C5rider

I've been jonesin' for a 10/22 for a few months now. I stopped in to my local gun shop and checked out the several styles of 10/22s that they had. I REALLY liked the hammer-forged target model but, finances being what they are, figured that I'd be happy with a bull-barrel version. I know that these guns are the ARs of 22s, but rather than pay for a stock carbine and then change up, I'd rather pay a little more and get something more like I wanted originally. I can always change it around later, but I wouldn't feel compelled to make changes quickly and can enjoy it as is.

Fast forward, my brother and I were making our rounds last weekend and checked out a few gun shows. There was nothing that we needed at either show, so we decided to hit some of the gun shops on the way home. We stopped in this pawn shop and my brother fell in love with a Marlin 30-30. We were getting ready to leave when I simply asked "how much for the 10/22?"

Rather than give me a number, the salesman (being a GOOD salesman) handed me the gun. It was a Target version with the hammer-forged barrel and laminate stock. They had $369 on the tag. I thought about it but decided that a bull-barreled version was still good for me. We talked a little more, did some horse-tradin' over the price of both the 30-30 AND the 10/22 and before it was done, we had it down to $300, plus an extra magazine. Now we're talking! We started doing the paperwork and the guy goes in the back to get the extra mag, and comes out with a BX-25!

Needless to say, I'm happy with the gun, overall. My wife will be shooting it too, so while it's a good shooter, I've been thinking about buying another trigger group for it so that I can have my lighter trigger and she can use the stock group for when she shoots it.

I like the laminate stock but I'm thinking of putting a contrasting color pistol grip end and fore-end on it to just set it off a little bit. Dress it up a little, if you will.

I put a bi-pod and Bushnell Banner 4x16x40 scope on it and have already done the bolt-return modification. Took it out to the range and after an initial sight-in session, it was carrying fairly good groups at 50 yards. It'll get better as I get better with it!

Target 10 Twenty-two

Target grouping

tgwillard

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your purchase of the 10/22.

Sham357

Welcome and congrats on the 10/22. It was my very first firearm. The only upgrade I've done to it is I changed out the stock to a Hogue black synthetic. I wanted to be able to mount a sling and it just changes the whole character of the rifle. I love the 10/22 and should be in every Ruger fans collection. Enjoy yours and happy shooting.

heymatthew

Congrats! Post a photo when you get a chance!

C5rider

Sure!

How 'bout this?



I'm thinking of modifying the stock a little bit by putting a darker colored pistol-grip cap and front to the stock. My dad used to make a lot of guns and I've always liked that look. Some nice Walnut would look pretty good, no?

heymatthew

Looks great!! Would love to see what you come up
With when you start customizing that stock.

krwada

That looks really good. It is looks like a real tack driver. You should get really nice less than .5" groups at 50 yards with your rig.

Instead of modifying this thing, I suggest you try and figure out what kind of ammunition it likes. I would start with the sub-sonics. These are ammunition with a muzzle velocity less than or equal to 1080 FPS. Make sure you rest the rear of the rig with sandbags for maximum accuracy for testing.

Decent subsonic ammunition for your new rig.
ELEY Target
ELEY Club
ELEY Sport
RWS Match
SK-JAGD Super Plus
Aguila Super Extra standard velocity
CCI standard velocity
Fiocchi Exacta match training
Federal 711B match
Wolf Match

The following is a small list of the hotter (1200 and up FPS) ammo that should work fairly well
CCI minimag RN 40 grain
CCI minimag HP 36 grain
Aguila super extra high velocity
Remington game loads

Of course you can go out and purchase a box of ELEY Tenex Pistol. The regular ELEY Tenex will not cycle the 10-22 properly. At least, this is what ELEY says on their website.

ELEY Tenex will set you back a whopping $18.04 for a box of 50 rounds. And this is not including shipping and handling!

