Always a favorite in our rimfire line, the Varmint Precision Trainer gets a boost in accuracy with the addition of a barrel borrowed from the Match Target Rifle. With a Match chamber and a stiff 16.5” heavy barrel, it’s threaded 1/2×28 to allow easy installation of a suppressor or muzzle device. A special color scheme graces its carbon fiber Manners stock, with orange highlights to denote this as an upgraded version of an already premium gun.

A constant in our rimfire line, the Precision Trainer was designed to provide the same look and feel as a full-size tactical rifle while allowing for more economical training. Though the golden days of cheap and plentiful 22 LR ammo may be behind us, the Precision Trainer has become more popular than we ever could have imagined.

Based off the PRS1 stock, this special Manners carbon-fiber composite stock provides a rock-solid platform and is finished in a two color camouflage pattern with a base of carbon fiber peeking through the background. The stock itself has multiple layers of carbon fiber and fiberglass hand-laid in high-temperature epoxy resins, then placed in a vacuum and heat-cured to create the perfect resin-to-fabric ratio. Combined with our cold hammer forged Varmint barrel (threaded 1/2×28), the Precision Trainer is a paper-puncher with surgical precision.

If we were to pick one thing that our previous rimfire platforms were lacking, it was an American-style push-to-fire safety — something Hunter’s Education instructors and 4-H shooting coaches have begged us to incorporate for years. Though that was the most obvious change, we also took the opportunity to tweak a load of small things at the same time. In addition to the receiver-mounted, push-to-fire safety, we chopped almost an inch of length from the action and slab-sided it to reduce its footprint and weight.

The stamped bottom metal of the 455 is gone, swapped for a classy two-piece interlocking system. To make scope fitment easier, we ditched the 90° bolt rotation in favor of 60°, allowing for larger ocular bell diameters with lower ring heights. To top it all off, the 457 now features a trigger adjustable for weight, creep and over-travel.

With the exact same swappable barrel system as the 455 and the same reliable polymer magazine system, the 457 is without a doubt the best rimfire platform we’ve ever fielded.