The Ruger 10/22 (by me)
The Ruger 10/22
Barrels
As you probably know, a good barrel is essential for good accuracy. Without a good barrel, you won't be pleased with accuracy. There are several barrels out there ranging from Butler Creek, GM, shilen, Lilja, Clark, Clerk, and ect.
If I were you, the only two I would consider would be Lilja and GM, or Green mountain. The lilja is going to cost a lot more then the GM. However, another good alternative for a barrel that is priced in between the GM and the Lilja and is still very accurate is Clark’s barrel. Clark is one of the few barrel makers that puts an accuracy guarantee on their barrels, which I believe is 1 inch at 100 yards for their .22lr line of barrels with match ammunition.
I have a GM barrel on my 10/22 (.920 bull barrel, 20" blued), and I am VERY HAPPY with it. It is very accurate, infact, almost as accurate as some of my benchrest guns at 25 yards. Just to give you an idea, with match ammunition (Lapua superclub I have found to be very good), I can average about .15CTC groups at 25 yards.
The lilja may be a tad more accurate, so it is up to you if you want to spend up to 3 or 4 times more to get that tad bit more of accuracy, but if you are looking for the best bang for the buck, GM would be the one without a doubt.
One barrel that I honestly would NOT get is the butler creek. Although I personally have never owned one, I have heard just as many bad comments as I have good ones so I would tend to stay away from them. Having said that, I have seen a few very good shooting Butler creek barrels.
If you are looking for a lighter barrel, there are several options that you may want to consider. First of all, VQ (volquartsen) makes a very nice Carbon fiber barrel, which is much better quality and will in turn be more accurate than BC (Butler creeks) Carbon fiber barrel but it is more expensive.
There are also other barrel makers such as Whistle pig and tactical solutions, which are made of aluminum. With these barrels you do lose a bit of accuracy comparing them to a steel barrel but they can be very nice if you are going to be carrying them around or hunting with them as they are much lighter.
Another good alternative for a lighter barrel that still retains excellent accuracy is the fluted barrels. Usually you lose about 6-8oz off a barrel when it is fluted which may not sound like a whole lot, but it can be a fair bit if you are going to be shooting it offhand at all. GM (green mountain) makes several fluted barrels.
If you are going to be putting together a 10/22 and want a barrel that looks Real nice there are several options. First, you could look at the VQ snake fluted barrel, although I will say, this barrel is VERY expensive. Next up would be the Shaw barrels. They have several fluted barrels that are very nice in the looks department, and from what I hear are very accurate as well.
So basically, if money was an option, but you could still afford a barrel I would get the GM first, than the lilja, and than the Clark.
One thing to always insure when you are buying a target 10/22 barrel is that it has a bentz chamber. Basically the bentz chamber is the tightest chamber they can put on a 10/22 without having it jam. Although this is a fair bit larger of a chamber compared to some of the bolt action target guns it is still a lot tighter than the chamber that comes with a factory 10/22.
Stocks:
Again, there are many choices for stocks out there, from skinny sporter stocks, to wide benchrest stocks. On my "Ultimate" 10/22, I have a Revival industries Yukon stock in electric blue. It is made more for offhand shooting I believe (because of the very tall cheekpiece and the forend feels very good while holding it offhand), but the forend, nearer to the trigger guard has a flatter section that I rest on the bags for benchrest shooting.
The main thing to think about is what you will be using the gun for. A basic rule of thumb would be for benchrest shooting a heavier gun with a flatter forend would be the best choice where for hunting a lighter stock in synthetic would be a good choice.
There are some good choices for stocks that are made for more benchrest purposes. A good one to look at would be the Bell and Carlson anschutz style stock. It is very flat on the bottom, and has a design that will ride the bags better. Bell and Carlson make two styles of the “Anschutz style” stock.. Both of them are made from synthetic; one of them is a thumbhole and one of them is not. If you can afford it, Mcmillian makes some very nice benchrest stocks, but they are a lot of money.
