By Joe Berk
Springfield Armory has a new .22 bolt action rifle. It looks interesting from several perspectives. One, it’s a bolt action rimfire, so that has my attention immediately (I love bolt action rifles and I love rimfires). And two, it is being offered in both a composite stocked (read: Tupperware) competition version (something in which I have negative interest) and any of several grades of walnut. Fancy walnut…that works for me.
It’s the last part about the fancy walnut that has my attention. Springfield’s graded walnut runs from standard (they call it satin select) all the way up to AAA (or finely figured) walnut. That’s cool, as most manufacturers don’t give you a choice on the quality of the walnut figure. Judging by the photos on the Springfield website, I’d say they are grading their lumber way too generously; what they show as AAA walnut I would classify A grade stuff, but hey, it’s a start, and it’s a move in the right direction.
A Springfield 2020 rimfire rifle with satin select (or plain) walnut.As mentioned above, Springfield is also offering their new rifle with two versions of a composite stock. One is black, the other is a speckled charcoal affair.
I’ll be watching the Gunbroker.com and Gunsamerica.com listings. These rifles are already up on Gunbroker. When the listings that include photos of the actual rifles (and not just a standard print media photo) are up, I’ll pay attention. The gunshops will show the wood if it’s really good, and if it is, it’s likely I’ll pull the trigger (pardon the pun). If that happens, I’ll write about it here.
High end rimfire rifles appeal to me, and I own two or three that have exceptional wood. You can read about them here.
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