I love the Ruger 10/22

[JTH]

I love the Ruger 10/22. 

Seriously, this is one of my favorite guns to shoot—of course, that sounds like I only have one, and it only works in a certain way to shoot certain things.

And yet—the reason I love the 10/22 is because it is one of the most versatile .22 rifles out there.  A semi-auto .22 rifle capable of astonishing accuracy with aftermarket parts and accessories available so as to be able to customize it in any fashion you might want—the gun is just too much fun to play with.

Out of the box, the trigger is middling decent, the sights are basic and practical, the accuracy is plenty good for most shooters, and the stock is solid.  In other words, the standard Ruger 10/22 is an outstanding “first shooter” for most people in terms of rifles. 

It’ll feed most any ammo from high-velocity Stingers to super-heavyweight Aguila SSS sub-sonic rounds (and yes, single-loading CB caps works perfectly well if you just leave out the magazine—obviously it won’t cycle the action, but you weren’t planning on doing that with CBs anyway, were you?) and it doesn’t care about any difference between plated, lead, hollow point, or round nose rounds.

But then the fun starts.  What do you want to do with your 10/22?

Stick on a heavy barrel with a comfortable Hogue stock and a bipod and work on groups at 100 yards?  Okay!

Drop in a Volquartsen ultra-lightweight short tension barrel with a Dragunov stock for a accurate lightweight 50 yard varmint shooter?

Maybe get a Butler Creek short lightweight barrel with a folding stock and a red dot for Steel Challenge or some other rimfire competition?

How about a Takedown version of the 10/22, with a box of bulk ammo and a couple of 25-round mags for a trunk gun?

Maybe drop the action into a bullpup stock configuration because while it is useless, it was too much fun to pass up?

Don’t like the initial trigger?  How about spending a couple of bucks and dropping in a Volquartsen hammer and sear (sure, you can buy the trigger group and switch the entire thing out by taking the action out of the stock and pushing out two pins, but where’s the fun in that?) which takes the trigger from “middling decent” to “serious action” in about 10 minutes.

Want the bolt to drop forward when you rack it?  Want an extended/oversized safety?  A  larger mag release?

All parts available in many different configurations from a number of excellent companies. 

Want to make it look like an AR, and take AR accessories?  No problem.  Want a short children’s stock?  No problem.  Want full auto? 

….no, you can’t have that, but you CAN get a rotational trigger setup and throw two 10/22s into a Gatling Gun setup.    (No, I don’t have one of those.  I’d blast away WAY too much ammo if I did…)

Ruger 10/22s are great.  You can make it a trainer for just about any full-size rifle you want, or you can just make yourself any type of outstanding .22 shooter you like.  And 25-round mags are easy to find for it.  (Other than the Takedown version and the Gatling, all other guns above started out looking like the first picture.  Or the first picture with a synthetic stock.)

I love these things.

[ILoveCats]

My son wants one after shooting his grandpa's. 

I've never liked cleaning them (cleaning from the muzzle and pushing gunk into the receiver) and much prefer my Savage single shot, which was "minute-of-cat" at a hundred yards right outa the box, but the "takedown" model might change my mind. That has to make barrel cleaning easy.

[shooter]

 they are great. I have 5 so far. still want a few more,
 one I really want is the full stocked model,

   one thing I do not like about them, are the plywood stocks some come with, you can call it laminate if you want, but its still plywood

[kozball]

This is my 12yo sons first time out with his "Passing Hunters Safety" bribe. Composite stock, blued barrel, Nikon Prostaff 4x fixed. Zero'd with 10 shots, then let him at it. Only 25 yds, but I felt was pretty solid for a rookie.

[Randy]

My son wants one after shooting his grandpa's. 

I've never liked cleaning them (cleaning from the muzzle and pushing gunk into the receiver) and much prefer my Savage single shot, which was "minute-of-cat" at a hundred yards right outa the box, but the "takedown" model might change my mind. That has to make barrel cleaning easy.

Hoppe's Bore Snake!

[bkoenig]

Actually, I believe there are a handful of converted, transferrable 10/22's out there.  Think how much fun that would be.

