I got round to have a go with the Rhineland Arms R22 today. Although I no reviewer and most the time I was just having fun with it, I will post up what I found.
The rifle I had a go with was the standard barrel version which weighs 6.5lbs. The rifle did not feel front end heavy to me, even with the hollow stock. The rifle stock seemed solid enough but it is hollow and some have commented that this is a weakness, and plan to fill it with foam, I am not sure I would bother. Overall the rifle seemed well balanced and solidly built.
I had 3 different types of ammo on me 100 CCI mini-mags (hollow points), 100Winchester T22s and 50 Winchester Super X subsonics (hollow points). The CCI mini-mags functioned without fail. The Winchester T22 functioned nearly perfectly well, the problems I had were that the bolt came back too quick and caught the shell before it had fully extracted and one round that had to be fired twice (bad primer as the strike was good). The Winchester Super X subsonics again were almost perfect through the rifle, the problems were two stove pipes of unknown origin (most likely I hadn’t inserted the magazine well enough though).
The magazine I used was a well worn in plastic lipped 25 round butler creek. This worked perfectly in the rifle filled with all 25 rounds (some owners have commented they work better only filled with 15- 20 rounds).
The downsides on the rifle was that the safety can only be engaged when the rifle is cocked and that the bolt has no hold open facility.
The rifle could be screw cut and a moderator placed on the end, this would be my first job, I would probably go for an over barrel type than just adding one as this could add some length. Although I guess the barrel could be shortened first.
I did not test the accuracy very well, "must fire off magazine as quick as possible" syndrome unfortunately set in. My groupings when I did fire semi purposely to see how well it could do where about ½ inch groups.
After having a go, both my friend and myself have put our names down for one - my Walther G22 is now for sale.
For those who want to read a proper review theres one in Jan 06 Shooting sports and there should be one coming up in gun mart at some point.
The rifle I had a go with belongs to Matthew Greenall (the importer). I dont remember what the scope was, Matthew Greenall said it was a ruberised one for going on the handrails of an AR15 IIRC. The grip is not the standard one.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/MercMH/R22.jpgMatt