New found appreciation for the Ruger 10/22

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George Dickel

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I shoot in a rimfire rifle bullseye league with a group of guys at a local indoor range. We shoot at 25 yards on the NRA B-2 and B-3 50 foot targets. Because of the rapid fire portion of the match a lever gun or bolt action is too slow to make time so everyone uses a semi-auto, mostly 10/22's. I bought one at our LGS to shoot in the matches. My grandson had one and it was the most inaccurate rifle I'd ever shot, it was terrible. Minute of 55 gallon barrel accuracy. So it was with some trepidation that I bought it. Mine really surprised me with it's excellent accuracy and even the trigger isn't too bad after I got used to it. At the last match I shot 275 out of 300 points with it. Due to old eyes nearly everyone uses a red dot sight so this isn't with irons.
 
I have two, one bought 40 years ago. Only parts left original are bolt and receiver. Kidd trigger, Shaw barrel, Ruger target stock. 1/4-3/8" ctc 50 yards. #2, stock, except for an old Walnut stock and Voltquarsen parts in the receiver. Both have tuning blocks and fiber buffers. My kids steal the sporter during squirrel season. Boo to the Ruger haters. I'm glad I bought 100 shares of RGR after 911.
 
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The accuracy of the 10/22's are all over the place. I've seen some, in fact I have one, that isn't particularly accurate. But mine is minute of paper plate at 100 yards and that is good enough for what I want. I've have others that are MOA out past 200 yards.

Ruger has made over 100 different variants of the 10/22 over the years, I count 65 different 10/22 rifles currently on their website.

https://ruger.com/products/1022/overview.html

There are a lot more options than the standard carbine, which I don't care for at all. But several other versions are quite nice.
 
Mine is like @PapaG's. Ruger 10/22 with a Midway accuracy barrel (years old), Fajen laminate stock, Volquartsen internals. Receiver and bolt are original. Shoots well, and really fun with a suppressor.
 
I had a blue Ruger target model fifteen or so years back. Shot in a fifty meter 20 shot league. First shot out of the mag was 1/4 to 3/8" out (two or three points, minium). I learned quickly to load six and put the first into the berm. Some jerks might have put it in another target but that don't fly with me.
 
Legionnaire said:
Mine is like @PapaG's. Ruger 10/22 with a Midway accuracy barrel (years old), Fajen laminate stock, Volquartsen internals. Receiver and bolt are original. Shoots well, and really fun with a suppressor.
Click to expand...
I built one of those. Better than stock but didn't live up to expectations. My Shaw barreled gun is about top for my ability.
 
My old factory checkered sporter.....bought a few yrs ago, had the crap shot out of it by orig owner.

Volq hammer and its do .75" at 50 yards w CCI Blazer.
My target build would do .4 w SK match.
My last one, a 70 sporter.....would do about 2" at 25. It sucked. Wood pushed hard on bbl.

Minor work got it to .75........at 25 yards.

Bye bye.

The old fingergrooves are great looking and feeling, but being 1022, a crap shoot unless you are willing to possiy dump an extra 200 or so into em for rework
 
Mine is still evolving and it is pretty dang accurate:

IMG-1501.jpg

Some fella on another forum said I had outlandish claims of accuracy for all of my rifles, hmmm, could that be because those that are not outlandishly accurate either go away or get made so. I am still working on this one, stock number two, barrel number three, scope number five, this and that, it may never end. That Magpul stock is a project itself, just saying :/ .
 
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3Crows said:
Mine is still evolving:
Click to expand...

  • A take down with a Kidd trigger
  • A Clark medium weight custom in a laminate stock
  • My daughter’s with a Kidd trigger and a Kidd lightweight barrel in a short LOP Hogue stock
  • A sleeper with a factory modified barrel by Que, Kidd trigger and guts, a goodwill stock purchase, assembled by George at Sonora....
  • Three more actions to decide...probably a Charger in the mix....
 
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Wife and I got ours about 35 years ago. Still a heck of a shooter. Reliable, accurate and just plain fun to shoot.
 
rabid wombat said:
speaking affectionately, drugs are cheaper...:rofl:
Click to expand...

I plan to die broke (but not broken).

The 1022 is a wonderful platform to tinker and experiment with and regardless of the naysayers, there are 1022s that will hold ground with and against about anything. Maybe mine will some day get there but there is a long hill to climb yet. My virtually unmodded Savage Target MKII will kick this 1022s rear, the 1022 is gaining on it but the Savage is not sweating yet!
 
If the OEM mags are known to
1) feed reliably, I’ll consider buying a first 10/22.

And if they are known to
2) extract And eject as well —using bulk ammo— as the best .22LR handguns, then I would be “sold”.
?...?

The accuracy for me is Not important, only the function.
 
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Ignition Override said:
If the OEM mags are known to
1) feed reliably, I’ll consider buying a first 10/22.
Click to expand...
I'd say 'known to feed reliably' might just be the Understatement of the Day when it comes to the Ruger's 10-round rotary mag.

Ignition Override said:
And if they are known to
2) extract And eject as well —using bulk ammo— as the best .22LR handguns, then I would be “sold”.
?...?

The accuracy for me is Not important, only the function.
Click to expand...
The only problem I've ever had out of my 10/22 is from some Winchester bulk ammo that I bought in about 1985 and fired this year. So I suspect that the (~35 y.o., not stored in a climate controlled spot) ammo might have been the culprit. Other than that, it's fed, fired and ejected every kind of crappy .22LR ammo I've stuffed into the mag. YMMV, but my 10/22 has been a workhorse.
 
