10/22 tips?

[Geezer]

Talk about good timing. I just bought a 10/22 Target in stainless, as my Springfield Stevens Model 15 is getting a bit tired.

Couple of things I noticed right off is that the barrel isn't freefloated, and there's only one screw holding action to stock. Is floating the barrel worthwhile?

Also seems to be a ton of aftermarket parts out there. Is there any that you folks have tried and approve of?

 

[pinshootr]

Hi Jerry, Yes it is good to free float. And yes all the stuff is good. Basically you take the whole gun apart and replace every thing but the receiver and bolt. No really( take a $200 gun and put around $800 in it.) Start with what you can afford and go from there. Trigger jobs is what I started with along with a new barrel and stock. I think you can get most everything in one kit nowdays too. Have fun And yes it will make it a tack driver. and really fun for rapid fire with all the goodies.

 

[lovdasnow]

first thing to do is replace the trigger. there are tons of aftermarket parts, it's a fun to gun to work with.

look at volquartsen parts, they have a lot of top quality stuff, but there are tons of other great companys as well.

don't like referring other forums on here, but check out rimfirecentral.com there is a TON of stuff on that site!

have fun, and keep us posted with your progress.

 

[Buffalobob]

Jerry

First things first. -

The gun is very sensitive to the ammo you feed it. Get some Stingers, Yellow Jackets, Scorpions and then some "target" bullets such as Remington and Eley.

My rifle would shoot the Stingers and Yellow jackets and several of the Eleys very well but the rest of types of bullets would shoot groups about three times bigger. Bullets have "waxy" stuff one them and so you should shoot five to ten rounds into the dirt to precondition the barrel and chamber to the new type of bullet before shooting a group on paper. I tested maybe 10-15 different velocities and brands and weights of bullets.

I free floated my barrel and it had no effect on group size. I then bedded the action and that did nothing for it.

I "smoothed/radiused" the bolt and that helped it function with low velocity, sticky, cold ammo.

I "smoothed" the trigger and that helped the roughness of the trigger but didnot change the weight of pull.


As a note, there are people who say their 10-22 shoots great and then there are those of us who are who have very poor shooting rifles.

 

[pinshootr]

Hey bob, It did all this with a new match barrel/stock and replacement trigger parts or you still using that factory thing they call a barrel and stock ???

 

[Buffalobob]

All of my parts are original factory parts. The effects of giving the gun ammo it likes is more important than anything else I found to do to it. I have tested the ammo effects several times and the results are always that it likes the same bullets.

I ground off the front sight, removed the barrel band, epoxy bedded the action, smoothed the sears, radiused the bolt, put on a stock cheekpiece, and installed a regular sling swivel.

I have considered getting a replacement trigger to get a lighter pull because that is the real problem out in the field. But in the end I think if I wanted one shot kills I would just buy a bolt action target rifle.

 

[Jimm]

BB ,

Really old man , you need a new bbl . I promise !! Get a match bbl . If you get a match bbll and a good trigger you will be astounded .

You will be thinking " lookout ir 50/50"

Them thangs can be made to shoot without spending 800n bucks . I would say 799 is more realistic /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[pinshootr]

JIMM, DITTO ON ALL OF YOUR POST LOL

 

[Buffalobob]

One new part I forgot about. An extended magazine release. It is worth its weight in gold. You can actually get the magazine to drop out while you are wearing gloves and without getting mad.

 

[Geezer]

Thanks for the advice, folks. The extended mag release sounds like a good start. Maybe a different bolt release too. The 10/22T comes with what Ruger calls a target trigger, and my gauge shows 3lb. Not too gritty, but plenty of overtravel. I can cure that with a drill press, tap, and hex screw. They also claim a tight target chamber, but we'll see.

Off to the range now, and I'll try whatever brands of shells they got. First shots with a new toy. Oh, Boy!

 

[Geezer]

Well, good news and bad news. The rifle put 9 of 10 Eley Target rounds, at 25yd, into a hole I could cover with a 9mm case mouth. However, even with full down adjustment on the scope and a field expedient shim under the front ring mount, it shot that group 3" high. Hmm. Time to get out the straight edges and see what's not right.

 

[Buffalobob]

That is great.

Maybe the T model actually delivers great performance although most of the Eley shoot well anyway but are a little "stickey" in cold weather but not as bad as some of the Remington.

I thought about the bolt release modification but just have never gotten around to doing it.

I finally put a B Square base on mine and changed to Weaver style rings. It is cheap but seems to do OK.

 

[270bdl]

I just bought a blued T last week. The first thing I did was install a kidd trigger in it. 6 ounces right now. I will be using this rifle for 50 ft. indoor offhand shooting. So far I have'nt found an ammo that it does'nt like.

 

[screech]

I'll be the bad guy I guess and tell you I have had no good luck with the 10-22. I switched over to bolt action marlins and wont shoot another 10-22 in the field if I dont have to. I dont have to dump 800 into it to get it shooting good either.