My First Rifle (Ruger 10/22) Could Use Your Help

You wouldn't happen to be a smith would you?
Try all kinds of ammo and learn the Irons. If you cant get the BRM down with Irons the scope might make things worse.
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^ I had the same thought. Learn to mount your own scope and take your own gun down. You Tube is full of helpful videos. Use only jacketed ammo and you should be fine. Although Rem does seem to have more duds than the other Wally World bulk box'es.fwiw Our Walmart just went up $4 on Win 550 ammo and said that was all the bulk ammo they were carrying now. So stock up and shoot shoot shoot.
Have fun putting the bolt back in when you clean it. I recommend the tool they make for this ,but haven't bought one for myself yet.

My favorite bulk is CCI AR Tactical. It was originally recommended to me because it is a truncated round and feeds really well for semi autos. Turns out it does, and after extensive testing. I'm one of those guys who weighs bullets and separates them by weight then shoots hundreds (thousands) of rounds for statistical analysis.Yeah, one of "those" guys. I've tested somewhere in the mid 20s of different types and speeds from subsonics up thru hypervelocity.

What I've found is that for $95 for 1500 rounds they group the best (for me), always feed well and are consistent as any match grade stuff I've tested. Weighing them does make a big difference in grouping, so while what I'm shooting is not presorted match, it is selected and I have very satisfying results at a great price. I've never had a bad batch, and I've shot thousands of them. Think about what speed variance does at longer range. A difference of 50 FPS can be a pretty significant group size downrange.

My squirrel rifle, the Gae Bolga, is a Kimber M82 and mounts a Burris 4X miniscope. Frankly, I consider that the perfect small game rifle, and have proved it many times over. I stick with Winchester or Federal bulk ammo, and go upscale when it comes to serious hunting ammo.

My squirrel rifle, the Gae Bolga...

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I had to google that one! I thought your gun was named after an effete Bulgarian.

Here is the bulk .22lr ammo, in best to worst order, that works in my ruger.
1)blazer
2)federal
3)remington
4)winchester
It runs all ammo very well in the rotary mags, but my bx-25 likes blazers the best.
I would shoot open sights for awhile before getting a scope..... it kinda makes it 2 easy.
Also nothing wrong with the 10/22, but i would try and shoot a couple different rifles before buying one. I think a lever or a bolt action might be inline for a first 22 rifle.
as always shoot lots and shoot safe

My other 795 and one of my 10/22s have Tech Sights on them. Yeah iron sights are great, factory iron sights on most rifles stink.

Here is my grab and go, beater truck gun, do everything rifle.

I had to google that one! I thought your gun was named after an effete Bulgarian.

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Now you know the secret -- once launched, it hunts the quarry down and enters through the "fundament."

You've gotten some great responses on here. I'm in the "wait on the scope crowd". The 1022 has good iron sights and that's why folks like them so much, along with the price and the fact it will shoot forever. I'd buy a bunch of ammo, about five extra 10 round mags and shoot it every chance I get. When I put a scope on a .22, it makes it more of a hunting rifle and takes some of the plink out of it. You have a great rifle.

Another vote for Tech Sights. Best upgrade you can do to a 10/22. Learn to shoot well with iron sights.

Blazer and Federal bulk both seem to be good quality. Remington is absolute junk.

I just dumped a box of the Thunderbolt through my brand new 10/22 this weekend. What this means is foghornl is exactly right. Every rifle is different. Mine may hate one of the top recommended brands. Buy little boxes of different brands and see what you and your gun like.

I was taught on iron sights and have grown to prefer them, however my vision is now my issue and I am having to float my sights over where I think the target is at distance so may have to go to a scope for longer range.

Jeff

Remington is absolute junk.

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Yep, that's why I burn six bricks of it a month.

Congratulations on your first 10/22. You have a piece of Americana. It is a great rifle and very reliable. Rimfire shooters are very picky about their ammo. You will notice that your rifle will shoot great with one brand and lousy with another. Buy every brand of ammo conceivable and than shoot it and see which brand your rifle likes the most and stick to it.

There is a great website that will convince you to spend thousands of dollars on your rifle because it is so easy to upgrade with an infinite amount of after market products. So please do not visit it because you will spend more money than you have.

But should you have questions about your ruger 10/22 than go and visit the website, most people on that site are wizards and will have answers for your questions.

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/index.php

Iron sights. I've never had any problems with the ammo I buy from WalMart. It's accurate enough for plinking and shootin small critters.

You wouldn't happen to be a smith would you?

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Nope, but I know a couple.

^ I had the same thought. Learn to mount your own scope and take your own gun down. You Tube is full of helpful videos.

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Learning to take your gun down is a no-brainer.

Youtube is full of great videos on how to bend a scope.

I'm not sayin you can't learn to do it...but right after a first rifle purchase, with only the help of youtube, is a bad way to do it, and a great way to flam up a tube and set of rings.

