How accurate is your 10/22

[bannockburn]

My 10/22 right out of the box 40+ years ago shot way more accurately (with iron sights), than I thought possible. Added a Weaver K2.5 scope and it was capable of some mighty small groups. Has a definite preference for Wolf Match Target and CCI MiniMag ammo.

 

[CraigC]

For stock Ruger, 1" or less at 50yds with ammo it likes. With a good aftermarket barrel and trigger, under half that.

 

[Tentwing]

My 10/22 is stock except for the scope. You poll ask for my BEST group.... Which is between 1/2 and 3/4 MOA at 50. My average groups are about 1&1/4 MOA. I believe that under good conditions and in the hands of a better marksman than myself those groups would shrink.

 

[Browning]

It was asking for your best group, no limit on trickery. How much did you spend to get there? New barrel, trigger group and bolt?

Too much, $7-800 or so for the Bell and Carlson Anshcultz stock, Green River barrel, Nikon scope and so on.

I have some targets at home where I managed to pull off cloverleafs. But those aren't something I can pull off all the time.

 

[loose noose]

I have two 10-22's one bought in the 1970's and one purchased out here in the 2014-2015 era which is the International Model, that I spent $69.99 for a upgraded Ruger trigger, the other I placed a Volquartzen sear and trigger in it other than that the barrel is a standard Ruger barrels, although both had the JB Bore polishing job done. From a bench using a lead sled they will both shoot 5 rounds of CCI Standard Velocity in one little hole group at 50 yards, and hold a 1" (MOA) at 100 yards. I've tried the much more expensive .22LR Target ammo however both rifles prefer the CCI Standard Velocity. Note I don't weigh the bullets or check the diameter of the base before loading.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

For stock Ruger, 1" or less at 50yds with ammo it likes. With a good aftermarket barrel and trigger, under half that.

I believe that is a fair assessment.

A few of the replies in the poll sure are eyebrow raisers.

 

[someguy2800]

I voted 3 moa because in my experience a standard factory carbine usually shoots about 1-1/2” at 50 yards with bulk ammo. Mabey 2 moa with better ammo. So reliably minute of gopher.

 

[jmorris]

It was asking for your best group, no limit on trickery. How much did you spend to get there? New barrel, trigger group and bolt?

My most accurate 10/22 out of more than a half dozen happens to be my least expensive. The Clark custom < .5 MOA, it came off the prize table at Louisiana State years ago. Not sure what all is stock on it, maybe the receiver.?

 

[jmr40]

In my experience accuracy is all over the place. I've had some that were 2 MOA on a good day with target ammo. Others will shoot 1 MOA or better with bulk ammo and even better with match ammo. It has been my observation that any of them with no barrel band shoot better. I shoot quite a bit at 100-200+ yards with this rifle. I have a different scope on it since this photo that I can dial in for various ranges. If there is no wind I can hit clay targets laying on the ground out to 220 yards with it. If the wind is blowing forget it.

 

[Rembrandt]

Probably the most accurate 10/22 in the collection, but not too much of it that can be called OEM. Had Tom Volquartzen build it back when he was first starting out. Uses Eley Tennex, and will kill flies at 100 yards and then some.

 

[Thisisyourcaptin]

Don’t have one yet. Only an action and bolt. Working on building a manlicher style stock for it. And prob a nice aftermarket barrel.

But here is my browning SA-22. Love this little shooter. It only likes to feed CCI standered. But it shoots em well. Those are at 100 yards and really taking my time. Normal for me is something like playing card size.

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• Thisisyourcaptin
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• Thisisyourcaptin
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[MihiT]

, and one of those fancy magazine release levers.
it.

Aha! that'll be what did it

 

[MihiT]

My 10/22 is stock except for the scope. You poll ask for my BEST group.... Which is between 1/2 and 3/4 MOA at 50. My average groups are about 1&1/4 MOA. I believe that under good conditions and in the hands of a better marksman than myself those groups would shrink.

You mean 1/2" and 3/4" at 50? That makes it twice that for "MOA"

 

[MihiT]

I'm quite impressed with how small some of them shoot, honestly not really what I was expecting to see, but I suppose if you spend enough then the ammo becomes the limiting factor.

 

[MihiT]

I don't see "MOPP" (Minute of Paper Plate) or "MOB" (Minute of Balloon) on the list, which is basically what mine shoots at 100yds.

It's dead nutz at 10yds or less though.

I don't know anyone who hunts balloons

 

[jmorris]

I don't know anyone who hunts balloons

You might have to watch it more than once to see the 4 balloons in front of the steel target disappear but I’ve killed a lot of balloons.



Even more fun to do it over 100 yards in the wind with smaller balloons with slow projectiles so you hear them hit each balloon on the way down.



I have been accused of having too much time on my hands, from time to time.

 

[Picher]

I have Deluxe 10-22 that I did a lot of work on, including replacing the barrel with a Shilen bull-barrel, glass-bedding, trigger smoothing, action tuning, etc. It doesn't shoot as well as it did when I shot a "Prove-It" target that I shot with 5 consecutive 5-shot groups that averaged 0.32" at 50 yards. The best group was 0.19", as I remember.

The target was in first place on the "Prove-It" website for several months. That was over 10 years ago and the rifle hasn't shot that well since, but I also haven't bought any of the same ammo used either...which I happened to have on-hand, from my Rimfire Benchrest competition days.

