I've got to have one of these!

I have long coveted an AR-15 style rifle. Those of you who don't hunt or shoot may not understand such things, but there's something about a semi-automatic rifle for which I can buy a 30-round clip and which is also light-recoiling, accurate, and cheap to shoot. There is also, of course, the high degree of similarity to the US Military's M-16, which deeply appeals to the part of me that loved to play GI Joe and cowboys and Indians as a kid. I justify this desire by telling myself that it would a fantastic coyote and fox shooting rifle (which is true), but I'm not much of a predator hunter now, so I suspect that my real reason has more to do with the magnificent coolness factor than anything else. What has mostly prevented me from buying one is the fact that doing so requires about 1000 of my hard-earned dollars, and given two kids going to orthodontist (with more to come), a car payment, a house payment, and giving to church and missionaries, we're just not at the stage of life when that is in the realm of possibility.

Well along comes Ruger Firearms with something nearly as cool, but at less than 1/2 the price. This is the new SR-22, a semi-automatic rifle in .22 Long Rifle. Ten round magazines come standard, but aftermarket 30 rounders are available. Shells are much cheaper (about 20 bucks for a box of 500 vs. 25 bucks for a box of 40), and so you can shoot a long time without blowing throw a major wad of cash. The stock is fully adjustable for length of pull, and the Picatinny rail allows for a wide range of optical and iron sights. It's not much good for coyotes (unless they're close), but I can console myself by shooting a lot of tasty bunnies and squirrels instead. Maybe this will be the year a dream gets fulfilled.