Advantages? The exact same thing shooters have derived from their Vudoo and other 700 footprint actions, they can be configured by the user to suit the user’s whims.
Ruger 10/22
Ruger 77/22
Anschutz 2007/2013
Sako Finnfire
Sako Quad
Remington 504
CZ 455 and 457
Tikka T-1X
they all have easily swappable barrels. What made them successful or fail? Timing and price point, but also initial performance.
Clark and others swapped barrels on the 10/22 for Sportsman’s Team Challenge and spawned an industry of accuracy improvements to a simple design.
The 77/22 had the promise of the same industry, but the timing was off as people discovered through bulletin boards that there were imports with custom grade accuracy for just a smidge over the price of a top grade barrel.
Anschutz has been the Xerox of match rifles, the gun others compared to, but change for them happens slowly as they feed a world market, not just the USA.
If they had offered a 2007/2013 with a magazine, I’d own one.
The Sako P94S got a fast track in sales from the benchrest crowd, and Triggers/Stocks/Barrels quickly hit the market, but benchrest is a niche market, and the first design was both ahead of it’s time and had a relatively high starting price. The buy out by Beretta and fast dump and switch to the Quad (multiple cartridge/caliber), along with a further increase in pricing scaled this rifle away from many. (Edited to add: Had the original design P94S hit the market 2 years ago it would be king).
The American offering in the clamping receiver type barrel mount- the Remington 504, in my opinion, was the rifle the internet and Bullitin Boards killed. I believe this was to be a flagship rimfire receiver design, with a variety of stocks and barrel configurations planned, but…..
MSRP was a bit high, which the “Buy American” type would still swallow, until they were utterly stomped in accuracy by an import at half the price, that came with similar ergonomics. They tried to offer a heavier target/varmint version, but at an even higher price point, but it was too late and the damage was done. The internets actual shooters warning others away quickly killed that design in less than 5 years.
CZ saw all that was happening, and their 452 series, a constantly evolving model hailing back to the BRNO mod 1, hit US shores like a tsunami, a perfect storm of low price, high quality, great accuracy, and bulletin boards such as ShootersTalk, RFC, and BenchrestCentral to spread the word that yes, here was a bolt gun with everything: Dual action screws, dual bolt lugs, dual extractors (a misnomer), floating barrel on some models, incredible stock shapes, smooth feeding from available 5 & 10 round magazines, and easily tunable triggers. Shooters didn’t just buy them, they collected them. Decent mid grade ammo was plentiful, and all was right with the world, except…..
Limited aftermarket support! The bean counters saw that by modifying the design, deleting a bolt lug (hey, the Anschutz 64 which they were often compared to only had one!), and offering a swap barrel (hey, Sako did it), and they already had a platinum reputation with the 452, what could go wrong? They absorbed the mediocre accuracy complaints as growing pains, and hey, there was always drop in barrels….. but people wanted more, which spawned the 457. With tolerances tightened, and a PRS/NRL22/MARS type events popping up everywhere, another perfect storm.
Tikka had been quietly growing a huge following with hunters cause hey, accuracy. When they released their rimfire, some dealers said “hey, it’s just another .22”, foolishly misjudging the market. The ammo crunch has impacted us all, but the “builder” in us has still helped a few aftermarket products to hit the public for the smallest Tikka.
So in a somewhat verbose answer, yes, drop-in, kitchen table buildable accurate rimfires will always have a place.
All this from an opinionated shooter
