One of my favorite .22LRs

Just ran across this target shot a couple of years ago with my home-modified Remington 581, .22LR. I found the stock in a barrel, as a blank, at a Kittery Sporting Goods store. Finished and pillar-bedded it. Obtained a turned-down Shilen barrel that was taken off a gunsmith's benchrest rifle that didn't shoot well (found out later it wasn't because of the barrel). He turned it down for me and I got it for $150.

When I started a Rimfire Benchrest program at my Augusta, ME club I decided to put a flat forend for beginners to start shooting in our "Plinker" class. (I'd already lightened the trigger pull to about a pound and a half) and knew it shot well enough to be competitive in (unsanctioned) Plinker Class.

I shot the target below for fun and surprised that it still shot so well on our outdoor range that day...despite some wind. It's a fun rifle and I still like shooting it.

Kp321 said:

BR shooters are a fickle bunch. There is a shop near me who caters to the BR crowd so rebarrels a lot of rifles. They then use the take-offs to upgrade your 10-22. The result is a match quality 10-22 for essentially the labor cost of fitting the barrel.

Click to expand...

Yes, I paid about $150, as I remember, from Butch Hongisto. Butch wasn't a well man and passed away, several years ago, but he took my rifle's dimensions and turned the barrel down to fit the rifle, sight-unseen, from my measurements. When I installed it, I didn't use the barrel pins, but instead, glued it in with High Strength Locktite and it's been fine for over 15 years. Some ammo fits so tightly that the bolt turns with resistance when chambering, say CCI ammo.

Note the trigger spring isolation pin, bedding, steel pillars and third stock screw.

As a side note: I remembered that Broughton(?) Barrels recommended that Annie owners glue-in their barrels instead of the factory method, that used pins, which can deform chambers a bit. I took the hint and the epoxy I used on the 581 made for a slick connection. As I remember it was Red Locktite, but that was several years ago.

My B.I.L. wanted a 10-22, so he got a used, stainless model with a sporter stock (no band). I offered to accurize it and worked all my tricks on it, but it still didn't shoot well, so I suggested that he should try a new barrel. SHAZZAM! After installing a relatively inexpensive bull barrel, it shot just about as well as mine.

My old buddy, Guy Coro, bought a new heavy-barreled 10-22 and I worked on it for him, but didn't have the chance to shoot it, so took it with me when my wife asked me to go shopping at the South Portland Mall. While she was shopping, I went to the Scarboro, Maine Gun Club and the folks there were kind enough to let me try the rifle there. I shot a group and could hardly believe my eyes. It shot just as well as mine!!!

Guy wintered in Florida and loved to go to the Daytona shooting range, where there were lots of guys with 10-22s, some really fancy ones with all kinds of the best after-market components. His favorite activity was going to see their rifles and praising the work and listening to their claims of one-hole groups, etc. Then, he'd put his target up fairly close to theirs and watch how they actually shot, while he was shooting his very small groups, with his favorite inexpensive target ammo. After they compared targets, the guy with the fancy-pants 10-22 would go off mumbling to himself...not to be seen with that rifle again.