You could always of course modify the factory stock, but like modifying just about anything this is going to take time... A lot of time. I modified the factory stock on mine into a more benchrest configuration while still having the forend somewhat rounded near the underside of the clip which means that it works for both offhand shooting and benchrest shooting. But generally I put this one on while I am shooting off the bench and put the other stock (Revival industries) on while I am shooting offhand.
For a cheaper approach the Hogue overmold is a nice stock.. It is well suited for hunting or in the bush because of the rubber like finish.
Triggers:
You can spend $30 to do a trigger job, or you can spend close to $300 (for a kidd).
There are several choices for triggers that I would look at. If you’re looking for a good cheap way to get a fairly light trigger (around the 2.5lbs range) the VQ hammer would be a good choice. Another choice would be Skeeters trigger kit (this is what I have on my 10/22). The trigger is around 1.8lbs, nice for all around shooting.
Again, there is also a very expensive way to do things. The Kidd trigger is a very nice trigger that will get pull weight down to around the 6-8oz range. It comes with a cost though . At around $300 US it is very pricy.
One other option would be to modify the trigger you have now. This involves changing the angle of the "hook" on the hammer, by grinding away until you are around the 3.9 Degree area I believe. Pretty hard to do if your not confident doing it. This is what I did with my 10/22, along with slight polishing, and the trigger is around the 2 pound range.
Glass Bedding
Glass bedding can also be nearly essential for a good shooting gun. I have three what I would call benchrest guns (Winchester 52D custom, Anschutz 54, and Valmet Finnish lion.). Two of them are glass bedded... Guess which two shoot the best???
Basically glass bedding insures tight contact between the stock and barreled action without the stock touching (epoxy is the only thing touching). Epoxy is much harder than the wood and does not change in the weather like a wood stock does. Glass bedding also helps the gun not to change a lot in the weather due to humidity and also if you take the stock out of the gun and put it back on you won't find such as large difference in POI.
In short here is how I glass bedded my 10/22
1. Prepare stock for glass bedding my making a barrel channel in the fore arm of the stock about 1/8” deep and about 3 – 3 ½ inches forward of the recoil lug
2. For glass bedding the rear of the action make a channel for the bedding material to go about 1/8 of an inch deep and about ¼ - 1/8 deep. Make channel extent up the sides about 3 inches or so on either side and across the back
3. Use any old washer for a pillar and where the takedown screw goes make a spot for the pillar so that it sits equal or a bit higher than the surrounding wood so that the action screw/v-block can not squish surrounding wood
4. When you are ready to glass bed, apply 2-3 coats of release agent to any metal parts that could come in contact with the bedding material. You can not use enough release agent.
5. Remove bolt, trigger group, and all other parts from the receiver.
6. Place masking tape around wood so that any extra glass bedding material goes on the tape and not on the stock.
7. Place modeling clay around all areas that are going to be bedded to insure that no access bedding will get into any places that you do not want them to go. When bedding the rear of the receiver, place modeling clay in trigger group pin holes, bolt buffer hole, and a bit on the underside of the receiver.
8. I would bed the fore-arm of the stock and pillar bed first and then do the rear of the stock.
9. Place epoxy in barrel channel so that when you snug the takedown screw, epoxy comes out the side of the stock onto the tape. Also place pillar in hole (when you adding clay make sure that you put some in there so that no epoxy can fill the takedown screw). Epoxy the pillar in place.
10. After you have filled the fore-arm and the pillar with epoxy snug the takedown screw a fair bit and leave gun for about three and a half or four hours for the epoxy to dry.
11. After that is done, try taking out the barreled action to make sure that everything can still come out. If everything is all right, put it back in the stock and let it sit for about a day.
12. To bed the rear of the receiver, place enough epoxy in and around the channels (with release agent on) and place barreled action in stock. Let the gun sit for about three and half or four hours again and try taking it out to make sure everything is all right.
13. Give the gun about three days for the glass bedding to completely dry and go shoot it; You should see an improvement in accuracy.
Optics:
Buying good optics is almost essential to having a 10/22 or any gun for that matter shoot well.
It really all narrows down to: How much are you willing to spend?
