Ruger 10/22....less than impressed

Box-stock Ruger 10/22s are serviceable, but completely basic guns.

If your kiddo takes an interest with the box-stock gun, you can always make upgrading it with after-market parts a father-son project.

Do stuff like get a better scope mount for a good report card, or an upgraded trigger for Christmas, that sort of thing.

jmorris said:

If the plastic is so much better I wonder why they didn't mold the reciever too?

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Cz does on thier semi 22 rifle. It is usually a little more accurate than the average 10/22 out of the box.

I also prefer the plastic trigger housing over the metal on 10/22s. The replacement Kidd parts are designed for the plastic housing, and fit better in the plastic one.

Well, it's a $200 rifle, after all. I've never really liked the basic 10/22 carbine, so I bought an LVT for 100 bucks more. Much nicer stock, heavy barrel, sling attachment, "better" trigger (which I swapped for a Kidd single stage).

Anyway, have fun with your "son's" new rifle. I'm sure you..er...he will have a ball with it. You two can upgrade stuff on it as needed. A good place to gather information would be rimfirecentral.

Rimfire central is a good forum for learning to turn a simple inexpensive 10/22 into a complete and total money pit!


while learning a few interesting tidbits along the way

anothernewb said:

Rimfire central is a good forum for learning to turn a simple inexpensive 10/22 into a complete and total money pit!


while learning a few interesting tidbits along the way

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Ha, ha... +1 to that!

.

Got rid of my 10/22. Kept my 10./22 Magnum, because it's NIB with extra mags.
Plus, you don't see them every day.
Never was impressed by the accuracy of them. Also not a fan of how chunky they are.
My old Mossbergs outshoot them by an embarrassing margin and I don't have to put a bunch of aftermarket parts in them to make them shoot the way they should OOB.

Thinking about getting a Marlin 795.

If possible, I'd like to get an 80% 10/22 receiver and tap it for a thread in barrel.

You can blow a lot of money, making a 10/22 shoot as well as less expensive guns.
But, their fanboyz are quite rabid. Much like Glock fanboyz.

They are the AK of the rimfire world. As reliable and accurate as an AK, with a huge aftermarket supply of parts to allow you to address the gun's shortcomings or to just make it as unique or as tacticool as you wish.

so I bought an LVT for 100 bucks more. Much nicer stock, heavy barrel, sling attachment, "better" trigger (which I swapped for a Kidd single stage).

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I've had a carbine, a target and just picked up a LVT a year ago. Polished the trigger and mounted a 6X18 scope on it. Shot a clean and record time in 20 target and 40 target siloutte last summer. Targets were 25, 50, 75, 100 yards. 10/22's shot the majority of the 13 perfect scores. While they're not a paper punching target rifle they do what they do well.

I bet it won't be the last 10/22 you purchase...

anothernewb said:

Rimfire central is a good forum for learning to turn a simple inexpensive 10/22 into a complete and total money pit! ...

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That's for certain. In fact, it's commonplace to build a 10/22 without using any Ruger parts.

By the way, MMA1991, the 10/22 is the ideal rifle to bring to an Appleseed event, which I recommend in the strongest possible terms. The improvement to one's shooting will be far greater than any modifications you can make to the gun, not to mention more cost effective.

The barrel band should not be plastic. In freezing conditions if you drop the rifle on a rock which barrel band will break first plastic or aluminum. Secondly with regard to the trigger, I believe it should be made of metal. Metals have a lower coefficient of friction for rotating parts, and when you hammer a bolt back and forth several thousand times which material is going to resist deformation more aluminum or plastic? What if you leave it in direct sunlight in a 190 degree car? These are all my intuitive objections. Also in general I feel the 10/22 is is a very budget minded product even at that I dont know that you get what you pay for. Horrible triggers, bedding, no recessed crown. Overall unnecessarily fat for a 22. Multiple failure to function, lackluster accuracy, easy to strip receiver tapped holes, extractors need upgrade, firing pin is not confined allowing it to move up instead of totally forward when struck by hammer, etc. You can see I'm not a fan.

Ive had experience with two mayfield kentucky 795 rifles one was not straight had not good accuracy the other was completely straight and very accurate. Ive had a few Keltec su22 rifles two were good one had a few failures. Keltec is a fun accurate little plinker. I know. Plastic...

The big draw for me is the flush-fitting rotary magazine---that's reason enough to own one

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That's the main reason I will never own one. I hate those little buggers. I can't grip load them without getting a cramp in my fingers. I am not a Ruger hater. I think their rifles are decent enough. Not all models have so much plastic BTW. That's the thing about 10/22's. There are several different rifles that carry that name. They can be modified to shoot extremely well. Some basic modifications don't cost a lot and can help accuracy a good bit. But major upgrades cost big bucks of course. Still if you want a really good shooting semi-auto that's one of the few roads to get there.

that's what you have to expect at that price point.

