10/22 accuracy discussion continued.

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SaxonPig

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In another thread I posted that my unmodified 10/22 shot 1/4" groups at 50 yards 23 years ago (the only time I ever fired it from a bench). Well, at least one member said it was a fluke (at best) or a fib (at worst).

So I decided to see if I could do it again. I could not. The best I could do today was a 5/8" group at 50 yards. Shot several groups and none went over 7/8" so it was consistent, and not bad (5/8" isn't too shabby is it?) but I could not repeat the groups I produced in 1987.

I suspect the rifle is still capable of doing it, but I am not. My 32 year old eyes and trigger control had to be at least 1/4" better than my current 55 year old eyes and trigger control.

Oh well.

I also brought along my Norinco JW15 that I bought nearly 20 years ago. Best group was exactly 3/4" so not quite as good as the Ruger. I still think that little 10/22 is a good shooting rifle. I am just no longer able to keep up with it.


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I for one don't doubt your experiences in the least.

While my Ruger 10/22 was subjected to Ruger's lawyerized trigger, the rifle still showed good potential--it was just difficult to shoot it to its potential because the trigger pull was at least 1.5x the weight of the gun. I dropped in a competition hammer, which ran me about $35 and took about 30 an hour to install, and I've had no problem at all hitting with it since.

On a regular basis, I've demonstrated the ability to keep spent 12 gauge hulls and golf balls rolling out to 50 yards and beyond with it. I don't group it much on paper, but I know if I hang one of the American Eagle 40 round boxes (empty) from a tree branch on the 50 yard line of my grandpa's backyard range, I have no problem keeping all or most of an entire 10 round magazine inside the box. If I buckle down behind a bench, the Velocitors will typically put 5 rounds in or around the white eagle head on one of these boxes.

Scope is a 2.5-7 Weaver rimfire. Ammo is bulk pack American Eagle for most of it, or 40 gr CCI Velocitors when I am really serious.
 
Nope, I never said that you were lying and you have proven here to be an honest man and I ain't afraid to admit it. This is honestly about what I figured but 5/8" from a stock carbine is nothing to sneeze at. Most don't do better than an inch without tuning. If my 22" Walmart Special barrel had done as well as yours, I probably wouldn't have put the Clark midweight on it. Certainly would've simplified my front sight issues. I may still have it set back, rechambered and recrowned to see what it will do.
 
I've been shooting a 10/22 iron sight for years. I had a scope on it for awhile but finally got some glasses that allow me to see both the sights and the target without using a scope. I'm 51 now and I don't use a rest unless I'm sighting in a gun. I can hit soda cans pretty consistently at 50-100 yds with the 10/22 shooting freestanding, so I don't think it has any serious accuracy issues. A gunsmith did a little tuning on the trigger some 15 years ago but other than that it's factory original. I bet it would group pretty tight at 50 yds from a rest. My wife makes either cans or targets look like mincemeat with it shooting freestanding, too.
 
5/8" with Remington golden bullets? If true, that is VERY good at 50 yds.

Have not warmed mine up again yet. Been working too much.
 
for the most part, any 22 is more accurate than a 10.22. And I am a guy who has had a lot of diff 22's over the years. But that is not to say, you can't get a good one now and then. Most of the time, you can improve the accuracy of a 10.22, by doing 3 simple things; find an ammo it really likes-- usually wolf, some type of Aguila, or american eagle red box made by Feddy.
secondly, take the bbl out, put it back in, and tighten it up really good and even with the torque, so the bbl is in there as good as it can be. I would also torque the takedown screw, about 20-25 lbs, is the sweet spot.
Lastly, a trigger job, either your own, or get one rebuilt allready off the internet; this last one will actually do the most to improve your groups.
there is a dude down here in Houston, who has been working on ruger triggers , and others, for over 40 years, and swears once he gets a factory trigger group down to about 1.5 lbs, he can make any ruger 10.22 shoot very well. he does it by changing the geometry of the parts, and uses no new parts at all, he is darn good!!
 
I don't remember my 10/22 being particularly inaccurate. I got mine back in the mid 80's. I don't remember it being super accurate either. I haven't taken it to the range in years.

Most accurate .22s I have are a Marlin 39A Golden Mountie and the absolute most accurate is a 70+ year old Mauser single shot. My dad took it to the range the other day and shot a 5 shot group at 50 yards which is easily covered by a dime. I shot it at 100 yards with a 4X scope...the reticle is so thick it covers a huge area, but still a 5 shot group could be covered by a half dollar. With a better scope, I bet it could push down to a quarter easily.
 