You can spend $50 to get a cheap bushnell or tasco scope, or you can spend thousands to get a nightforce scope, or a high end Leupold.
So the first question you should think about it what you are going to be using it for. If you are just going to be shooting it off the bench, a 4 power scope isn’t going to do you much good but if you are going to be just hunting with it maybe the 4 power.
One thing that I have learned during my time of shooting is that buying cheap optics is not worth it. Buying a scope like a Tasco varmint may work for a bit, but it is not going to last like other scopes.
For a cheap hunting scope in the lower powers, Simmons makes a good scope for this purpose: The Simmons 22 mag scope. You can get this scope in 3-9 power, or just strait 4 power with or without adjustable objective. Another good choice would be the lower line of Bushnell’s scopes.
Although these scopes wouldn’t be my first choice, I will admit that they are very good for the money, and so far, my Simmons scope has served my purposes well for a cheaper alternative hunting scope.
In the mid range for optics (pricing wise) Bushnell puts out a couple of good scopes. I have several of the Bushnell Banners and have been very pleased with them. Another good choice would be the Bushnell 3200. I have several of these as well and have been very pleased with them.
Mueller also makes several scopes such as the Eradicator in 8.5-25 that from what I hear is a great scope. It can be found at white falls here in Canada.
In the more expensive line of scopes, the Bushnell 4200 would be a great choice, and just about any Leupold is a good choice.
There are many options out there so the best thing to do is just to go to your local sports shop and try out some different kinds and find the one that best fits your budget.
How I clean
Well just about every body has their own way of cleaning, and whatever you find works for you, you should use. Some people use brass brushes, others don’t. Many people use Hoppes number 9, many use butches bore shine. So if you already have a cleaning technique that is working well for you, keep with it, don’t listen to me.
Equipment:
I use a Dewey .20 caliber coated rod for cleaning my .22’s. There are obviously much better rods out there but for me this rod seems to work well. Other choices include pro-shot, kleen bore, ect.
For solvent I use Butches bore shine. I find this solvent works better for me then hoppes number 9, and so far all others I have tried. Some choose to mix this 50/50 with the penetrating and lubricating oil “Kroil”. I have never tried this my self but I have heard many good reports about using this stuff from top-notch benchrest shooters.
Proper Rimfire Cleaning
In the past years, endless debates have arose regarding the proper cleaning of both rimfire and centerfire firearms. There are many opinions on how to clean any given firearm. Some say cleaning with a brass brush is a necessity, when others people argue that cleaning with a patch and a bit of solvent will do the job without any risk of damage.
I strongly believe in the use of a brush every once and a while to get rid of the lead that builds up in the bore, and the chamber area especially overtime. Not necessary every single time but maybe every 500-1000 rounds a pass with a brass brush won’t do much damage. I use a nylon brush quite frequently in many of my benchrest rifles along with y 10/22.
There are many things that need to be paid attention to when cleaning. You need to make sure that you are using the correct size brush and rod, you have to insure the equipment you are using is good, and many other things.
The first step to insure proper cleaning of a firearm, is to insert the bore-guide. Make sure that the bore guide fits into the gun properly so that the cleaning rod slides into the chamber without hitting any edges, and so that no access cleaning solution can enter or damage the trigger mechanism.
In the case of cleaning the 10/22, you can not insert a bore guide without drilling a hole in the back of the receiver or removing the barrel all completely. In this case you must be very careful when inserting the cleaning rod through the muzzle (that is if you didn’t or don’t have a hole drilled in the back of the receiver. A simple muzzle guide that can be purchased for about $3 can help reduce the chances of hitting the crown when cleaning.
Before putting the cleaning rod into the gun, make sure that no grit is on the cleaning rod (if so, wipe off with wet paper towel and dry and with a dry piece). This will insure that no “grit” can damage the barrel of the gun.
What I first do when cleaning is I run a quick wet patch through the gun. This is a patch that has cleaning solvent on it. Just one pass is fine. This will remove the majority of the “gunk” out of the barrel.
