10/22 build

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hightower

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My regular shooting friends have won or bought a few new rimfires. A savage 17, savage 22 and a cz 22mag. Yesterday we were out shooting some clays at the sand pit and these three guys brought their new rimfires. After plinking with each of them we decided to make it a regular thing. The only rimfire rifle I have is a Ruger 10/22 black synthetic, ss, bone stock. I need to build this thing so I can kick their buts. That cz is much more accurate than my Ruger. I don't want to spend a ton, maybe a nice barrel and whatever gives me the best accuracy for the moola.

Your experience is appreciated.

I spend most my time reloading, not to much with rimfires, but I'm sure someone on here knows what I am looking for.
 
what range?

if youre just busting clays at 50yds or so, a stock 10/22 should be able to shoot with the rest of them, no mods needed.
 
I'm not a huge fan of the 10/22, but it can be made accurate. Your best bet is probably to replace the trigger group. There are aftermarket triggers that use different springs and i believe different hammer to seriously improve the trigger pull.

If your rifle has a barrel band, remove it. It contacts the barrel and messes with harmonics as the barrel vibrates when fired. All barrels vibrate similar to a sine wave when fired, you want as much consistency from shot to shot as you can get.

replace the marginal stock sights with Tech Sights or use a decent optic. Doesn't need to be expensive, but don't use a Wal-Mart Tasco, either.
 
my brother has a kidd heavy barrel on his 10/22. it will hang with my cz452 all day long. both outshoot my stock 10/22.

I hear fedderson makes a good accurate barrel too. There are a jillion different builds on 10/22's. this guy built several and reviewed them all. http://www.majorpandemic.com/2012/07/ultimate-1022-shootout-test.html

also magpul just released a 10/22 stock that I'm sure will be popular with many people.
and an upgraded trigger is a huge plus as well. Before I bought one, I'd just send my stock one off to brimstone and have them work it over. http://www.brimstonegunsmithing.com/collections/ruger-10-22/products/tier-3-basic-10-22-trigger-work
 
I recently upgraded my 10/22, and I did a LOT of homework on it. The main thing it needs is a new barrel, as the stock barrel is just flat out bad. But to do that, you need a new stock.

My first upgrade was a trigger kit. This is what I got:

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/181454/power-custom-hammer-and-sear-ruger-10-22

That gave me an extremely light and smooth pull to release. No more jerky trigger. My friend who tried it's immediate response was "Holy <excrement>".


I also bought a Boyd's Evolution stock for it. My gun is also stainless, like yours, so I selected Sky Blue for my color:

https://www.boydsgunstocks.com/Prod...dreg-any-barrel-channel-sky-laminate-finished


And lastly, I finished it off with an 18" ER Shaw straight-fluted stainless barrel. I read extensive reviews and they all pointed to ER Shaw being the best overall. Furthermore, they're pretty much the ONLY company that offers a replacement 10/22 barrel in stainless:

http://ershawbarrels.com/scb-replacement-barrels-and-kits.php


And, here's how she turned out (photos taken in friend's messy basement):

70PprVCm.jpg
TRl5qxJm.jpg

The resulting gun is a bit heavy for a 10/22, but balances perfectly in the hands. It's not the least-bit front-heavy. Whatever barrel you get, make sure it's fluted. Otherwise the gun will be front-heavy. The scope I had prior to the upgrade. It's a Simmons 3-9x40. A good little rimfire scope.

Unfortunately, life has conspired against me and I have not been able to shoot her yet. However, I am extremely confident in this build. I carefully selected all the parts, sparing no expense within reason (a Volquartsen trigger simply was NOT worth the money).
 
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ColtPythonElite, that's not helping.

Now, I will admit that a 10/22 is a money pit. By the time you finish with all your upgrades, you'll have spent nearly twice what the gun cost originally. However, you will get a gun that is perfectly customized to your liking and able to shoot as well as any .22 out there.

If I were buying a NEW semi-auto .22, I'd just buy a Savage 64. They're extremely accurate and a very good value for the money. Much more so than a 10/22. But if you want a gun that is truly yours and able to compete with anything, the 10/22 is a good bet. It's one of the few firearms out there that you can build with 100% aftermarket parts. It's entirely possible to build a 10/22 that doesn't have a single Ruger component in it. And if you didn't have the 10/22 to begin with, it probably wouldn't cost that much more in total than upgrading.
 
The ranges we shoot at are 30 to 100 yards give or take. It is evident that the ruger is not quite with the cz even at 50 yards currently. I polished the bore a few years ago which helped, i like the idea of removing the barrel band and full floating the barrel just to see what I can get out of it. The article of the guy with all of the different builds was a good read thank you. If nothing I can do to the OEM then I like the idea of a barrel that will shoot with great reliability and of course more accurate. With the ammo so scarce, when I see it I buy it, within reason. Can't be finiky neither can my rifle.
 
There is good info here but you might want to ask around over at rimfire central . com Some of those guys are pretty darn serious about accurate 22's. Once you build the gun the way you want plan on a search for ammo that it will be happy with.
 
Building 10/22s can get really fun...... And expensive. Mine is bone stock except the mannlicher stock and vintage weaver 400 scope. Does fine on clays out to 100 yards with bulk ammo. My buddies and I where knocking out some knock down targets at 150 yards with it without a problem. And it's a deadly on ground hogs with a well placed shot. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1429025607.314358.jpg

I would upgrade some more internals but I decided to put the money towards other stuff. Since the Mannlicher stock limits the accuracy already the stock trigger works just fine.
 
A stock 10/22 has several weak spots:

A loose chamber. A 10/22 will chamber and extract loaded rounds of anything, even when it's filthy.

