First post and I think I'll talk about one of my all-time favorites, the Ruger 10/22 carbine.
Am I the only one that thinks the 10/22 carbine was heavily inspired by the WWII/Korea/Vietnam war veteran M1 carbine? I don't think I've ever seen it said anywhere, but it's pretty obvious to me where Ruger got their inspiration. Compare the specs: the 10/22 carbine and M1 carbine have 18.5 and 18 inch barrels respectively, overall length is 37/36 inches, weight is 5.25 lbs each. And look at the styling. The gun stocks are very similar in shape, especially around the pistol grip area. And look at how the stock on the M1 arches up in a graceful curve to meet the back edge of the receiver, just like the 10/22. And the barrel band at the front of the stock. If Ruger had produced the 10/22 carbine with a wood hand guard people would no doubt refer to it as a M1 carbine clone. The M1 carbine was and still is a popular "shooters" rifle. I wouldn't be surprised if the original 10/22 design wasn't influenced just a little bit by the M1 carbine.
I remember the first time I saw a 10/22 in the flesh. I was probably 12-13 yrs old and the second I had it in my hands I knew I wanted it. Up until then I was shooting an antique Stevens single-shot rimfire that came from grandpa, that gun had a smooth bore and shooting it was the first time I realized you could see the bullet going down-range. The lack of rifling made the bullet move all over the place like a good knuckleball. Anyway the 10/22 Ruger made all the other self-loading rimfires look like a child's toy. Nothing is more demoralizing to a young person as being told that something an adult would find unacceptable "is good enough for you". The 10/22 was a real adult rifle, it felt like a real rifle in your hands and it looked exactly like the 44mag carbine that Ruger was selling at the time. It was full-sized and finished like a real rifle, and had real rifle features. The 10/22 was a grown-up's firearm and I immediately knew that I wanted it for Christmas.
So like Ralphie in the movie "Christmas Story" I made sure my parents knew exactly what I wanted for Christmas. Mom & dad were always very good about getting just the thing you wanted, so I had to hide my disappointment when I opened the wrapping on Christmas morn to find a Glenfield 60. A Glenfield... it wasn't even a Marlin. And worse it was a tube-feed magazine. I knew even then the only acceptable tube mags were on lever guns with loading gates in the receiver. The model 60 was a kid's gun with a skinny little stock and a shitty finish, I couldn't even tell if there was any wood grain under the baby-shit brown varnish. And that skinny little scope rail molded into the receiver designed for those itty-bitty 3/4 in scopes was worse that the rail on my Daisy BB gun. Is the mod 60 receiver actually aluminum or some low grade metal? It sure looked like "pot metal" to me. But I wasn't an ungrateful son and shot it until I saved enough to trade up to the Ruger. While on the subject of the Glenfield mod 60, I've seen more than a few internet gun forum posts where some Marlin/Glenfield 60 owner jumps in on a thread discussing the 10/22 and just has to make some self-serving statement that the 60 is a superior rifle to the 10/22. I have to laugh at these guys, compared to the 10/22 the model 60 is toy. It's a child's rifle. Absolutely nothing satisfying about it. It didn't seem any better made than the air rifles I had. The m60 owners like to proclaim the micro-groove barrel to be superior in accuracy. Blah-blah-blah.... ok enough slagging on the insecurities of M/G mod 60 owners. Rant over.
Anyway back to the Ruger 10/22. I gave my my childhood 10/22 to a friend who still shoots it, so when I decided it was time for another I shopped the local Cabela's and with a store coupon I got a standard carbine model for just under $200. I liked it so much that I went back and bought a stainless model too. I like wood stocks, and the basic carbine model with the curved buttplate and barrel band is my favorite model. I took the stainless gun out of it's synthetic stock and put it in a wood stock I got off ebay and refinished. I've also made a few detail changes and upgrades using popular modifications and aftermarket parts, primarily to improve the trigger. Having spent some time reading the comments on the various internet forums it seems Ruger has improved the finish quality of these rifles recently. Here's a quick review:
The good:
-This rifle has functioned flawlessly right out of the box. I've run 1k+ rounds of various ammo types thru it without a single failure. Really. Not a one. The sights were accurately zeroed at 50 yards and didn't require any adjustment.
-Accuracy: Off of a rest at 50 yds I could consistently shoot 5 round groups into less than 2 inches, I think mostly limited by my eyesight and the lousy trigger. After the gun sight and trigger modifications described below I could get it to shoot just better than 1-3/4 inches The ammo used was Federal bulk and CCI Stinger. The CCI may have been just a little tighter.
