For those of you who might be wondering, this is what the 10-22 eTrigger looks like:
This is what the 10-22 eTrigger looks like in a standard-style stock...
...and in a Fajen Legacy.
In case you are wondering, it is an adjustable electronic trigger system with adjustable travel and pull weight. You can set the travel down to fractions of a mm (tens of microns, actually), and the pull weight from several kg to tens of grams.
I designed it so that I could design a barrel-block-bedded (a la Ross Precision) bullpup stock with a forward-mounted Olympic-class Pardini-style trigger - fire by wire. These have been used in world class rapid-fire pistol for the past ten years. Ralf Schumann, an Olympic pistol great, designed the trigger in the Pardini. For a bullpup or other non-standard stock, it is great because you can put the trigger anywhere you want, and have the same fully-adjustable travel, weight and break.
Yes, bolt guns have a higher general potential accuracy due to the better chambers, more accurate bolt and breech faces, etc. I would never argue that a semiauto action can have the same chamber as a bolt gun and still be reliable. The question isn't about accuracy potential or cost, it is more about ergonomics and rules-compliance.
A 10-22 can put all of the bullets through the same hole from a bench. The accuracy potential of the gun is sufficient for many types of shooting. In other words, the bolt, chamber, and barrel quality of a 10-22 are not what limits the shooter's ultimate performance. Semiautomatic's might not be as good as a nice bolt gun for single shot accuracy, but the gun isn't the weakest link in the equation for a typical standing shot.
10-22's are cheap, and there are many companies that make an excellent assortment of barrels from budget to pricey, with an amazing range of barrel lengths and chambers, etc. You can replace any part of the gun, action, bolt, and since there are over 5 million of them, that's not likely to change in the future. They are easy and fun to modify because everything is modular in design, very few tools required.
Since a 10-22 an autoloader, you can take the reloading out of the equation, so the shooter can concentrate on other aspects of taking the next shot. With this trigger, you can basically "will" the gun to fire. It is pretty sweet. In other words, it "solves" the poor trigger problem of the 10-22 for almost all types of shooting - Even when the rules call for a high pull weight, the travel and break are nothing to sneeze at either.
The "unstable barrel-receiver-scope mating" ie "barrel droop" 10-22 issues can be solved with barrel block bedding, whether in a bullpup or conventional stock (like the Ross). Unfortunately, for competition silhouette shooting, there are a lot of rules about stock dimensions (comb height, scope height) relative to the bore line, so the barrel block bedded bullpup is probably out for this type of competition.
The bullpup is ergonomically great for offhand shooting, because even with a long heavy barrel (22" bull), the center of mass is right above your trigger hand with a 13" LOP. You get to hold the weight in close to your chest, and not way out in front.
The basic question is whether a gun that looks like those pictured above would conform to smallbore silhouette rules in some/any class, provided that you don't use the trigger guard as a palm rest, and provided it meets the weight requirements, etc? What do you guys think?