 

[LiveLife]

Some good shooting!

For me, due to my 10/22 Take Down detachable barrel affecting accuracy at longer distances (50 yards), I thought about buying a regular 10/22 and doing some work to increase accuracy. But since most of my plinking/shooting drills are done closer than 25 yards, particularly point-shooting drills with ARs using CMMG 22LR conversion kits, minute-of-soda cans at 50 yards is good enough for me.

From "Bulk 22LR Sorting by Weight and Rim Thickness" thread, I found sorting by weight/rim thickness of cheapest bulk copper plated 22LR ammo (Federal 36 gr CP HP Walmart 550 round red box) shrank group size down to around 1" at 25 yards (While unsorted Aguila 40 gr CP RN produced around 1.5" at 50 yards) - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...weight-and-rim-thickness-for-accuracy.850634/

Interestingly, I am getting similar accuracy/group size from my 9mm carbines at 25/50 yards using cheapest component reloads.

To many, this may not be acceptable level of accuracy but for me, using CMMG 22LR conversion kits in my ARs for point shooting drills that often use up several hundred rounds per range session, cost savings over reloading .223 is significant (And I don't have to reload 22LR ).

And worst of the bulk 22LR and what's left after sorting will be shot up in GSG 1911 in point shooting drills at close range so utmost accuracy of 22LR will be moot.

FWIW, I am happy to report that now I am getting almost no duds from various Federal bulk 22LR. I can even go through an entire box of cheapest Federal 550 round Walmart red box without a single dud. And I have had zero duds with Aguila ammo (None so far). However, I am still getting a few duds with each bulk box of Winchester M22.

 

[fpgt72]

Other thing we are not talking about is what defines a "group" I know some people that call 3 shots a group, some 5, others 10 or even 12. Then you get into the "best 3 out of 5" type garbage saying a "flyer" is just bad ammo.

For me it is 10. Only time I use 5 is when working up loads for rifles.....I think 5 will give you a good idea on what you can expect, but 10 (in my book) is what a group is

 

[LiveLife]

Other thing we are not talking about is what defines a "group" I know some people that call 3 shots a group, some 5, others 10 or even 12. Then you get into the "best 3 out of 5" type garbage saying a "flyer" is just bad ammo.

For me it is 10.

Same here.

I used to do 5 shots for group testing but jmorris and Bart B. convinced me that "all" holes must be included in the group, including flyers, and 10 shots provide much more information than 5 shots.

Now for all 22LR/pistol/PCC accuracy verification, I do 10 shot groups.

 

[crestoncowboy]

If you're a hostage and an FBI sniper is three football fields away hoping to drop a bad guy with a gun at your head, do you want to know his/her best group or their worst group?

If I'm a hostage I'm going to be highly upset with the bureau if they send out a guy with a 10-22 to shoot a guy behind me at 300 yards. Lol. But I agree entirely with your point. I hate when I shoot targets (or even worse groundhogs) with someone new and they claim to shoot 1 inch groups at 100 but clearly can't very often. If they ever did. I'm sure my 10-22 has accidentally shot 1 good group.... I should have saved it

In my experience accuracy is all over the place.

Me too. But not just with Ruger. My most accurate 22 mag was a marlin 25. My least accurate one was another marlin 25, roughly the same year of manufacture although the better shooter had a nicer stock but the barrel appeared to be the same. I wonder what the difference in group sizes is with each model 10-22 or if it truly is random. My target model is terrible (hardwood stock, long stainless barrel, no band) . But a friend bought my great uncles standard early model 10-22 many years back and it was better. Looks like hell but clearly shoots better.

Aha! that'll be what did it

Didn't help mine. I can't shoot a one hole one-shot group at 25 yards.... but I certainly like the aftermarket levers better than the stock one. Has ruger finally gone to offering one in stock form, or is it still up in the stock?

 

[LiveLife]

and one of those fancy magazine release levers.

Aha! that'll be what did it

Has ruger finally gone to offering one in stock form, or is it still up in the stock?

My 10/22 Take Down came with extended mag release.

And Ruger website is showing extended mag release on all models of 10/22 - https://www.ruger.com/products/1022Carbine/models.html

 

[Skylerbone]

Last 4 in the family have had the extended, dad wants a recessed one because he’s dropped the mag while hunting.

 

[LiveLife]

dad wants a recessed one because he’s dropped the mag while hunting.

Maybe there are members wanting to do a mutual swap?

 

[PapaG]

Have had a dozen since they came out. Most were mediocre. My last two, one from about 1980, the other a used pickup, are nice to compare. The 1980 has only the receiver, bolt, and hammer original. Custom trigger, Shaw barrel with Bentz chamber, Ruger target stock and it will do sub 1/2" at 50 with several kinds of ammo including Club, Team, Green Tag, and even Minimag hp on occasion. The stocker, except for buffer and Volquartzen hammer, will do twice that with Fed Automatch. Two granddaughters each shot a 10 shot 1 14" group at 50 a couple weeks ago. I had a Ruger Target a few years ago that shot great except the first shot out of the magazine would be 1/4" to 3/8" out of the group...a couple points in our 50 meter matches. I had to load six, fire the first into the berm and then go for score. I refuse to single load an autoloader.