TANDEMKROSS's first complete rifle: 2,500 rounds through the TKX22

TANDEMKROSS built its first complete rifle around the 10/22 platform, and The Firearms Blog spent roughly 2,500 rounds finding out whether the TKX22 Light Rifle's $1,449.99 price tag buys enough gun to matter.

Snapshot

Author Luke C. tested first-production TKX22 rifles at a TANDEMKROSS event at Gunsite Academy before extensively running his own sample at home with bulk and premium .22 LR ammo. His conclusion: the 3-pound, 6-ounce rifle is a genuinely refined piece of hardware, but it's built for a narrow slice of rimfire shooters rather than casual plinkers.

Key points

• Price checks out at street cost: Adding up TK's separate parts comes to $1,241.88, and with the TKX22 selling around $1,299.99 at retail, the author says the assembly premium is reasonable for a shooter who'd rather not build one themselves.
• Spitfire barrel drives the weight savings: A tensioned stainless core under an M-LOK aluminum shroud gets the rifle down to 3 lbs 6 oz, though the author found that long M-LOK hardware (like a SureFire light mount) can contact the barrel and needs shortening.
• Accuracy beat a standard 10/22: Ten-shot groups at 25 meters came in under an inch for most loads, with CCI Green Tag shooting best and Remington Thunderbolt the weakest at about 1.5 inches.
• Reliability is ammo-dependent: Round-nose loads fed flawlessly, but hollow points, especially through the included DoubleKross magazine, caused feeding issues that also showed up, less often, in Ruger BX-15 magazines.

Quick take

The author argues the TKX22 isn't meant to replace a $250 factory 10/22, but for rimfire competitors, lightweight hunters, or younger shooters who need less bulk, it delivers USA-made parts, a notch-above finish, and real accuracy gains, provided buyers feed it ammo it likes.

Read the full story: thefirearmblog.com