Not only are they versatile, they're probably the easiest gun out there to work on yourself.  A screwdriver and an Allen wrench are pretty much all you need to do everything up to and including barrel swaps.

[Ivars]

You can drill a hole in the rear of the receiver to allow a cleaning rod to be used.  Bore snake after every range trip, pull the stock and clean properly a couple times a season.  Ruger should have incorporated this into their design but it's an easy mod.

[abbafandr]

Definitely one of the most customizable guns out there.  Google 10 22 accessories.

That Gatling version, impractical, neat, and would wipe out my 22 stash way too fast.

[ILoveCats]

You can drill a hole in the rear of the receiver to allow a cleaning rod to be used.  Bore snake after every range trip, pull the stock and clean properly a couple times a season.  Ruger should have incorporated this into their design but it's an easy mod.

I've never seen that before, but did a google search now.  Pretty cool!  But... I think the boy's going to get a takedown now that they've come out with that little gem.

[OleSharky]

Bought mine new in 1966.  I'm pretty basic as is my 10/22 but in all the years it has never jammed or misfired and is extremely accurate. What more can one ask?  And Shooter, mine came with a walnut stock in 1966.

[JTH]

   one thing I do not like about them, are the plywood stocks some come with, you can call it laminate if you want, but its still plywood

Have to admit, I don't worry about the stock much---because I know I'm probably going to be replacing it almost immediately. 

The only one I kept the wooden stock on is the one I'm going to turn into an Appleseed gun.  (Got the AR-style sights already, and the sling.  Just need to put them on, and I've already dropped in a Volquartsen hammer and sear to make the trigger easy.)

http://appleseedproject.blogspot.com/2008/02/liberty-training-rifle.html

I've never liked cleaning them (cleaning from the muzzle and pushing gunk into the receiver) and much prefer my Savage single shot, which was "minute-of-cat" at a hundred yards right outa the box, but the "takedown" model might change my mind. That has to make barrel cleaning easy.

Cleaning is certainly simple.  And if you set up the Takedown correctly (follow the instructions when you first get it!) it stays accurate no matter how many times you take it apart and put it back together.

That being said---while single-shot guns are fun, I like semi-autos WAY better.    (Can't get away from that action shooting background!)  Cleaning is annoying, yes, but then again, it is still much better than cleaning a Ruger Mark II pistol.  It just makes me cringe to drill a hole in the receiver (even though I know that done properly it isn't an issue at all) and truthfully, I don't see a real need to clean the 10/22 that much.

I know, I know, sacrilege! 

Every once in awhile I wipe down the breechface and the bolt face, and run a bore snake through the barrel---and that's almost all it needs.  (The benchrest guys are having heart attacks right now, I know.  But they throw away barrels if they don't put the bullets through the same hole at 25 yards with a .22, and I just don't shoot in that mode.)

Actually, I believe there are a handful of converted, transferrable 10/22's out there.  Think how much fun that would be.

I'd run out of ammo in about 30 minutes.  And then I'd be poor, because I'd buy as much .22 ammo as I had money....  (kinda like what would happen if I had that Gatling, with the two 100-round drums...)

Not only are they versatile, they're probably the easiest gun out there to work on yourself.  A screwdriver and an Allen wrench are pretty much all you need to do everything up to and including barrel swaps.

Yep.  Though a couple of wooden matches makes working with the trigger group a lot easier, too.....very expensive tools there!

SO easy to modify.  And taking it from a basic decent shooter to something outstanding just takes a hammer and sear from Volquartsen, a little bit of polish, and a decent scope.  That's it.

[bkoenig]

If you go to Rimfirecentral.com there are instructions on how to stone your hammer to the correct angle and greatly improve the trigger.  I did it on mine and it made a big difference.  It's not on the same level as a Volquartsen, but it was free.  I don't recommend doing trigger work yourself unless you're fairly mechanically inclined and know how to test a trigger for safe operation, though.

