10/22s are versatile and incredibly easy to modify. Swapping a barrel is as easy as removing the stock and removing two bolts. So today I do just that in order to launch arrows at 400fps out of my 10/22!
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Rimfire rifles have always been used for hunting different types of small game; but who would even consider, let alone recommend, the use of a rimfire rifle for hunting deer. Yet, that is the precise purpose of the new Airrow rimfire products from Swivel Machine Works, Inc. called the AIRROW A7722, and the AIRROW A1022. These rimfire rifles, are blank firing rimfire rifles!
The recommendation of using blank firing rimfire rifles to fire arrows for big game is new. And they launch them at faster speeds than even the most sophisticated bows built today, yet with far more accuracy than the average archer could ever hope to achieve.
Firebird targets work great with archery as well as rifles, handguns, and shotguns!
Swivel Machine Works has a proven background in air powered guns that fire arrows. J. I. Galan reviewed their air powered Series 8 Airrow in Guns magazine back in July of l989 and their model 8S1P Stealth in Gun Digest 1993. In the archery industry Swivel Machine Works is known as the manufacturer of the world’s fastest and most accurate archery products. The people at Swivel Machine Works decided to search for an alternative means of launching arrows from a shoulder fired device, and the blank firing rifle became one solution.
These new rimfire products are based on Ruger rimfire rifles; the Ruger 10/22 and the Ruger 77/22 . The standard . 22 barrel is removed from the Ruger rifle and an Airrow barrel developed strictly for launching arrows or tranquilizers is substituted. Standard Ruger stocks require inletting for the .920” diameter Airrow barrel. Once the new Airrow barrel is installed, standard .22 caliber ammunition of any description can NO LONGER BE FIRED through the rifle. The firearm can only be used for firing blanks which will power arrows or tranquilizers. The Ruger 10/22 and 77/22 are easily converted back to their original rifled barrel for standard .22 caliber ammunition use. Ruger’s Wedge Lock Barrel design allows barrel to receiver changes in just minutes using only a 5/32” allen wrench.
The arrows used in these products are #2512 and 16” in length. Using 75 grain target points the total arrow weight is 305 grains. They feature a hollow aluminum shaft, with the back of each shaft left open, immediately behind the fletching for installation to the barrel.
The barrel used in these AIRROW rifles consists of two barrels: an outer barrel (shroud) with an outside diameter of .920” and a second floating inner barrel. The inner barrel fits inside the hollow shaft of the 2512 arrow. The fletching must roll over to fit inside the outer barrel (shroud) and the shooter is advised to use a rotating clock-wise motion as he first fits the arrow to the inner barrel and then pushes it down inside the outer barrel (shroud).
The Airrow blanks used in these rifles are available in two different power levels and each power level has its own color code for easy identification. Power Level 5 is colored Red and demonstrates a nominal muzzle velocity of 335 fps with the 2512 arrow, while Power Level 6 is color coded Purple and has an approximate muzzle velocity of 435 fps with the same arrow. The resulting muzzle energies are 76 and 128 foot pounds respectively.
