By Mr. Black
There are fancy wood safe queens you bring to a public range to collect compliments from coffee-sipping strangers, and then there’s the Volquartsen Summit Deluxe with the La Chassis stock—a rifle that won’t win any beauty pageants, but will challenge you to shoot better, faster and farther. It’s not for everyone, and that’s the point.
The Summit is a rimfire bolt-action rifle that acts like a semi-auto without the finicky cycling and constant cleaning. Chambered in .22 LR, 22 WMR and 17 HMR, the entire Summit line (and there are many variants) are scalpels—built with the kind of mechanical precision and unapologetic attitude that makes Volquartsen, Volquartsen.
The heart of the Summit is a straight-pull action design based on the 10/22 footprint. There’s no lifting the bolt handle, just a straight tug back and slam forward. Combined with the company’s dead-accurate, carbon fiber-wrapped barrel (threaded, of course), this rifle wants to print single-hole groups, even when you’re just trying to ring steel and have fun.
The Grey Birch La Chassis folding stock is the kind of stock system you’d expect to find on a high-end PRS boomstick. Precision-machined from aluminum and skeletonized in a way that’s both functional and visually appealing, the chassis gives the Summit backbone and attitude. It’s adjustable, of course—comb height, length of pull, QD sling points in all the right spots and M-Lok attachment points up the entire handguard—and weighs just enough to keep things grounded without being obese.
Suppressed Scalpel—Volquartsen Summit Deluxe
The biggest advantage to this action is when it’s run suppressed. Since there is no bolt to reciprocate, making noise and allowing gas to escape, it is the perfect suppressor host. Even with supersonic 22 WMR ammo, the Rugged Oculus22 suppressor tamed the blast to very moderate levels that was pleasant to shoot without any hearing protection required. In a 22 LR offering with Subsonic ammo it is Hollywood-quiet. You’ll hear more noise from your suppressed .300 Blackout bolt cycling. It’s a prairie dog’s worst nightmare and a shooter’s wet dream—no muzzle jump, no drama; just click, ding, repeat.
But the beauty of this rifle isn’t just in the build or the shooting performance. It’s in what it invites you to do. You find yourself doing things like stretching out shots you’d normally reserve for centerfire guns. Trying stupidly small targets at 300 yards just because. Plinking golf balls with absurd confidence and taking head shots only on prairie dogs almost completely hidden in their holes.
There are some who will grumble that the Summit costs too much for a .22. That you could get “80% of the performance” for half the price. They’re not wrong, but they’re missing the point. This isn’t about utility. It’s about indulgence. This is the watch that doesn’t tell time better than your Casio but makes you feel something every time you roll your wrist.
This is a rifle for those who don’t need permission to own something excellent. It’s accurate and rugged while being sophisticated. And I love it for that.
If you’re the kind of shooter who buys custom knives you don’t need and drinks good bourbon like it owes your liver money, you deserve to own a Summit. Because in a world where most rimfires are built for kids or casual plinkers, the Summit is something rarer—a rimfire built for killers who grew up, got jobs, and want the best.
Don’t buy it because it makes sense. Buy it because it doesn’t.
Price: $1,992
Pros: One-hole accurate, quality throughout, almost as fast as a semi, without the hassle.
Cons: You might get a fraud alert warning from Amex when you run your card.
