<br />
rifle. Hang on though, what’s that<br />
written on the side? anschutz. Oh<br />
and it says cal .22LR as well. I heft<br />
the rifle and drop the mag out, yep<br />
definitely a .22 rimfire. neat.<br />
The rifle didn’t come with any<br />
supporting info, so a quick check<br />
on the net told the story. The<br />
anschutz <strong>MSR</strong> (modern sporting<br />
rifle) RX22 is the product of a joint<br />
development by three German<br />
companies; anschutz, German<br />
Sport Guns (GSG) and eSC ULM.<br />
The result is a semi automatic,<br />
magazine fed .22 rifle that has<br />
a similar outward appearance,<br />
at least to me, to the fn SCaR<br />
which I’m slightly familiar with<br />
anyway. Wow!<br />
The rifle felt good in the hand<br />
90 / rodandrifle.co.nz / jan/feb 2013<br />
Rimfire rifles are great<br />
to test as you can fire a<br />
lot of shots quite quickly<br />
without having to worry<br />
about barrels heating<br />
up and ruining potential<br />
accuracy. And of course<br />
since it’s a .22 autoloader,<br />
I had plenty of ammo to<br />
burn through.<br />
and for those familiar with<br />
operating an aR15 platform,<br />
everything’s in the same place,<br />
except for the cocking/charging<br />
handle which is above the barrel<br />
and forward of the receiver, similar<br />
to the H&K G3, rather than behind<br />
the bolt carrier.<br />
already fitted was a Minox<br />
3-9x40 Za3 scope in steel Millet<br />
rings. It appeared to be mounted<br />
quite high – which is normal on<br />
these types of rifles due to the<br />
cheekpiece being above the line of<br />
the bore. When shouldered quickly<br />
everything felt good, with the eye<br />
central to the eyepiece lens and<br />
a good cheek weld on the stock.<br />
Tubular type rifles and aR15s are<br />
the same, requiring higher than<br />
usual scope rings. I noticed a set<br />
of open sights was also attached<br />
to the scope rail. The rifle looked<br />
to have a folding stock, and even<br />
had the locking clip fitted to the<br />
receiver to keep the butt in place<br />
Four rabbits and the RX22.<br />
once folded. but everything was<br />
locked solid, which was expected,<br />
as a folder would have quickly<br />
made it a restricted weapon in<br />
this country.<br />
The net also revealed that the<br />
<strong>MSR</strong> comes in four different<br />
versions, Desert and blackhawk<br />
models, with the side folding stock<br />
collapsible for length and cheek<br />
weld, and Precision and Precision<br />
black models with fixed wooden<br />
stocks and fore-end components.<br />
Our model was the Desert<br />
model but had obviously had the<br />
stock pinned to satisfy import<br />
requirements. It did however have<br />
the adjustable comb feature left<br />
untouched. The colour also looked<br />
more like Dark earth rather than<br />
Desert Tan, but maybe German soil<br />
is a different colour?<br />
Most of the exterior components,<br />
including the magazine, looked to<br />
be made of an injection moulded<br />
plastic polymer, which I’m a fan of<br />
when it’s used wisely. It looked like<br />
the sort of rifle that would be a lot<br />
of fun to shoot so let’s have a look<br />
inside and then shoot it. If it shot<br />
as well as anschutz claimed, then<br />
some local rabbits were going to<br />
have their day ruined.
