Is the 10/22 a decent rifle?

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Top_Notch

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I'm looking into buying my first rifle. I see that the 10/22 is very popular and has almost a cult like following. I plan to do informal target shooting and plinking, no competitions or anything like that. I really like the Deluxe Sporter which has a walnut stock and runs around $250 in my area. I really like the semi auto and availability of high capacity mags available.

I don't plan on modifying the rifle. I've read where most people say you have to swap out the barrel, float it, bed the action, etcetera ad infinitum to achieve decent accuracy. My question is, is the 10/22 a decent gun for the money in it's stock configuration?
 
Top_Notch said:
I'm looking into buying my first rifle. I see that the 10/22 is very popular and has almost a cult like following. I plan to do informal target shooting and plinking, no competitions or anything like that. I really like the Deluxe Sporter which has a walnut stock and runs around $250 in my area. I really like the semi auto and availability of high capacity mags available.

I don't plan on modifying the rifle. I've read where most people say you have to swap out the barrel, float it, bed the action, etcetera ad infinitum to achieve decent accuracy. My question is, is the 10/22 a decent gun for the money in it's stock configuration?
Click to expand...

I have a 10/22 and I really like it.
You do not have to mod it for it to be accurate.
However the modification you can do are almost unlimited.
Some say it is an addiction and once you start you can get carried away.
I plan to do very little to mine. Bolt buffer and auto bolt release. $10 total.
Check out http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/index.php?
You can find the 10/22 carbine on sale for under $150 occasionally.
AC
 
For what you are looking for (for now), it'll do. Once you get a chance to see (and hopefully shot) what someone else's modded 10/22 can do compared to your stock one, you'll change your mind about modding.
 
Heavy trigger, but that's good training anyway. If you squeeze properly, it's very accurate. I have the cheapest version (plastic/blue carbine) and it's great. I shoot Remington ammo from Wal-Mart by the box of 550, with the gold plating. Accurate, reliable, and under $9.00 for 550 rounds.

I got some fiberoptic sights for it so it would be easy to shoot in low light, but they were a waste of money, since I bought a compact scope (Simmons 22 Mag Compact) for it soon afterward. I'd say, keep the stock sights, or get a scope. Just my $.02. The little Simmons is a damn good scope for what you want to do, doesn't make the gun too top-heavy, and it's cheap. Do not waste your money on a BSA!!!!
 
i have a 10/22 and i love em. after the holidays the sporter carbine goes on sale by me for 125 or so. very reliable and very accurate out of the box, but like many ruger products the trigger could stand a bit of work. if you plan to upgrade the trigger alls you really need is a new hammer, it has by far the most significant impact on the pull.

definatly agree with the vote for rimfire central. nice forum over there
 
We have two, blued w/ walnut stock and a stainless with synth stock. they are both accurate enough to take whistle pigs and 150 yards with CCI Velociter ammo. The only thing we added were Leupold M8 4x scopes. Very nice platform.
 
They're decent. Only caveat is that the out of the box trigger is one of the worst I've ever pulled. With a 10/22, I figure a new trigger group is at least part of the price of the gun.

There are also a couple of DIY techniques for improving the out of the box trigger pull, too.
 
"I see that the 10/22 is very popular and has almost a cult like following."

Is the 10/22 a decent rifle? I think you answered your own question. Hard to imagine a gun this popular not being decent.
 
I love my stainless with the Hogue stock I put on it. I bought the rifle at a gun show for $150. It is superb! I have several other .22s, but the Ruger is GREAT! An, in the future, if I wanna build a serious comp gun or something out of it, the parts are available everywhere. Right now, it's just a neat plinker. I got it cause I wanted it, not really another reason. I justified it to the wife cause my other .22s all have scopes and this one's iron sighted. I did, however, order a scope mount that's put away for future use, LOL!
 
After reading all we could over at www.rimfirecentral.com, my son and I bought two new 10/22s and did some of the modifications we learned about at that site.

Basic 10/22 - $167
Boyd's unfinished thumbhole sporter stock - $100
Volquartzen hammer - $32
Daoktan bolt buffer and take-down screw kit - $15
Weaver scope mount and rings - $20
Simmons Whitetail classic 6.5 - 20x AO scope - $100
Clerke bull barrel - $85

Our favorite thing to do with them is hunt flies and bees. At about 15 yards we put a 5 gal. slop bucket in front of a target that has honey smeared on it. We shoot the insects when they land on the target. With a good head shot, we can save the loins for jerky. :)

But I guess to answer your original question "My question is, is the 10/22 a decent gun for the money in it's stock configuration?"...

I don't know. I guess I got off topic.:eek:
 
I have a bone stock 10/22 with a 20 dollar scope. You can have lots of fun with the basic rifle. Don't spend more for the bells and whistles unless you have money to burn.

Kevin
 
Kevin Quinlan said:
I have a bone stock 10/22 with a 20 dollar scope. You can have lots of fun with the basic rifle. Don't spend more for the bells and whistles unless you have money to burn.

