Mossberg Unveils $276 “Tactical .22″

Mossberg’s unveiling its entry into the tactical .22 market with a product cleverly called the Tactical .22. Here’s the press release:

Mossberg International introduces the Tactical .22–an alternative firearm for those shooters and enthusiasts who want the look and feel of an AR-style .22 rimfire with an affordable price.

Mossberg knows its target market: price-driven firearms buyers (Hecho en Mexico baby!). It’s a bit surprising that they’re so late to the AR-style .22 game. Even slow-mo Smith & Wesson’s tapped the AR gestalt, with a damn nice product too: the M&P15-22, in both standard and CA-compliant version for around $500 – $600 bucks. The Mossie clocks in at roughly half the price. Right answer . . .

With the rising costs of centerfire ammunition, the new Tactical .22 rimfires are a great choice for recreational shooters, as well as those searching for a cost-effective training platform.

Ain’t that the truth. Well, maybe. While an AR .22′s trigger and general ergonomics would help sharpen a shooter’s full-size AR skills, there’s nothing like the recoil. In fact, you wouldn’t even call it recoil, and managing recoil is the Big Kahuna. Also, baby ARs weigh less. So . . . it’s not really the same, is it? There’s no substitute for training on the weapon you’re going to use with the ammo you’re going to fire.

Also, while .22 is as cheap as it gets, and Mossberg’s audience is into cheap, there are a lot of handgun-caliber carbines hitting the market at the moment. They’re a far better choice for less than 5.56 protection; you’d have to hit a human exactly in the right place or many times with .22s to do any damage.

The lightweight and fast-handling Tactical .22 parallels the look and feel of today’s AR-style rifle while being built around Mossberg International’s reliable .22 autoloader. Taking cues from their proven 702 autoloader, the Tactical .22 matches an 18” barrel to a quad rail forend allowing the operator to fit the rifle with lights, lasers or other tactical accessories.

Now we’re getting closer. It’s a toy gun that’s not really a toy but it is but it isn’t.

Two stock configurations will be offered in this series: a six-position adjustable and fixed stock. The six-position polymer stock adjusts the length of pull from 10-3/4” – 14.5” accommodating youth and smaller framed shooters up to adults. The fixed position stock has a standard 13” LOP. The Tactical .22 is integrated with an A2-style carry handle and an adjustable rear sight aligned with a front post sight.

Another smart move. No question: the Tactical 22 will be THE ultimate Christmas Story gift for an entire generation of young boys. I reckon that’s an extremely price-sensitive market, and Mossberg nails it.

The Picatinny handle mount is included, allowing versatility in scopes and other optics while providing the clearance necessary to utilize the AR-style sights. Other features included with the Tactical .22 are sling mounts and a ten round magazine.

The 10-round capacity sucks. A Henry Repeating Rifle gives you 16. But the Henry’s a heavy old thing and it doesn’t LOOK like an AR (Western vs. military). You can’t put lights and lasers and cup holders on a rifle that you use from a horse. It’s only a matter of time before someone offers a 30-round mag for this bad little boy. I wonder why Mossberg didn’t do it straight out of the gate. Lawyers. Bah.

There’s your headline attraction, although one wonder just how “cheap and cheerful” this product will be. If it’s a piece of junk for that price, well, who cares, really? Beggars can’t be choosers, even if they’re armed.

Tactical my ass. This thing is no more tactical than my Remington nylon 66.

During the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, the exile Cuban frogman going in before the landing craft arrived had their choice of absolutely any weapon available on the U.S. commercial market and most of what was in the U.S. military inventory at the time; after all, the CIA and US taxpayers were buying their equipment for them.

Their choice, for the most part, was the commercial Remingtron Nylon 66, which worked fine after long immersions in sdalt water. The barrel was often shortened to about 10 inches, along with a similar rediction of the front half of the forward portion [handgrip area] of the rifle's stock. This eliminated the front sight, easily replaced with a Bushnell Phantom pistol scoipe or a 2-7 Power Weaver rifle scope mounted with 1" rings on the rifle's factory grooved receiver. The shortening of the barrel brought the weight down to about 3 pounds, adding a scope brought it back up to about the original weight, certainl;y a better deal than the M1 Garands carried by most of the invasion force.

The job of the Cubano frogmen was beach recon and intelligence, not combat, but in the event of noisy dogs in the landing zone vicinity, they needed to be taken care of as quietly as possible. Any stray Fidelista militia sentry could be expected to suffer the same fate, probably from multiple shooters taking their shots simultaneously, as they had been trained and practiced.

I knew a few of the survivors who went in with Brigada 2506 on 17 April 1961, and many of the sons, cousins and brothers of those who died there. They all agreed about the neat and professional way the initial landing went off, the shortcomings of the grand strategy and aftermath notwithstanding. The five-man teams of frogmen and their equipment got their job done, and that is what it is all about.

I've seen one of the Nylon 66s that made that trip and returned to the US, in Georgia in the 1970s, in the hands of a former CIA *asset* who dealt with those guys and their equipment procural in those days. He was fond of the little one-time spookgun, though perhaps not as much as the guy who had carried in onto the darkness of that Cuban beach.

“Colonel Rex Applegate advocated the .22LR for riot control in the Phillipines. Pick the biggest loud-mouth in the crowd and put a round in his sternum. Crowd dissipates.”

That would work. I wouldn’t want to test a .22LR into my strenum. I’m not disputing the .22 effectiveness. I’m only making light of the wording.

Not directing anything towards you specifically, but the sarcasm detection level here on FR is getting less all the time.

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