Accurizing one of my old 22LR rifles?

[nevadasmith]

To day at the range my best friend, whom I have out shot for the last 15 years
showed up with a brand new Marlin M70 topped with a ?$300-$500? Nikon scope not sure what model.

While I wouldn't say he kicked my but horribly, he did beat me at all my favorite sharp shooting games....... I was however using my behind the seat beater rifle winchester M290 open sight......, (Yes I congratulated him and even cheered him on.)

Now I feel the need to decimate him at our next range session. My eyes are not what they once were, neither is my budget, but I have some cash to spend, and access to a full machine shop.

Here is my arsenal which one would you spend some money on/ make into a 100 yard tack driver? Witch one and what would you do? $150 budget?

Remington M 41p Peep sights, bull barrel, and tons of sentimental value single shot

Winchester M 60 bull barrel, fairly accurate iron sights, single shot

Ruger 10/22 Old, 10K+ rounds through it, Berska 4-12x50 scope, and a bipod

My first post, but my first resource for gun info, thanks for the advice in advance

 

[nevadasmith]

I guess what I'm asking is were is my money best spent?
CCI green label rounds?
Scope and custom make a barrel tuner for the model 60?
Re-barrel and stock the 10/22?
eye exam, glasses, and practice with the old Remington?
Or, Punt?
thanks

 

[dubbleA]

You have some shooters there but you need to settle on one. I would opt for the M41. Purchase as many different loads as you can in .22 rf and try them. They certainly dont have to be target rounds, some 22 firearms will shoot the cheap bulk stuff well. Maybe give the barrel a good scrubbing and then see which particular load shoots the best in the rifle. It will prefer 1 or 2 over the rest. If the peeps dont work with your vision, you go ahead and scope it. I think a few dollars invested in the ammo will do the trick.

 

[Steel Talon]

Ruger 10/22 Old, 10K+ rounds through it, Berska 4-12x50 scope, and a bipod

This would be my choice Rebarrel,restock,new trigger

 

[Magoo]

There are a lot of great folks in here, but the folks over at rimfirecentral.com eat, sleep, and breath .22s. If you haven't seen that site, definitely check it out.

To your question, my personal choice would be to tinker with the 10/22. It's the 1911 of the rimfire world in terms of parts choices and availability. Anything you can think to do to it will have multiple vendors offering various ways to do it. You could rebarrel it, but you'd save a lot of budget just having it rechambered and recrowned. Bedding/free floating it wouldn't cost you much at all. You can polish up the bolt for free yourself pretty easily also. There are a jillion and one kits to tune your trigger, full drop in trigger assemblies, and some easy $0 DIY things also. If you want a good rimfire scope on a budget (~$120), check out the Mueller APV. TechSights (~$50) are highly touted iron sites.

+1000 on trying out a bunch of different ammo on whichever rifle you pick. .22s are notoriously picky and your rifle is going to like some things better than others (keep your fingers crossed it likes the cheap stuff).

Let us know what you decide.

 

[Red Tornado]

I'd expect the Remington to be the most accurate, but I'm not really familiar with the Winchester. For your budget, you probably won't be able to re-barrel the Ruger, but I'm sure you can improve it. I'd consider a scope on whichever single shot was the most accurate.

Definitely check other ammo. Wolf Match Target (SK Standard Plus) is almost universally excellent. It's basically mid range in price, but more rifles seem to like it than any other ammo. That's unscientific based on personal experience and much reading at RFC. But, most rifles seem to like "some random ammo" and Wolf MT. It's definitely worth the cost of a box to try. Also, as you know, it's hard to go wrong trying a few varieties of CCI.

If you're shooting at 100 yards, just make sure it starts out subsonic or stays supersonic the whole way.
RT

 

[Pigspitter]

I'd go with the 10/22. On a related note, how will they shoot if you remove the barrel band? I'm thinking about taking mine off, sanding the barrel channel and putting a small pressure pad at the muzzle end of the stock. Would this help?

