stock 10/22 bbl VS after-market bbl

[archerynut]

before I bought my 10/22, which I have owned since August, the impression I got from owners of these guns was that the stock barrel was a piece of junk and you were lucky if the bullets didn't leave the muzzle sideways. now I have found this - and I'm sure many others have as well - to not be true at all. in fact, if I do my part correctly, I can hit full - shaken not stirred - cans of pop at 50 yards all day and send them cartwheeling through the air spewing highly pressurized "presidents choice" ginger ale and club soda until they return to earth resembling taliban gunmen after a meeting with a 25mm shell fired from a Canadian LAV III. so far I don't really understand why some people feel compelled to spend more on a barrel than they originally payed for the entire gun. just to clarify, I own the standard carbine model with open sights. now I've cruised some american and some canadian vendors of rimfire gear - barrels included - and have yet to find an aftermarket barrel that is designed to replace the standard barrel without requiring a whole new stock made to accept the contours of a bull barrel. why is this?

 

[RUSTSPOT]

IIRC spokesman of ruger said 10/22 actually came with very accurate forged barrel and he wondered why its the first thing people change when they bought a 10/22. and yes, i dont find anything wrong with the factory barrel.

 

[savagelh]

a pop can at 50 yards is just ok accuracy. With a new barrel and a little other tweaking you can get those pop can sized groups down to 1/2" or less. But ya, for plinking and some hunting the factory tube is just fine. And yes you can get a factory contour barrel. Most of the big barrel companys make them.

 

[Epoxy7]

I have a fairly stock K10/22T which is the bull barreled target model. The barrel is decent. But you need to use Lapua Super club with it to get the most out of it. No doubt other higher end ammo will also work well.

One of the issues people have is they change up far more than just the barrel. So they attribute the accuracy gains mostly to the barrel which might not be the case. That being said there are junk stock barrels out there as well.

You'll know if your barrel is decent after doing the ammo testing with lots of ammo including good stuff. Also a decent scope with rimfire distance parallax adjustment. Of course the trigger has to be worked on since it sucks in stock form. One other upgrade was to replace the rail with a one piece Leupold base.

I have a GM barrel sitting here, and after doing the above I've kept the stock barrel on the rifle. It shoots pretty well so there's no need to change it out.

When I do buy an aftermarket barrel is when I'm buying the cheapest 10/22 for a build and will want a bull barrel with a better stock. Then it's still economical to change it.

If the barrel that comes with your 10/22 is roughly what you're looking for then do the above and that should tell you if the accuracy is acceptable or not.