I have tried a lot of bulk ammunition with varying degrees of mixed results:
Winchester Wildcat, (really expensive and shoots very poorly)
CCI Blazer, (OK, no misfires or cycling problems, pretty erratic grouping)
Remington Thunderbolt, (actually, pretty decent for cheap ammunition)
Remington game loads, (performs a better than t-bolts)

I have yet to try the Remington Cyclone. I have heard the Cyclone is pretty decent bulk ammo.

So far, I have narrowed the list, (for my rifle, as you see in my profile) to the following; (I am stocking up 1000 rounds of each):

ELEY Sport
SK-JAGD Super plus
CCI minimag RN 40 grain
Aguila Super Extra standard velocity
Aguila Super Extra high velocity

For me, this list represents a pretty decent trade off between price and accuracy. Mostly, I am happy to get .500" groups or better at 50 yards.

Walmart sells the CCI minimag locally. However, I need to be super quick when they have them in stock. The moment they have them in stock, people quickly come in and scoop them all up.

I really like the CCI minimag 40 grain LRN rounds.

eMan

good looking set up! congrats, I love my 10/22 and shoot it alot. I like what krwada said about ammo. Find your rifles sweet taste and have at it! Enjoy!

C5rider

I'll be doing some testing of different ammo. Thanks for the suggestions krwada. I've always been the sort that buys a BIG box of 22s, chucks the duds and gets whatever comes out the front of the gun. Buying "specific" 22 ammo is a new thing for me. But I would love to see what this girl can do so it'll be a fun experiment.

I shot this group with a box of bulk ammo. Not bad for the first time out, feeding from the bullet buffet table!

krwada

Not only is the testing interesting, it is a lot of fun too.

I recommend you shoot 5-shot groups at 50 yards. This appears to be the best for testing ammunition. Plus, if you shoot too many rounds per group, and the group size is less than 1.00" then you will have difficulty determining the average group size.

That 15-shot 1.5 inch group is not too shabby for bulk ammo. What kind of ammo did you use? Also; I am assuming you are shooting from 50 yards?

I can say this much, when your rifle prints that .200" to .300" one ragged hole group ... well it feels pretty darned good! I am quite certain your new rifle is capable of this; with the right ammo.

C5rider

Finally got a chance to post some results.

I tried a box of Winchester 555 (Bulk Pack) as I had one on hand. It truly didn't show the gun in its best light, but I did get a couple of "good" groups. At least for me anyways.

I'm sure that I'm contributing to the amount of "fliers" and I'll work on that. I also would like to lighten up the trigger pull a little bit as I can see the gun pulling as I squeeze the trigger. I "think" a lighter trigger pull would help that. I'm planning on my wife shooting this gun also so I'm considering getting a separate trigger group so that she will have the regular trigger and I can use the lightened one for when I want to get really serious. She's just starting shooting and I just feel like the light trigger on a semi-auto might not help her learning curve.

I wondered about some other mods like the plastic buffer and such. Do they really help or is it more for quieting down the action?

Anywho, here's the target so you can get an idea of the average. And, I've included one close-up of the best group. The dot is 1/2 inch in diameter. Apparently, I loaded the mag in the right order, for the most part.

I am going to try some other rounds and I'll post the results here as I go. These are just what I started with since I had them already. NEXT!

hightechredneck123

Very nice rifle, and some good shooting too!

krwada

That lower right group, (the one that you magnify), is very good. The rest, including the really good one, as a whole; is pretty typical for bulk ammunition. Your magnified group is telling me that your rig is very capable of printing less than 0.500" groups at 50 yards.

The bolt buffer will do nothing to enhance precision or accuracy. It does, however reduce muzzle flip ... ALOT! Reducing muzzle flip allows you to reacquire the sight picture much faster.

I highly recommend you purchase a few boxes of the good stuff that I mentioned earlier in this thread. Or at the very least, get a box of CCI mini mag 40 grain round nose.

By the way, most of the flyers is not you. In general, it is usually the ammo. How do I know this? Just go out and grab a box of ELEY Tenex pistol. You will not get those kind of flyers with this kind of ammo ... in spite of not changing the shooter!