A blowback-operated rifle needs a heavy bolt, an appropriate recoil spring, a stock, a barrel, and a feed device, and you have an affordable firearm. They are among the most uncomplicated firearms. Since Winchester introduced the Model 1903, Americans have enjoyed the 22 LR self-loading design. For plinking, marksmanship training, small-game hunting, and some types of competition, the 22 rifle is a great choice. The 22 rifle is a staple of American life. Many have successfully been pressed into service as defensive firearms, and the new rifles are better than ever in this role. Winchester, for instance, introduced the Wildcat rifle recently, and we have to admit it is a thoroughly modern rifle with a host of innovations. We wanted to test the Wildcat against some likely competitors, so we chose the Rossi Rimfire Rifle RS22L1811-TH 22 LR, $159; and the stalwart Ruger 10/22 Carbine 1151 22 LR, $235; to go up against a Winchester Wildcat 521100102 22 LR, $245.

We elected to fire each rifle with 200 cartridges plus the loads chosen for accuracy testing. We chose the Remington Thunderbolt and Winchester Wildcat ammunition for most of the range work. Each is a high-velocity 40-grain LRN loading.  We also used the Fiocchi 38-grain HV for accuracy work. We began by firing the rifle at small targets at 25 yards and using the Winchester Wildcat ammo in rapid fire at silhouette targets. Here’s what we found:

Gun Tests Grade: B (BEST BUY)

$159

A couple of years ago, it wasn’t unusual to see the RS22 for sale for $110, and we think the record for low price was $99. With supply coming back, we think you will be able to find this rifle for $139 or so, as one of our raters recently did. This gun is manufactured for Rossi by Braztech of Brazil. The rifle features an 18-inch free-floating barrel. We detected the free-float advantage when we discovered there is no barrel band. The rifle is very similar to the Mossberg Blazer, but with more features. It is based on the venerable Marlin 60, we believe, but in simplified form. The stock is a simple black synthetic stock stylish with nicely grooved area on the pistol grip and around the fore end. It isn’t any trouble to hang onto this rifle.

The Rossi RS22 features a slim 10-round magazine. The magazine isn’t difficult to load, despite the greater leverage needed compared to the rotary style magazine used with the other rifles. As with all other feed devices, load two or three cartridges, bump the rear of the magazine, and finish loading in the same manner. The magazine latch is positive in operation. The bolt holds open on the last shot. The safety is a crossbolt type. The Gun Tests shooters did not find the trigger placement of the safety in front or behind to be a plus or minus among the three rifles.

The Rossi’s greatest advantage over the other rifles is the sights. The rear sight features two green fiber-optic inserts. The front sight features a red fiber-optic insert. The rear sight features a dial for windage and elevation adjustment.  No tools are required to adjust the sights. The front sight is covered by a sheet-metal shroud that is easily removed. Some find a sight shroud distracting in rapid fire and occasionally confuse a side of the shroud with the front sight. If you don’t like the shroud, it slides away easily. Two of the three raters preferred the shroud, the other didn’t care. The three bars across aiming point with a red center worked well for us in rapid fire and precision fire as well. As it happened, the sights were properly adjusted out of the box for the 6 o’clock hold at 25 yards and were not adjusted by our shooters. The trigger was good at 5.4 pounds of pull effort. There is a small amount of creep before the sear breaks, but no backlash. Overall, the Rossi had a good trigger for a rimfire rifle and better than its price might indicate.

The Rossi RS22 is operated in the same manner as the other rifles — slap the magazine home and rack the bolt to load the chamber. Flip the safety off and fire. The RS22 was a lot of fun on the firing range. The sights were the big advantage in rapid offhand fire. The rifle choked twice. We loaded a 10-round magazine, and the first round did not fully chamber, so we racked the bolt, cleared the cartridge, and found the second round did not chamber either. We removed the magazine, reinserted the magazine, and started over. This time there were no failures. We believe we failed to slap the magazine home because the problem did not repeat, and there were no other failures to feed, chamber, fire, or eject.

The trigger and sights are well suited to small-game hunting and informal target practice. In accuracy testing, we settled into a firing position with the MTM K Zone shooting rest. Firing at 25 yards and taking every advantage in time and trigger press, the best group was 1.65 inches.

Our Team Said: The Rossi RS22 was the least accurate rifle tested, but it is accurate enough for most chores and is certainly accurate enough to take a squirrel out of a tree at the distance you can get a clear sight picture. A drawback of the Rossi RS22 is that there is little to no aftermarket support in parts and upgrades. Just the same, for the price, this is a great all-round rifle and is the Best Buy.

22 LR Range Data

Value Guide 22 Rifle Rankings (Various Actions)