Plinkster enthusiast, trick shooter and rimfire specialist Dave Nash, otherwise known by his 700,000 YouTube fans as 22Plinkster, has a crack with the Desert Tech Trek 22 conversion kit.
Although this conversion kit looks as though it has come straight out of the Star Wars Franchise, the Desert Tech Trek 22 makes your Ruger 10/22 a bullpup, and it is a cool little set up at that.
Within 15 to 20 minutes, with a stock Ruger and a pinch of effort, you can transform your regular 10/22 carbine into a bullpup by just inserting the 10/22 inside and putting it back together again. Eventually and easily, you’ll be able to do it all in about 8 minutes.
The Desert Tech Trek-22 came out several months ago and it sparked 22Plinkster interest, luckily Desert Tech sent him the conversion kit for him to try out. In his opinion 22Plinkster adds that he has used a lot of conversion kits, bullpup kits for the 10/22, and dropping kit, but this one is different.
A lot of times when you get a bullpup drop in type of frame or receiver for your Ruger 10/22 you have a lot of play inside with the receiver going and the barrel extending all the way out, it’s a little sloppy. Not many companies have been able to keep the receiver and everything inside completely still, but Desert Trek did a really good job with it.
The Desert Tech Trek 22 has eleven screws holding it together and what makes this firearm so secure are two screws that are on the trigger group or trigger pack. The two pins in that trigger pack are removable, and to keep the receiver still it is a simple case of removing the pins and putting the receiver in there. Then place the pins with two screws through the trigger pack and you’re able to bolt it through the other side. The receiver won’t be going anywhere after that bolt is secured.
The trigger group is located inside of the stock where there is the bar which transfers all the way down and pulls the trigger. In other bullpup design’s that 22Plinkster has used there’s been some play which makes the trigger very hard to pull and feels very gritty, however this Desert Tech Trek 22 is much better than other 10/22’s. Especially if using a BX Ruger trigger, which triggers about two and a half to three pounds, you’ll get a much crisper trigger in this specific bullpup design.
22Plinkster got hands on with this 10/22 to see how well it shot using a suppressor which obviously makes the gun quieter than usual, he was surprised with a nice little holder that allows you to store two 10-round magazines.
Although only a plinker enthusiast and not a professional, 22Plinskter knows his stuff, but more than that he knows how to enjoy shooting to the fullest and have fun with it, “If you get your Ruger 10/22 to run well and you place in the stock you’re going to have a very reliable firearm”.
22Plinkster goes through the best parts of the Desert Tech Trek 22:
- The ergonomics on this setup include a rail that travels all the way across and allows you to mount a scope or a red dot. 22Plinskter decided to fashion his 10/22 with the Crimson Trace CTS 1400 as well as the CT Rig. This allowed 22Plinkster to get a good purchase on the firearm when holding it.
- It is very well balanced. As 22Plinkster states, sometimes when you get into bullpups you get a lot of stuff that’s rear end heavy and the firearm wants to raise up, but this is very well balanced. It’s pretty much balanced right there in the centre where you naturally hold your hand.
- The Desert Tech Trek 22 has M locks on the side of it and a storage space for two 10 round magazines.
- It takes about 15 to 20 minutes to install, but after you install it once you can probably install it much quicker.
- It has your slot open where you can read the serial number to make it legal and it still utilises the safety at the back end of the gun.
- The grip is very comfortable, by not utilising a pistol grip you can use higher capacity magazines.
- Both the 16inch and 18inch barrels are compliant with this gun, but an 18-inch barrel would stick out of the stock about an inch.
With Desert Tech Trek 22 features, this conversion kit gets 22Plinksters’s tick of approval “I think desert tech did a really good job, and I am kind of digging this little setup”.
Throughout his trial of the Desert Tech Trek 22, 22Plinkster was running the firearm with the can on it, so the barrel stopped about three quarters of the way up the M lock slot. It is important to know that the barrel would not be exposed if you’re not running a suppressor. Although, if you were running a comp on the end of your barrel it would probably stick out about a quarter of an inch.
This conversion kit creates a great and affordable setup for what it is. Desert Tech offer the chassis on their website for US$299, far from the hundreds of thousands of dollars people may think it costs.
22Plinkster owns about 30 Ruger 10/22s and he states that “none of them are set up exactly the same, and that’s why I think the Ruger 10/22 is the greatest 22 semi-automatic rifle ever created because you can just customise it any which way”. Now 22Plinkster has another addition to his collection of Bullpup Ruger 10/22s and he is excited.
You can buy Desert Tech guns and accessories in the UK via our approved retailer Dauntsey’s Guns.
