New Ultra Light Arms offers two rimfire rifles: one is a single-shot, the other a repeater. Both come standard with an excellent Timney trigger and Douglas barrel. Since this is a full custom rifle, you can specify any legal barrel length you like. (For what it’s worth, with the 22 Long Rifle, barrels longer than 16 inches generally reduce velocity.) You can also specify whatever color scheme you’d like on the stock, and there are two stock options. If you prefer one configured in more of a bench rest pattern, it’ll cost you an additional $58. The magazine fed option is an additional $50.

Short of the near $2,000 price tag, it’s hard to say anything bad about this rifle. The one evaluated is mine. It weighs only 5.68 pounds with the Talley lightweight rings attached. (The Talley rings come with the rifle.) This rifle is more than 10 years old, has been shot thousands of times, and has very likely killed 20 times its weight in squirrels and other small game.

Model 20 RF Specs

Chambering: 22 LR

Length: 40 inches

Weight: 5.68 pounds (With scope rings)

Barrel: 22 inches, Douglas

Stock: Kevlar/carbon fi ber

Trigger: Timney

Capacity: Single shot (tested); repeater with

detachable magazine is an option

MSRP: $1,800

Vudoo Gun Works Raven

Vudoo Gun Works out of Saint George, Utah, offers six rifle variants, all built on their V-22 action. At $2,395, the Raven is their least expensive. (The Crow — which is essentially a Raven — retails for the same price, but it’s sized for smaller shooters.) Any way you look at it, that’s a lot of money to spend on a rimfire rifle. Or is it? I know shooters who spend twice that much on centerfire rifles they’ll never shoot near as much as a 22. Thing is, if we’re talking Aspirin accuracy at 50 yards, you’re either going to have to pay for it — or pray for it.

The V-22 action used by Vudoo Gun works is proprietary but it has a Remington 700 footprint, meaning it can be fitted to rifle stocks cut for the Remington 700. The V-22 action also works with the Vudoo V-2210 magazine, a magazine that’s patterned in the AICS form, so it will slip right in to any chassis or detachable box magazine housing AICS magazines work in. The action is an engineering masterpiece, and it’s fitted with a precision manufactured, hand-lapped, single-point-cut rifle barrel. It’s also available in left- and right-hand variations.

Raven Results

LOAD VEL SD MD Best Worst AVG Remington ELEY Target 1,071 15.1 40 0.143 0.644 0.387 CCI Green Tag 1,088 14.9 40 0.087 0.899 0.497 Federal Gold Medal Match 1,058 16.2 63 0.205 0.417 0.292 OVERALL AVERAGE: 0.392

The Raven’s stock is manufactured by Grayboe. It’s called the Outlander and it was custom designed for Vudoo — just for the Raven. It comes standard with a soft, 1-inch, Decelerator butt pad. Why? I don’t know; there’s no recoil with a 22 LR. The Raven is not what I’d call a light rifle; without a riflescope or rings — but with the 10-shot magazine in place — it weighs 7 pounds, 13 ounces.

The Vudoo Raven is undoubtedly the most precise shooting rimfire rifle I’ve ever fired, and it delivered the smallest group out of the 80 groups fired from all four rifles. That group measured 0.087 inch! With precision like that, the Raven is begging to go to the woods or field, for tree or ground squirrels. But, it might be more fun to use the Raven to win cash from your friends; I doubt they’ll have anything that’ll shoot like a Raven. And, you can use the money to pay off your credit card.

Raven Specs

Length: 37 inches

Weight: 7.81 pounds

Barrel: 416R Stainless-steel (16-, 18- or 20-inch)

Stock: Synthetic Grayboe Outlander

Trigger: Timney

Capacity: 10 (proprietary—AI format)

MSRP: $2,395

Drawing Conclusions

Obviously, money buys precision. The more money you spend, the better shooting rifle you’ll end up with. Of course, when we’re talking rifles that shoot this well, there are other things to consider. What you intend to do with the rifle might matter more than the advantage 1/10th-inch or so in accuracy offers.

If I wanted a cool-looking, egg-accurate rifle — and my wallet was thin — the Ruger Precision Rimfire would be the obvious choice. If a traditional hunting rifle was where my dreams took me, I know of nothing better than the Steyr Zephyr II. If your weakness is M&M accuracy and unmatched ruggedness, there’s the Model 20 RF from New Ultra Light Arms. And finally, if you just want the best shooting rimfire rifle money can buy, the Vudoo Raven is probably the one. You can use it to shoot the left over Aspirins, when your head recovers from sticker shock.

If I could only have one of these rifles, it would be the Steyr Zephyr II. It shoots better than I can, and with the $1,000 I saved, I could buy a lot of 22 LR ammo. In fact, $1,000 will buy more than 10,000 rounds of the good stuff. Fortunately, here in America, we can have as many rimfire rifles as we want, so why not get more than one?

NOTES: The average muzzle velocity (VEL) standard velocity deviation (SD) and maximum velocity deviation were established by firing 10 shots with each load over a Caldwell G2 chronograph, with the screens positioned 10-feet in front of the muzzle. Note: Average accuracy/precision was established by firing of five, five-shot groups, from a sandbag rest, at a distance of 50 yards. Temperature: 66-74° / Humidity: 42-69% / Pressure: 30.00-30.20 / Elevation: 2,200 feet.

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