After I have run a wet patch through it, I usually use a nylon brush to remove all of the lead and carbon that could possibly built up in the barrel. One nice thing about the nylon brushes is that you can reverse it in the barrel. That is, if you pushed it half way through and then wanted to pull it back you could do this without too much difficulty. With the brass brushes it is very hard to do this without a lot of force. It may even be possible to damage the barrel this way. You can also pull it back and forth through the muzzle without damaging anything if you are careful. Now with the nylon brush attached to the cleaning rod, I run it through the barrel about 5 times (1 time = back and forth). I also dip it in the cleaning solvent before running it through (but just the one time, not each pass)
Now that the gunk is “knocked out” from the rifling and the bore, you have to remove it from the barrel. To do this I simply run 2 dry patches through the barrel to remove the gunk and any leftover cleaning solvent.
After this is all done just wipe off the crown to remove and gunk and the gun powder on the outside.
Now you are all done. I also usually wipe down the gun with a silicone cloth. This may sound like a long procedure but it really doesn’t take that long.
On my bolt action guns (not on my 10/22) I push a brass brush through it 2 or 3 times removing it at the muzzle each time. I do this every 500-1000 rounds.
Each gun has different preferences for when to be cleaned. I clean usually every 50-100 rounds on my benchrest guns when using target ammunition. When using the bulk type gun out of other guns I clean every 200 rounds or so.
I may cover how to clean the internals of your 10/22 sometime in the future, but not now
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Glass Bedding… The long version
Introduction
I have had my 10/22 for about a month or two now and so far I have been fairly pleased with the accuracy. I could get fairly small groups at 50 yards but I had seen a lot better shooting from people with the same set up. I still had my factory stock laying around so I did a bit of research and after that I found out that a good way to make my 10/22 more accurate would be to glass bed and pillar bed it. I had a revival industries stock on my 10/22 but I decided that I would first try glass bedding and pillar bedding my factory stock because I did not want to wreck my Revival industries stock.
Why Pillar and glass bedding?
So why does pillar and glass bedding improve accuracy? It is generally accepted that glass bedding any rifle should improve accuracy if done right. How much more accurate would depend on the fit between the action and the stock before glass bedding. If it is a real tight fit, maybe glass bedding will not improve accuracy a whole lot, but if it is a loose and sloppy fit, glass bedding will usually make it more accurate. One thing that I noticed about both my factory stock and my Revival Industries Yukon stock was that when I put them into the barreled action, they would just slide right in with no fitting at all required. What glass bedding does is it makes the fit between the stock and the barreled action tighter which in turn which keeps the barrel vibrations the same so that it will not move around in the stock. If the stock is touching the wood when the gun is fired the wood may (will) prevent the barrel from vibrating the same way each shot. While the barrel vibrates a lot with a little (sporter) barrel, believe it or not, the bull barrel still vibrates a little. If the barrel can not vibrate the same every shot, this will cause a change in P.O.I (or point of impact). This is the reason why glass bedding will help to improve accuracy. Another reason is because with bull barrels, if they are free floated, this will cause a lot of stress on the action because it is made of thin aluminum on the 10/22 reciever. However, if you glass bed the stock this will create a spot where the barrel can rest on and not create and stress on the action.
The reason that pillar bedding a stock will help is because when you tighten the takedown screw (or action screw), you are actually squishing some of the wood that is between the stock and the v-block each time. This may not seem like a big deal but actually it can cause a lot of stress on the stock and eventually can remove a lot of wood. With pillar bedding, the action will rest on the pillar instead of the stock which will help spread out the weight. Another reason pillar bedding will help is it will help to retain P.O.I when the stock is reinstalled in the barreled action. You will sometimes notice that after many times of taking you 10/22 apart, that the take-down screw is becoming longer and longer. The reason for this is because each time you are taking down the take-down screw, you are squishing some of the wood underneath. A pillar will prevent this from happening, and in turn will also improve accuracy.
