A Ruger 10/22 Takedown, specifically. I had a plain vanilla 10/22 on which I had done some internal upgrades. However, my soon-to-be-former wife had grown fond of it and asked if she could have it as we part ways. She was, and is, a fine woman so I agreed she should take it. The new rifle seems to be all that the old one was PLUS it has a well-executed takedown feature. Ruger ships it with a sling and a padded case. With this on the market, I don’t know why people waste time and money on the AR7.
The AR-7 is lighter, and floats if dropped in water.
But agreed, the 10/22 Takedown is a generally more useful rifle.
Congrats on your new rifle. Ruger doesn’t always hit one out of the park, but the 10/22 certainly a home run. It’s about as ubiquitous today as the Model 1873 or 1892 Winchesters were in their day.
The interrupted thread feature is also found on some of the old Winchester lever guns, and about as useful - break it down, pack it away, take it with you. Very handly.
A gun that floats is of marginal utility if it isn’t also accurate and reliable. Like the Marlin Papoose, if floating is of genuine utility to the user, then a case using closed-cell foam adds flotation. The Marlin and Ruger are both reliable, both accurate, and both easily accept optics. How many of those things describe the AR7?
Boating accidents would be reduced if all guns floated. 
Oh, no argument - I agree that the 10/22 is a more useful rifle. Just answering why anyone might wish to pay for the AR-7. My late sister’s boyfriend, for instance, flew float planes a lot in the Alaskan bush. Having a rifle* that you can count on not losing if evacuating a wreck in the bush is of some value.
Pretty niche market, of course. 
- He also carried a Ruger Redhawk in .44 Magnum strapped to his body as a bear gun, too.
I know almost zip about guns, even after reading the specs. Is the Ruger 10/22 Takedown used for hunting?
It’s 22LR, you could use it for small game or pest removal. Don’t know what Scumpup plans on doing with it, but it’s the kind of gun I’d buy for target shooting.
Ah! Thanks asterion.
I plan on using it mostly to bust ice cubes and other such reactive targets that require no clean-up.
What Asterion siad - anything you might use a .22 long rifle rifle for, it’s useful. Light game, small varmints, plinking, target shooting. Though, being a take-down model, I wouldn’t use it for real precision target shooting - the 10/22 is accurate enough, but there are more precise rifles readily available, and take down rifles are somewhat less accurate as a whole than their fixed counterparts; every time you take it down, you minutely change the relationship between the reciever, where the optics are (if any), and the barrel.
The principle advantage of the 10/22 Takedown is that you can pack it very easily, and many folks won’t even know it’s there. Makes it more secure frmo theft, more portable, less offensive to hoplophobes, and thus more useful.
The other big thing about the 10/22 - not so much on the Takedown model - is the sheer quantity of after-market accessories. You can dress your little Ruger up in pretty much any configuration that suits your mind. Being perhaps tehsingle most popular .22lr rifle in the world, it’s damn near ubiquitous.
Sounds fun. Seeing as how I haven’t shot a 22 in nearly 20 years, I have no idea what’s on the market. Looks like now I’ve got an idea in case I finally decide to get one. Any chance you can get it in southpaw?
In its padded case, it fits easily inside the saddlebags on my Concours 14. I had a stroke a couple-three years ago from which I have recovered as much as I am ever going to. My wife left me and I am finalizing a divorce. I retired from teaching a couple weeks ago. I am seeng incredibly little reason not to put the Ruger in the saddlebag and make like a foetus.
Unfortunately, it looks like you’d need to go with a custom reciever (they do exist) for a south-paw 10/22. Essentially, you would buy a parts kit (easily accessable) and then do the 4473 for the reciever from a custom shop, and assemble it on your kitchen table. Easy-peasy, if not precisely inexpensive.
Yeah, this is a really good fit for you, then. Easy to transport, easy to set up, lots of utility.
I’ve got two 10/22s but no takedown models. They are nice little guns and as mentioned, lots of parts to trick them out. Enjoy your new toy.
Put one of these on it today.
A couple of years ago, it was almost impossible to find .22LR ammo at any price. What about now?
It’s everywhere. There’s no ammo shortage.
The scarcity was almost entirely artificial - One maker temporarily shut down a line for re-tooling and maintenance. Now, understand, that the .22 rimfire market is running at or near maximum efficiency all the time - capacity is VERY close to demand, so shut one line down, and demand quickly exceeds capacity. Add some policial fears and some rumor mongering, and suddenly you have a bubble.
I spoke with a Remington sales rep at the height of the scare, and he told me, in essence, that if he advocated for greater production capacity for rimfire, he’d find himself on shaky ground, employment-wise. .22 rimfire is a relatively costly round to make (fancy tooling required to shape and prime the cases), and it sells for rock-bottom prices; the margin is razor thin. New production lines would take very long to pay for themselves.
But that kind of talk does’t cut it with the conspiracy crowd. I personally know one individual with 110,000 rounds of .22lr ammunition.* Why? Beacuse fear.
*Pretty much a lifetime supply for a family of fairly avid shooters.
You’re right about fear shaping demand. The whole “Obama is gonna take our guns!” crowd went on a spree. Of course, they were wrong but as you claim, supply v demand rules the marketplace and during that time ammo shortages were a real thing for a brief few months. That’s been over for awhile and while I only own an AR-15 having sold my 911 pistol, I go to gun shops and .22 ammo is plentiful.