The Ruger Model 96 is a series of

lever-action The toggle-link action used in the iconic Winchester Model 1873 rifle, one of the most famous lever-action firearms Lever-action is a type of action for repeating firearms that uses a manually operated cocking handle located around the trigger g ...

rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...

s produced by Sturm, Ruger & Co. They featured a short-throw lever action, cross button safety and a visible cocking lever. The 4 different variants of the Model 96 represented the four calibers the rifle came in: 96/17 for

.17 HMR .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire, commonly known as the .17 HMR, is a rimfire rifle cartridge developed by Hornady in 2002. It was developed by necking down a .22 Magnum case to take a .17 caliber (4.5 mm) projectile. Commonly loaded with a 1 ...

, 96/22 for

.22 LR The .22 Long Rifle or simply .22 LR or 22 (metric designation: 5.6×15mmR) is a long-established variety of .22 caliber rimfire ammunition originating from the United States. It is used in a wide range of rifles, pistols, revolvers, smooth ...

, 96/22M for

.22 Magnum The .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire, also called .22 WMR, .22 Magnum, .22 WMRF, .22 MRF, or .22 Mag, is a rimfire cartridge. Originally loaded with a bullet weight of delivering velocities in the range from a rifle barrel, .22 WMR is now loaded ...

and 96/44 for .44 Magnum. All four models had a hard wood stock.

96/22

The .22 LR 96/22 feeds from the same magazines as the popular

Ruger 10/22 The Ruger 10/22 is a series of semi-automatic rifles produced by American firearm manufacturer Sturm, Ruger & Co., chambered for the .22 Long Rifle rimfire cartridge. It uses a patented 10-round rotary magazine, though higher capacity box ma ...

series. From the factory, it comes with the standard flush-fitting 10-round

rotary magazine A magazine is an ammunition storage and feeding device for a repeating firearm, either integral within the gun (internal/fixed magazine) or externally attached (detachable magazine). The magazine functions by holding several cartridges withi ...

. Since it shares the magazine with the 10/22, the capacities available for the 96/22 include 10, 25, 50, etc. It utilizes the same v-block and barrels from the late model v-block style Ruger 77/22. Because of this, with an

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, the owner can replace the barrel with a 77/22 barrel. To use a 10/22 barrel, the process is the same as converting a 10/22 barrel for use in a 77/22. Both the 77/22 and 96/22 have dual, opposed extractors. A slot for the left side extractor must be cut into a 10/22 barrel to use it in a 96/22 or 77/22.

96/44

The .44 Remington Magnum 96/44 feeds from a four-round rotary magazine. It does not share magazines with the Ruger 77/44. The

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

of the 96/44 does not anchor itself directly to the stock with an action screw as almost all rifles do. There is a block on the underside of the barrel that is threaded for the action screw. The stock is attached to the barrel, and the barrel to the action. The rifled barrel has a twist rate of 1 turn in 20", allowing heavy hunting bullets to stabilize. This is relatively rare for .44 Magnum firearms, which usually are rifled at a rate of 1 turn in 38 inches. The 1:20" twist enables the use of 325gr ammunition for hunting large game.

References

Lever-action rifles .44 Magnum firearms 96 Rotary magazine firearms .22 LR rifles Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1996 {{Rifle-stub