This Is My 10/22 Rifle. What Does Yours Look Like?

[Big Frank]

With apologies to Uncle Sam's Misguided Children (USMC).


This is my 10/22 rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

My 10/22 rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.

Without me, my 10/22 rifle is useless. Without my 10/22 rifle, I am useless. I must fire my 10/22 rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will ... never mind.

My 10/22 rifle and I know that what counts in the woods is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit ... squirrels.

My 10/22 rifle is human, even as I [am human], because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will keep my 10/22 rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will ... live happily ever after.

Before God, I swear this creed. My 10/22  rifle and I are the defenders of my yard. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life.

So be it, until victory is America's and there is no enemy, but peace!


In the first pic, I have the 110-round drum magazine made by German Sport Guns (GSG). Why a 110-round drum, you may ask? Why the heck not! You can see the ink pen I used to prop the gun up long enough to take the pictures. In the second pic, I have 2 Ruger BX-25 mags with Powers Custom (now Grand Masters, L.L.C.) Powers Magazine Couplers. The muzzle brake is a Smith Enterprise slip-on that's very similar in design to these 2 screw-on models. Nothing was holding it on but a small set screw on the bottom. After putting one downrange at Williams one day, I bought another one. This time I drilled a hole in my front sight and filed a V notch across the top of muzzle brake. Now it's pinned on, but I need to re-drill the new front sight and put a longer roll pin in it. The sights are a Tech SIGHTS Model TSR100 with dual leaf flip apertures (0-2 is short range aperture) just like an AR-15. It's the one on the left in the picture, and it's not colored. It came with a matching elevation adjustable front sight, also just like an AR-15. The folding stock is an old Butler Creek model that's older than the majority of 10/22s. They've long since been discontinued. I previously had a Federal Ordnance Inc. underfolding stock like the one on this Ruger Mini 30.

https://www.german-sport-guns.com/Ruger-10-22-Rotary-Magazin-110-Schuss-.22lr-Firearms/604.01.02

http://powercustom.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4&products_id=1043 

https://www.smithenterprise.com/

https://www.tech-sights.com/ruger-products/


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bM9hi9us1k

[Big Frank]

I ordered a few more things for my 10/22 from Samson -- a Heat Shield that attaches by screw to a dovetail adapter in the rear sight slot, a Reversible Barrel Band With QD Socket, a pair of Swivel Stud QD Adapters, and a Sight Adjustment Tool that only costs $7.25. For that price I thought I should get a spare. The Swivel Stud QD Adapters were 15 bucks apiece or 2 for 25, so I ordered 2. I already have the sling attached to sling stud, but I want to put one of my slings that uses QD sockets on it. I may use the other one on my shotgun.

[Big Frank]

I think it was 2 months ago when I took my muzzle brake off so I could modify it. I never did pin it on when I put the Tech Sights on the gun, and it wasn't even on all the way. I had pushed it back as far as it would go and the back of it hit the pair of button head screws on either side of the sight. That's as far as it would go and I tightened down the set screw and forgot to fix it. That may have been a couple of years ago, I don't know. But I finally did something about it. The set screw stripped out when I turned the hex key to loosen it, but it stuck out far enough to grab hold of with needle nose pliers. So I use pliers to get the old set screw out and threw it away. I took the brake off and tapped out the set screw hole, then put the brake back on. I pushed it back hard against the screws to see how much farther it had to go, but it was stuck and I couldn't get it back off. I think I used a screwdriver between the brake and front sight base to pry it off, but I don't remember for sure. When it broke loose, it went flying somewhere and I heard it hit a wall or door but wasn't sure in which direction.

A few days ago I found the brake behind my desk and two days ago I finally got to work. I cleaned out all the ports by poking 2 sizes of drill bits in them, blunt end first, then the sharp end,  twisting with my fingers. The white line in the 4th picture shows where the top of the brake originally was. The little yellow triangle is where I previously filed a 60 degree notch with a three square file. That's where the roll pin I put through my last front sight secured the muzzle brake. The set screw alone wasn't enough on the first brake and it went downrange at William's Gun Sights outdoor range. When I talked to Sarge about it recently, he didn't think it could have gone far, but I walked out to my target and back a couple of times looking for it and never found it. So I got another one just like it and pinned it on after I drilled a hole through my sight. The gray area on the picture is what I ground off and filed flat this time, so it would slide all the way back under the screws.

I dimpled my barrel about 1/16" deep and looked for a screw to fit the hole in the brake. I found one with a little square retainer on it that fit perfectly. It was from an old light switch or outlet I replaced. New ones come with the screws attached to them with the little squares, and I saved the old screw with the square. I chucked the screw in my cordless drill and ground it down on bench the grinder. It took several tries but I finally got the point centered and the angle on the end was approximately the same as the bit I drilled the hole in my barrel with. After I cleaned everything up with denatured alcohol I got out the cold bluing solution. I had enough to get one swab good and wet, and a drop or 2 left I used on a second swab to finish the job. I put green Loctite all over inside the brake before I slipped it onto the barrel, and put more on the screw. I tightened it down good with a screwdriver, then with a pair of pliers until I didn't think it would go any farther without breaking off. I used my heat gun on the brake to help set the Loctite. This green Loctite is made for bearings and sleeves that slide together, instead of being threaded. I cut the end of the screw off with a hacksaw, filed it down, and used the last of the bluing on a cotton swab. I got one deep scratch on it but it turned out okay.