George Dickel said:
I shoot in a rimfire rifle bullseye league with a group of guys at a local indoor range. We shoot at 25 yards on the NRA B-2 and B-3 50 foot targets. Because of the rapid fire portion of the match a lever gun or bolt action is too slow to make time so everyone uses a semi-auto, mostly 10/22's. I bought one at our LGS to shoot in the matches. My grandson had one and it was the most inaccurate rifle I'd ever shot, it was terrible. Minute of 55 gallon barrel accuracy. So it was with some trepidation that I bought it. Mine really surprised me with it's excellent accuracy and even the trigger isn't too bad after I got used to it. At the last match I shot 275 out of 300 points with it. Due to old eyes nearly everyone uses a red dot sight so this isn't with irons.
Click to expand...

I have had so many of them since they were introduced I can't remember for sure how many. Would sell one, later buy another. Finally just stopped selling them as they were always more expensive by the time I bought another. Have 2 now one standard and one take down. I have yet to see one that did not shoot better than most shooters could do so the problem one had to be an exception. They sell so damn well for a good reason. If you want really nice put a better trigger in one and its amazing what it does. Can of course also bolt on a better barrel and turn it into something fit for bench rest. The trigger is normally enough to show marked improvement. One of the great things about these is so damn many are sold that there is a HUGE after market with everything you could ever want for them.
 
Ruger 10/22 rifles are one thing I've never sold or traded away.

I currently have three.

1. I bought this one in 1978. I currently has a Hogue over molded stock and a Houge barrel. My wife got me the upgrade kit when the place she was working closed them out.

2. I picked up in a pawnshop about 10 years ago. It's still completely stock.

3. I bought this one about five years ago. It had the synthetic stock and threaded barrel. I just put it in a Cousineau laminated stock. I picked the stock up as a blem about four years ago. Just recently located it and put it to use. It has a Leupold VX-Freedom rimfire scope on it.

I've also got a braced Charger.

I just ordered two Volquartsen target hammers for #1 & #3. I've been kicking around the idea of picking up another 10/22 if I can find one that tickles my fancy.
 
Just an opinion, the 1022 when equipped with Ruger magazines is exceedingly reliable, especially with CCI MiniMags and Standard Velocity ammo. A rifle will only shoot as good as the ammo, stoke the magazine with Remington ThunderCrap and be prepared for squibs, FTF, duds, stuck in barrel bullets and the whole shebang of malfunctions!

If you put a target barrel on your rifle with a match chamber, it may become particular and decide it likes CCI or other better quality ammo. Otherwise the 1022 is not known to be particular but still, crap ammo is just that!

The only semi-auto rifles that equal the 1022 for reliability are the Remington 597 perhaps and the new Savage A22, the Browning is pretty reliable too.
 
About 10 years ago, I spent some time over at rimfirecentral 10/22 forum, reading about all the tricks to accurize the rifle. So, I started looking for one.
What I found (on Armslist) was a 1965 10/22 in like new condition in the box with all it’s paperwork. The box had a $59 price tag on it from Sears. The only thing missing was the original, old style magazine (looking for one, still). All metal, and with Overton walnut stock.
It was as if somebody bought, and stuck it in the closet.
I was smart enough to realize I wasn’t going to go the whole route of barrel, stock, etc with this 10/22. But I did consider bolt work and trigger job to make a stealth target rifle...but first, I would shoot it.
I had a cheap Barska 4X rimfire scope I used on another rimfire that seemed reliable, so I mounted it on the 10/22.
I zeroed it with Blazer bulk at 25yds... Surprised at how small the groups were, I switched to a target at 80yds, got repeated dime-sized 10 shot groups.
So, I scrapped any “accurizing” plans, and left it just as it is.
 
amd6547 said:
About 10 years ago, I spent some time over at rimfirecentral 10/22 forum, reading about all the tricks to accurize the rifle.
I had a cheap Barska 4X rimfire scope I used on another rimfire that seemed reliable, so I mounted it on the 10/22.
I zeroed it with Blazer bulk at 25yds... Surprised at how small the groups were, I switched to a target at 80yds, got repeated dime-sized 10 shot groups. So, I scrapped any “accurizing” plans, and left it just as it is.
Click to expand...

I am surprised that bunch did not ban you for outlandish claims of accuracy that infer (to them) that a cheap, nothing special 1022 could shoot dime size groups at 80 yards with consistency. Which apparently further is implied, by the ensuing hissy fits, that their fancy CZs can barely accomplish such accuracy with match ammo ;) !
 
jmr40 said:
The accuracy of the 10/22's are all over the place. I've seen some, in fact I have one, that isn't particularly accurate. But mine is minute of paper plate at 100 yards and that is good enough for what I want. I've have others that are MOA out past 200 yards.

Ruger has made over 100 different variants of the 10/22 over the years, I count 65 different 10/22 rifles currently on their website.

https://ruger.com/products/1022/overview.html

There are a lot more options than the standard carbine, which I don't care for at all. But several other versions are quite nice.
Click to expand...

Yeah I've seen them range from just acceptable to pretty darn good. The only one I've ever personally come accross that was really bad is my father in laws 10-22 international. He won it at a gun show raffle and I swooned over it because I always wanted one, but low and behold it was a complete turkey.
 
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