the upper receiver/<br />
action<br />
Like an aR15, the RX22 has<br />
what’s commonly referred to as<br />
an upper and a lower, the main<br />
components that make up the<br />
gun. The upper houses the bolt,<br />
bolt carrier and barrel, while the<br />
lower accommodates the trigger,<br />
hammer mech and magazine.<br />
both the upper and lower are<br />
made from polymer on the RX22<br />
– but alloy and steel are used<br />
where it counts. anschutz call the<br />
action a ‘force-locking, blowback<br />
action with hammer lock’. I was<br />
unsure as to what this meant<br />
as it looked like a fairly simple<br />
straight blowback type action<br />
to me, locked by the weight of<br />
the breech block and the main<br />
springs – which is pretty normal<br />
in autoloading .22s It did look<br />
well-designed however with a<br />
square steel bolt running in an<br />
alloy bolt carrier secured into the<br />
polymer upper – this ensures the<br />
highest wear areas are built from<br />
steel and alloy. and as with most<br />
.22s the bolt featured a spring<br />
loaded claw extractor on the right<br />
and a cartridge retaining claw<br />
on the left. The ejector is fixed in<br />
the bolt-way.<br />
Instead of a single large main<br />
spring, the RX22 has two smaller<br />
mainsprings opposite each other<br />
which helps things wear more<br />
evenly as the action cycles, quite<br />
similar to the Remington 597.<br />
a truly ambidextrous cocking<br />
handle lets the user quickly<br />
position it at six different positions<br />
by simply pulling it from its detent<br />
and placing it either right above<br />
the bolt, midway along the foreend,<br />
or right up front by the barrel,<br />
on both right and left sides of the<br />
upper. The cocking handle locates<br />
into a cocking bar that contacts<br />
the bolt carrier when the handle<br />
is pulled rearward, cocking the<br />
rifle. a light spring in the upper<br />
receiver ensures the cocking bar<br />
returns forward after cocking and<br />
moves independently of the bolt<br />
carrier. This is a good feature as it<br />
means the cocking handle itself<br />
isn’t moving with the bolt as the<br />
rifle cycles, but stays stationary in<br />
its detent in the cocking bar.<br />
a two-piece alloy Picatinny<br />
rail extends for the length of the<br />
receiver, giving almost unlimited<br />
sight-mounting options. These<br />
are secured with screws into steel<br />
inserts in the plastic upper, rather<br />
than into the plastic itself. a quad-<br />
rail arrangement of Picatinny rail<br />
on the fore-end gives plenty of<br />
options for mounting torches,<br />
a laser or a bipod etc, although<br />
these are made from polymer<br />
rather than alloy like the scope<br />
rails. The locking clip for the<br />
folding butt was still attached to<br />
the right side of the receiver but,<br />
as mentioned earlier, served no<br />
purpose on this rifle now.<br />
the lower<br />
It was obvious that the lower has<br />
been designed to accommodate<br />
both left and right handed<br />
shooters, with both the safety<br />
lever and mag release featured<br />
on both sides of the rifle. The<br />
safety is easily reached with the<br />
thumb, and the mag release with<br />
the trigger finger – and all without<br />
having to take your master hand<br />
off the pistol grip in true aR style.<br />
The safety blocks the trigger only.<br />
Down in the hammer mech, things<br />
get very similar to a Ruger 10/22<br />
to my eye, operating in much the<br />
same way with a hammer, twin<br />
torsion hammer springs and a<br />
sear and disconnect lever.<br />
a feature seldom found on<br />
a semi automatic rifle is an<br />
adjustable trigger, but the<br />
RX22 has one that allows a<br />
user adjustable pull weight of<br />
1500 grams - 2500 grams and<br />
comes set at 1800 grams from<br />
the factory. This one let off at<br />
1890 grams by my gauge, so<br />
pretty close.<br />
an eight shot polymer magazine<br />
