10/22 upgrades

[jfdodge]

I picked up my ruger 10/22 last night. I'm planning on switching out the stock at some point. What are some other "must do" upgrades? The gun will punch paper 99% of the time with the occasional hunting trips mixed in.

[kygen]

Kidd or volquartsen drop in trigger. I havent done that to mine yet, but generally people say thats a must.

[Citadelgrad87]

I put a kidd two stage trigger on mine a week ago. Unbelievable trigger.

I put a good scope, a bull barrel, and a hogue over old stock.

I also put a kidd bolt on it, but I don't think that changed much.

Trigger, barrel, stock, scope.

Shoot, practice, enjoy.

[Creampuff]

I've drastically reduced my failure to extract since I changed out my extractor with a Volquartsen extractor. Well worth the $12.

[TMB 1]

I put a Weaver k4 fine crosshair scope and a sling on mine

[wchutt]

Just the Volquartsen hammer will radically change the trigger pull and feel, not as nice as the whole unit, but you can find them on sale for under $40, best single upgrade to a 10/22 IMO.

[bohoki]

they are fine out of the box back in the day the only thing i would buy was larger magazines that option is no longer available or prudent in this rimfire shortage
i have a 30 year old sanford drum that is on life support

[Red9]

I just brought home my first 10/22. Camo/stainless steel. Took it out to the range today, and must say the trigger sucks.
I will be sending the trigger off to brimstone. Think this is a good deal, and others here have mentioned them,

http://www.brimstonegunsmithing.com/collections/ruger-10-22/products/tier-3-basic-10-22-trigger-work

[Joe Register]

Agree swap trigger first. It is the biggest improvement.

I have tried volquartsen hammer swap - fairly easy and some improvement

Kidd trigger parts swap (recommended with newer polymer trigger housing) http://www.coolguyguns.com/KIDD-Trig...lade_p_95.html fairly easy to do if you have basic skills and a big difference in the result

And saw these in the deals section a while back - a version they were closing out for around $100. Easy swap. Trigger has some take up but then is quite good. https://www.volquartsen.com/products/205-tg2000

Hit up rimfire central for everything you want to know about 10/22s

[Gem1950]

I picked up my ruger 10/22 last night. I'm planning on switching out the stock at some point. What are some other "must do" upgrades? The gun will punch paper 99% of the time with the occasional hunting trips mixed in.

A lot of people go the .920 barrel route but a tapered sporter barrel can be gratifying as well.

[RawHP]

Trigger, then stock and barrel, then free floating and glass bedding is a good formula/sequence. Bolt work if you really want to squeeze out accuracy and eliminate FTF, FTE, and feeding problems. Then tinker and experiment, if you're like me.

I did my own trigger work about 20 years ago, since I had files and stones already from doing the triggers on my pistols and revolvers. Breaks nicely, but I'm getting pickier in my old age, so I may fine tune it again to remove some of the take up.

Here's my bargain basement sleeper. The original rifle cost me $75 used. Older Hogue stock, $40 gun show special. I filled the barrel channel of the stock with acraglas to stiffen it and eliminate any flex since it was the el cheapo version of Hogue. Newer ones look to be better made. Started with a $60 Butler Creek fluted barrel, but shot it out, and just switched to a Green Mountain 18", $109 from Mid-South Shooters. The great investment was $40 for bolt tuning by Que. He radiused the rear, pinned the firing pin and blueprinted the headspacing. No more failures to feed, fire, or eject, and a small gain in accuracy. I'm pretty happy with this little beater, given that I have less than $300 total invested (not counting the $15 ebay bipod, and optics), plus all of my tinkering time.



The action is bedded with acraglas, and the first 1.25' of the barrel in front of the vblock is bedded with JB Weld for support, the rest is floated. The latest tinkering project was to add a spring loaded pressure point, mid-barrel, with 3.5lb upward pressure. Really seemed to help accuracy at 50 yard with standard velocity ammo (consistently under 1/2"), but slightly opened up the groups with bulk high velocity. I remove the pressure pad with bulk. I'll be tweaking the pressure to find the sweet spot.

These guns are so fun to tinker with. Won't ever compete with the benchrest guys, but fun for competing with yourself.

[FiremanBob]

What aspects of it do you want to improve? What is your budget?

You can spend hundreds on upgrades, but you may not need to. Others in this thread have shown you what they like, but if you follow the sum of those recommendations the only Ruger parts you'll have will be a receiver and a magazine and you will have spent nearly $1K on your $200 rifle.

I recommend that you shoot your 10/22 a whole lot, at least 1K rounds, and then think about what you would like to improve. There are two routes to upgrading: buying new parts or having the OEM parts reworked. The latter route is cheaper.

That said, the most effective upgrade is to improve the weight and feel of the trigger pull. The most cost-effective way to do that is have Brimstone Gunsmithing work their magic on it.

[jfdodge]

Fortunately/unfortunately I'm really not constrained to a "budget" build. What I want is an extremely accurate hunting gun that will go with me to the range to shoot in between strings of my 338 rum and 7mm rem mag. Since I haven't shot it yet, I think I will shoot it this weekend and get a feel for the trigger and start there. If I upgrage to the point where all I have left is the ruger receiver from the stock rifle, that's ok. If it take 6 months or 6 years to upgrade it, I'm ok with that too.

[RawHP]

What's extremely accurate to you? If you're OK with 1/2" at 50 yards, you might be able to get there by slapping parts on, but if you're talking 1/4"-3/8" at 50, then you'll either need to do some work yourself, or pay someone to do bedding, install pillars, or add a rear tang to the receiver. I'm satisfied with 3/8"-1/2" at 50, but will be happier if I can keep it at or under 3/4" at 100, which I'm hoping to do on Saturday with any luck and a calm day.

[jfdodge]

Not knowing the typical accuracy that rimfire shooters go for, I will equate it to my centerfire rifles. My .257 Roberts will group 5 shots to quarter size or less. The 338 rum and 7mm are 50 cent piece or smaller at 100 yards. So in that equivalent range for a 10/22 is what I would like. If that means nickle sized groups at 50-100 yards.