Been looking for another .22 for son and myself ever since the RCMP prohibited 10/22 magazines over 10 rounds.
And no I have not been able to provide any rational explanation to my son why his Ruger 10/22 cannot use magazines over 10 rounds, but I do not want to rehash a very questionable ruling by the forward thinking Pony Soldiers.....
I did look at a few poly .22 rifles but as we sometimes shoot in the cold and can be a little rough on our field guns, I decided the poly folding hinge area of the poly rifles would eventually fail us.
Enter into the circle the GSG .22 STG 44.
Handled one a few times, made sure my son was strong enough to handle the 44s heft and he liked the feel of it.
Picked a STG 44 and a spare magazine up locally at the Calgary Shooting Centre (very pleasant to deal with), and to keep the peace with the wife I used Tactical Corporation to spread the payments over a few months.
Upon opening the box I was immediately impressed with the quality of the firearm, the manual, and lifetime warranty!
The packaging included a dummy .22 round, breech block, allen key for the trigger adjustment, and cleaning bushes.
I disassembled the 44 and can see why they have such an outstanding warranty. The action is very close in design to my .22 CMMG AR15 subconversion kit, namely a bolt assembly riding on rails not the receiver.
The barrel seems to have a metal sleeve, the sights are metal, the stock is decent quality wood. All in all I would take this .22 anywhere as it is no safe queen it is an shooter that will not be brittle in the cold, it's METAL and WOOD!
Now some people have complained about the 45.00 magazines, well I remember when the old Ruger 10/22 magazines were over 35.00? The magazine is just as important as the rifle when it comes to their design. The STG44 magazines are really tough and decent quality. They have a loading tab, a round count indicator, and can be disassembled for cleaning.
So all in all this all metal/wood design is what will work for us while driving and walking the gopher fields. Nothing against the GSG 15, I just feel the hinge design will cause us grief in the future.
After inspecting, cleaning, and putting the 44 back together I took it to a private club shoot.
Immediately the STG 44 drew attenion and I had people wanting to shoot it. The overall feedback was very very positive. All remarked on it's heft but that it balancced very well.
The rear sight ramp needed to set very high for a 25 yard zero, but the sight picture is just fine.
Now the only thing you need to be careful with is loading the magazines. One needs to ensure the round is loaded correctly with the bullet tipped upward. The very few FTF were a combination of my poor magazine loading and mixed ammo.
I purposely brought 600 rounds of mixed crap lead and copper coated standard and high velocity .22 ammo to see how the action functioned. It functioned just as well as the trusty 10/22 Ruger, and I should have kept some targets but I would it is on par with our 10/22. Doing free standing 25 round rapid shots, all shots grouped well within what is needed for gophers and plinking but not like my Anschutlz, still a great shooter.
So I would rate the GSG STG 44 a solid 4.5, as it should have come with a leather sling for 599.00!
Packaging was like any other gun for the most part.
Build design/quality is incredible.
Bolt design is what I would expect for 600.00.
The sights are awesome, but I will most likely install a small low powered scope.
The trigger group is all metal, love it.
The magazine is really decent quality compared to Ruger magazines.
Having fun.
And no I have not been able to provide any rational explanation to my son why his Ruger 10/22 cannot use magazines over 10 rounds, but I do not want to rehash a very questionable ruling by the forward thinking Pony Soldiers.....
I did look at a few poly .22 rifles but as we sometimes shoot in the cold and can be a little rough on our field guns, I decided the poly folding hinge area of the poly rifles would eventually fail us.
Enter into the circle the GSG .22 STG 44.
Handled one a few times, made sure my son was strong enough to handle the 44s heft and he liked the feel of it.
Picked a STG 44 and a spare magazine up locally at the Calgary Shooting Centre (very pleasant to deal with), and to keep the peace with the wife I used Tactical Corporation to spread the payments over a few months.
Upon opening the box I was immediately impressed with the quality of the firearm, the manual, and lifetime warranty!
The packaging included a dummy .22 round, breech block, allen key for the trigger adjustment, and cleaning bushes.
I disassembled the 44 and can see why they have such an outstanding warranty. The action is very close in design to my .22 CMMG AR15 subconversion kit, namely a bolt assembly riding on rails not the receiver.
The barrel seems to have a metal sleeve, the sights are metal, the stock is decent quality wood. All in all I would take this .22 anywhere as it is no safe queen it is an shooter that will not be brittle in the cold, it's METAL and WOOD!
Now some people have complained about the 45.00 magazines, well I remember when the old Ruger 10/22 magazines were over 35.00? The magazine is just as important as the rifle when it comes to their design. The STG44 magazines are really tough and decent quality. They have a loading tab, a round count indicator, and can be disassembled for cleaning.
So all in all this all metal/wood design is what will work for us while driving and walking the gopher fields. Nothing against the GSG 15, I just feel the hinge design will cause us grief in the future.
After inspecting, cleaning, and putting the 44 back together I took it to a private club shoot.
Immediately the STG 44 drew attenion and I had people wanting to shoot it. The overall feedback was very very positive. All remarked on it's heft but that it balancced very well.
The rear sight ramp needed to set very high for a 25 yard zero, but the sight picture is just fine.
Now the only thing you need to be careful with is loading the magazines. One needs to ensure the round is loaded correctly with the bullet tipped upward. The very few FTF were a combination of my poor magazine loading and mixed ammo.
I purposely brought 600 rounds of mixed crap lead and copper coated standard and high velocity .22 ammo to see how the action functioned. It functioned just as well as the trusty 10/22 Ruger, and I should have kept some targets but I would it is on par with our 10/22. Doing free standing 25 round rapid shots, all shots grouped well within what is needed for gophers and plinking but not like my Anschutlz, still a great shooter.
So I would rate the GSG STG 44 a solid 4.5, as it should have come with a leather sling for 599.00!
Packaging was like any other gun for the most part.
Build design/quality is incredible.
Bolt design is what I would expect for 600.00.
The sights are awesome, but I will most likely install a small low powered scope.
The trigger group is all metal, love it.
The magazine is really decent quality compared to Ruger magazines.
Having fun.
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