by J.B. Wood | Contributing Editor
The bolt stays open after the last shot.
Are you looking for a high-quality semi-auto carbine in .22 Magnum, with a lot of neat accessories? Well, here it is; Mitchell calls it the Black Lightning, but it’s not all black—there’s that heavy, fluted stainless-steel barrel, left in its natural finish. Actually, it makes a nice contrast.
The whole thing has a really handsome appearance. The polymer stock has a sweeping connector from midway-back to the butt of the pistol grip.
The basic Mitchell Black Lightning, left side.
In the receiver, ahead of the bolt, two oblong openings on each side show off that pretty barrel. On top, a standard rail runs almost full-length.
There are five-inch numbered rails on both sides of the fore-grip. On the underside of the stock, there are sling studs at front and rear.
The 9-round magazine goes in through the pistol-grip, and the catch is at lower rear. I prefer that arrangement. Push-buttons often get accidentally pushed. There is no annoying “magazine safety”—so, if you damage or lose the magazine, you still have a single-shot gun. A neat loadingaid is provided, easily inserted through a hole in the follower.
That beautiful 18-inch barrel has a diameter of nearly 7/8 of an inch, and this contributes to a total weight of 6.8 pounds. The other important number is the over-all length, 32.6 inches. Very handy, but with a substantial heft! The balance, though, is excellent, and the weight tends to keep it steady.
The manual safety is on the left side at the top of the hand-grip. Up is on-safe, down to fire. Just forward of the safety is a manual bolt-latch. It is useful to manually set the bolt open for cleaning. To release the open bolt, though, the best way is to pull back slightly on the bolt handle.
The trigger has about 1/8 of an inch take-up, then a clean let-off that averaged 6.5 pounds. A little stiff, but it will lose another pound with some use. Note that most new factory trigger pulls, especially in semi-autos, are dictated by the legal-weasels. They don’t want any in-court references to a “hair-trigger.” In this case, any competent gunsmith could safely lighten the pull to around four pounds.
The Black Lightning comes with a set of 1-inch scope rings. Optionally, three good scopes are offered by Mitchell. Other accessories available include a front and rear sight set that gives the carbine an M-16 appearance.
A very nice folding bipod is also offered.
For prices on these items, call Mitchell or check their website.
One new accessory deserves separate comment. It’s a nicely-made “red-dot” sight, easily installed on the rail. In addition to the red dot, the lit image can be changed to a circle, cross-hairs, or a combination of the two. If you order it separately, the price is $125, very reasonable for a sight of this quality. Ordered with the gun, it’s $99.
Suggested retail for the gun itself is $595.
For most of the test-firing, I used I used this “Sight-Mark” sight. All of the shooting was done standing, at 25 yards. The ammo was from Winchester, Federal, and Fiocchi. Well-centered groups averaged 2.5 to 3 inches. If I had fired from a casual rest, like my MTM Shooting Stick, they would have been tighter. This carbine is very, very accurate.
A final nod of appreciation to the designer: Larry Grossman, who also had some input from Larry Gilliam.
If you have any other questions, here’s the contact data:
Mitchell Manufacturing Corp.
P.O. Box 9295, Dept. TGM
Fountain Valley, CA 92706;
(714) 596-1013
mauser.net
