Ruger Single Ten

[rjathon]

How accurate should you expect the Ruger Single Ten to be?

I've been playing with one and am unimpressed. I've been shooting from about ten yards to keep on paper. CCI Standard Velocity and SK Standard Plus group into about 5 or 6 inches and are way off center.

CCI Mini Mags shoot closer to the bullseye and group around 2" for ten shots.

I don't have much else to try due to poor availability.

Any suggestions?

[376Steyr]

Check your barrel forcing cone for lead build up. I had a S&W Kit Gun go sour on me, shooting patterns like yours. When I pushed a brush down the bore a big ring of lead popped out of the forcing cone. That cured the problem, and the Kit Gun went back to shooting as well as I could hold.

[dubber123]

I have never seen or fired one. My first question would be, how do you normally do with handguns? If you are a 2" 25 yard shooter, you already know the Single 10 is not shooting well. If you just aren't very good, some (or a lot) of it may be you.

I personally have been underwhelmed by most .22 revolvers. I have at least one that impresses me, but it is unusual. Most run well into the "meh" range accuracy wise, and none are cheap guns, just not so accurate.

Ammo can make a big difference, but if I was a good shot, and could only get it to 2" at 10 yards with my best ammo, I would have to send that one on down the road.

[Lonegun1894]

I don't know if this helps any since mine is a Single Six, and not a Single Ten, but mine (from a rest) will do 3-3.5"@50yds with .22LR, and 2-2.5"@50yds with .22 Mag ammo. I would say give it a good cleaning to make sure you don't have any build-up anywhere, and if that doesn't help, try different ammo as/if you find it. Did yours by any chance come with a .22 Mag cylinder also? For example, the one I mentioned above, does, at worst, 3.5"@50 with 36gr Federal HPs, 4-4.5" with Remington bulk pack ammo, but open up to 10"@50yds when I tried some Remington Thunderbolts I had laying around, but I have an old Sears .22LR single-shot bolt gun that LOVES these Thunderbolts, putting them into 1-1.5"@50yds with irons. Go figure.

[rintinglen]

I am sure someone will pop up with one that that shoots tighter than a gnat's butt, but my experience is that the Ruger Single Six is generally not an accurate gun. My first gun was a Single Six, and I have had two since then, none of them were really accurate. 3+inch to 5+ groups were the norm. I had one, an early stainless Super SS model,
That consistently produced 22LR groups that were almost exactly double what my S&W M-17 would do with the same ammo.

All that to the side, I earnestly endorse giving it a good cleaning. 22's tend to be neglected and has been noted, a little leading can make a good gun go bad in a hurry. I also second the notion of buying whatever different rounds you can find. 22's are notoriously picky about what they shoot well. My Marlin 39 also really likes the cheapie Thunderbolt stuff, while none of my other guns do, In fact, it will barely stay on a paper plate if I shoot it out of my Chicom Browning copy. But that shoots federal HP stuff inside 2 inches at 50 yards. You may have to do some shooting to find what your gun likes.​ How sad for you.