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[ posted: 03 May 2004; updated: 06 May 2004 ]

My Ruger 10/22 .22LR

I purchased this rifle in April of 2004 by advisment of a gun buddy of mine, John. I've had a .22 Rifle before that my grandfather let me use when I was a kid, but when it comes to semi-long range shooting at an unbelievable price, .22LR is the way to go, especially if you're going to teach someone to shoot. I asked around and I learned from a few people that the Ruger 10/22 is the Ford 302 of guns. Everyone should have one, parts are in abundance, and if well cared for it will last forever. I'm more of an assault or military style rifle person when it comes to my tastes in looks, so I sought out for the blued barrel and black stocked Ruger 10/22. This combonation was impossible to find locally, so I settled for a wooden stocked blued barrel version. I ended up getting the rifle at Academy Sports for $159, the cheapest price in town. Wal-Mart had it for $166, and Sports Authority matched Academy's price shy of .99 cents ($159.99). I also purchased a scope for it at Academy. A Buschnell 3-9x40mm was on sale for $34.99, so it went on the gun. Below is a picture in as close to factory form as I could get it, it didn't even make it home without having a scope put on it.

After speaking with John some more, and trying his rifle out, I decided I wanted to reduce the trigger pull some. The factory pull is somewhere in the vicinty of 6-7lbs and John's was more like 2-2.5lbs. I hopped over to MidwayUSA's web site to find the Volquartsen hammer, Volquartsen auto-bolt release, and the Volquartsen recoil buffer. I also picked up a John Masen muzzle break. The Volquartsen hammer drops the pull to the desired 2-2.5lbs. I reused the stock hammer spring because I didn't want to risk any possibility of misfire. The factory hammer spring will still slam any rimfire cartridge I put in there with enough power to fire it off. I've read about a slight loss of reliability of fire using the lighter spring. John did the same thing with his rifle years ago, and it's worked flawlessly since. The auto-bolt release is an awesome piece. The Ruger 10/22 bolt is very easy to lock open, but getting it to shut is somtimes a two or three handed operation. It's just "uncomfortable" to do. The auto bolt release makes it so you just have to pull back on the bolt and let go to release it, similar to many military style rifles. Locking it open is the same method as factory. The recoil buffer replaces the steel recoil pin with a polyurthane covered steel pin that reduces shock to the bolt when it slams back after firing a cartridge. It also makes the action of the gun seem quieter as well as reducing the recoil slightly. Below is a picture of the rifle with the above parts installed, even though the only visible piece is the muzzle break/flash supressor. Total price of these modifications was around $65...worth every penny.

[ update: 05/06 ]: Alright, I got the black stock installed, and boy does it look SWEET! Check it out!

(click me for a SUPER hi-res image of this pic)
That's all for now, check back for butt pad and flip up scope covers install. Also will have accuracy postings and what not soon.

Peace out,
Dave

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