One of the highlights of being a firearm reviewer is being able to talk about some of the more interesting and obscure offerings out there. For me there’s an entire category of rifles known as straight-pull actions which I have something of an obsession with, yet despite my love of them I have almost no hands-on experience because they’re very uncommon in this country.
There is a glimmer of hope, however. First built by a company called Primary Weapon Systems (I believe for Olympic biathlon matches,) rimfire powerhouse Volquartsen has since acquired the “Summit” platform and have made some improvements while making the rifles more accessible.
Summit firearms are still incredibly uncommon to find in the wild and I have to imagine this is due to most Americans opting for a semi-auto for the money rather than a manual action. While I’d agree with this mentality for the most part there’s something about the Summit which had caught my attention when it was first announced a few years ago and stayed with me since. After a long wait I now have the opportunity to review one of these wonderful curiosities of the rimfire world.
First, there’s a minor elephant in the room to address. The Summit isn’t a true straight-pull action but more of a toggle lock action not too far alienated from the old Luger pistols of WWII. The bolt handle in this instance is a rhomboid shaped vertical bar with a nice half textured plastic shell which extends from just behind the hinged section of the toggle lock. Because it’s rimfire without much chamber pressure this proves sufficient to keep the bolt fully in battery, requiring no special catch or release to open beyond a gentle tug of a finger. It’s marginally awkward but entirely possible to keep your right hand on the grip while cycling the action with nothing more than a finger or two.
As a complete rifle from Volquartsen it comes with their excellent TG2000 trigger group which comes with a claimed 2.25 lb trigger pull. Without using a gauge I’m willing to take their word for it, the pull is fantastic. Worth noting is the TG2000’s dimensions are different from the factory Ruger trigger group so there may be some stock incompatibility here. I’ll get into this a bit more as we go. The TG2000 also comes with an extended aluminum magazine release and no bolt catch since the Summit is manually operated. I would not recommend trying to plunk this trigger group into a 10/22. It might fit but it is a different animal.
The 17″ tensioned barrel has a standard .920″ diameter and comes threaded 1/2×28. It’s outfitted with a carbon fiber sleeve which is incredibly lightweight, smooth to the touch and a pleasing mix of matte and semi-gloss black all around. Of course, being that the Summit shares most of its parts with the Ruger 10/22 you should be free to swap out the barrel if you so desire. Just be sure to have a shim kit on hand as proper headspace is everything with this action. The Volquartsen receiver also has a 20 MOA extended Picatinny rail to get the most out of long range accuracy.
This example of the Summit comes with a Magpul Hunter X-22 stock in a stealth gray for a subtle touch of contrast. I’ll admit to not being the biggest fan of the look or feel of this stock as the 60 degree grip angle isn’t my speed but the entire setup screams quality. Credit where due, the angle and openness of the grip makes the bolt handle very easy to reach. The Summit action fits tight as you please with three M-LOK holes at the 3, 6, and 9 o’clock positions and Magpul’s excellent grip texture for traction. Extra stock spacers are included to adjust the length of pull and different height cheek risers and QD mounts can be added separately. It also has a reversible barrel channel to accommodate both bull barrels and factory profile ones.
One detail about the 10/22 which I hadn’t previously realized is it’s recommended .920″ barrels have some manner of support as most of them are heavy steel mounted to an aluminum receiver. The X-22 has a thin contoured band up front to provide this extra support. Magpul did their homework when designing the X-22.
So far we have a short, lightweight and wonderfully balanced precision plinker which takes 10/22 stocks and magazines. Or does it? Despite being based off of the tried and true Ruger there’s some peculiarities with the Volquartsen Summit which I have discovered. Starting with the stock I tried dropping the Summit into a Hogue thumbhole overmold stock which I am a big fan of. While it did seat and the stock screw could be fully tightened there was a small gap at the back of the receiver which allowed the action to tilt with mild pressure. For this stock some manner of spacer would be recommended. I tried again with an old Choate Dragunov style stock and it wouldn’t fit at all, likely due to the trigger guard. The Summit may require some finesse to drop into your favorite stock.
Pro Tip: If you have a Summit and would like some options of what is compatible then check out Volquartsen’s website. There’s an option to build your own Summit which includes a drop-down list of stock options. Any of the ones from this list should work.
Next there’s the magazine curiosity. Standard Ruger 10/22 magazines, the flush fit ones which come 10 round standard but can be had in single and 5 rounders, seem to work fine. With Ruger BX-15’s I had one fit well, two which barely fit and one which refused to lock in. With the BX-25 the success rate plummeted. The earliest BX-25 I had which was purchased around when they first became available works fairly well. The other 3 solid black ones and 3 transparent sided ones refuse to lock in at all. I’d guess this is due to the Summit’s tighter tolerances rather than the Magpul stock as the latter is advertised as being fully compatible with any 10/22 mags. When a mag locks into the Summit it fits very, very snug. It seems even slight variations in tolerances will cause issues with the Volquartsen. You could probably make them fit but I wouldn’t know where to start.
Range time with the Summit was regrettably a mixed bag. I’ll give it some leeway as it’s a brand new rifle but something I hadn’t taken into consideration going in is the Summit is not a do-all bolt action which will cycle and fire anything you can fit down the pipe. As had already been discovered with magazine fitment, Volquartsen are known for exacting tolerances. When the Summit runs it runs well and provides both stellar accuracy and plenty of amusement. Wander remotely outside of its comfort zone and it becomes pure frustration. If you’re after a fun training rifle then you’ll probably want something else. The Summit is purpose-built and this makes it a very fussy eater.
My session began with Herter’s 36 grain plated hollow point which proved to be one of the worst choices I could have made. These bullets have a fairly blunt nose which became the source of countless jams as the top of the round would catch the top edge of the chamber. When I could get one chambered it would fire and extract fine but as soon as I went to push the bolt forward the next round would catch and stop me cold. Sometimes I could persuade it home. Other times I wound up with a gnarly looking mangled bullet for the misfire bucket.
After switching to non-plated lead round nose ammo (Federal, I think) the Summit cycled much better but in the first ten rounds I ended up with two light primer strikes. Both of these rounds fired fine on the second pass. In addition I was getting failures to eject where the spent brass would be left rattling around inside of the action. It was necessary to drop the mag to clear them out. I’m almost wondering if these issues had been caused by bits of plated hollow-point rattling around in the action.
After firing a few more mags of these round nosed bullets the Summit seemed to work itself out, no more light primer strikes. With ejection I made certain to use swift and decisive bolt pulls. The brass still plopped onto the bench without much drama but so long as it’s clear of the action that’s good enough for me. Once it settled in the shooting experience became sublime with ten rounds at 25 yards creating a single hole about the size of a quarter. The Summit is a good rifle, quite possibly a fantastic rifle so long as it continues to reliably fire and cycle.
Clearly more range time is needed but I’m willing to take this one for the team.
It’s an unfortunate truth that the quirkier things in life are also more difficult to work with but it’s the price we pay, often willingly, in order to have these fun and unique quirks. The Summit can be quite frustrating but I cannot help but love it, having more the attitude of ‘oh, you…’ instead of ‘why the heck aren’t you doing what you’re supposed to be doing?!’ It’s not a defensive tool. You won’t have to worry about an eight hundred pound squirrel charging you after taking down his buddy. This one is quirky while also being built to deliver the goods. Once you find what agrees with a Summit then you’re in for a whole lot of fun and an experience which you’ll have trouble finding anywhere else.
