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Thread: Accuracy improvements for Ruger 10-22?

  1. #1
    Boolit Grand Master tazman's Avatar
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    Accuracy improvements for Ruger 10-22?

    I have a standard Ruger 10-22 rifle that shoots less than stellar groups. Not even really adequate for squirrel hunting beyond 25 yards.
    What can I do to improve the accuracy of this rifle without buying a lot of new parts for it?
    I have already tried different brands of ammunition and changing the screw torque without any noticeable improvement.

    I am not expecting benchrest accuracy. I need it to be able to hold 1.5-2 inch groups at 50 yards. Currently, it shoots about 1.75 inch groups at 25 yards.

    Reliability in feeding has improved dramatically with use. I now have around 300 rounds through the rifle.
    I had one of these 30 years ago that shot quite well. This one doesn't even come close.

  2. #2
    Boolit Bub
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    I'd drop the gun out of the stock and check the screws that hold the barrel to the receiver, I think there is a torque for them. drop the trigger group and clean up the sear and trigger and than I would proceed to finish breaking the barrel in, at least another 300 rounds. if that don't work I'd find a used barrel and start over. in the past I've seen take off $20. good luck

  3. #3
    Boolit Grand Master

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    As stated above.Improve trigger if it needs it, Check the barrel clamp screws and also consider the fit of barrel tenon in receiver, Then stock to receiver and barrels bedding. Another help to tuning is the mags tension,

    The triggers arent the best and can be improved considerably with a little work.

    The barrel clamp screw can make an improvement, make sure the bearing surface are bearing even and the heads seat square. Also that the barrel shoulder bears evenly around its face.

    Barrel tenon fir is a big part also. measure tenon and reliever bore close as you can the tighter the fit the better. If to loose and epoxy. blue loctite. or if room a shim to tighten it up.

    The mags tension can be adjusted by loosening the center bolt and rotating it one flat at a time. I have found that lighting mags tension will help with first shot fliers and group size both

  4. #4
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    Electrod47's Avatar
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    I know you don't want to spend any more money But, you got to get a better trigger. My 1967 10/22 improved greatly with a Volquarten. And believe me being one of the first 100,000 produced had a lot of trigger pulls on it already and was USE smoothed about all it could already.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Electrod47 View Post
    I know you don't want to spend any more money But, you got to get a better trigger. My 1967 10/22 improved greatly with a Volquarten. And believe me being one of the first 100,000 produced had a lot of trigger pulls on it already and was USE smoothed about all it could already.
    I considered mentioning that, but I figured that was elemental. I tried my old 10-22 out in a solid rest where the trigger did not effect it as much. I determined that with the right ammo, and I tried a bunch of different ammo (in my case Win Super X solids were the best) it had the potential ot be a good shooter. I put in a Volquartzen (sp) sear and trigger and got it down to 3 pounds or so. Fine accurate rifle.
    Britons shall never be slaves.

  6. #6
    Boolit Master wilecoyote's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tazman View Post
    What can I do to improve the accuracy of this rifle without buying a lot of new parts for it?
    I have already tried different brands of ammunition...
    something cheap and do-it-yourself ?
    a small cylinder, square at both ends, perforated in the center, hole as wide as the case of a .22lr and deep enough to insert the ammo, which must fully enter inside but stop due to the rim, which will remain exposed. with a digital caliper you measure the distance between the rear surface of the rim and the end of the opposite side of the cylinder. you will see that for each single loaded ammo you will often have a different measure. groups the ammo that give similar values to each other, and selects them by batches to shoot. you should get better accuracy because rim thickness determines the concept of headspace in .22. however, it works with cheap ammo or competition ammo. obviously a bit of care when handling the loaded .22s...
    I apologize if I do not express myself better, but if interested it will be easy to post a drawing.
    enjoy !
    Last edited by wilecoyote; 06-14-2021 at 06:40 PM. Reason: do-it-yourself
    Food is overrated. A nice rifle is way more important.
    Rob

  7. #7
    Boolit Grand Master tazman's Avatar
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    wilecoyote---No need for a drawing. I understand the instructions completely. Nice idea.

    I will check the barrel screws and torque the stock-to-receiver screw before the next range trip.
    I think I will also try removing the barrel band and see if that makes a difference also.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master wilecoyote's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tazman View Post
    wilecoyote---No need for a drawing...
    Tazman, thanks you but the idea isn't mine, but comes from ol'time free-rifle .22 shooters, when here cheap ruled.
    have good time !
    Last edited by wilecoyote; 06-14-2021 at 07:21 PM.
    Food is overrated. A nice rifle is way more important.
    Rob

  9. #9
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    Texas by God's Avatar
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    Mine shot best with the barrel band removed. Both of them.

    Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

  10. #10
    Boolit Master

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    Outlandish thought, but see what Ruger will do for you. I've heard that they've built two or three of them. Maybe they've got an idea on what can go wrong.
    WWJMBD?

    In the Land of Oz, we cast with wheel weight and 2% Tin, Man.

  11. #11
    Boolit Master 1006's Avatar
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    You might try the CCI Stinger. The longer case tightens up the fit in the chamber.

  12. #12
    Boolit Grand Master uscra112's Avatar
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    About 6-7 years ago I tackled this problem by improving the commodity ammo I was shooting. Two things I did cut the "groups" in half. One was weight-sorting, the other was swaging the bullets to a uniform .2250" in a tool I made that was similar to the Waltz. Important to note that swaging only spoiled really good target-grade ammo. Final result was that weighed and swaged MiniMags were the best woodchuck ammo in that unmodified rifle.

