Yesterday, Ruger announced yet another new gun. Today, several thousand of these units are on their way to distributors and dealers. They may have suspended taking new orders, but not all their production time has been occupied with catching up on existing orders.

The rollout scheduling, as explained to me, was to notify dealers and distributors early in the week, tell the general public beginning midmorning Wednesday, then have rifles delivered and available for weekend purchase.

This latest new arrival is another entry into their venerable 10/22 line.

Yes, another 10/22.

I confess, I was equally underwhelmed until I actually spent some trigger time on one of them.

http://www.theoutdoorwire.com/image_archive/2059629.jpeg> The Logo's familiar, but the well-under 24 inch length doesn't scream gun. Ruger photo.

As a lifelong shooter and fan of the .410 shotgun, I know the benefit of being able to breakdown a double barrel (side-by-side or over-and-under), stick the halves in a shorter bag that doesn't scream "gun" and then stow it. I've had them in cars, trucks, and boats. I've even taken a .410 on a motorcycle-without causing a SWAT callout.

Now, I have a companion rifle (with a bag that just might accommodate both units).

There's not a lot you can say about the 10/22 as far as reliability and shooting - they've been around for decades, run like tractors and are more than accurate enough to be used for anything from squirrel hunting to rimfire challenge matches.

They're also the platform from which innumerable variants have been created. 10/22s have been morphed by their owners into everything from banana clipped pseudo-modern sporting rifles to carbon-fiber barreled, high-tech full-bore race guns for precision/speed competition shooting.

But there's never really been a quick, easy and reliable takedown 10/22..until now.

http://www.theoutdoorwire.com/image_archive/2059631.jpeg> When you open the package, you'll find the 10/22 takedown in two pieces. It shouldn't take you more than a few seconds to assemble them to create a 10/22 virtually indistinguishable (below) from the gazillions of other 10/22s already out there. Ruger photos. http://www.theoutdoorwire.com/image_archive/2059633.jpeg>

It's as simple as push/twist/shoot.

Our test unit arrived several weeks ago in its two-piece bag. It was put together in a wink. Seriously, it only takes the push of a button and a twist of the barrel into the receiver. At that point, it's assembled and ready to shoot.

Since the iron sights are mounted on the barrel assembly, there's no need to worry about the sights being mis-aligned or the point of aim knocked out of whack. That would take more than a casual bump. Optics mount on the receiver assembly and our test unit had no problem holding zero through several assemble/shoot/disassemble/reload/reassemble/shoot cycles.

But after our initial run, separating the two pieces turned out to be a bit more complicated than expected. Seems I hadn't paid close enough attention to the email that preceded the 10/22TD's arrival. I'd overlooked a simple directive: to take the rifle apart, the bolt must be pulled back. Instead, I'd tried simply reversing the push/twist process.

Nothing was damaged because I try to be gentle with test equipment. That's because I want to see if there are any unusual fit or finish problems (galling, burrs, rough-spots, etc). When something is virtually effortless to assemble, resistance generally indicates a failure to follow instructions.

Production rifles have stickered instructions on them to prevent you from experiencing my little "challenge".

The new rifle ships in a soft-sider case, complete with rings and molle webbing that make it simple to attach the bag to anything from backpacks to saddle rings when you're horsepacking into the high country. It also means you can use the included carry strap and attach other pouches for accessories or ammo to the bag itself.

If you're already carrying a .22 rimfire handgun as your kit gun in the backwoods, you could attach the Ruger 10/22 TD to your backpack and have a long gun capable of putting small game into the camp pot or letting varmints know they're not welcome from a considerably more comfortable distance.

The 10/22TD comes with iron sights, and as mentioned, the receiver will accept a scope (Not mounts or rings are included). Today, my eyes don't allow me to run iron sights as my preferred standard anymore, but my effective rimfire shooting range was nearly 100 yards, considerably longer than a .22 handgun.

There was no problem quickly turning a long-established .22 target -the Campbells soup can- into a sieve full of .22 diameter holes. It performed well through several assemble/load/shoot/disassemble/reassemble/reload/shoot cycles. FYI, my best time was slightly over seventy-seconds to pull the rifle out of the case, assemble the two pieces, insert and shoot a 10-round rotary magazine, and disassemble the rifle. It shouldn't take any longer if equipped with one of today's .22-specific scopes or a red-dot sight, and it would definitely extend the effective range.

As far as the specifics, the 10/22 Takedown is 37-inches long when assembled, and the disassembled segments are less than 20 1/4 inches in length. It weighs 4.67 pounds in its black synthetic/stainless configuration. The action is standard 10/22, and it accepted a variety of Ruger 10/22 10-round rotary magazines (and an after-market banana clip I found laying around in the safe).

It ships with only a single-ten round magazine. If you don't already have 10/22s, you'll want to include extra rotary magazines (Ruger makes the standard 10-rounders as well as their new 25-round BX-25) to stick into your ballistic nylon case.

MSRP is $389.

It's a 10/22 with a twist.

-- Jim Shepherd