is housed in the lower and is<br />
designed to give the appearance<br />
of a much larger .223 or 5.56mm<br />
magazine. This suits the style of<br />
the rifle as it would have ruined<br />
the appearance to have a tiny .22<br />
rimfire magazine jutting from it.<br />
The pistol grip is non-removable<br />
and is moulded as part of the<br />
lower in the style of an M16a2<br />
grip, which most would agree<br />
is well proven by now. a lot of<br />
people hate this style of grip,<br />
mainly for its appearance, but<br />
if they spent a bit of time with it<br />
they might find it hard to go back<br />
to a conventional rifle grip. One<br />
other feature the RX22 has in<br />
the lower is a last shot bolt hold<br />
open, actuated by the magazine<br />
follower which pushes the hold<br />
open lever into the path of the<br />
bolt, holding it to the rear.<br />
the Butt<br />
not too much to go into here – it<br />
Right side of receiver,<br />
showing distinctive AR15<br />
positioning of components.<br />
ad<br />
RX22 rifle.<br />
jan/feb 2013 / rodandrifle.co.nz / 91
Testfire<br />
would have been pretty neat if it<br />
had been able to fold and retract<br />
as it was designed to do, but<br />
such are our laws. The only thing<br />
left adjustable is the cheekpiece<br />
which has two positions, the<br />
high position being of not much<br />
use except with extremely high<br />
mounted optics, like a night vision<br />
device perhaps. Like the upper<br />
and lower, the butt assembly<br />
is made from polymer and has<br />
multiple sling attachments.<br />
the Barrel<br />
Housed inside the upper receiver<br />
and fore-end is the barrel.<br />
anschutz haven’t skimped here,<br />
fitting the same button-rifled<br />
match barrel they would fit to<br />
any of their target or biathlon<br />
rifles. They claim it has the same<br />
chamber and rifling style as well,<br />
giving match grade accuracy<br />
from a sporting rifle. The taper is<br />
straight and of a medium profile,<br />
finished off with a square target<br />
crown. barrel length is 420mm<br />
with a right hand 1-16.5” twist<br />
and finished in a blued satin<br />
black colour.<br />
Shooting the anSchutz<br />
MSr rX22<br />
Rimfire rifles are great to test<br />
as you can fire a lot of shots<br />
quite quickly without having to<br />
worry about barrels heating up<br />
and ruining potential accuracy.<br />
and of course since it’s a .22<br />
autoloader, I had plenty of ammo<br />
to burn through.<br />
Testing was done at 70 metres<br />
with a very slight wind from 12<br />
o’clock, so pretty good shooting<br />
conditions. Shooting was done<br />
with the rifle supported off a bag<br />
at the front and with the pistol<br />
grip supported with my left fist.<br />
92 / rodandrifle.co.nz / jan/feb 2013<br />
I started off with everyone’s<br />
favourite subsonic ammo,<br />
Winchester. This was the new 42gr.<br />
The first test for the rifle was going<br />
to be if it would actually reliably<br />
cycle subsonic. no problem here,<br />
and I could see through the Minox<br />
scope that the rifle was accurate.<br />
five shots measuring 28mm<br />
centre to centre to start with. I<br />
fired a second group with similar<br />
results, and once again the rifle<br />
cycled fine, although I noticed<br />
the bolt didn’t hold back on the<br />
last shot for the second group.<br />
next I shot some Remington 36<br />
grain Cyclone ammo which also<br />
grouped very well at 25mm for the<br />
best group, worst being 35mm for<br />
5 shots.<br />
Lastly, and to cover most<br />
ammunition types, I tried some<br />
CCI Stinger 32 grain hyper-velocity<br />
ammo with a muzzle velocity of<br />
1640 fps. Some auto loaders hate<br />
this stuff as it can sometimes<br />
cause the bolt to open too quickly,<br />
rupturing the case and sending<br />
gasses into the shooter’s face.<br />
The anschutz however seemed to<br />
just eat it up, and even managed<br />
some respectable groups of 25<br />