 

[BrocLuno]

Clean the bores and look real hard. If they are all really shiny and smooth, I'd pick and build that Rem 4x into the beauty it can be. The 40 series Remmingtons were/are known as exceptional shooters if they are right? Nice scope, the right ammo, a re-crown to recessed 11* target config if there is any wear showing on the crown - and you are off to the races

 

[Bill B.]

Maybe not what you want to hear but would you consider selling the .22 rifle you like the least and adding that money to the $150.00 you are willing to spend? If you would you should be able to pickup a nice used Mossberg 144 LSB on GB for $300 that will be better than what you can come up with for your $150.00 in work. They are already grooved for a scope and have nice peep sights on them already. Otherwise I would say work on the 10/22.

 

[jpwilly]

Wait, what caliber is that M70 your buddy is shooting? 22lr's are great and all but only really good ones will shoot well at 100yrds if you can. The M70's I know of are centerfire and if you are shooting at and past 100yrds it won't matter what you do with the 22lrs if you up against a .223 or better.

 

[nevadasmith]

His Marlin is a 22LR Bolt action clip fed. I may have got the model # wrong but I thought that is what he said?

I'm leaning toward building the 10/22......

But what is a " re-crown to recessed 11* target config" ????? or were can I find info on this?

Also what is the best way to locate a top notch gun smith near me/ North Nevada/ Reno......... I had a bad experience in the past.(sent a gun in to be drilled and tapped and got back a ruined reviver)

 

[Steel Talon]

you have a gunsmith re-profile the end of the barrel to "X" degrees which allows the bullet to exit the barrel "More" proficiently

 

[T191032]

Perhaps his Marlin was a 925, Nevadasmith?
http://www.marlinfirearms.com/Firearms/BoltAction22/925.asp

Of what you have listed, I agree that a good cleaning (and shooting) of what you have to determine their state of accuracy would be in order (as your time permits). It's easy to spend a lot more than $150 on a 10/22, but if you are mechanically inclined and you can do some work yourself, you might be able to save a little $$ too. RimfireCentral has a HUGE section devoted to the Ruger 10/22 full of tips/tricks and stuff you shouldn't even look at unless you have deep wallets (and yes, I meant plural). You can even have your factory barrel reworked at a pretty decent price too by one of the RFC members.

As for the existing bolt actions, that Remington should prove to be a winner. Adding a scope to it may up the anty, I don't know, I'm not much on gunsmithing so I can't advise there.

 

[Picher]

If you're going to accurize your 10-22, I suggest a Green Mtn. or other good barrel, the barrel band won't work with a heavy barrel, so take it off. Have the trigger tuned to a 2.5 lb pull with a trigger stop, and glassbed the action with an 8 lb pressure pad in the forend.

Get a nice 4.5-14x scope with adjustable objective and you're ready to go.

Oh yeah, instructions for doing a bit more work are at RimfireCentral.com, Tips and Tricks Forum.

 

[jpwilly]

Okay so it's a 22lr Marlin...your Rem 41 should already out shoot it...The 10/22 could be modified with drop in trigger and target barrel to out shoot it.

22lr's are very picky with ammo you need to try out the standard velocity stuff like Wolf Match Target, CCI Standard Velociy etc etc My Savage MII BV can shoot very well with Wolf MT but with High Velocity ammo it's just another 22lr.

 

[Magoo]

Hi-desertdog is in Unionville NV.
https://www.hi-desertdog.com/index.php?_a=viewDoc&docId=2

They do a lot of threading so surely they crown as well.

 

[IndianaBoy]

Take the scope off the Ruger and put it on the Remington.


The Ruger 10/22 can be made to be exceptionally accurate, with a lot of time, money and patience.

I think there are lots of stock bolt actions that will shoot circles around factory 10/22s.

This is borderline blasphemy, but I have never been impressed with the 10/22.

