new to me 10/22, need advice

[brimic]

What are the requisite mods for a 10/22?
I just bought one yesterday on a whim  and am having a little bit of buyer's remorse already as I really wanted a Henry rifle (it reminded me of the Ithaca 49 I used to have) but he 10/22 won out because of its infininte upgrades/aftermarket parts.

I've heard these are good rifles if you throw away all of the Ruger parts and replace them with Volquartsen, but I've never owned one before and don't want to waste money unnecessessarily.

Trigger- its teh suck, reminds of the trigger on one of my kids nerf guns. Is there anything that can be done with the stock trigger or do I go directly to aftermarket?

Magazines? Which brands? Which to avoid?
Stock? Do I save it or burn it in the fireplace? The wood actually looks decent, just not fondof the plastic barrel band or the rough finish.

Sights? I'm looking at these: http://www.tech-sights.com/ruger3.htm Not sure which to get yet. I'm not planning on scoping it, I have a few very accurate bolt actions in that role already.

Barrels? Any recommended aftermarket barrels? I'll probably keep the stock barrel unless its unsatisfactory.

Sling mounts?

[makattak]

I do not have a 10/22.

However, this is the mod that makes me want to purchase one.

Not requisite, but the most fun mod, IMO.

[AZRedhawk44]

My opinion is LTR-standard is plenty good enough.

-Techsights or low power scope
-1.25" sling swivels
-Cotton GI web sling or M1907 sling
-stock barrel
-stock stock  (if there is evidence of barrel rubbing or torque, some elbow grease and sandpaper should be used)
-stock trigger, break it in for at least 1000 rounds before investing in Volquartsen or others.

I do HATE/LOATHE/ABHOR the bolt catch/release on the 10/22.  Teaching a new shooter to use it is a PITA at every appleseed, and for that reason I greatly favor the Marlin 795 as an Appleseed LTR (and cost, and no barrel band, and comes with a factory standard last shot bolt hold open).

That being said, I own 1 10/22... the takedown model.  It's my motorcycle rifle.

[cosine]

I'm currently in the process of building a 10/22 into an Appleseed LTR (Liberty Training Rifle). I bought extra Ruger BX-1 magazines, a set of Uncle Mike's 1-1/4" sling swivels, a 1-1/4" cotton sling, and the TSR100 Tech Sights. I filed off the little horn on the bolt-lock so that it will auto-release. I haven't gotten into upgrading the internals yet, but as soon as I put the whole thing together I'm going to shoot it for a while and then see what I want to upgrade further.

[charby]

I have a bone stock 10/22 with factory iron sights. I can consistantly shoot pop cans at 50 yards all day long.

Just remember after you spend all that money on upgrades, it is still just a .22 LR.

[mtnbkr]

I built up a very nice and very accurate 10/22 years ago.  I don't remember all of the goodies, but the key parts were:
Green Mtn 18" fluted SS barrel with match chamber
Laminate Field Silhouette stock
Modified bolt (radiused rear for easier cocking, pinned firing pin to prevent 1st shot fliers, reset headspace)
Extended bolt release
Volquartsen hammer
Home-brewed overtravel stop
urethane bolt buffer
trigger and hammer shims and oversized pins to remove play
Volquartsen Extractor

There might be more, but those were the big items.

Gun was 100% reliable and never misfired.  It would put 10 shots from 50yds into a hole that could be easily covered by a dime.  the only drawback was that it weighed a ton.  It was great at the range, but near useless for hunting, so I sold it.  If I did it again, I'd go with a sporter profile barrel (with match chamber) and a traditional stock, but keep the other mods as they contributed to the reliability and accuracy without making it unwieldy.

Chris

[brimic]

My opinion is LTR-standard is plenty good enough.

-Techsights or low power scope
-1.25" sling swivels
-Cotton GI web sling or M1907 sling
-stock barrel
-stock stock   (if there is evidence of barrel rubbing or torque, some elbow grease and sandpaper should be used)
-stock trigger, break it in for at least 1000 rounds before investing in Volquartsen or others.

That's kind of how I envision it going, the Appleseed style set up.

Bolt hold open? From monkeying  with and cleaning mine so far, I don't see any form of bolt hold open, though I didn't read the manual yet.

However, this is the mod that makes me want to purchase one.

Not requisite, but the most fun mod, IMO.

Do want.

[Boomhauer]

Stick with the Ruger mags (they make hi caps these days) and techsights. VQ hammer if you want to make the trigger "more better". I didn't mess with mine otherwise.

