Clark Custom 10/22...

[Fishman777]

I've been trying to narrow down my choice for a rifle in .22 lr.

I've considered getting a standard 10/22 and upgrading it myself, but I recent found the Clark Custom website.

For about $800, I could get a custom, stainless 10/22 model that is guaranteed to shoot 1" groups or better at 100 yards.

I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile to just go with the Clark. Does anyone know how well Ruger's Target models shoot? How easy is it to upgrade a standard or a Target 10/22 to shoot 1 MOA?

 

[Jason_G]

Don't know about Ruger's Target model, it might do everything you need, but if you do go with Clark's, I think you will be pleased with their work. I've never seen one of their Rugers, but everything else I've ever seen that has come out of their shop has been really well done. They are good folks as well. Their shop is not far from me, and I shoot at their range pretty frequently. Just about everyone in their family has won a national competitive shooting competition of some sort or another, or set a record of some sort, including Kay's (Jim Jr.'s sister) husband Jerry. They do their own work on all of their competition guns AFAIK. The whole family knows guns.

I'm not trying to convince you to use them or anything, I'm not affiliated with them in any way, but I just wanted to reassure you in case you do decide to send your rifle off to a smith that you don't really know and have never used before. Sometimes that's kind of scary to do.


Jason

 

[Fishman777]

Hmmm...

Kind of sounds like they could get anything to shoot 1 MOA or less.

Anyways, it's still good to hear positive reviews from someone that knows these folks.

Anyone else?

 

[hardluk1]

You could buy a Clark or kidd and buy a wonderfull shooter for sure with the kidd costing a bit more and shooting a bit better OR. Pickup the ugly old used ruger for the lowest price you can find. and start shopping over time for the right trigger parts or assembly and barrel, stock scope with rings to fit and just build your own. I like many built our own. My wifes is a light weight clark barrel and trigger assembly with a hogue stock. mine is a boyd's stock kidd barrel jard trigger. Both run 6x24 scopes and both shoot better than 1" at 100 yards and cost well under your 800 dollars complete with optics and . Buy over time and and your wallet also does not hurt as much. Buy on sale when you can. Better barrels tend to shoot more types or brands of ammo better than cheaper barrels .

Or buy a savage or cz bolt rifle that will do your 1" or better with nothing but the right ammo choice and decent scope for way less money money

 

[TonyAngel]

I worked on a few of the Rugers trying to get them to shoot. I wouldn't waste my time. If a 10/22 is just what you have to have, get the Clark and save yourself some headaches.

As with anything, you really have to watch that MOA guarantee though. Look for the small print and what the qualifiers are. Getting a 10/22 to consistently shoot MOA at 100 yards is very difficult at best and usually requires the use of ammunition that goes for around $15 a box.

I have a 10/22 that I built using all Kidd parts (with the exception of the receiver) and have blood, sweat and tears in the rifle. I built it to shoot a local rimfire benchrest match. If I could turn back time and do it all over again, I would have left my 10/22 alone and dumped the money into an Anschutz MPR.

I really like my 10/22. It's a neat little rifle, but when all is said and done, it's still "just" a 10/22.

On the other hand, if all you need is a rifle that will consistently hold .5 to .7" at 50 and about twice that at 100 with decent ammo, then a 10/22 is capable of that pretty consistently.

Please take what I say with a grain of salt also. I don't know what your expectations or needs are. For my needs, I needed a rifle that would hold a 3/8" group at 50 yards to have a prayer of winning and my 10/22 just won't do it all of the time. When someone tells me that their rifle is a sub MOA shooter, I take that to mean that it will do that all of the time and that's really hard to do with a .22. Heck, a 10 mph gust of wind will throw a match grade bullet off by an inch at 50.

I'd suggest that you call Clark and ask them about it. In my experience, they are nice and knowledgeable people.

 

[David E]

It depends what you really want the gun to do.

If it's to make tiny groups at 100 yards and that's all, there are better choices.

If you want a great "all around .22," then a 10-22 is a great choice.

If it's the latter, the question is, do you want one already built up to it's full potential, or do you want to take the time to learn to do it yourself?

If you're not balking at $800 for "just a .22," that implies to me that you'd be better served by one that's ready to go that was built by people who know exactly what they're doing instead of trying to cobble one together yourself.

Now, your second 10-22......that would be fun to do yourself, especially knowing what a very good one looks like.

 

[CraigC]

Firstly, shooting MOA at 100yds with the .22LR is not easy. Contrary to the opinion of folks who have never done it but nonetheless have an opinion, it's more difficult than shooting MOA at 50yds and requires more rifle to do it. Typically, a half-MOA at 50yd rifle will be a 3/4-1MOA rifle at 100yds. You need a really good rifle, with a really good barrel, good optics with solid mounts, a really good trigger, and a really good bench technique, shooting really good ammo. I would say that shooting MOA at 100yds with a .22LR would be equivalent to shooting half-MOA with a centerfire.

