Ruger 10/22 VLEH accuracy issues

[MarshallDodge]

I was out shooting with one of my customers over the weekend and he brought along his 10/22. Nice gun with the hammer forged barrel, Hogue stock, just like it came from the factory with the addition of a Leupold 3-9x scope.

We started off shooting five shot groups off his "Lead Slead" and his first groups with the gun were around 3" at 25 yards. Wind was almost dead calm. I gave it a try and got the group down to just under 1.5" although it was difficult shooting in the rest. Ammo was bulk Federal which was shooting around .25" groups out of my CZ 455 Varmint 22 sitting right next to him, off a bipod.

At this point he realized that his scope mount was a little loose and re-torqued.

I put my bipod on his gun and shot it again getting it down to about 1". After retorquing the stock I tried another couple groups with American Eagle and got it to where it would shoot 3-shots in the group through almost the same hole but would always throw two of the shots.

While I am not a trigger snob, the factory Ruger trigger made things pretty tough. Also, the Leupold was not real clear at 25 yards and was not adjustable to focus that close. The stock felt like it was loose or flexing on every shot.

Next step is a Volquartsen trigger kit and maybe bed the stock. Any other suggestion or is .5" at 25 yards the best this gun will do?

 

[ms6852]

Though it seems that you have covered much of the items that could make it more accurate, you could also shoot better ammo than of the bulk stuff you mentioned. There is a lot of inconsistency in powder charge which is why sometimes you may throw some shots.

From personal experience bulk ammo that I have chrono'd from federal 525 to remington and american eagle gave me as much as 75 fps difference from american eagle to 110 fps on federal. Try wolf match, rws, eley, something where qc is better and give you better consistency.

Start off with finding the right bullet that particular rifle likes, than the trigger, than the bedding. You are right about hogue stocks. I used to have one on my 10/22, they do flex.

 

[hardluk1]

Skip your favorite trigger and buy a kit from kidd or clark. You get a lower cost and 2lb+ or - trigger for 75 to 100 bucks. You can not expect bulk ammo to shoot well. Maybe 3 out of 5 is all you can expect from cheap and bulk ammo.

You tend to also get a more accurate ammo from standard velocity ammo. That would be 1080fps and under, mostly sold as match ammo. What your rifle shoots well means very little to other rimfires. They tend to like what they like and not what another shoots well. Just the way rimfires are.

Whats the number on your federal ammo box, 512, 711b, 922a , the later is a good ammo loaded by RWS for federal in Germany. Wolf and sk are good $5 to $7.50 a box ammo that work well. It is loaded by loaded by lapua in Germany also and both come in 2 levels of ammo. CCI standard can shoot very well in some rifles and cost is lower. hes just got to try a few brands .

For bedding that ruger is the stock stiff enough to bed to?? Does it flex easily. No bedding then. If the barrel is floated now try some bearing at the front if it has bearing only at the nose of the stock , try to free it up. Or a try a wad of rubberbands on the barrel or limb saver X ring to change the harmonics.

More than likely just a 75 dollar trigger kit from clark and a different ammo that rifle likes best should get regular 1/2" maybe less 50 yard groups. But it is a ruger barrel and I have not been impressed with the ones I have seen. Some shoot very well some don't. .22lrs are trial and error to find what each likes best.

I have several that will shoot very tight groups but not with low cost ammo and none like the same ammo best. Change the lot number and every thing can change again.

 

[Skylerbone]

I'd suggest changing the parallax on the scope (if it's fixed). Loosen the cover on the objective with a strap wrench and dial it in for the distance you desire. That can take a few .1s off group size as well. Even without an AO scope or Leupold quality or 9X or good ammo, my sub-$100 Marlin turned in 1/2" 10-shot groups at 50 yds. yesterday with CCI Standard Velocity. It's more than possible with a 10/22 but the oversized factory chamber built in means ammo, trigger and scope tuning can all aid in shrinking group size.

 

[PapaG]

I found with my 10-22 Target with "hammer forged" rifling and a host of add-ons that it tends to throw the first shot out of a fresh magazine wild. In our BR matches, I load six and fire the first into the berm. A waste, yes, but until I figure out how to put that first shot in with the rest I'll waste ten cents rather than take a five or six counter. Ammo doesn't matter...Eley, Fed, RWS, they all do it.

 

[CraigC]

Firstly, you're going to have parallax issues with that scope. I wouldn't depend on the accuracy of any testing done at 25-75yds with it in place. You can minimize it by shooting at 3x at those ranges. Ruger makes good barrels but they cut sloppy chambers and often not very good crowns. There are a number of shops that will set the barrel back, recut the chamber and recut the crown for a nominal fee. This is a better solution than a cheap hundred dollar aftermarket barrel.