Free floating the stock
So with my factory stock I opened up the barrel channel to just over .920 so that the stock was free floated and then I made some finger groves to add to looks and overall feel. To open up the barrel channel I used 100 grit sand paper. It would have been a fair bit easier to do this with 60 grit sandpaper and finish it off with 400 grit. It would also be fairly easy to use a chisel to open up the barrel channel. Too open up the barrel channel I used a dowel (I found that a broom handle was 7/8 in diameter) as a guide and was constantly checking to see how close I was to achieving getting the barrel channel about .93 - .94” in diameter. This took a fairly long time to do (about 2 hours after everything was done. After glass bedding and pillar bedding you will want the rest of the stock free floated because it prevents the stock from touching the barrel and causing different vibrations.
Taking the finish off
Now that I was done, I noticed that in quite a few places the finish on the stock was scraped off from working on it. After seeing this I decided that I would take the rest of the finish completely off and either stain it or paint it. So I sanded down the finish on it with the 100 grit paper I had until there was little to no varnish left on it. I did a final finish with 400 grit. After looking over the stock a couple of times I noticed how nice the grain on it was and decided that I would use a Semi-transparent stain to stain it. This way I would still see the grain through it. I decided that I wound not finish the stock yet, but instead wait until after I was completely done the glass bedding and pillar bedding.
Preparing the stock
I decided that I was now ready to prepare the stock for glass bedding and the pillar bedding. The first thing I did was make sure that I knew what I was doing and after making sure of that, I prepared my materials. I would first start by getting the barrel channel ready for the stock by scraping out wood. Then I would get the rear of the stock ready and then I would get the pillar ready after that. My materials that I got ready were: A drill, sand-paper and a chisel. Unfortunately I do not have many tools so I was limited to what I used but I think a dremel tool would work great for a lot of this. Since this was my first stock ever glass bedding or pillar bedding I was not quite sure of how to do it completely right but I went ahead and did it. First, I made a small channel about 1/8” deep for bedding about 3 to 3 ½ inches long in front of the barrel lug. I found that the chisel worked well for getting rid of some of this wood. I made the cannel about a 1/8 of an inch deeper than the surrounding wood. I dug out the sides a bit as well all the way up to about ¼ of an inch away from the top of the sides of the stock.
Now that I was done with that, I went ahead and started to make my channel for glass bedding at the rear of the stock. I wanted the channel to be about 1/8 wide and about 1/8 deep but not having any proper tools to complete this, it turned out to be a bit deeper and about ¼ wide. The channel does not have to be completely strait, it can be at a bit of an angle. I found that I had lot of trouble getting the drill bit in the area that I wanted to bed but after a bit it got easier and I finally got it done. The area that I did with the drill turned out to be a bit “zig-zaggy” but I thought that this would be fine. I made the channel at the rear of the receiver (shown in the pictures below) and extended it about ¾ of an inch to an inch, up the side of the receiver. For extra support, I also made a spot about 2 inches up from that about ¾ of an inch long, also seen in the pictures below.
Next step was to prepare the stock for pillar bedding. Although this would seem to be the easiest step, I found it to be one of the hardest because I did not have any proper tools. I was originally planning to use a normal ¾ inch (diameter) by about 1/8" or 1/16” thick but I accidentally made the hole a bit too deep for It so I was forced to use something else. What I finally did was found a washer and a nut and glued them together (glued the washer on top of the nut. The washer was larger in diameter than the nut but it all worked out). This set up worked good for the pillar.
I then ordered the glass bedding kit (wish I had done that before hand)
In the mean time, I decided that I would shoot my 10/22. So I put the my factory stock back on (with the pillar in place but not epoxyed in) and tightened up the take-down screw. With the pillar in place, I could already see a little improvement in the accuracy of it. I was now really getting excited about the “experiment”.
The project begins…
After 2 days of waiting (what seemed like 2 weeks), I finally got my glass bedding kit (brownells acra-glass gel). Along with that order, I also ordered some Burris rings to go with my 10/22. I decided (when I got the kit) That I would first glass bed the pillar and the barrel channel, and after that was completed, I would glass bed the rear of the receiver. The first thing I did was I put masking tape all around the wood that was around the place where I was going to bed. You can see pictures of where I put the masking tape. The next thing I did (very important!!!) is I put the release agent that was included in the kit on all the metal parts that would come in contact with the bedding material. To do this I put three coats to make sure of no mistakes. I would put one coat on with a q-tip and then wait 10 minutes before putting another coat on to ensure that it had proper drying time. I could tell if it was dry by touching it; when it felt dry (which was after about 3 minutes) I left it for another 6 or 7 minutes to make sure that it was completely dry.