If you want anything close to MOA@100yds, forget the factory heavy barrel models. Ruger actually does produce a very good barrel. It's the chambers that are found lacking. Great improvements can be seen by simply setting them back, rechambering them and recutting the crown. Problem is, by the time you spend the extra coin for one and then pay to have the work done, you could've bought a new barrel that's better all the way around. If you just want a heavy barrel, buy the cheapest you can find. If you want one that will shoot well, buy a Green Mountain. If you want accuracy, buy a Clark, Shilen, KIDD or Lilja and expect to pay $175-$400 for it. This is one case where you truly get what you pay for.

Clark is VERY well reputed. They started the whole heavy barrel 10/22 game. Their guns are really a good value but fortunately, unlike 99% of the guns out there, this is one you can build yourself. You can really build a better rifle yourself for $800. Here is one I built with a Nodak receiver ($130). It is all CNC machined, wears a hard anodized finish and uses beefier 8x40 screws to attach Marlin 336 pattern scope bases and also their proprietary rear peep sight. It also has a Rimfire Tech accurized bolt ($80) with a Superior Concepts charging handle ($40). I utilized one of Clark's excellent 21.5" midweight barrels ($200). These are cut from the same Lothar Walther blanks as Tony Kidd's barrels. I also used a KID 14oz trigger ($300) and Boyd's Tacticool stock ($80). Not counting sights, scope and mount, that's $830 for a rifle with the best trigger you can buy for the platform, an accurized bolt and a better receiver. It shoots 3/4-1MOA at 100yds with Wolf MT.

 

[snake284]

I have an old friend that lives in Ringold Louisiana and has a couple of 1911s done by Clark. He swears by them. He says their work is second to none. Of course it's just down the road for him too.

 

[Red Cent]

If your pocket is that deep and you can't or don't want to work on it, buy the Clark.
Or go buy about 5 Marlin Model 60s. Really.

I used a $100.00 dollar barrel, maybe another $200.00 on other parts, plus the price of my 10-22 (1967) and made about an 1" shooter at 50 yards. Craig is right. I can brag all I want but I cannot consistently shoot under an inch at 50 yards.
$800.00? Dang guys, can't he get something better for that money?

BTW, I get a kick out of my 10-22. 'Course I shoot Ruger Rimfire and it is a little fast and furious.

 

[HB]

Get a CZ, anschutz, or savage for way more gun for the money.

 

[CraigC]

I used a $100.00 dollar barrel, maybe another $200.00 on other parts, plus the price of my 10-22 (1967) and made about an 1" shooter at 50 yards.

A hundred dollar barrel should not be expected to shoot much better than the factory barrel. That's a cheap barrel and the results speak for themselves. If you're only spending that much, you'd be better off reworking the factory barrel. Methinks that most the folks who think a massaged 10/22 can't shoot better than a stock Marlin 60 used an el cheapo barrel like Adams & Bennett, Shooter's Ridge or Butler Creek. Bull barrels and fancy laminated stocks are trendy and lots of folks think they're getting something better just because of its heavy profile. Ain't true, there are no free lunches. Don't buy a trend, buy a good barrel. Otherwise, as some have stated, you are just wasting money. If you want accuracy, spend some money on a good barrel.

Get a CZ, anschutz, or savage for way more gun for the money.

None of which are semi-auto. It should be rather obvious that if you want a semi-auto that shoots as well as a boltgun, you have to spend more.

 

[TonyAngel]

Fishman, no offense, but are you a MOA shooter? As was mentioned above, shooting MOA at 100 with a .22 is no easy task. I find it a lot easier to shoot MOA at 300 with my .308 than it is to shoot MOA at 100 with a .22. For that matter, it's pretty hard to do at 50 if the wind is blowing at all.

I guess I'm getting off on a tangent now. I just don't want to see another disappointed with a 10/22 build. It's really a matter what you expect the rifle to do. As I said, I built my 10/22 to shoot a benchrest match. Everyone told me that it wouldn't work. It's turning out that they were right. It just isn't nearly consistent enough.

 

[LTR shooter]

For $800 I would buy my own components for a 10/22 upgrade. Not saying Clark is not a quality rifle. I've had work perfomed by Clark including a 1911 conversion to one of their Custom Combat models. They performed the trigger and drill/tap on my MKII.

The accuracy of my Shilen and Volquartsen barreled 10/22s is quite good. To shoot an 1" group @ 100 yards with a rimfire is difficult. I've only done it in the evening when the range was dead calm. The most accurate 22 rimfire I've ever shot @ 100 yards was a Sako Finnfire Varmint.

 

[Fishman777]

Hey Tony...

Nope. Not yet. No offense taken, either.

The 10/22 would be my first rifle. I've been shooting handguns for about six years, so guns are still fairly new to me compared to some folks on these boards. I consider myself to be pretty good with my handguns. I hit what I aim for, but I need to continue to improve so that I can speed up while still retaining my accuracy. Shooting at paper is different than using a gun in a stressful situation. I need to practise more to make everything more instinctive. I'm definitely not there, yet.

I know that it'll take time to get were I want to be with rifles.

I just don't want to invest in a mediocre gun that I'll regret down the road. My philosophy is that you get the best gun that you can afford and don't settle for less. When you settle, you eventually sell what you bought and spend more on the road to getting what you should have bought to begin with. I'd rather feel the pain once and get something that I'll be happy with for the next 10 years.

I plan on getting one .22 lr rifle and at least one centerfire rifle. If things work out, I'd like to eventually two centerfire guns. I'd probably get a .223 and then a .308.

I was thinking either a bolt action rimfire or a 10/22. Prior to seeing the Clark Custom 10/22, I was really leaning more towards a bolt. I still might do that.

This gun would be for target shooting, and potentially for small game hunting if I ever needed to use a gun to put food on the table. Seems to me that a 10/22 could do all that and even be a defense gun, in a pinch.

I'm not married to the idea of a 10/22. If there is another autoloader that is better out of the box, I'd consider it. I've also heard that the marlins and the 597s are pretty accurate.

 

[FlyinBryan]

i dont know about 100yds, but you could just buy a standard old 1022 at a pawn shop or something and go from there.

ive got about about 350-400 in this one including the 1022 that ive had for at least 20 years.




at the time these pics were taken and the groups below were fired, it just had a green mountain barrel, a hogue stock, a pretty cheap scope, and what i have been told are the crappiest mounts available. it also had a slightly massaged trigger group (all stock parts)

it shoots pretty good and is a lot of fun.





my brother and son also have identical setups. i would say the avg. 50yd group is maybe 3/8ths of an inch (5 shot groups)
with bulk winchester brick ammo.

they are accurate enough @50yds,,, that one fun thing we do is spray hummingbird food on blank white sheets, and hunt the tiny creatures that land on the paper, but the resulting carnage is too graphic to post pics of here.

 

[[email protected]]

I suppose with really really good and expensive 22lr ammo Craigc might be right about 1/2 MOA at 50 yards will relate to 3/4-1 at a hundred... all things being equal 1/2 at 50 relates to 1 at 100... but that does not take into account that the 22lr rounds starts getting funky past 75-100 yards... not enough mass or power for the round to stay stable out that far.

I would like to see what the above dime size shot groups would look like at 100 yards... I'd bet they would spread out to at least 2-3".

 

[jmorris]

I have one, it is one of 6 or 7 10/22's I have. A Kid won it off the prize table at Louisiana State a few years ago and I jokingly said that I would give him $200 for it. He came back with "No way, $300."

1 moa isn't that hard if you have no wind. One 10/22 has a $70 (new) Green mountian barrel on it and 5 shots run around .680", indoors.

 

[Ol` Joe]

Clark makes some very good shooting rifles using Walther bbl`s. I sent a older 10-22 in to them years ago for a bbl and trigger work then restocked it. The cost at that time was about 1/2 that of a new one they reworked and sold.

Here`s the rifle and a target representative of what you can expect with midgrade ammo @ 50yds IIRC the target was shoot with Fed 711b Gold Medal and SK ammo

 

[hardluk1]

A great .22 is so dependent on ammo it can drive you nuts. Any fliers at 50 yards will just kill 100 yard groups. I had a gm barrel and had it replaced by GM and it is still junk compaired to better barrels out there. If you start building or buying a ruger based .22 it will never shot as well as a good bott rifle. I love my ruger ,don't get me wrong but it is better as a great shooting fun gun. Not match grade bench rifle. Look at the class you wish to play in then read around at rimfirecentral for rife class info and the right gun for your money. An old anny would be tops down to a savage. The rugers10/22's are great fun to build and can spread that cost to build out over time and end up with a real nice hunter or heavy plinker but that is still what it is. Some clubs have timed match's and also limit money spent on ammo or supply it, then a ruger custom with a very good barrel is just what you want and my kick butt on the high dollar bolt rifles. What a terrible design, just to many things can be done at home cheaply. Thank Clark Customs for starting the custom ruger world.

 

[TonyAngel]

Fishman, to follow up, I do have to admit that having a 10/22 that shoots better than most think a 10/22 is capable of is really fun. Although mine won't do what I need it to with regard to the benchrest matches that I shoot, it's still very accurate for a 10/22. When shooting Wolf MT or SK Plus, about one out of every three or four groups will go 1/4" or so at 50. It just isn't consistent enough for me, but it may be more than good enough for what you want.

If you aren't married to the idea of a 10/22, you might also want to check out the Savage TR. It's a pretty nice bolt gun. A friend of mine got one. He worked the trigger out a bit and bedded the stock. Although his smallest groups aren't as small as my smallest grouops, the Savage is more consistent. At around $400 including the "tactical" bolt knob, fluted barrel and Boyd's Tacticool stock, it's a pretty good deal. Like I said, it shot really well, but not with benchrest accuracy.