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That's just not true. Marlin doesn't load their rifles with plastic like that. They have the uber cheap 795 that has a plastic stock and some other rifles can come with plastic stocks but they are good plastic stocks unlike what some other companies will sell you. BTW the 795 is actually a fine rifle that works and is very light making it great for squirrel hunting IMO. I have one and it's my go to squirrel hunting rifle now at least when I'm going to walk and hunt instead of camping out under a tree before dawn waiting for the squirrels to come to me.

Marlin hasn't changed metal to plastic on the 60. They are still building them the same way they did decades ago. I've owned several. They've had plastic trigger guards for a long time and they have always worked well except for a brief period when they tried to put colored plastic tg's on some of their stainless rifles. Those were junk and Marlin replaced them. But pretty much everything else on the rifle that was metal is still metal. The one thing that has been changed to plastic is the inner mag rod which actually used to be wood. Now it's plastic. It's probably stronger now than ever.

Marlin sells the 60 for less money than any of the 10/22's and they have not gone cheap on them. I currently have a 1989 model and a 2008 model and very little is different between them. There are some slight differences but nothing like Ruger has done and what has been done has been done as an improvement. And I've had older models that were the same too. The major changes took place in the 1980's when they went to a 15 round mag and added the last shot hold open feature. But even before on those models most parts were about the same.

They know a lot of people will switch the factory TMH for an aftermarket one in any case.
Brownells sell a metal replacement for the buttplate if anyone really wants one.
So many of the older-style parts are available from people who changed them out, if you really want them.

With a few mods it isn't hard to get a 10/22 to shoot nickel sized groups at 50 yards. Mine shoots dime sized groups, but I put a little money into it.

It doesn't have to be perfect to be a good first gun.
Many of us here started out with a Daisy "Red Rider" and with enough range time and BB's you had a real good idea of how to shoot that gun.
Now look at the 10/22 the same way. As long as it is an enjoyable learning experiance and something to take pride in it will be a great gift.
Perhaps the time spent on the range enjoying it together is more valuable than the rifles cost?

I find it amusing that people go into the purchase of a 10/22 knowing they are going to be changing parts in a hope for better accuracy or function.

Why not just spend the extra cash up front and buy a higher quality gun to begin with?

Or is this another "I built this gun myself" like the AR assembly crowd?

Speedo66 said:

I find it amusing that people go into the purchase of a 10/22 knowing they are going to be changing parts in a hope for better accuracy or function.

Why not just spend the extra cash up front and buy a higher quality gun to begin with?

Or is this another "I built this gun myself" like the AR assembly crowd?

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What other commonly available semi-auto .22 is there that is already as accurate as a modded 10/22?

The change to plastic components on the 10/22 is not exactly new...

-Ruger changed to a plastic butt plate and barrel band on the 10/22 back in the 1980s

-Ruger changed to a plastic trigger assembly in 2006

Neither of those things affect the accuracy of the 10/22 and as a matter of fact they make something like 26 different variations of the 10/22 with lots of different plastic or wood stocks and other components.

The idea that the plastic they use will break in cold weather or melt in hot weather is laughable.

Some people like the flush fitting magazine which is a big part of why they've been successful for 50 years. Ruger makes an extended 25 round mag as well as a 15 round mag now and there have been dozens of extended aftermarket mags from 10-50 rounds available that stick out the bottom for the last 30 years.

Overall the 10/22 is as accurate out of the box as any other similarly priced .22 rifle. Like most entry level rifles they do suffer from poor factory sights and rudimentary triggers.

When comparing the plastic in guns none can rival the Nylon 22/66, plastic when plastic wasn't cool.
The newer bolt guns all seem to be coming out with plastic trigger guards and stocks, lighter materials can and probably should be used in applications that are not high pressure, wear or impact if people continue to demand low prices.

thats how mine is (was) never had an issue. the only plastic left on it is the trigger housing. then again the only things stock on it are the receiver, trigger housing and magazine

Dear Mr.OP:

It makes perfect sense to ignore your previous positive experiences with the 10/22 based on what material the (non functional) barrel band is made of. It makes even more sense to have buyers remorse over a gun you haven't said you have even shot yet.

This is the first thread I have clicked on, and my first visit to THR in over a month. Now I remember why it's been so long. Thank you for refreshing my memory Sir.

I paid $140 for a used one a few years back. It didn't impress me with it's 9 pound gritty trigger pull or it's mediocre accuracy. A few years passed with it rarely being used, then I bought a Volquartsen replacement hammer for less than $40 and suddenly it became a tack driver. It shoots quality hunting ammo very accurately and even handles Stingers without complaint.

Since then I added a Hogue over-molded youth stock. For X-mas I just ordered a VQ bolt release and mag release for better handling and some 3/8" scope rings for the stock scope mount ( I don't like the look of picatinny/weaver rails).
I have less than $300 total into it (not counting my old Leupold 4X rimfire special scope) and it has become my favorite, most reliable rimfire.

mr.trooper,

And thank you sir for reminding me why you were not missed.

Try to sight it in and you may be even less impressed.
My rec would be a real Marlin 60...