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Meet the Mamba
The Black Mamba, though created by Volquartsen, is actually built around Ruger’s semi-automatic .22 Long Rifle factory Mark IV 22/45 frame. It is then retrofitted with Volquartsen’s full accurizing kit, competition bolt, custom magazine release, and other alluring features. That accurizing kit includes a CNC-machined disconnector, target hammer, bushing, target sear, and target trigger with both pretravel and overtravel adjustments.
Buyers have a choice of either a 4.5- or 6-inch stainless-steel barrel housed in an aluminum shroud of the company’s LLV Competition Upper. Integral Picatinny rails come standard top and bottom. Every Black Mamba wears a threaded muzzle complete with a single-port comp.
The company adds its own iron sights, along with the slick – literally and figuratively – DLC coating on many parts, including the bolt. The trigger is customized to an advertised and crisp 2.25-pound pull, which held true on our trigger pull gauge.
Volquartsen also advertises that the magazine release, coupled with its standard magazines, eliminated feeding issues by raising the magazine’s position in the frame, thereby allowing the bolt to more positively engage each round as it feeds. The Black Mamba is made in the USA and ships in a nice quality black hard case along with two 10-round magazines. Building on the company’s existing Scorpion LR Target pistol, the Black Mamba is a competition-ready takedown pistol. Retail pricing, varying by finish and options, runs from $1,451 to $1,854.
About Volquartsen
To fully understand the background of the Black Mamba, we must first understand the roots of Volquartsen. The company is, by firearms standards, fairly young. Founded in 1974, but ultimately focused in its current area since 1991, Volquartsen specializes in the high-end rimfire market. A good number of “Core Values” are listed on their website, but a few really catch our attention: "Heirloom Quality," "Engineer the World’s Finest Firearms," and "Treat Everybody Like Family."
Every Volquartsen firearm is made in the USA, with headquarters in Carroll, Iowa. In addition to full firearms, the company sells components to improve your existing rimfire. Whether building fine competition firearms or fine-tuning the sweetest range plinkers, Volquartsen quickly finds its name on the wish list of most any shooter lucky enough to pull one of their triggers.
Test Gun
We were lucky to snag a lightly used Black Mamba from the GDC Vault. Never knowing what to fully expect in a pre-owned piece, we were pleasantly surprised with the high condition, quality optic, and completeness of the kit.
Our first time lifting the Black Mamba out of its hard case was a rush. The pistol is incredibly lightweight, even topped with the included Holosun, while being balanced. It feels natural, like it was meant to be in the hand. Aesthetically, it's not too shabby, either.
The frame is stamped with the standard Ruger 22/45 marking, but pretty much everything else goes custom level. The extended slide sees snake-scale scalloping and is stamped “Carroll, Iowa” at the rear. The same scaled pattern extends to the removable compensator, making the rig one seamless piece and befitting of its reptilian moniker.
Features
The cocking knob is highly polished, making it at once attractive and useful. Likewise, the bolt body and most external controls wear the same finish. There’s a nine-slot Picatinny rail below the barrel. Rubberized finger-groove grips are from Hogue, and they fit like a glove, even for smaller hands.
The safety is ambidextrous and moves like silk. The trigger breaks with impressive repeatability on our Lyman Digital Pull gauge. The Black Mamba makes use of Volquartsen’s own iron sights, with a fully adjustable rear and ramp front with a green fiber-optic bar, though we didn’t use them. The used piece came with a sweet Holosun optic in place, which offers a lower co-witness.
Model Variants
Even for those not sold on our exact test gun, Volquartsen actually offers a full two dozen model variants of the Black Mamba alone, some of which are matched with optics, not to mention all their other rimfire pistols and long guns.
With 24 Black Mambas on Volquartsen’s product list, it’s tough to choose. While the basics remain constant, aesthetics change. In addition to several barrel lengths, there are a host of finish options, including Cerakote colors like FDE, OD Green, and Tungsten and the standard black anodized aluminum.
The real head-turners, though, are the camouflaged versions. There are both Black and Arctic Camo burners, along with a snubby Mini Mamba complete with a 3-inch upper. Volquartsen even offers a few combos with the addition of Meprolight optics.
Field Notes
One of the first things buyers see, right on the front of the hard case, is a large red warning label proclaiming that the magazine disconnect safety has been removed. Thus, the pistol will indeed fire with the magazine removed, which we verified. We personally prefer it that way, especially in a defense gun, but it’s a point to be aware of even in a rimfire.
Our test gun shipped with two magazines, each with a slightly extended Volquartsen baseplate. The magazine drops positively free from the frame upon depressing the release, and there’s an audible, solid lockup on insertion. The overall attention to detail on this, our first Volquartsen experience, is quite impressive from smoothness of function to aesthetics.
Advertised weight is a stunningly light 1 pound, 15 ounces. On our scale, though, the weight with an empty magazine in place along with the Holosun optic, hovers just over 2 pounds, which is still a remarkably light and impressive specimen, especially given its longer barrel length.
Performance
Though we expected no less, the pistol chomped through everything from inexpensive plinking ammunition to premium offerings without missing a beat. Whether or not that is due to the company’s improvements mentioned earlier regarding the magazine’s lockup position within the frame, the fact remains that it functions flawlessly, as it should.
Accuracy testing on video showed certainly acceptable groups, especially with more rapid fire, but after several later range sessions off camera, our groups got even better. Chalk it up to familiarity with the gun, relaxation, practice, or some combination thereof, but the Black Mamba makes us look – and feel – like lights-out shooters.
Though the piece both appears and feels built for serious competition, most any shooter can benefit from its features and quality, whether plinking, hunting, training, or yes, competing.
Conclusion
While the price sounds steep for a backyard plinker, Volquartsen’s Black Mamba performs as well there as it does on the national competition shooting scene. Handgunners with the budget to snag one, whether new or used, will be better for the purchase.
And if they’re anything like us, they’ll spend even more time on the range, punching out X-rings and sharing grins. At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about.