Kevin
Click to expand...

Unless you just plain enjoy tinkering, and there's nothing wrong with that, or have some specific need like competition, I'd say that the stock rifle is the best configuration, dollar for dollar. Incremental improvements in performance can result in exponential increases in costs.
 
Yeah, it's a great little rifle. The only thing you might *need* is if you're shooting while wearing gloves, get an aftermarket magazine release which protudes downward. Otherwise your gloves catch the mag and don't let it drop free. They're $3.50, and shipping will probably be more than the cost of the item, but it's the only real drawback to functionality out of the box.

That said, I replaced the hammer (~$35, trigger pull lowered from ~12# to ~4#) and recoil buffer (~$6) but they're not really necessary, just nicer. However, I probably won't ever make any more adjustments to mine. I'm not really a tinkerer.
RT
 
I recently picked up one of the new "rifle" models. It is a basic blue and wood 10/22 but with a couple of differences. It has the FO sights and I think they're killer. My rifle will not run with anything loaded by federal. No problems with cci, rem, win, aguila, peters etc... It has decent accuracy potential, but that trigger is horrible. I have ordered a tune up kit that includes a hammer, extractor, bolt buff and auto bolt release. I don't plan to mod. it further.
 
I picked up a bare bones carbine just before Christmas on sale at Bass Pro. I have a couple of rimfire bolt guns, but I wanted a semi auto with which I could learn and practice rifle shooting fundamentals for little money. For that purpose, the 10/22 is perfect. In bone stock form, it is much more accurate than I can shoot at this point. The trigger is stiff, but not horribly so. The only real issue I have with it is the sights, which are difficult to see IMHO (plain jane irons, not the fire sights). I have added a bolt buffer, and am shopping for a peep type iron setup. Once I get past the "man this thing is fun to just blast with" glee, i'll get down to check out my skills on a paper target. Then, once I feel i've maxed out the stock rifle, i'll look into new mods, and build a "super stock" instead of an "ultimate". I'd rather work with the stock barrel and stock than just bolt on new ones and hope they work. Sorry for the essay, but I really love my 10/22:)

edit- oh yeah, it has been almost perfectly reliable with all sorts of cheap, dirty bulk ammo
 
I bought a pawn shop special about 5 years ago that someone had outiftted like a miniature tacticool gun. Had a folding stock, red dot sight, and a 30 round mag. Sold the stock, sight and mag for $100, got a factory polymer stock in the deal. I installed a $35 scope and it shoots like a champ now. Best group was with Remington 22T ammo. .5" 3-shot group at 50 yards.

I think I just got lucky as this rifle has the sweetest trigger I have ever felt on a 10/22. I have thought about dressing it up with a heavy barrel and Hogue stock, but just can't justify it. Lately I have been considering getting one of the new OD Green Hogue stocks and having a bull barrel cut and threaded for a can.


W
 
i have a stock 10/22 carbine. great shooter out of the box. not the most accurate .22 i've owned, but the most fun.
 
i have a 10/22 and i love it!!!!! i did notice that when i left the high capacity clips filled in storage that it weakened the springs so that they didnt work properly any more. mayby they were just cheap clips, but thats what happened to me. my son just bought a gorgeous 10/22 stainless with the walnut stock.....great gun, it has a longer barrel too. i'd get the stainless with the longer barrel if i were you.
good luck and have fun,

palerider1
 
I don't plan on modifying the rifle
Click to expand...

Heh, thats what I said when I got mine. I was torn between leaving it the way it came and modifying it to death. I ended up puting a weaver rail and BSA red dot on the first one and buying a second one to do everything else I wanted to do. I use the second one for target shooting at the range and the first one for everything else (rabbits, cans, snakes, etc.)
 
JohnBT said:
I'd rather have anything else. I know, I'm in the minority.

John
Click to expand...

I don't know. If you'd seen the pile of old crap .22's at the swap meet I went to last week...:)

There have been a lot of junk .22 rifles foisted on the price-conscious public over the past 50+ years, and there's a reason the Glenfield/Marlin 60, the Ruger 10/22, the Remington 552, and the Browning Semi-Auto 22 are the only autoloaders that have survived.

Of those, only the Marlin and the Ruger have entry-level prices. And of those two, the Ruger has some distinct advantages. If you're sharing a plinker among friends, a couple of extra magazines are a wonderful thing.

The Remington 597 is supposed to be a pretty nice gun with the newer magazines, and the T/C Classic, too.

Hmmm... Reduce the trigger pull to 4# for $35... That sounds like it's worth doing. Which hammer is that?
 
I'm on about number twenty when it comes to 10/22's.I've never had a bad trigger or anything else.Mine have always shot to POA-POI and one ragged hole out to 25yds with iron sights.I did install an extended mag release on the current one just to ease removal of the butler creek 20 rd mags and prolly could have done without that mod.YMMV.tom.:cool:
 
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