There is a manual bolt hold open that you can use if you like. VQ makes a kit to extend it and whatnot. Personally I don't ever use mine.

[HankB]

Trigger- its teh suck, reminds of the trigger on one of my kids nerf guns. Is there anything that can be done with the stock trigger or do I go directly to aftermarket?

The Volquartsen hammer took the pull on my 10/22 down to about 2 1/2 lbs, but there's a little creep to it; it's still the best trigger "bang for the buck" out there.

Magazines? Stick to Ruger. Both the standard 10 round mags and the new 25 round mags work fine.

Polishing the bolt and operating rod are worthwhile . . . I used progressively finer grits of sandpaper backed up with a surface plate (window glass would do, too) on the bolt, finishing up at 1500 grit and then a felt-wheel polish with Simichrome. (Bolt surface still has pits, probably artifacts of the casting process. No functional effect.) The operating rod was rough, so polishing that smoothed up operation more than polishing the bolt.

There's plenty of information at rimfirecentral.com on suggested mods for the 10/22 . . . do a little or do a lot (I did a lot), you can find good advice there.

[charby]

I have a bone stock 10/22 with factory iron sights. I can consistantly shoot pop cans at 50 yards all day long.

Just remember after you spend all that money on upgrades, it is still just a .22 LR.

Sorry not totally true, I did get a extended magazine release, the factory one sucks.

[zahc]

Trigger- its teh suck, reminds of the trigger on one of my kids nerf guns. Is there anything that can be done with the stock trigger or do I go directly to aftermarket?

You can de-turd it quite a bit. Install pretravel and overtravel set-screws, and carefully stone the stock parts, and you can get a very reasonable trigger. If you don't want to stone the parts, buy a VQ hammer. If you don't want to heat up the disconnector to install a set-screw, do the JB weld mod. If you don't want to mess with it at all, there are people who do 'core exchange' 10/22 trigger group exchanges. Or buy a Jewell trigger.

Magazines? Which brands? Which to avoid?

Only buy Ruger.

[kgbsquirrel]

My advice is worth what you paid for it, but here's my short list of things I changed.


Extended Mag Release
Butler Creek Steel Lips 25rd Magazines
Recoil Buffer Pin


Those are the three things I saw as the primary functional upgrades. Most anything else I did, such as the folding stock, and optics rail would fall under personal aesthetics and such.

[dm1333]

Be aware that if you replace the barrel with something like a Green Mountain barrel you may have problems with ejecting.  I have a Volquartsen trigger and hammer and they are worth every penny.  I built the gun for bench rest matches so the weight of the bull barrel and the failures to eject spent cases doesn't bother me much.  With high velocity rounds it almost never happens, with stuff like Wolf, Eley, RWS and a few others that were all 40 grain rounds at about 1040 fps it would happen on a semi regular basis. 

The ejection problem doesn't bother me a bit, if I decide I want to hunt with it instead of my TC R-55 I'll just stick a lighter barrel with a looser chamber back on it.

[mtnbkr]

DM, try the Volquartsen extractor.  It isn't expensive and should fix that problem.  I never had extraction problems with mine.

Chris

[Regolith]

I wish the triggers weren't so damn expensive. They cost more than some of the cheaper Remington 700 triggers, which is ludicrous. 

The two mods I've done to mine is replace the bolt buffer with a Volquartsen recoil buffer and installed a Volquartsen automatic bolt release. Those are the two cheapest and easiest mods, IMO.

Eventually I'm going to replace the trigger group. Mine is plastic, and like the OP said feels like a freaking nerf gun. I may just look around for an older factory one made out of metal that someone is replacing; it can't be any worse than the plastic one. I also want to replace the stock eventually; I need a bigger one, and the factory synthetic one is kind of cheap feeling. Other than that I don't really plan on doing much to it.

[41magsnub]

I had to get the TSR200 version of the tech sights.  In my rifle, I did not have enough adjustment in the front sight post to get the POI anywhere near where it needed to be.

Mods in mine:
Ram-line extended magazine release installed in the early 90's.
I sanded the magwell a bit to open it up
removed a small bit of metal from the magazine well so magazines were easier to insert
bedded the barrel
had the barrel threaded and the front sight dovetail set back for my suppressor
slicked up the trigger after many thousands of rounds
recoil buffer pin
GI Sling

For magazines, I am still using the plastic butler creek units I bought before the 94 ban, they are all still working perfectly.  The gun is 100% reliable other than the extra blow back from the suppressor gets it dirty faster.

