Wild accuracy on my 10/22 - what could be the cause?

quorum

quorum

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I just have a regular barrel (not target) 10/22, and was shooting out to 50 yards.

Shooting a 10 round group, I have about 7 in a 2" inch group, and 3 shots in the 3-4" group.

I'm just wondering what is the cause of these flyers? It's not me by the way. I'm consistently getting this problem.

Thanks.
 
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Factory ruger barrels are quite poor. But you may have some lead buildup inside. Otherwise check that the barrel is tight and the crown is no damaged.
 
Remington Yellow Jacket ammo is Hyper velocity and certainly not the most accurate in most guns. I've never had good results with those or CCI Stingers, and your groups are about normal with that ammo.

Try some regular quality ammo, like CCI MiniMags or better yet Subsonic or Green Tags. Then if you're still getting the same groups, I'd start fiddling with the rifle, but in all honesty the standard 10-22 is never going to group like a biathlon rifle.

I'd expect you'd even see better groups with the bulk pack Remington/Federal/Winchester High Velocity.
 
quorum said:
Lead buildup only occurs with non-jacketed ammo right?
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In my experience yes, only non-jacketed has plugged mine.

As bearkilr said; hyper velocity .22LR has poor accuracy because it doesn't spin fast enough to stabilize at the "hyper-fast" speeds.
The most accurate ammo I have found is the CCI mini-mag 40grain and CCI blazer. My advice is to stay far far away from remington ammo. Peters also not good. Winchester bulk is better, federal bulk is even better, but CCI is miles ahead of the pack. Great stuff
 
I can tell you right away what is wrong with the gun, but your not gonna like the answer...

It's a 10/22.

That is the answer.

It is a gun that is not designed for any real level of accuracy. Whether it's the barrel band, poor inletting, heavy trigger, the sloppy chamber, or possibly the bad barrel mounting design, it becomes obvious that there is not a whole lot of effort into making this gun very accurate.

A good place to start is to tell us what you are expecting as far as accuracy.

I can tell you this; I have put thousands of dollars into a couple 10/22's, and in the end none of them can outshoot the CZ's, or Savage MKII's I have put next to nothing into.

Hell even my $150 Marlin 795 can outshoot my current modded 10/22.
 
My 10-22 (before I sold it) never seemed to like Yellow Jackets. They seemed pretty erratic to me so I moved on to others. I was fairly content with the Federal 525 bulk packs and
could generally keep it within an inch at 50 yards - I don't shoot competitively and felt the Federals were good enough for gophers.
 
quorum said:
Lead buildup only occurs with non-jacketed ammo right?
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There's no such thing commonly available as 22 lr jacketed ammo, it's all lead, some of it has a copper plating/coating, which you're probably mistaking for a jacket.

I wouldn't go too crazy cleaning it, 22 lr bores have very sharp and fine rifling and most target shooters fire off about 20 or so fouling shots to prep the bore after cleaning. Also, most target ammo is non coated. If this is a new gun, you could clean it to get any factory grease,etc. out of there, but don't clean it after every 10 shots, you'll do more harm than good. Fire a brick of bulk ammo, cleaning every 100-150 rounds and then see where you're at. At least that's what I've done with my 22's.

Chances are you may have to ditch the factory bbl. if you want better accuracy. I've had a couple that wouldn't get better than what you're experiencing. The 10/22 is a plinker, that's why they make hi cap mags for it, just like the Mini14. :)
 
Get a dlask barrel and that will cut your groups in half. Next is receiever and bolt combo. And then trigger... Then you'll be in for ~700$ (around a grand including the rifle) and you will be printing 3/4"-1/2" groups @ 50yds provided you do YOUR part. But you will NEVER get "robin hood" single hole groups using a 10/22.
 
Sounds like a 10/22 to me. Mine shot 2-3" at 30 yards with almost any ammo. Empty a mag to hit a gopher at any distance at all. Sold and bought a marlin model 60 shoots .5" at 50 as long as Im on my game. If not its not much bigger groups. Also I found cci mini mags to be one of the most accurate hunting ammo types around.
 
bearkilr said:
Remington Yellow Jacket ammo is Hyper velocity and certainly not the most accurate in most guns. I've never had good results with those or CCI Stingers, and your groups are about normal with that ammo.

Try some regular quality ammo, like CCI MiniMags or better yet Subsonic or Green Tags. Then if you're still getting the same groups, I'd start fiddling with the rifle, but in all honesty the standard 10-22 is never going to group like a biathlon rifle.

I'd expect you'd even see better groups with the bulk pack Remington/Federal/Winchester High Velocity.
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thanks guys. In my ignorance, I thought the higher-velocity 22lrs would be more accurate. The other 2 ammo types I brought were Winchester Super Speeds, and Remington Vipers. At 50 yards, the Winchester had more flyers.

So if I buy the Ruger 10/22 Target Stainless with the thick barrel and use CCI mini-mags, you think I can get some tight groups? I want to be able to hit gophers and thus 1" groups at 50 yards.
 
Why the fascination with the 10/22?

If you must have a semi look at the CZ 512, or some Marlins.

I already explained all the flaws with the 10/22, and the target model doesn't fix them all.

Besides, finding a 10/22 Target these days is not easy at all.

In the end though, if you want to shoot tight groups you are wasting your time with a semi.
 
I agree with the others. 10/22s are fun and reliable, but not known for accuracy in stock form. I have an older one and it's lucky to do 2" @ 25 yards.

If you want, you could get a short, heavy barrel and a lighter trigger and different ammo, but that might cost as much as a new 22 bolt gun with a heavy barrel that is known for accuracy. I say get a Savage Mark II. Mine can do 10 shots @ 100 yards at just over 1".
 
mlehtovaara said:
Why the fascination with the 10/22?

If you must have a semi look at the CZ 512, or some Marlins.

I already explained all the flaws with the 10/22, and the target model doesn't fix them all.

Besides, finding a 10/22 Target these days is not easy at all.

In the end though, if you want to shoot tight groups you are wasting your time with a semi.
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I think you're right. I should give up on the 10/22 and try something different.

Although, the CZ seems to have the same problem too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir1sHK1tfXw

the groupings the guy above did is what I did with the 10/22. So I think I'll go with a bolt action.

I think the 22lr is really boring to shoot, and therefore the only thing interesting to do with the round is to get sub-moa groupings or shoot pennies, gophers and stuff like that. In other words, a bolt action sounds like a reasonable way to do that.
 
quorum said:
I think you're right. I should give up on the 10/22 and try something different.

Although, the CZ seems to have the same problem too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir1sHK1tfXw

the groupings the guy above did is what I did with the 10/22. So I think I'll go with a bolt action.

I think the 22lr is really boring to shoot, and therefore the only thing interesting to do with the round is to get sub-moa groupings or shoot pennies, gophers and stuff like that. In other words, a bolt action sounds like a reasonable way to do that.
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You learned a cheap lesson my friend.

That same lesson cost me more than just buying an Anschutz!
 
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