The coveted Golden Bullseye Awards, now in their 22nd year, were created as a way for us to publicly recognize the firearm industry’s best-performing, highest-value and most innovative products from the previous year. This year, we were blessed with a sizable crop of great new guns that could have won an award, but below you will find our consensus winners.
“Last year was one of massive new-product introductions from the recreational shooting sports industry,” said NRA Publications Executive Director Doug Hamlin. “As a result, the editorial staff had some tough decisions to make to identify the best all-new products.”
2024 Rifle Of The Year: Springfield 2020 Rimfire
Keenly honed as Editorial Director Mark Keefe’s ear usually is to the approach of new firearm introductions, as he detailed Springfield Armory’s recent unveiling of an entire new line of bolt-action .22s, made in partnership with Retay Arms of Turkey, caught him completely unawares.
But after several trips to the range with a couple of the economical turnbolts—including samples of both the utilitarian Target model and an elegant, wood-stocked variant—he came away impressed not just by the rifles’ quality and performance, but also by the thoughtfulness of their design.
Building the rifles to utilize ubiquitous 10/22-pattern magazines and Remington 700-type trigger groups were wise choices. “These guns really shoot and, particularly as the grades of walnut ascend, they look fantastic,” Keefe said.
“The introduction of guns that look this good and perform this well reminds me that I haven’t always been able to predict what will succeed and what won’t in that segment of the market—but I do know what I like, and I predict that a lot of other shooters who value .22 rifles are also going to discover that the Springfield Model 2020 Rimfire line is a pleasant surprise.”
We concurred with his assessment, naming Springfield’s six-model 2020 Rimfire family as Rifle Of The Year. For more information, visit springfield-armory.com.
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