My next step was to put modeling clay around the area where I was bedding to make sure that no access bedding would get onto the wood or into the v-block area. I put clay on the v-block, on the other side of the bedding channel, and a little on the underside of the nut and washer that would be used as a pillar. Now that I was confident to start.
Since I had a lot to bed, I made quite a bit of bedding material. I mixed about one and a half tablespoons of each material and gave it a good mix for about 3-4 minutes. After I had finished stirring, I went right ahead and applied the material to the bedding channel. I also covered my pillar in epoxy and put it in the hole. Next, I put the barreled (receiver and barrel only; not the trigger or bolt) in the stock. When I pushed down on the barrel there was some epoxy that had squished out so I snugged the take-down screw and left it.
After about three and a half hours I decided that I would take the barrel off and check to see if everything was going all right. I first tried taking it off and thought “wow” it was sure tight, but after I dropped the gun on cement from about 1/8 of an inch off the ground, it came out (still with some difficulty). Everything looked ok (except for a few cosmetic problems but I was not too worried about them) so I tried putting the barrel back into the stock
The next morning, I got up and started right away to start working on the project. I removed any excess clay and release agent off of the barrel and stock with tooth-picks and to remove the release agent, I just used my nails to peal it off. After cleanup was done,
Bedding the Rear of the reciever
I put three coats of release agent on to (and inside) the receiver. I also filled the trigger group pins and bolt buffer with modeling clay. After that was done, I mixed up my acaraglas gel and tried my best to fill all the holes that I had dug out. I ended up filling the holes and spreading it across where there were no holes as well. After that I put the receiver on and put tape around the back of the receiver and around the forearm of the stock and the barrel and waited for about four and a half hours for the bedding material to dry a bit so I could check if everything was alright. It was fine.
Putting the action back together
After all this was complete, I put the action back together. To do this I first cleaned off the inside of the receiver and then I began to put it back together. To do this I first put the rod back and the bolt handle back in. Once that was done, I pulled back on the handle and the rod until it could not come back anymore. I held the rod in that position and put the bolt carefully in and pushed it down into its “slot”. I then moved the handle back and forth to check if it was working all right and sure enough it was. My next step was to put the trigger group back in. I first put in the front pin; to do this I slid the bolt back and held it there and pushed up on the trigger until the trigger pin holes lined up. I put the front pin in and then after that I put the rear pin in. After this I reinstalled the bolt buffer and put back the magazine. I was now done putting the action together. You may want to do this whole process again to fill in any holes or gaps that you missed the first time. This should make the action/barrel to stock fit even tighter.
Conclusion
Now wait about 3 days for the epoxy to completely dry and go out and shoot it. You should notice a difference. I sure did. My groups definitely got smaller. And most of all, have fun while you’re at it
Hope this helps and free feel to ask any questions
I will be working on the trigger next
I will also try to get some pictures to post on here.
I am not quite finished the project yet. I want to go back and re-glass bed it to fill in some of the gaps that i missed before.
As you can see, its not the nicest looking glass bed job in the world but it worked so i am happy
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v709/cz452shooter/100_3808.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v709/cz452shooter/100_3810.jpg
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v709/cz452shooter/10227.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v709/cz452shooter/10226.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v709/cz452shooter/102210.jpg
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And here is my latest glass bedding project. This is more along the lines of how it should turn out.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v709/cz452shooter/100_5220.jpg
I still need to fix it up a bit with a dremel tool or a file but i can do that later...
Please feel free to ask me any other questions or send me a PM with any further questions.
This should only be attempted by someone with an in depth knowladge of the Ruger 10/22 and 10/22 Magnum rifles. 
