Reviews Ruger 10/22 Carbon Fiber: The Perfect 10/22? [REVIEW] Jack Hennessy July 9, 2025 Join the Conversation At RECOIL, we review every product fairly and without bias. Making a purchase through one of our links may earn us a small commission, and helps support independent gun reviews. Read our affiliate policy. Find out more about how we test products. There’s a saying in the precision-shooting world that “a rifle will always out-shoot the shooter,” meaning the equipment, innately, is its most accurate until a human operator is introduced into the equation. While this saying is truer for some rifles versus others, when it comes to rifles chambered in 22LR, one thing is for certain: The rifle will always out-shoot the ammunition.Even with 22LR ammunition labeled “match,” at upward of 40 cents a round, a five-shot group turns into a poker game of five-card draw. Deviations of upward of 100 fps transform a bughole into a bug plus a couple droppings. Still, with Ruger’s new 10/22 Carbon Fiber, over the course of hundreds of rounds — with zero malfunctions straight out of the box — we were determined to see how accurate their cold-hammer-forged barrel (tensioned in carbon fiber) really is. The light, crisp BX-Trigger, which comes standard with this model, made testing both easier and very enjoyable.RUGER 10/22 SPECS:Stock: Textured White Speckle Black Magpul MOE X-22 Capacity: 10 Barrel Material: Stainless Steel Tensioned with Carbon Fiber Sleeve Barrel Finish: Clear Satin Threaded Barrel: Yes Sights: None Weight: 3.5 lb. Twist: 1:16″ RH Overall Length: 34.10″ Barrel Length: 16.10″ Length of Pull: 13.50″ Grooves: 6 MSRP: $649.00Palmetto State Armory$550Guns.com$544Sportsman's Warehouse$520INITIAL IMPRESSIONSFirstly, let’s start with the superficial. The gun looks sleek. The photos on Ruger’s website don’t do it justice — perhaps not even the photos here. Upon opening up the box, we kind of felt like we were back in high school picking up our prom date. We knew she was going to be pretty, but “Damn. Be still my beating heart.” The gun is also stupid light. At 3.5 pounds — under half the weight of most rifles sitting in our safes — one cannot appreciate how light, exactly, the rifle feels until putting hands on it. The textured white-speckle black stock also has a nice feel to it. Even after several 10-round magazines within a half hour, this carbon-fiber barrel maintains zero, with shifts in accuracy due largely to the limitations of 22 LR ammunition.The threaded barrel obviously begged to have a can put on, so we added SilencerCo’s Switchback22 (at full length) to see how quiet and accurate we could get this gun. Topped with Vortex’s Razor HD Gen II 1-6×24 and a pair of legs from Warne, we headed out to the range.RANGE TESTINGSpoiler alert: South Central Kansas, with its daily gusts reaching upward of 35 mph, isn’t the ideal spot to drop a mat and try to stretch a rimfire to 100 yards. But call us stubborn, because we did it anyway.Ammo tested included (all 40-grain): CCI Standard Velocity, CCI Pistol Match, Remington Subsonic, and Federal Automatch. Amid very brief periods of low wind, it became evident this gun could shoot, but exactly how well? Determining this, between wind and ranging velocities per round, felt like trying to get planets to align, so we headed indoors. Though the Ballistic-X overlay cites a .708 MOA, because this was at 25 yards, the 10-shot group was closer to 2.832.At the 25-yard bay, it became apparent this autoloader was happy to group tightly. It even drew a smiley face for our second 10-shot group. The Federal Automatch seemed to group the best and present the most-consistent deviations, but even it could spike upward of 60 fps. And no, this was not due to a hot barrel — as the barrel never seemed to get hot at all. Shots could start out at 1,230 fps, then drop to 1,116, and back up to 1,209 on the third. Such is the poker game of factory-loaded 22LR.At a 100-yard lane, we dropped our groups to three and started to get some data. Our best three-shot group put up a 1.140 MOA, which we considered pretty darn impressive for a 22LR autoloader. The standard deviation for these three shots was 7.6 fps (read: three of a kind, not bad for a poker hand).ON THE SUBJECT OF THE TRIGGERRuger’s BX-Trigger is likely the best out-of-the-box 22LR trigger we have pulled. At 2.5 to 3 pounds, this trigger travels smoothly, finishes with a crisp break and minimal overtravel, then distinctly resets. It feels good, much like the snap of a fresh deck of cards. Luck of deviations between rounds may vary, but when it feels this good to pull a trigger, we can’t help but feel each hand of 22LR dealt, each mag emptied, is a win.CONCLUSIONAll data aside, which sometimes feels more like homework than recess, one word kept coming to mind while testing this rifle: Fun (with a capital F). Nothing quite like lying down in the Kansas sun and trying to dial in a rimfire amid that famous Wheat State wind.A rimfire is the cornerstone of our collective youth as shooters, as so many of us cut our teeth plinking pop cans behind a 22 (more than likely, a Ruger 10/22). As adults, there’s simply something carefree and fun about picking up a brick of 22LR, knowing we aren’t spending a fraction of our kid’s college fund on ammo, then heading to the range to pepper paper or perhaps even pop sodas, to watch those cans fizz and explode like fireworks. It’s just pure, innocent fun. And when we precision shooters get down to it, we remind ourselves that “making a 1,000-yard shot starts with hitting at golf ball at 100 yards with a 22LR.”With a golf ball’s diameter sitting at 1.6 inches and a rimfire that can make 1.140-MOA groups, we are setting ourselves up for success and endless good times.Palmetto State Armory$550Guns.com$544Sportsman's Warehouse$520Questions or comments? Reach out to the author on Instagram at @OutsideTheSkillet. Why you can trust RECOIL Since our founding in 2012, RECOIL remains the premier firearms lifestyle publication for the modern shooting enthusiast. We deliver cutting-edge coverage of guns, gear, accessories and technology. We go beyond basic reviews, providing no B.S. buyer’s guides, hands-on testing and expert analysis on everything from firearms and survival equipment to watches and vehicles. 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