You really have a good rifle SP. Every now and then the production tolerances have to line up in favor of the rifle. Generally the 10/22 has a good barrel but a sloppy chamber and loose head space.

I did a modified Benz chamber on my International model, with tightened up head space and it does not shoot any better than your rifle.
 
I did a modified Benz chamber on my International model, with tightened up head space and it does not shoot any better than your rifle.
Click to expand...

This is a term that I not familiar with. Does it mean a somewhat shorter chamber rather than a shortest possible chamber?
 
My 10/22 was bought new in the late '70s. It was the standard carbine,nothing special. I put a 1" tubed Simmon's 4x32 scope on it. Though I never "measured"any 10 shot 50 yard groups,they could almost always be covered with a 25 cent piece. Shooting from a rest, it was EASY to hit an empty 22lr casing at 50 yards (barely visible without the scope). It accounted for an untold number of squirrels. I let it get away to someone who REALLY wanted it, thinking I would just get another but life got in the way and my firearms interest went in another direction. Among my Remingtons,Marlin 60s and Winchester 190s and 290s,that Ruger was easily equal to or superior than them all,in both reliabilty and accuracy.
 
Mine does have a fairly awful trigger. Can the trigger group be removed and sent to someone for work or does the whole rifle need to go?
 
SaxonPig, there are a number of folks offering triggers groups for the 10/22. There is gobs of info over at RimfireCentral forum. You might look at an article by Greg Rodriguez in September 2010 issue of Shooting Times magazine where he purchased two 10/22's and did some customization. It is written in simple terms and enjoyable to read. Could not find a link to the current article, which doesn't necessarily mean the article isn't somewhere on their website. The Timney trigger group is an option. There are others.

I'm personally leaving mine stock although I have considered dropping in the Timney trigger group. You don't need to send off the rifle as it is a do it yourself modification. I have other 22 rifles that fill the accuracy niche and really don't want to modify my Ruger 10/22 significantly.
 
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I had one. I never saw what the hype was about the 10/22. mine was not very accurate, and pretty picky about the ammo it would cycle reliably. I must have had a bad example. But I would prefer a Marlin 39A anyday :)
 
we took my 10/22 to the range yesterday.
We could not crank the scope down far enuf to hit the bull.
I was putting it away when I saw that the scope was sitting on
the uprite rear sight.
Problem solved !!!!!!!!!!!!! back to 2 " groups at 50 yds.
It is a fun gun..........................
 
My buddies and eye shoot at clay targets all the time from 200 yds with great consistency. The 10/22 I use is modified. It has a tactical solutions barrel and a hogue overmold stock. I also use a savage mkII sporter rifle the GL model at 200 yds on clay target both pretty accurate. We can hit our targets at least 7 out of 10 times with a 15mph crosswind. The 22lr is accurate beyond most distances than is given credit.
 
that's right saxon, lots of folks do it. Mostly, you sen them yours, they send you are diff one for about 80 bucks or so, some folks will do yours, and return it, for 50 bucks or so. Or keep your origional one, if you ever wanna put it back in, and get another one, for maybe 100 bucks or so.
check over on RFC...
 
My buddies and eye shoot at clay targets all the time from 200 yds with great consistency. The 10/22 I use is modified. It has a tactical solutions barrel and a hogue overmold stock. I also use a savage mkII sporter rifle the GL model at 200 yds on clay target both pretty accurate. We can hit our targets at least 7 out of 10 times with a 15mph crosswind. The 22lr is accurate beyond most distances than is given credit.
Click to expand...

It's even more fun with a CZ Lux with Iron sights. :cool:
 
CZguy said:
Quote:
I did a modified Benz chamber on my International model, with tightened up head space and it does not shoot any better than your rifle.
This is a term that I not familiar with. Does it mean a somewhat shorter chamber rather than a shortest possible chamber?
Click to expand...

Short answer is yes.

Typical 10/22 base to case mouth is .775. A Bentz chamber is .670. By removing .070 from the back of the barrel you reduce base to case mouth to .705. After you remove .070 you still have larger entrance than a true Bentz chamber. After cutting with a Bentz reamer the chamber diameter has a tighter taper but the mouth of the chamber is larger than a true bentz.. By keeping a larger mouth the rifle is better at feeding non-match ammo.

This modified chamber well not except CCI Stingers, they are too long.

You have the cut the barrel shoulder the same .070 and deepen the extractor slot.

There is a member at RFC that does this out of Washington state, about $100. If you have a lathe you can do this with a Manson #304 reamer from Brownell's.

This chamber mod along with bringing the head space down to spec (surface the face of the bolt) the rifle should shoot as well as most of the aftermarket bull barrels, yet retain oem appearance.
 
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