and 28mm. This is very good and<br />
consistent accuracy from a .22<br />
autoloader. I carried on shooting<br />
with the Winchester subsonic, as<br />
it was the most pleasant to shoot<br />
with, and even managed a 22mm<br />
group at 70 metres with it – not<br />
bad. I finished up zeroing with<br />
this ammo.<br />
in the field with<br />
the rX22<br />
I took my daughter for a walk on<br />
a calm morning before work with<br />
the anschutz; she’s only four, so<br />
it wouldn’t be a long walk. almost<br />
straight away, we found a couple<br />
of rabbits still out in the middle of<br />
the paddock after a night’s feeding<br />
and at around 50m. I managed to<br />
despatch them both with the RX22<br />
before they got back to the gorse.<br />
Technical<br />
The Anschutz stripped down.<br />
Cheap open sights and full<br />
length picatinny rail.<br />
Bolt and bolt carrier group.<br />
Results<br />
Very respectable groups from the RX22 at 70m.<br />
These are half inch aiming marks.<br />
Hammer mech in<br />
polymer lower.<br />
Bolt and bolt<br />
carrier assembly.<br />
WE CAN BUILD YOU A .50BMG RIFLE<br />
PRECISION GUNSMITHING / RE-BARRELLING / MUZZLE BRAKES / SUPPRESSORS / TACTICAL BOLT KNOBS / STAGGERED BARREL FLUTING<br />
Scott (Dusty) Traill-Weapons Engineer, Wairarapa, SHOOTING SYSTEMS RESEARCH NZ LTD, Phone: 027 579 1047, Email: ssrnz@xtra.co.nz, See us at: www.ssrnz.com
The subsonic wasn’t too loud,<br />
even without a suppressor. Ten<br />
minutes later we had two more in<br />
the hand, both at around 50m as<br />
well. Once again the RX22 didn’t<br />
miss a beat, and killed them both<br />
cleanly with shoulder shots. We<br />
carried the rabbits back for some<br />
pics, and Lilly likes the tails so I<br />
twisted a couple off for her. The<br />
anschutz is quite a deep rifle,<br />
from the top of the scope to the<br />
bottom of the magazine, and<br />
looks like it would be awkward<br />
to carry. but in reality it felt<br />
great to hunt with; comfortable<br />
and natural to hold and fast to<br />
shoulder. If we’d had longer, the<br />
Up Close<br />
The butt<br />
completes a very<br />
comfortable stock.<br />
anschutz would have made a few<br />
more bunny ghosts that morning<br />
for sure.<br />
concluSion<br />
The anschutz certainly delivered<br />
where it counted – accurate,<br />
reliable, comfortable and well<br />
engineered. a few people won’t<br />
like its physical appearance, as<br />
was evident during the time it<br />
spent in my workshop. Most<br />
mistook it for a .223 at first,<br />
while a few just thought it was<br />
ugly – until they picked it up and<br />
shouldered it, then the comments<br />
changed to “Oh... it actually feels<br />
quite good”.<br />
Personally I like firearms like<br />
this; practical, well designed and<br />
built from modern materials.<br />
The only thing I didn’t like about<br />
the RX22 was the set of open<br />
peep sights supplied, which were<br />
cheaply made as well as being<br />
unusable as you couldn’t get<br />
your head down low enough on<br />
the comb to actually see through<br />
them. One other thing Kiwis<br />
would find useful would be a<br />
factory-threaded muzzle in 1/2”<br />
unf for a suppressor.<br />
If you’re in the market for a top<br />
end .22 rifle, even if it was a bolt<br />
action you were thinking of, take a<br />
look at the anschutz <strong>MSR</strong> RX22.<br />
Adjustable trigger<br />
Button-rifled<br />
match barrel.<br />
ad<br />
Anschutz is<br />
quite a deep<br />
rifle, from<br />
the top of<br />
the scope to<br />
the bottom<br />
of the<br />
magazine.<br />
Specs<br />
Anschutz RX22 Semi Auto .22<br />
Calibre: .22LR<br />
Action: force-locking, blowback<br />
with hammer lock<br />
Colour: Sand<br />
Stock: Plastic<br />
Length: 830mm-865mm<br />
Barrel Length: 420mm<br />
Barrel: button rifled 1-16.5”<br />
Weight: 3.15 kg<br />
Magazine: 8 rounds<br />
AGENTS: Dead eye Dicks<br />
jan/feb 2013 / rodandrifle.co.nz / 93