-The barrel is nicely blued with a deep matte blue finish. The aluminum receiver is finished in a smooth satin black, the inside was clean and free of paint, tool marks or rough edges. Right out of the box I patched the barrel with some no.9 and it was very clean, no dirtier than having a couple test rounds fired. Inside the receiver the bolt was nice and clean, well polished with smooth edges. The contact surfaces on the bolt have some tooling cuts, and they almost look like they are there by design. The cuts are deep and uniform, and make me think they are there to hold lubricant and give debris a place to hide until it can be cleaned. I read a forum post where the guy saw the same thing, but he ground and polished until the tooling marks disappeared, no doubt removing enough metal that the bolt is no longer within spec and opening up the tolerances to where it rattles around inside the receiver. Some people need to think before they act.
-It's easy to work on. To strip the gun remove the barrel band and the single receiver screw and the action will lift easily out of the stock. Make sure the chamber is empty and pull the trigger to drop the hammer, now the safety will hold about midway between on and off. If the safety button is on one side or the other it will block the action from coming out of the stock. After removing the action from the stock, push thru the pins holding the trigger assembly in place and separate it from the receiver.
-Purity of essence. I love the styling of this rifle. There are a number of different models available, and over the years Ruger has produced unknown numbers of differently equipped distributor specials. My favorite is still the basic carbine model. I like wood stocked and barrel banded rifles, and the way the curved butt plate is inletted into the top of the stock. And BTW, the barrel band serves a purpose on this rifle by securing the barrel to the stock. The 10/22 receiver is die-cast aluminum and doesn't have the strength to maintain barrel to receiver alignment during rough use. I know it's popular to free float these rifles in an unbanded stock, but without the barrel band it's possible the receiver could be bent if the rifle were dropped on the muzzle. Not really an issue with target guns but for a knock-around carbine I think it's good insurance.
-Ruger's rotary magazine is way ahead of the others. This rifle's mag released easily and cleanly with a flick of the release lever, fresh mags seat with a secure click. I like that mags are flush with the bottom of the stock allowing more versatility for hand position when shooting. My opinion of tube feed mags hasn't changed since I was a kid: Pulling that long tube for a reload always made me feel like I was reloading an old-time muzzle loader. Slow, ponderous and awkward, especially in heavy woods. Not cool. And those rifles that have removable mags of cheap sheet metal construction aren't much better.
-The "polymer" components. A common complaint amongst the internet forumers is Ruger's use of plastic components on the 10/22 that on earlier generations of the rifle were aluminum. These parts being the trigger guard, trigger, butt plate and barrel band. For the most part I made my peace with polymer gun parts a long time ago. On the 10/22 they're better (for the most part) suited for the job, especially when we're talking about the trigger guard in a polymer vs aluminum comparison. Aluminum is soft, will bend and crack under impact and doesn't have the resilience to recover it's original shape when damaged. The 10/22's polymer guard will take a heavier impact than the aluminum without breaking and if it does crack it's likely to recover most of it's original shape and still be usable until it can be replaced. The butt plate doesn't bother me other than it looks like plastic, but that can be fixed (see below). The polymer barrel band looks just like the old painted aluminum part and is just fine unless you're wanting to attach a sling stud to it. This I'd not recommend as the polymer just doesn't have the clamping force to stay on the rifle if there's a sling attached. Aluminum bands can still be found if your plan is to use it as a sling attachment point.
The OK:
-The factory finish on the wood stock is about as expected. Kind of a dull muddy brown applied over a light colored hardwood (birch I think) stock. Not bad, not great.
-The carbine rifle's sights are commonly criticized, but I think they're well suited to this type of rifle. They're low profile, durable and simple to adjust. Set it and forget it, learn to adjust your point of aim with holdover at greater distances. When I was young and had sharp eyesight I didn't need anything more. If you want a target grade 10/22 you don't want the carbine model anyway. The front sight has a Marble Arms trademark on the bottom, and the folding rear sight also looks like it came from Marble's. Again, not bad, not great.
The bad:
-The triggers on these guns are roundly criticized as being lousy and with good reason. My example breaks consistently at 6 lbs 4oz, and this level of resistance causes the plastic trigger to flex significantly before the sear breaks, giving the trigger pull a heavy/mushy feel. Not good at all. There's also just the tiniest little bit of looseness in the pin that locates the trigger housing in the receiver. You can feel this looseness in the first part of the trigger take-up. The only good thing I can say is all this can be easily fixed.
The mods:
-Out of the box, the finish on the wood stock didn't look like much. I suspect it's a satin finish polyurethane of some type over chocolate-walnut colored stain, whatever it is there's a good thickness applied. I got after it with some Brownell's Stock Rubbing Compound which leveled the surface nicely and left a nice, even satin finish. Then I polished it up with Brownell's Rottenstone which really made it glow and left it with a soft glossy finish. That was actually too glossy for my taste, so I knocked it back with the Stock Rubbing Compound and left it with a tasteful satin finish that really looks deluxe, all in about 45 minutes time. If you do this yourself follow the instructions on the product, go slow and don't apply too much pressure. Be careful at the edges. Both the Rubbing Compound and Rottenstone cut pretty quickly and you don't want to cut through the finish. Cutting thru the haze of the factory finish revealed a wood grain that has some nice striping and interesting grain structure. When finished I wiped it down with a little furniture oil and man it was really hummin'.
