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With my wife away visiting her mother this week, I finally had some time today to make a few refinements to my latest 10/22 project, my carbine sleeper: 80% receiver and Feddersen contour barrel, with the balance of parts being factory Ruger. 
I only took it out once at the end of June, and only did a quick down and dirty trigger job to bring it to 2.5 lbs for its first range trip. It's a solid sub-1/2" shooter at 50 yards; even with the 14 mph cross wind shooting 11 consecutive groups, all but 2 were sub-1/2" with cheap ammo (several 3/8" and one 1/4"). I expect it to get better as the barrel breaks in a little more. Not bad for the total $318 invested (including shipping on parts).
Today, I decided to finish up the trigger, which still had creep from the abbreviated trigger job. Only needed to narrow the hammer hook, since I'd already tweaked the engagement angle the first time around, but even though the break was clean, it was still aroundn 2.25 lbs. I decided to clip the trigger return spring a little at a time, which was measuring 1.75 lbs before hitting the wall. I got it to just below 1.5 lb before it failed to reset. I could feel it wasn't too smooth on the return, so I chucked the plastic trigger and coiled return spring, and replaced it with a metal Ruger trigger (I got a dozen pack from Brimstone for my last sporter project), which I had milled using my drill press for a torsion spring. Made the torsion spring from piano wire, drilled the housing for the stop, and assembled. The spring measured 1.25 lb before the wall, with a 1.75 lb pull, and was still resetting. I disassembled again, tweaked the spring a little, and once back together it measured 1 lb before the wall with a trigger break of 1.5 lb. Put the gun back together and did several hard bump tests at various angles with no problems, so I called it done.
Next was the bolt, which was a "blem" I got off of ebay, supposedly due to uneven polishing on the exposed side. I couldn't see it, except maybe one spot that was a little less polished than the rest. After total disassembly, I measured the headspace, which was surprisingly good at 0.045"! No wonder it shot so well on the first trip.
I started by stoning the bearing surfaces with a hard stone, just enough to smooth them, but not enough to remove the machining marks. I didn't want to bring it out of spec. Next came radiusing, which went quicky.
Then adjusting the headspace. Wtih only 0.002" to remove, I was done in about 2 minutes, including taking several measurements. While it was all apart, I tuned the extractor, increasing the engagement and reshaping the hook. Also reshaped the firing pin to contact just inside of the outer edge of the rim, and knocking off any sharp edges on the tip.
After the gun was back together, it felt pretty smooth. I don't expect a big improvement during the next range trip, but maybe just a little smoother cycling. I have one more bolt to do for my bench rest 10/22 project. Then I'll cross pin the firing pins on three of my bolts, since I finally broke down and bought a carbide bit for the job.
I only took it out once at the end of June, and only did a quick down and dirty trigger job to bring it to 2.5 lbs for its first range trip. It's a solid sub-1/2" shooter at 50 yards; even with the 14 mph cross wind shooting 11 consecutive groups, all but 2 were sub-1/2" with cheap ammo (several 3/8" and one 1/4"). I expect it to get better as the barrel breaks in a little more. Not bad for the total $318 invested (including shipping on parts).
Today, I decided to finish up the trigger, which still had creep from the abbreviated trigger job. Only needed to narrow the hammer hook, since I'd already tweaked the engagement angle the first time around, but even though the break was clean, it was still aroundn 2.25 lbs. I decided to clip the trigger return spring a little at a time, which was measuring 1.75 lbs before hitting the wall. I got it to just below 1.5 lb before it failed to reset. I could feel it wasn't too smooth on the return, so I chucked the plastic trigger and coiled return spring, and replaced it with a metal Ruger trigger (I got a dozen pack from Brimstone for my last sporter project), which I had milled using my drill press for a torsion spring. Made the torsion spring from piano wire, drilled the housing for the stop, and assembled. The spring measured 1.25 lb before the wall, with a 1.75 lb pull, and was still resetting. I disassembled again, tweaked the spring a little, and once back together it measured 1 lb before the wall with a trigger break of 1.5 lb. Put the gun back together and did several hard bump tests at various angles with no problems, so I called it done.
Next was the bolt, which was a "blem" I got off of ebay, supposedly due to uneven polishing on the exposed side. I couldn't see it, except maybe one spot that was a little less polished than the rest. After total disassembly, I measured the headspace, which was surprisingly good at 0.045"! No wonder it shot so well on the first trip.
I started by stoning the bearing surfaces with a hard stone, just enough to smooth them, but not enough to remove the machining marks. I didn't want to bring it out of spec. Next came radiusing, which went quicky.
Then adjusting the headspace. Wtih only 0.002" to remove, I was done in about 2 minutes, including taking several measurements. While it was all apart, I tuned the extractor, increasing the engagement and reshaping the hook. Also reshaped the firing pin to contact just inside of the outer edge of the rim, and knocking off any sharp edges on the tip.
After the gun was back together, it felt pretty smooth. I don't expect a big improvement during the next range trip, but maybe just a little smoother cycling. I have one more bolt to do for my bench rest 10/22 project. Then I'll cross pin the firing pins on three of my bolts, since I finally broke down and bought a carbide bit for the job.
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