By: Friedrich Seiltgen

Copyright © 2022

Winchester has added the Xpert .22 LR Bolt Action rifle to its lineup for 2022.  It’s got similar styling to the Semi-Automatic Winchester Wildcat, but with bolt action.

WINCHESTER

Winchester Repeating Arms was founded by Oliver Fisher Winchester.  Winchester was originally a shirt maker, but after he saw the potential of the booming firearms trade, he decided to get into the gun business.  In 1857 he bought controlling interest in the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company from a couple of gentlemen named Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson, and in 1866 the Winchester Repeating Arms Company was born!

THE RECEIVER & BOLT

The steel receiver is drilled and tapped for optic mounts.  The Xpert uses Winchester’s rimfire M.O.A. trigger.  It’s a 3-lever design with zero creep, zero take-up, and zero-over travel for a light pull that breaks like glass.

The bolt has an enlarged knob and is extended for more leverage and easier manipulation, and the weapon has a hemispherical firing pin to help ensure reliability.  Ammunition feeds via the same rotary magazine that’s used on the Winchester Wildcat.  Another plus is that the Xpert can use Ruger 10/22 magazines!

All these precision parts are dopped into a lightweight, polymer stock that is equipped with front and rear sling eyelets, and a picatinny rail on the underside of the forearm.

THE BARREL

The Xpert sports a button-rifled barrel with a recessed muzzle.  The Xpert has a Bentz-style chamber, which is a tight match grade chamber to be used with, you guessed it, match grade ammunition.

SPECIFICATIONS

Action Type: Bolt action rimfire

Caliber: .22LR

Magazine capacity: 10 round rotary and accepts aftermarket

Sights: Adjustable rear, blade front.

Barrel Length: 18 Inches.

Overall Length: 36.25 Inches.

Weight: 4 pound, 8 ounces.

MSRP: $320

URL: www.winchesterguns.com

THE VERDICT

The Xpert combines accuracy and style in a bolt action .22 caliber at a great price.  Whether for plinking, varmint hunting, or introducing a new shooter/hunter into the world of bolt action firearms, the Xpert has you covered.

That’s all for now folks!   Please keep sending in your questions, tips, and article Ideas.  And as always – “Let’s Be Careful Out There.”

Friedrich Seiltgen is a retired Master Police Officer with 20 years of service with the Orlando Police Department.   He conducts training in Lone Wolf Terrorism, Firearms, and Active Shooter Response.  His writing has appeared in RECOIL, The Counter Terrorist Magazine, American Thinker, Homeland Security Today, and The Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International.  Contact him at [email protected].