 

[Matt018]

I would start pimping out the 10/22 the reason being is that there are so many aftermarket parts for them, and it would be the easiest to make a tack driver. But my one point is that for the money you would spend on a stock, barrel, trigger for your old gun, you can buy a marlin 925. They are a bolt action repeater. They are fairly accurate out of the box and have a grooved receiver. You can mount a variety of optics on the grooves. And are know to be a tack driver out of the box. I bought a marlin on Monday, and had it out yesterday, shot about 250 rounds and i was thoroughly impressed and one i go my elevation set on the open sights i did very well. Also i was putting great groups downrange with open sight at 25 yards which is all i can see.

 

[Soupy44]

I can't really comment on which gun to choose, but I do have a trick for making a 22 shoot better simply through ammo and a torque wrench. It's how us competition smallbore shooters get that little extra out of our $3000 guns.

First, 100 rounds of about 6-8 different types of ammo and a good torque wrench. The wrench doesn't have to be accurate, just consistent. Head to the range and put a target or two up at 100 yards. You'll shoot 2 5 shot groups with each type of ammo with a certain torque setting. I suggest 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50 in-lbs.

Next take the best grouping ammo and try all the torque settings 5 in-lbs north and south for your first test's best group until you get it dialed in

With "cheap" ammo like you will probably use, this technique can shrink what looks like a 3" grouping ammo to under 2" if you're very lucky. I say "cheap" ammo because I usually buy match 22 ammo that's upwards of $0.20-0.25 per shot (lapua center-x or x-act).

I mention this technique because a truely good trigger squeeze can nullify a so-so trigger, and rebarreling might not be necessary if you learn to tune your rifle to the ammo.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Soupy44]

Sorry, forgot to mention this.

As stated before, 22s are picky with ammo. But ammo is produced in lots of 500,000-1,000,000 rounds for match ammo. Not sure how it works for bulk, but probabl about the same. For all intensive purposes, ammo from the same lot should be considered identical.

But, ammo of the same brand and grade from different lots will most likely shoot very differently. Think of it this way, they have a batch of bullets, cases, and powder all from the same orders. They make a bunch of rounds from those batches. Then, they run out and shut down the equipment for maintenance. A new batch of raw materials arrives and they start making ammo again, on slightly altered machines, with a batch of powder that is a touch different, in cases from a different company, but the same bullets. Thus, you get different ammo with the same label.

 

[nevadasmith]

What do you torque? with the torque wrench The trigger?

I'm leaning toward either the 10/22 or the winchester I can't bring my self to touch the Remington.

Winchester model 60 plan, re-crown(no crown and ugly), mill grooves in the receiver, scope, mild polish on the trigger group(only 2 pieces). OR......

10/22 plan, Adams and Bennett/Hogue stock combo, and Timney 10/22 Trigger group........ Blows my budget but may yield the best results.

 

[Soupy44]

Oops, left that important part out. Torque the bedding screws.

 

[BrocLuno]

The 11* crown is the most common out here for .22 shooting. The crown looks like a flat funnel from the muzzle. The 11* taper from the recessed face outward. Nowadays, it's often surrounded by a ridge on the outside edge of the barrel that protects the actual crown surface if it should get dropped or something. Although some guys are shooting flat faced crowns pretty well (no dished taper).

These are somewhat harder crowns to cut than a standard field grade, but should be worth the money in terms of accuracy

 

[nevadasmith]

Take the scope off the Ruger and put it on the Remington.


The Ruger 10/22 can be made to be exceptionally accurate, with a lot of time, money and patience.

I think there are lots of stock bolt actions that will shoot circles around factory 10/22s.

This is borderline blasphemy, but I have never been impressed with the 10/22.

I like my 10/22 but it just doesn't have the feel of the old single shots, and you don't get the same satisfaction when you say......... pick the primer out of an empty 12ga. shell @ 50-75' with one shot....... kind of a pride thing I guess. How ever I have shot next to some well built 10/22's that impressed me....... and that Marlin is no slouch either...... With money what its tho... I want to get the most return for every $ spent.......