    Stingers, FWIW, were some of the most inaccurate ammo I ever fired in that 10/22. Worse even than run-of-the-bog Thunderbolts.

    The snarky answer of course is to sell it and buy a Marlin. I didn't have to buy a Marlin, I already had several. But I did sell the Ruger. No regrets.

    Never did try rim-thickness sorting. After all these years I finally went looking for a rim-thickness gaging tool. Because I still have a goodly amount of that sorted-and-weighed ammo, I'm thinking to restart the ammo-improvement experiments, although it won't be using that 10/22. The Raven Eye Custom rim-thickness tool works very nicely. Available from many sources, including Amazon.
    Last edited by uscra112; 06-14-2021 at 11:48 PM.
    Cognitive Dissident

  13. #13
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by uscra112 View Post
    About 6-7 years ago I tackled this problem by improving the commodity ammo I was shooting. Two things I did cut the "groups" in half. One was weight-sorting, the other was swaging the bullets to a uniform .2250" in a tool I made that was similar to the Waltz. Important to note that swaging only spoiled really good target-grade ammo. Final result was that weighed and swaged MiniMags were the best woodchuck ammo in that unmodified rifle.

    Stingers, FWIW, were some of the most inaccurate ammo I ever fired in that 10/22. Worse even than run-of-the-bog Thunderbolts.

    The snarky answer of course is to sell it and buy a Marlin. I didn't have to buy a Marlin, I already had several. But I did sell the Ruger. No regrets.

    Never did try rim-thickness sorting. After all these years I finally went looking for a rim-thickness gaging tool. Because I still have a goodly amount of that sorted-and-weighed ammo, I'm thinking to restart the ammo-improvement experiments, although it won't be using that 10/22. The Raven Eye Custom rim-thickness tool works very nicely. Available from many sources, including Amazon.
    Yup... I simply "Shoot" the 10/22... My M39 Marlin...that really gets the "job" done.. But, I do Not stress over 22RF stuff... If the Contender barrel is Not accurate enough for the Job... the 222 Barrel IS

  14. #14
    Boolit Grand Master uscra112's Avatar
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    Off topic, but I kinda gave up on the .22 rimfire for garden defense against woodchucks and raccoons. Too dependent on making perfect head shots to assure humane kills, which in the real world is not as easy as the keyboard commandos would have you think, even with an accurate gun. Second is that the .22 slug can ricochet and travel some appreciable distance. I moved to a centerfire as well. More killing power and thin-skinned varmint bullets don't ricochet.
    Cognitive Dissident

  15. #15
    Boolit Buddy
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    Put at least $1000 into your 10-22 with custom barrel ,stock, trigger etc. then sell it and buy a vudoo

  16. #16
    Boolit Grand Master tazman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DGV View Post
    Put at least $1000 into your 10-22 with custom barrel ,stock, trigger etc. then sell it and buy a vudoo
    I appreciate the sentiment but, I won't throw money at piece of excrement and hope it turns into a peach.
    I used to do that on a semi-regular basis and I hope I learned from it.
    If I can't get this rifle shooting to my satisfaction without spending money on it, I will sell it.
    I have a rule that has served me well the last few years. If, after 5 trips to the range and a good workout each time, the rifle still won't perform reasonably well, it goes down the road.
    This one has made two qualifying trips so far.

  17. #17
    Boolit Buddy
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    Veral Smith, LBT molds has a fire lapping kit with instructions on fire lapping a 22 rimfire. I had a early model Ruger American that was absolutely horrible in the accuracy dept. I already had the kit that I fire lap all my cast bullet barrels with, so following the instructions for rimfire, I fire lapped it ,the rifle now on a good day, and if I am having a good day , the rifle will now do a 5 shot one ragged hole group at 50yds.

    Fire lapping with his kit and following his instructions will greatly improve your cast bullet barrels. Following his instructions closely is very important.

  18. #18
    Boolit Buddy Wild Bill 7's Avatar
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    I have a early 70’s 10/22 with a fixed 4 power scope from K-Mart. Yes it’s that old. The trigger was horrendous to say the least. Never had the ability to fix the trigger, then the internet opened up a whole new world. Found a video the showed how to do a trigger job and another one that said to wrap a couple of turns of electrical tape around the barrel where the front barrel band is to tighten it up. That worked pretty good. Then I bought a Volquartsen trigger spring kit and wow that improved the trigger even more. Groups tightened up like never before. Just what I have done and results may vary if you try the same things. I love my 10/22 even more now.

  19. #19
    Boolit Grand Master
    Mk42gunner's Avatar
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    I've given up on finding or making an accurate 10-22. Even though almost everyone you hear of or read about on the internet is more accurate than an Anschutz match rifle. Every one I ever shot was less accurate than any Marlin/ Glenfield Model 60 that I ever personally shot.

    Unless you really want to spend twice the retail cost in parts. Then it may equal a Marlin. May not either.

    What really soured me on 10-22's was the fine dust in Northern NV. Drop a mag in that and you might as well buy a new mag, no amount of cleaning and adjusting spring tension got any of them going again.

    If I were to bet on the accuracy of stock, run of the mill .22 semiauto rifles, the order would be: Mossberg, Marlin, Browning, Remington and Winchester in fourth, Savage in fifth then the rest with Ruger coming in towards the end.

    Robert
    Last edited by Mk42gunner; 06-18-2021 at 01:58 PM.

  20. #20
    Boolit Master
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    I only had one 10/22. It shot 2"+ groups at 25 yds. It went down the road. I'm not even messing with a 22 that shoots that bad.

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