The CROW: A 22 rimfire rifle for connoisseurs

By John Markwell | Contributing Editor

Since the beginnings of our shooting endeavors we have always had an affinity for .22 rimfire rifles. Starting with that first rifle, a Model 1911 Savage repeater in .22 short, we went through a pretty diverse assortment of Mossbergs, Winchesters and Remingtons as a kid. We still have a few Marlin Model 39 lever guns as well as a couple of Oregon Kimbers, a Cooper and an Anschutz that has migrated to our son’s gun safe. Our primary requirement for a .22 Long Rifle- chambered rifle has always been accuracy and those currently in our stable all shoot to a pretty high standard. So it was with great interest that we accepted the offer of old friend Jay Phillips to test the new CROW; a premium bolt action .22 rifle from Utah-based Vudoo Gun Works (online: vudoogunworks.com; phone: 435-359-2890). We have a few friends who have been shooting .22LR Vudoo Raven rifles in “garage matches” at some pretty long ranges and I was curious to see what the CROW would do, as it is the little brother to some of those rifles.

Vudoo rimfire rifles are based on the company’s patented V-22 action. This repeater’s bolt face has twin extractors for controlled round feeding and the action is built with a Remington 700 footprint so it will fit in any chassis or stock that is compatible with centerfire actions utilizing that footprint. The bottom metal will also fit and it has an AI format magazine. What this means for the long-range shooter is that a centerfire set-up can be changed out for the Vudoo rimfire barreled action in the same stock used for the full-sized long-range rig giving the option of cheaper/reduced range practice.

The CROW is a compact .22 rifle built on a Rem. 700 foot print action that uses a proprietary AI pattern rimfire magazine and comes suppressor ready.

Stocked with a state-of-the-art hunting style stock with a 13-inch length of pull (LOP), the CROW is a reduced size .22 rifle for shooters of smaller stature. Weighing just 6.5 pounds, the CROW is a short and handy rifle designed for field use. With the short LOP, this is an ideal rifle for women and kids and, it isn’t a bad fit for us either as we have always favored rifles with shorter rather than longer stocks. Shooting the Vudoo CROW was fun and easy.

For testing, we mounted a Vortex Razor 3-15×42 telescope with the HSR-4 MOA Reticle. This is a second focal plane optic that looks a bit over-sized on the petit CROW but the 15x magnification enhanced the precision with which we could shoot the little rifle. The Razor was mated to the rifle’s 20 degree Pic rail with QD rings from Warne.

The CROW on the bench looks “stubby,” but the 16” suppressor-ready barrel is all that is needed to get maximum velocity out of most 22LR loads. Foreground: The ammo tested in the CROW: note the AI pattern 22LR magazines.

There are many advantages to living here in the hills but having a local source for match-grade .22 Long Rifle ammunition is not one of them. We accumulated a fair assortment of ammo for testing with a few phone calls and through the generosity of a couple of old buds: Eddie Begoon and Jay Cochran. We shot the CROW at both 50 and 100 yards and found that, like all .22s, the CROW has preferences for ammunition. Except for a couple of loads, the Crow proved to be a great performer with most of the ammunition tested, printing many ten-round groups in the sub-one- inch range at 50 yards and would, with some loads, shoot clusters of five or more shots into a half-inch or smaller with subsequent shots expanding said groups. We were impressed.

The twin extractors facilitate controlled round feeding of the somewhat delicate 22LR cartridges into the Crow’s chamber.

Our plan was to fire five 10-shot groups at 50 yards with each of the different .22LR loads we had on hand and then shoot the best two or three at 100 yards. It didn’t take long to sort out a few of the loads as they were obviously not compatible with the CROW. Only a couple of groups were fired with Federal’s bulk 36-gr. hollowpoint load and Winchester’s 40-gr. solid as these two loads grouped into +1.5”+ at 50 yards. We also tried to fire some of Winchester’s 45-gr. Subsonic loads but had considerable trouble with it in the CROW. The 45-gr. SS chambered with extreme difficulty and often the CROW’s twin extractors failed to pull the empty case from the chamber; we finally gave up on that load. We successfully tested 15 different loads in the Vudoo CROW and the results below are the average of either three or five 10 shot groups; the better the ammo performed the more groups we shot with it. The only problem we encountered was with some of the ELEY Black Box ammo nosediving and hanging up on the forward lip of the magazine upon feeding. This happened maybe half a dozen times during the firing of a couple of hundred rounds of ELEY Black Box. Other than this minor feeding issue, the rifle performed superbly; it is a solid and accurate weapon. The chart below summarizes our accuracy testing of the Vudoo CROW. We did not, by the way, chronograph the ammo tested.

ELEY black box ammo: the round on the right nose-dived into the front edge of the magazine during feeding.

As can be seen in the attached chart, ELEY Tenex, SK Standard Plus and ELEY Black box Lot #03411 were top performers at 50 yards while our long- time favorite load for field use, Winchester’s 37-gr. Copper-plated hollowpoint, also fared pretty well when fired from the CROW. It should be noted that the SK ammunition is quite economical with a retail cost of about $50 a brick, which is not bad for match grade .22 LR ammo. We stretched the range to 100 yards using only the SK Plus, LAPUA CenterX and ELEY Black box lot #03411 (we unfortunately ran out of the ELEY Tenex). The groups shown in the photo are typical of all those shot with that ammo at 100 yards. With some more experimentation, we’d bet a hollowpoint round could be found that would equal the 100 yard performance of these match grade rounds, making the CROW just a dynamite little gun for shooting gophers or squirrels.

The Vudoo CROW was a more than capable performer at 100 yards.

In today’s market place, where many manufacturers seem to be aiming low in the price point and quality of their products, it’s refreshing to see a company like Vudoo Gun Works stepping up with a high-quality product that sets a new standard for the lowly .22 rifle. We realize the market for a $2k+ 22 rimfire rifle is limited but there are those shooters out there who will not even flinch at the price of a Vudoo CROW if they can count on it to perform. If our sample CROW is typical of the quality and accuracy of all Vudoo rifles we’d say Vudoo Gun Works is well on its way to staking out a position of prominence in the .22 rimfire rifle market. Good shooting.