There are several ways to correct this. One is to set the stock barrel back and have it rechambered. This is inexpensive and looks more or less stock.

Another is a better barrel, which is not too expensive. You can get better barrels in both the stock and heavy contours. You can spend as much as you'd like on a new barrel from Lilja or Volquartsen, but I'd recommend Green Mountain for bang for the buck.

The second weakness is the trigger. A stock 10/22 trigger is awful, heavy and creepy. You can have your stock trigger modified by a gunsmith, or you can replace it. Ruger has a new drop-in trigger and there are replacements from Kidd and Volquartsen.

Finally the 10/22 barreled action is held to the stock by only one screw. A good bedding job will work wonders.

You can get the barrel rechambered and a trigger job for under $200

A new barrel and trigger will be closer to $400. The sky is the limit from there, there is a nearly endless supply of 10/22 parts and accessories to choose from, to the point where an Ultimate 10/22 has no Ruger parts at all.

For more than you ever wanted to know about modifying 10/22s, see www.rimfirecentral.com.
 
THR is a great place, BUT.......

The first thing I would suggest is to dash right over to Rimfire Central and start reading.

For me improving the trigger helps.

Remove the barrel band ... OR....grind away the inside poerion of the band that contacts the barrel. Some folks have even gone so far to retain the look of the barrel band as to cut away the portion that contacts the barrel all together and affixed the rest of the band to the stock with a screw.

You do know there are folks that can set your barrel back a bit (shorten it slightly) and rechamber it so the chamber is not as sloppy and the bullet is put in contact with the rifling insted of making a sloppy jump through the lead,....generally around $100 and shipping. You only ship the barrel and they ship back the "fixed" barrel and what is needed to re attach it. SOme have said this cutting and setting back the barrel even means no contact with the barrel band as the original Ruger barrels on standard carbines are tapered, but I can not confirm it.

Some folks swear by having the head space adjusted on the bolt and others think it the cat's meow to have the firing pin pinned to stay down so it hits every round the same way. Again there are a number of folks that will doo these things to your original bolt and also polish that sucker up and round of the rear to make it easier to cock.

There are also "tricks" you can do to your stock, like bedding or improving the way the stock and bolt are bolted together.

If you want iron sights I can not more strongly encourage you to try the Tech Sites.

See why some call a 10/22 a money pit?

I did my own trigger job and minor stock mods to keep cost down and to be able to say I did it myself and if you feel comfortable with that go for it. If you botch things up there are a host of after market trigger groups and parts out there.

Have fun and be safe.

-kBob
 
By the time you replace everything but the receiver to get it to shoot great, you'll have spent more than the CZ and close to a stock target rifle like an Anschutz. I'd start with trying different ammo to see what your gun likes. Mine prefers CCI Mini Mags above all else, but surprisingly, the cheap Rem stuff is a close second for some reason.
 
Her's my 10/22 - happy to say I did all the work myself.

* Volquartsen hammer & mag catch. Trigger is 2 lbs 3 oz, but has a bit of creep.

* Volquartsen THM carbon-fiber wrapped barrel with compensator.

* Polished bolt and guide rod, which smoothed up the action a LOT.

* Made a pillar-type estucheon out of aluminum bar stock on a lathe at work. Used a SS 12-24 socket head cap screw. (These are NOT a common size!)

* Glass bedded.

* Richards Microfit Tac-Driver stock. Was pretty rough initially both inside and out, but it turned out OK. Finished with pure Tung Oil - no stain.

* Added a solid zebrawood buttplate from material I had left over from another project.

Match ammo (Eley, Lapua, a few others) gives me quarter inch groups at 50 yards. Cheap promotional ammo puts most into a half inch, but I get "fliers" that open up the groups.

If .22 ammo availability ever normalizes again, I may add a Kidd trigger and/or bolt.
 

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hightower said:
My regular shooting friends have won or bought a few new rimfires. A savage 17, savage 22 and a cz 22mag. Yesterday we were out shooting some clays at the sand pit and these three guys brought their new rimfires. After plinking with each of them we decided to make it a regular thing. The only rimfire rifle I have is a Ruger 10/22 black synthetic, ss, bone stock. I need to build this thing so I can kick their buts. That cz is much more accurate than my Ruger. I don't want to spend a ton, maybe a nice barrel and whatever gives me the best accuracy for the moola.

Your experience is appreciated.

I spend most my time reloading, not to much with rimfires, but I'm sure someone on here knows what I am looking for.
Click to expand...
My experience suggests you should find a nice used 10/22 target. If I had followed this advice, I wouldn't have over $1500 invested in a gun that shoots no better. Once you start adding and swapping, it can get out of hand.

This is not a Ruger, it is a Magnum Research Magnum-Lite. It has a Weaver rail milled as part of the billet receiver. It came with a graphite wrapped barrel that was way too light, so I swapped it for this Kidd heavy tube. It also came with an OEM Ruger trigger group, that got swapped for the VQ drop-in unit. I'm a lefty and don't really care for the swoopy thumb hole stocks, so I swapped the Blackhawk Axiom that this MR came with for an OEM Ruger 10/22 target stock I found on EBay.

Topping it off is a Leupold Vari-X IV 4.5X14X40 AO in Burris Extreme Tactical rings. Oh, and that Luepold? I pulled it off another rifle. It had a heavy duplex retical, so I sent it to Leupold to have them swap the OEM hairs for their fine varmint reticle. More money. They will bleed you dry!
 

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Shoots OK. This was the second 10 round group through the Kidd barrel, 3/8" at 50. This was with Wolff Match, I think it will do .25" or better with more break-in and better ammo.

The best part? People coming up to me and saying "Ruger still makes those target models?" Priceless.
 

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