-I did replace the polymer barrel band with an OEM aluminum band. Note that the barrel bands on these carbines do not need to be excessively tightened to do their job. Over tightening will effect the accuracy (and not in a good way), torque the screw just enough to keep the band in place.
-My only problem with the plastic butt plate is the finish, which is glossy and just looks "plasticy". To remedy that situation I went after it with Micro-Mesh, first dulling it with 1500 grit and then bringing the finish back up to a soft luster with the finer grits. After bringing it up to a 6000 grit finish the plastic actually looks like a piece of blued steel, really nice actually and better looking than some of the old painted aluminum buttplates I've got. If you've not used Micro-Mesh before, it's a system of ultra fine polishing sheets created specifically for polishing out imperfections in acrylics. You can use it wet or dry and it's fabric backed and washable. Find it at Rockler Woodworking.
Trigger mods: After about 500 rounds thru the gun I swapped out the sear, trigger return and hammer springs with a Wolff Tune-Up Pak (B) which has reduced power sear and return springs and an increased power hammer spring. As the hammer and hammer return spring are the only thing holding the bolt closed on a blow-back design, the increased power hammer spring serves to hold the bolt closed longer, possibly yielding increased muzzle velocity. At the same time I also used Power Custom shims to tighten up the side play in the trigger and sear, and buffed up the trigger return plunger. These mods brought the trigger pull down from 6lb 4 oz to 4 lb 12 oz. I could still feel the plastic trigger flexing but the sear was very crisp and without noticeable creep. Next I installed the Power Custom aluminum trigger which would be a drop-in part except the trigger shoe is a little long for a factory 10/22 trigger guard. Maybe it's made to fit Power Custom's trigger guard which is a bit larger? Anyway it was easy enough to fit it by filing a bit off the bottom, then buff it and touch it up with aluminum black. Adjust the set screw to eliminate over travel and be sure to give it a drop of LocTite. At the same time I gave the sear an ever so light stoning. Now the trigger breaks very consistently at 4lb 2oz, no creep, no flex. My benchmark for trigger quality is the 1911 pistol, which I've owned and built many for USPSA competition, and I'll say this 10/22 now has a very-very nice trigger with just the right amount of take-up, a clean break and positive re-set.
-Bolt handle: I like a larger bolt handle than the stock unit, but don't care for any of the available aftermarket pieces. For this gun I wanted it to look "factory" so I a found an OEM Ruger bolt handle for the 10/22 Magnum, which is about 50% larger the the .22LR handle and is a drop in fit. It looks "factory" just bigger. At the same time I removed the recoil spring and polished the guide rod before putting it all back together. I also flat lapped the side of the bolt that's visible thru the port on a sheet of wet #400 to remove some light cutting marks. The surface is now dead flat with a nice satin finish.
-Recoil buffer: Another popular mod, I used the buffer from Wilson Combat. 10/22 recoil buffers basically replace the steel bolt stop pin with one made of polymer. The gun runs a little quieter, recoil noise is now more of a "thunk" than a "clank".
- I swapped the original sights for a Williams Guide Receiver Sight set (WGRS RU22). I've used this sight set on a couple other rifles and like to shoot it without the target aperture, which makes it a ghost ring style sight. Having the rear sight on the receiver increases the sight radius, and it's just the right height to fall in line with my eye. The rear sight mounts directly above the bolt stop, so don't forget to LocTite all the screw threads, and re-check everything for tightness after 50-110 rounds. I also removed the factory rear sight from the barrel by drifting it out and replacing it with a Lyman dovetail blank.
-Bolt hold open: Another popular mod on the 10/22 is the bolt hold-open modification. The way it comes from the factory it requires two hands to release, one hand to retract the bolt, the other to manipulate the toggle in front of the trigger guard. This common and easily done mod allows the bolt to be released simply by pulling back the bolt handle. I modified the factory part, but if you're not inclined to mod it yourself there are a number of aftermarket bolt hold opens available. I won't waste space here detailing the modification as it's posted all over the internet. Just google "10/22 bolt hold open mod" and you'll find plenty of instruction.
-Trigger guard "bedding": I commented earlier about the slight looseness in the trigger housing pin that allowed the housing to move and a bit of "slop" to be felt in the trigger pull. The fix is easy. If you've got a glue stick from a hot-glue gun cut a thin wedge, on my gun it only took about 3/32", and insert it between the back edge of the trigger guard and the stock. If you've cut it the right size you'll feel it being compressed as you put the action back into the stock, and it will take-up that looseness you felt in the trigger pull.
-I also installed the Power Custom extended magazine release. I like everything about it, it's a quality piece, has a nice black anodized finish and fits the coutour of the trigger guard perfectly. The little down-turn at the end reminds me of the action lever on the Ruger No1 rifles. It works exactly as advertised and I think it's a great addition. Just be careful as it's now a little easier to accidentally drop the mag.
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