Shooting Sports USA - March 2018 - 18
PRODUCT FOCUS becomes a handle; three turns and the barreled assembly, sans triggers, lifts from the stock. Today's centerfire bolt-action and lever-action takedowns often feature some kind of interrupted thread arrangement to wed and divorce barrel and action. The push of a button or lever and a twist of the wrist separates them. Ease of takedown and reassembly are as much the hallmarks of the takedown as its compactness. Ideally, it requires no tools. Nameless, but better The purpose-built "survival rifle" is a subgenre of the takedown, which we can trace back to the Cold War, when the U.S. Air Force desired a compact long arm that could serve downed aircrews for foraging and, to a lesser extent, self-defense. The MR-6 and AR-7, still with us in civilian garb, number among the first such survival firearms. Interest in the concept has reawakened with the "prepper" subculture. Ruger, among others, has responded with its ingenious 10/22 Takedown model. Someone always has their own idea of a better mousetrap, and wholesale firearms distributor Davidson's in A trap in the X22 comb accepts three 10-round Ruger magazines. 18 MARCH 2018 | SSUSA.ORG Prescott, AZ, has improved on the Ruger 10/22 Takedown in several ways. First and most obvious, the Davidson's version features a unique self-storage Magpul synthetic stock embossed, "Magpul Backpacker X22." As Davidson's neglected to give it a catchy name beyond "Davidson's Exclusive," let's refer to it as the X22 here. Like the Ruger Takedown, the X22 separates the barrel from the front of the receiver. Unlike the Ruger Takedown's two pieces that slip separately into a provided soft case, the barreled half of the X22 clips neatly and firmly onto its action/buttstock portion. The forearm nestles into the deep scallop under the buttstock that gives the X22 its unique profile. A rubber-lined recess at the toe of the stock accepts and protects the chamber end of the barrel, and when clipped together they form a somewhat triangular unit that measures 19½ inches long and 5½ inches wide at the base. The top of the buttstock comb flips open to accept three 10-round Ruger magazines; adding a fourth 10-rounder retained in the mag well, we can carry 40 rounds of ammo integral with the rifle. The pistol grip is hollow with a gasketed, waterproof snap-in cap; and there's enough space to carry a pull-through cleaning kit, a handful of matches, gizmo batteries, or whatever strikes you as equivalently useful.