I suppose I have one of the few 10/22s that doesn't like the Federal, maroon & gold bulk (550) box. :banghead:....Hiccups regularly on those. Cheap Wins are ok....Cheaps Rems, well, I quit buying those a long time ago, maybe they're better now?

These days I stick with CCI Mini Mags and Blazers on the cheap...Either runs flawlessly in my 10/22 with the Mini Mags getting the accuracy nod as they should.

I have two of them, Fastcast. Actually they don't care for any bulk Feds and the Automatch is little better. Any other brand of ammo is better and Golden Bullets are one of the best. Of course each 22 rimfire rifle is in it's own world when it comes to ammo likes & dislikes.

I've had very good luck overall with both Federal 525 bulk pack ammo as well as CCI Blazer. For some lever, bolt and single shot rifles I've got I've also shot CCI Standard Velocity. Mind you with my eyes any difference in the grouping is pretty much lost unless using a scope.

Some folks won't even shoot a new gun at all without a scope. But I feel that they are missing out on a skill which could well prove worthwhile. And since you're new to the shooting why not learn ALL the skills. So I say get out and use those stock sights. Get as good as you can with them THEN stick a scope on the gun. Or maybe just upgrade the sights to something like the Tech Sights.

DO NOT go to Rimfirecentral.com!!! They (we) are a bunch of enablers that enjoy nothing more than spending other people's money. I've only got 3 10/22s, but couldn't manage to keep any of them stock and have over $1k in one of them . Beware the aftermarket .

You've been getting good advice so far. You made a great choice in your first rifle- enjoy it.

Ruger 10/22

SAMEFLY: You have made a real good choice, I can`t belive everyone don`t own one. BILL RUGER made good strong guns. Find the ammo your rifle likes and hopefuly will be stuff you can buy in 500 round bricks. You might get a couple of extra mags, up to you. As far as a scope don`t be in a hurry. This is a well made gun and it is just plain fun to shoot. Now the most important part (( GO GET HIP DEEP IN EMPTY BRASS )) and enjoy your rifle. Never seen a 10/22 that wouldn`t shoot, they are great plinking and hunting rifles.
Good Luck To You: ken

Learn how to shoot with iron sights first, if your just plinking to practice it's probably gonna be under 50 yards. Same distance for squirrel or rabbits. Once you get that figured out go ahead and get a scope. Otherwise when you go hunting and trip and fall over a root or log? and drop your gun and the scope breaks you have to go home.

You can upgrade the iron sights if you wish This is what I told my son and now days he has a scoped marlin he likes to shoot rabbits at nite with and most of it is point shooting. I don't think he could do this had he not learned with open sights.

Congatulations on your new rifle and it's a good choice, in my opinion a .22lr is the best training rifle and also the most useful and versatile. Served me well fo 30 years, although I did recently find a .22 mag and thats become my main critter getter

Everyone NEEDS 1 or 20 .22's

Hey all..bringing this thread back because I have a similar question for my first rifle. I already added a scope and have had a great time punching some paper with it. However, reading around the internet and a couple of important comments like, "What would you do if your scope broke and you weren't proficient with irons" I decided I would like to learn to use Irons as well.

Is there a similar comment to be made about learning to use, "Tech Sight" style Sights vs the Open Irons the Marlin 60, or the 10/22, come with? If I learn tech sights am I going to be wishing I also knew open sights? I definitely plan on having 2 rifles set up within the next 12 months so my girlfriend and I can attend an Appleseed together.

What type of accuracy is the goal to say, "I am proficient enough to graduate to tech sights and/or optics"? 1" bullseye at 25/50/100?

I'll make a new post if these questions don't get answered here, figured I could just jump on this one.

Thanks!

Like others have said iron sights first and would highly suggest attending a Project Appleseed course, they are fantastic and you will leave knowing how to accuratly shoot your rifle. As far as scopes are concerned check out the BSA Sweet 22, that is on all my 10/22's. You should also think about the extended mounting rail to get proper and adjustable eye relief to the scope. The extended mag release is also a good add on option.

Salty1:

I guess my main question is, are Tech Sights or similar Peeps, "cheating" when you say to learn iron sights first? Or does that count as becoming proficient in iron sights? I don't want to have a major gap in my marksmanship. Besides of course, you know, the 22 years long gap since I was 5 years old and missing out on this sport.

Shot irons or open sights with you .22 until you can shoot all 9's or 10's @ 50 yards without a rest. Then my recommendation is to get a fixed 6x scope. That is a great power for a .22 LR out to 100 yards, and is a good power for hunting.

CraigC said:

Yep, that's why I burn six bricks of it a month.

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Not all, but some. I know, most folks shoot little of this, lil of that to find the sweet spot. I haven't owned a .22 rifle or pistol that shoots Thunderbolt reliably. Why that one, who knows.