Clean the Ruger 10/22

Canuck65 said:
You're getting a lot of bad advice here.

Ruger barrels are not mild steel, and you won't in a million years hurt the bore with a brass cleaning brush. They're made from carbon tool steel (like every other barrel) ind it's WAY WAY harder than the copper/brass in your brush and cleaning rod.

You're also not going to hurt the crown cleaning from the muzzle end as long as you take your time and do it right. If you're worried about the crown, get a pull-through brush like an Otis (or similar), but it's not necessary - people have been cleaning semi-auto and lever-action guns from the muzzle end for a long time.

Having said that, it's also VERY easy to drop everything out of the receive and clean it from the breech end.

400-500 rounds is about right for cleaning - As Beeron said - shoot it till it starts to jam or the accuracy goes way off. If yours is still working okay, no rush to clean it.

Good luck and be safe
Click to expand...

You Sir are correct. The barrels are 4130 cromoly steel and no brass brush will ever damage it. The action is so easy to disassemble you can strip it to individual pins and components, wipe clean with solvent, re-oil and re-assemble in about 15 minutes.

Do this regularly and you'll find you'll be shooting accurately and reliably all day long. I prefer to have a clean rifle at the ready rather than get it into the bush in a ####e state and possibly having fouling issues annoying me through the day.

At the end of the day this is a direct blow back rifle. Meaning all of the energy needed to fire, extract the spent casing, re-#### the hammer and then follow forward stripping a fresh round and re-chambering that round correctly is only run off the power of a .22lr cartridge. And since a .22lr doesn't create enough heat when firing to actually burn all the powder, let alone the wax and other detritus of the round, this makes cleaning it a must if you want it to be ultimately reliable.

This is the reason Ruger builds them to such loose tolerances, so the filthy crud has room to deposit without clogging the gun completely.

All of the 'shoot it til it jams' guy don't be offended. Some of us enjoy a clean firearm and don't mind putting in the work to keep it that way.
 
A complete disassembly is a good start.
With that first cleaning, drill a quarter inch hole in the back of the action to serve as a bore guide.
Cleaning from th muzzle t the chamber can deposit some unwanted material into the action and working parts.
With complete disassembly, solvents and compressed air cleans everything.
Too much oil and solvents are not friendly to your rifle.
I have two 10/22's and they will both outlive me with minimal cleaning and TLC.
 
Pulling a bore snake out the muzzle will wear the crown more than shooting it. When the bore needs a cleaning I much prefer removing the barrel and using a quality rod pushing out the muzzle. If you must use a snake be attentive and with the rifle held in a vice, pull as straight out the muzzle as you can.
 
guntech said:
Pulling a bore snake out the muzzle will wear the crown more than shooting it. When the bore needs a cleaning I much prefer removing the barrel and using a quality rod pushing out the muzzle. If you must use a snake be attentive and with the rifle held in a vice, pull as straight out the muzzle as you can.
Click to expand...
For those with a compensator on their muzzle, you may get away with a bore snake from the chamber to the muzzle. Those snakes must be clean of any grit or debris.
 
I prefer to clean my 10-22 before it malfunctions. Don't want to be in the gopher patch with a rifle that's FTE or FTF. My "main" 10-22 has the .250 hole through the end of the receiver so I can clean with a rod from the breech, and while the trigger group and bolt are out for cleaning the bore, I can clean the rest of it, too.
 
I put about 2000 rounds, give or take, through my Ruger 1022 annually. I clean after about 300- 400 rounds. I clean the bore from the muzzle using a good carbon cleaner and patches. I wipe the bolt/bolt face and breach area as good as I can using an old tooth brush to get the crud from under the extractor, I then use WD40 Dry lube to lube the action and bolt. Once-a-year I take the rifle apart and to a major clean. I take the barrel off the action and a do a thorough clean from the breach using a bronze brush and patches. I've had this rifle for more than 40 years and it still shoots less than 2 MOA using CCI Standard velocity at 50y.
 
Jimmywang said:
Hello, I am going to clean my ruger 10/22, its about 400 rounds through the rifle, do I need fully disassembled the rifle to clean all the parts or just need clean rifle-line bore?
Click to expand...
Depends on the ammo and the level of performance the rifle can provide.

If running good quality HV ammo with the dry wax on the bullet (Fed, Win, CCI) and a factory barrel, with proper bolt lubing, you may not need to clean for a huge amount of ammo.

If competing in PRS and running SK/Lapua/Eley ammo, I would be stripping it apart every 200 to 300rds for a complete clean of the action/bolt/extractor but min bore cleaning with focus on the chamber and leade.

If you going to clean a 10/22, best to take it fully apart and get all the fouling out

Jerry
 
Marlin989 said:
Hey Dmay. You sound like an a33.
Click to expand...
Well if you say you barely clean and claim it shoots like a laser. That's not being an ass. Because many of us that shoot for accuracy see a level of accuracy decrease after a few. Same as if you claim a stock 10/22 can shoot 1/4" group at 50. If you make huge claims like that expect to be called out.


So laser accuracy might mean min of barn.

Like someone made a claim to me that their Type 97 at 115 yards standing could do 1 inch groups. When benched zi couldn't even do close to that.
 
Rick-####-ulous said:
400 10/22 is like Theseus Paradox, eventually you'll want to replace every part and it will never be the original gun, just use the hell out of it and replace parts as you go!
Click to expand...
This.

My shooting buddy wanted to buy one and then mod it all.

I was like dude you can literally build a 10/22 with aftermarket parts and have 0 Ruger factory parts in it.
 
Mine has seen about 3000 rounds and I've finally decided to clean it this weekend. Most I do is pull the action out and clean the trigger area, bolt, and receiver itself. Primarily due to the single stage trigger feeling soft and spongy because of how dirty the CCI blazer ammo runs and clogs up all the little spaces. Rifle must have seen closer to 9-10K rounds, never bothered to clean the barrel. Never had issues with it either.
 
Last edited:
I have a 10/22 that I bought new circa 1997. For a good many years it was my main gopher defence gun. Aside from running a patch or two down the barrel once in a while, I would remove the stock, take it out on the back step and hose the action down with WD40, let it sit for a while, then hose it down with brake cleaner. Before putting the stock back on, I'd put a tiny bit of oil on parts that looked like they needed it. Never touched the trigger pull, only had my buddy get rid of that stupid lock back feature.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom