Should I customize this 10/22?

I would buy a new one to customize. I know that they millions of 10/22's, but older ones in nice shape are hard to find.

I don't think it matters much one way or the other.

The term 'customize' could mean a lot of different things when it comes to a 10/22. I like mine plain and they shoot just fine with a good trigger job and bolt release.

Regardless, I would save the money for a new 10/22 and use the one available and add the parts to suite. Some barrels cost more than a new 10/22. The barrel is where you want to spend the money....

It would help if OP stated what the goal of the customization is.

Yes.

I would customize the one you already own.

Yes.

I would also buy a new one. In my case a takedown model.

Glad to be of help.

I bought my 10/22 back in 1978 and except for adding a Weaver K2.5 scope, I have pretty much left it in its original factory condition. Accuracy with the iron sights was amazing and the addition of the scope only made even better and with CCI MiniMags or Wolf Match Target this rifle is a real tack driver. If I were thinking about customizing a 10/22 I would definitely get another one to do it with as my original model is fine just the way it is.

If you're going custom, i'd start with a used gun, cause at the end of the project, most likely only the receiver, bolt, and pins will be the same. there no point in buying new parts just to discard them.

Theres a whole lot of options when you play dress-up with a 10/22. Here's my Smelly 10/22... a little more unique than the usual bull barrel and aftermarket stock...



Have fun with it...

Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

I would recommend that if you plan on doing any walking with this rifle, that you get a light or medium contour barrel, rather than a steel bull barrel. I built this one with a Nodak receiver and Clark mid-weight barrel. It is just as accurate as a bull barrel but is 22oz lighter than a bull barrel of the same length. Rifle is a hair over 7lbs.

Bevans;

Or, you could go best-of-both-worlds & get a Volquartsen tension-lite barrel. It's a .920 diameter bull configuration, but weighs next to nothing. I did it many years ago & did not free-float it to enhance the gun's ability to withstand the rigors of woods hunting.

Nonetheless, with a lot of Green Tag that's now loooong-gone, it'd shoot really itty-bitty groups off the bench. Best I ever got was a .160-something, ten shots, 25 yards. Don't get me wrong, it's still very accurate, but with today's ammo situation I'm not going to drive myself nuts trying to find another wonder-ammo. It's a helluva grouse gun though.

If I were in your shoes I think I'd buy either a new one or a cheap, had the snot beat outta it pawnshop gun. After all, as was noted above, by the time you get done with it all that's left is the action group.

900F

Why not refinish the stock, re-chamber the barrel add an aftermarket v-block and do a bit of trigger work? You'll have a classic looker with better accuracy without replacing every part or spending a fortune. If you feel at that point you absolutely need to spend more, buy a nice Leupold target scope and a brick of Lapua.

if you customize it with aftermarket parts, you can always just put it back the way it was if you so desire.

^^^^This

Unless you want to have two 10/22s there's no sense in buying another receiver. Save the cost of the new whole gun to buy parts for the one you already have. 10/22s are one of the true examples where (to me) the receiver truly is the gun and the rest is just parts.

How about more details on the Smelly 10/22?

How about more details on the Smelly 10/22?

Click to expand...

It was/is a stock carbine barreled action. I can pull it out and drop it into a different stock in five minutes. This started when I bought a RFI .410 Enfield a couple years ago for very little, because it had a cracked forestock and handguard...and the shop had apparently not heard of buying replacement parts online.

While waiting to find the appropriate pieces to restore that gun, i was trying to clean out a bunch of stuff around the safe, a couple various stocks from bubba's i've restored. This only-removed-once Ruger factory carbine stock was there next to the broken Enfield pieces...an hour later, i'd chopped the broken HG and 10/22 stock and doweled them together.

I used Acraglass gel as a binder...i also did the barrel channel, cause why not... I had to order a replacement rear sight guard from Liberty Tree, since i nabbed the .410's for this project, and chiseled a relief in the stock for it. I already had an extra No.1 nose cap too. The band is from an No.4 Enfield, and the rear sling swivel is a repro for a 1903, which is blued, and wouldn't match the park'd stuff on my '03A3.

The only real work (since i couldn't find my dremel) was 10-15 minutes of filing just forward of the front-sight-slot in the nose cap; to get the 10/22 barrel to get far enough forward to be flush with the front face. The barrel has a little step before the band for the front sight, which fit in there nicely.

It was a good afternoon project!

/Sorry to depart from the original topic.