Another place where you can really improve upon the factory setup is in the barrel and action bedding, especially if you add a bull barrel.  From the factory the action is just held in place by a single screw at the front of the action.  I added a pillar in the screw hole and bedded that area with epoxy up to the first inch or so of the barrel.  I also bedded the trigger group and the rear of the receiver, since it can shift around without a screw to lock it in place.  When I did all that my groups tightened up significantly.  Just be sure you don't screw up and permanently glue the action into the stock!

As far as cleaning goes, I've found mine will go about 4-500 rounds before it starts to have problems extracting and chamfering new rounds.  I rarely clean the bore, though.  Hosing the action out with brake cleaner and then squirting in some oil does the trick for me....

[mott555]

Maybe drop the action into a bullpup stock configuration because while it is useless, it was too much fun to pass up?

That is very interesting.

[JTH]

Mott555 said about the bullpup version....

That is very interesting.

It is ridiculous, actually.  But the stock was on a quarter-price sale, and it looked like too much fun, and I was much younger and more impulsive than I am now.

I have left the red dot sight on it to leave the icing on the stupid cake. 

(What, you mean that the sights SHOULDN'T be 6 inches above the barrel?)


.....it is silly fun to shoot, though.  Full-size silhouette targets at 5-10 yards, rapid fire--you can get all of your Tactical Timmie out in one magazine. 

I'll note:  you have to be right-handed for this to work, darn it.  Every time I shoot this gun (which is pretty rare these days) I have to act like I'm wrong-handed.

[JTH]

If you go to Rimfirecentral.com there are instructions on how to stone your hammer to the correct angle and greatly improve the trigger.  I did it on mine and it made a big difference.  It's not on the same level as a Volquartsen, but it was free.  I don't recommend doing trigger work yourself unless you're fairly mechanically inclined and know how to test a trigger for safe operation, though.

Rimfirecentral has a ton of great info if you like .22s.  Excellent stuff there.

Another place where you can really improve upon the factory setup is in the barrel and action bedding, especially if you add a bull barrel. 
{snip}

...I don't like working that hard.

I tend to be more of an armorer type than a gunsmith type.  So I like Glocks and 10/22s where I can drop in parts really easily and won't screw up something important with a dremel. 

Now, if I had something called "free time" or alternatively less hobbies, I might actually go further into the gunsmith-y type stuff....when I win the lottery, a LOT of things are gonna change around here....

[FarmerRick]

I'd love to love the Ruger 10/22, but I hate mine.   

I bought it about 10 years ago, and have probably less than 200 rounds through it.

Can't get it to feed or extract over 50% of the time. Swapped in a Volquartsen extractor and it made about a 5% improvement. I've tried about 8 different types of ammo, makes no difference.

It just hangs on the wall, collecting dust.


Oh well, my Marlins seem to work just fine.

[bkoenig]

I really need to thread the barrel on mine. My el cheapo lathe can't handle a barrel that big around, though, so I might have to *gasp* pay someone to do it for me.

[shooter]

I'd love to love the Ruger 10/22, but I hate mine.   

I bought it about 10 years ago, and have probably less than 200 rounds through it.

Can't get it to feed or extract over 50% of the time. Swapped in a Volquartsen extractor and it made about a 5% improvement. I've tried about 8 different types of ammo, makes no difference.

It just hangs on the wall, collecting dust.


Oh well, my Marlins seem to work just fine.

 If you ever want to sell the broken old 10-22 let me know

[ILoveCats]

I'd love to love the Ruger 10/22, but I hate mine.   

I bought it about 10 years ago, and have probably less than 200 rounds through it.

Can't get it to feed or extract over 50% of the time. Swapped in a Volquartsen extractor and it made about a 5% improvement. I've tried about 8 different types of ammo, makes no difference.

It just hangs on the wall, collecting dust.


Oh well, my Marlins seem to work just fine.

Did you ever send it to Ruger?  They've got just about the best customer service ever. No matter how old it is or how many ways you've tried to fix it yourself, they'll probably pay to ship it back in.

[Jarem08]

I have one of the take down models. For my son to enjoy the sport with me, it is A+. I had thought about going with the Mossberg 22, but was given this as a suggestion...glad I listened.