I was recently reading a thread on Arfcom about "Accurate Bolt Action .22 Rifles for Squirrel Hunting". Several members posted pictures of some very nice rifles. But my friend 1srelluc posted a picture of a very nice rifle that he has shot over 300 squirrels with in recent months.

I sent him an IM and asked about his rifle and he very kindly answered all of my questions. I decided that I "needed" one. (Know what I mean? )

I ordered one and it came pretty quickly. It was a Ruger RAR, Ruger American Rimfire, Model 8334. Cost was slightly over $300. While I was waiting, I spoke with my buddy Ted who follows a forum where .22 rimfire nuts post about their target rifles. He said that they are often very complimentary about Mueller Target Scopes. I decided to give one a try.

These scopes are larger than most would want on a squirrel gun, but I will be mostly shooting this one from a bench and wanted more magnification. I ordered a Mueller 8 X 32 X 44, with a 30 mm tube. It also shipped quickly.

I was visiting Ted up in Temple, Texas and we installed the scope on the rifle.





But before we did that, I decided to adjust the trigger on the rifle. The triggers are designed to be adjusted from 3 to 5 pounds. Not surprisingly it came from the factory at 5 pounds, so we adjusted it down to 3 pounds. It requires that the action be removed from the stock. There are 2 screws that hold the action to the stock.


Removing them gave us access to the trigger adjustment.



We turned the set screw until we had the 3 pounds we wanted and then reinstalled the action to the stock.

I bought some 30mm mounts and they easily installed onto the base that comes with the rifle.



And here it is, ready to shoot.



This model comes with a green stock and looks really nice.

The barrel is threaded from the factory for a suppressor.



It has a thread protector for when the can isn't on the rifle. My suppressor is still in jail and should be here in a couple of months.

The stock comes with a built-up cheek piece to allow the use of a scope. It fit me really well.



The bolt is nice and big and this turned out to be useful as the action was very stiff. I imagine it might get less stiff with use, but the stiffness gives me confidence in the rifle's accuracy potential.



The trigger is a two part assembly with a trigger and a trigger release built into the center of the trigger. This allows the trigger to be adjusted to a very light tripper pull without fear of unintentional firing.



The Mueller scope is a little bigger that some might like, but it is crystal clear with very fine cross hairs and a very small target dot.



It also has a focus adjustment that goes all the way down to about 20 yards. I set it for 50 yards today.



The magazine is the standard Ruger rotary magazine that holds 10 rounds of .22 rimfire.



I shot a few rounds to get the scope adjusted to hit where I wanted the rifle to shoot and then settled down for a few 5-shot groups at 50 yards.

Here are a few.









1. The rifle shoots great. It has all the potential that I hoped it would.

2. The scope worked very well. Clear and precise, easy to adjust and focus. I am very happy with it so far.

3. I can hardly wait to get my can and try it in this rifle. It will be a squirrel sniper rifle for sure.

4. It's fun to shoot stuff.