[Perd Hapley]

Sell it, and get what you really want. I regret buying mine.

[brimic]

I regret buying mine.

What's wrong with it?

I had to get the TSR200 version of the tech sights.  In my rifle, I did not have enough adjustment in the front sight post to get the POI anywhere near where it needed to be.

Does it shoot too high or too low?

[41magsnub]

What's wrong with it?

Does it shoot too high or too low?

Way high, like 8 inches at 25 yards.  My 10/22 is a bit odd though, it is one of the carbine models with a different barrel profile and stock from the factory.  After cranking up the rear it is fine now.  The 100 version did not have a rear elevation adjustment.  I haven't ever heard of anybody else having the same problem.  This was before I had the barrel shortened and threaded.  When it came back oddly enough it was still dead on (I only sent the guy the barrel).

[BryanP]

Well first I'd say go shoot it a bunch in stock configuration just to give yourself a feel for baseline. Then try the trigger and sight upgrades mentioned. Fortunately the 10/22 is so easy to dork around with that you can do it in dribs and drabs as time and $ allow. Just don't keep track or you'll suddenly realize that you have a $600 10/22. 

[Gewehr98]

Just remember after you spend all that money on upgrades, it is still just a .22 LR.

Not true.  I kitbashed a grungy old 10/22 for the express purpose of prairie dog hunting out to 100 yards.



The only things original on mine are the receiver, bolt, and trigger housing. 

I radiused the hammer end of the bolt and machined the boltface to 0.042" depth for optimal headspace.

Here's the build list:

1. 1976 vintage 10/22 from pawn shop
2. Adams & Bennett 18" heavy blued steel barrel from the Midway catalogue
3. Fajen Midnight Laminate Aristocrat stock, Midway special w/barrel
4. Weaver scope base, extruded aluminum, real hi-tech!
5. Millett Steel Angle-Loc windage adjustable medium rings
6. Volquartsen match hammer, bolt release, and mag release
7. Power Custom titanium trigger, sharp claw extractor, trigger shims, and spring kit
8. Brownell's replacement firing pin, and oversize action pins
9. Buffer Technologies urethane bolt buffer
10. BSA Contender 6-24x40 target scope w/4" sunshade & 1/8" click target turrets
11. Brownell's Acraglas bedding compound - barrel and receiver bedded

With good ammo (Eley, Lapua, etc) , I have no problems keeping 5 rounds inside 1/4" or less at 50 yards.



The local rimfire silhouette matches are a hoot, too!

[Jamisjockey]

I love my bone stock "all weather" 10/22.  Only thing I've done is add a low end scope.

My first .22 was a 10/22.  Confirmed 97 yard rabbit kill with open sights from the standing position. 

Build to your heart's content, but don't overlook the sheer rapid fire joy of a bone stock 10/22.

[HankB]

Here's my 10/22

* Basic 10/22 from 1980s, still with metal trigger guard assembly.
* Laminated Richards Micro-Fit stock, tung oil finish, fitted & glass bedded with custom pillar estucheon & added zebrawood buttplate
* Volquartsen THM carbon fiber wrapped barrel with compensator
* Volquartsen hammer and bolt release
* Buffer Tech polymer bolt stop pin
* Polished bolt and guide rod
* Leupold 6.5-20 'scope.
* Leupold mount and rings. (Replaced the Weaver in the picture.)

I'm not a gunsmith, but the 10/22 is an easy platform to work on, so I was able to do all the work myself. It's very reliable and will put 5 shots under 1/4" at 50 yards with good match ammo. Sometimes I think about putting in a Kidd trigger, but then I wonder - will it help me shoot even smaller groups? So I do something else with the money.  

[brimic]

The local rimfire silhouette matches are a hoot, too!

That is a beautiful rifle, I didn't think 10/22s could look or shoot that good.

I haven't seen too many 10/22s at silhouette matches, almost exclusively bolt guns.

[MechAg94]

Thd Hornet drop in trigger assembly replacement was recommended to me a few months back.  It is about $100.  It improved the trigger greatly and the bolt hold button operation works much better.  I'd recommend it over more expensive options.  I tried installing a Volquartzen trigger parts kit on another 10/22 and it helped, but the completely drop in kit was much much easier and works better. 

I put a aftermarket bull barrel and a replacement stock on mine.  I have a 12 power scope to play with tight groups.  I got some match .22 ammo, but I haven't shot with it just yet.