A few things to note about this. 1. If I ever need to take the barrel band off the gun, I'll have to take the barrel off. It won't fit over the sight, and I don't think I can get the sight off with the brake on the barrel. 2. The brake is as close to being pinned and welded as it can get, without actually welding over the end of the screw. I don't think this one will ever end up downrange. Unless I get mad and throw the whole gun downrange.   3. The rearmost hole in the brake leads down to the face of the muzzle. It doesn't do anything at all. 4. After I was done with this I was detail cleaning my fire control group. I had everything out but the safety, and after struggling with it for several minutes I got that out too. I turned the button too far and flipped it upside down. The plunger went into the deep square notch it was never meant to go in. That was a real pain in the butt to deal with. After I got it cleaned and oiled, I was putting the safety back in and the spring and plunger got away from me. It sounded like one part hit somewhere to my left, and the other part landed on my right. Or it bounced off something to the left, then landed on the right. I crawled around with a flashlight and big magnet, but never found either one, so I need to order new ones. I'm also going to buy a Gunsmither Safe-T Tool for Ruger 10/22 that makes it really easy to put it together. It's a lot like an AR pivot pin tool. TandemKross has it for a dollar less than Gunsmither.

https://www.tandemkross.com/Gunsmither%E2%84%A2-Safety-Tool-for-Ruger%C2%AE-1022%C2%AE_p_141.html

https://gunsmithertools.com/shop/ols/products/xn-gunsmither-1022-safe-t-tool-jgb1696x



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQZn8BgEm4g

[Big Frank]

I replaced the A1 front sight post with an A2. The detent isn't hollow like a cup with the spring inside. It's only as big around as the spring and has a little stem on the bottom of it. Also, the hole for it is a lot shallower and the spring is shorter. I dropped the spring and heard it bounce a few times but couldn't find it. I cut an original AR-15 front sight detent spring in half with a pair of pliers, and after squeezing the cut ends in, I had 2 springs that both fit. So I put one in and saved the other half for a spare. It works like it is should and it has more tension on it. Now I have A2 front sight posts on my 10/22, VRF14, CCU, and all 3 AR-15 uppers instead of having 2 A1 sight posts. Now I can use the same front sight tool  on all of them. The A2 sight was on my AR-15 before I bought the Night Fision Perfect Dot Adjustable Front Night Sight Post. They're $55 and the ring around the tritium is available in 6 colors, including black if you don't want a colored ring for daytime shooting. But I bought yellow because it shows up really well. None of the other colors show up that good with my red-green color blindness.

The time that it takes a radioactive isotope to decay to half the original amount is called the half-life. Tritium has a half-life of 12.32 years.

The more tritium that is initially encapsulated in each vial, the brighter it is to begin with, and the longer its useful life.

Night Fision prides itself on adding 30% more tritium into every single gun sight. This is why we back our Perfect Dot night sights with the longest illumination guarantee in the industry.

If your sights stop glowing before 16 years, we will replace them.

https://www.nightfision.com/product/night-fision-perfect-dot-tritium-night-sights-for-ar-15-and-ar-10-rifles

[alfsauve]

I'm such a bigamist.  Quad-bigamist at one time actually.  Let's see there's the target model with the classy wooden thumbhole stock, the general purpose one, the Steel Challenge iron sight, and the Steel Challenge Optic.  OF COURSE, I'd never let them be at the range together.  Too much jealousy.  And I certainly don't know what sparks might fly if I tried to get them all in one picture.

Here's the Steel Challenge optic one.

[Sponsor]

[Big Frank]

That looks good, Alf. What optic are you running? Some day I'd like to get a brand new 10/22 with a threaded carbon fiber bull barrel and stick it in a DessertTech Trek-22 Stock Kit. People say the trigger doesn't suck like most bullpups, and I think it would be a great suppressor host. I could have gotten a good deal on one when they first came out, but they only came in gray at the time, and I didn't want that one. And I kind of want a Fletcher OpenTop 11/22 Receiver, but don't know if it will fit.

https://deserttech.com/trek-22.html

https://www.fletcherrw.com/product/opentop-11-22/ 



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aVzL3nRcYc


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SrYTfITX8g


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkMCc_uKezQ

[alfsauve]

Stop.  Stop.   I really had no idea all of the upgrades and accessories that are available for 10/22.  My head hurts now.

I've sold all but these two off.  The Tac-Sol Barrel and  Hogue Tactical stock is real light weight.  That's  Burris FastFire 3 sight on it.

Here's a picture of the target 10/22 heavy barrel.  Able to make the Kessel run in 10 parsecs...   NO NO. Uh able to do almost 1 MOA at 50yds with CCI SV.  It's topped with a Nikon P-Rimfire 2-7x32mm, which Nikon has since gotten out of the rifle scope business.  Too Bad I like their scopes.

[Rastus]

Nikon did make good scopes.  I have a Pentax over here to put on something someday.  I was amazed at how good the Pentax was but they also washed out...albeit earlier than Nikon.

I also like the Tacsol barrels...really good kit.  Also a fav is the AAC integral bbl cut out of a stock Butler Creek bbl...but I need to replace the stock on that one. 

[alfsauve]

And with the right ammo, that heavy barrel one will do the following:

[Rastus]

It is amazing how much difference ammo makes in a 22.  I have an old Remington Matchmaster that loves (maybe still does, I dunno about the new ones) cheap Remington gold ammo.  When I put Winchester in it the thing would not group on a 5 gallon bucket at 50 yeards.