Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires 10/22 to build or to buy?

Hahah damn bsa you know I’m a sucker for accuracy but boy there’s nothing like saying F it and carpeting the floor in brass..

One of the biggest reasons I’m a huge KIDD fanboy is I swear thru probably 10-15k rounds thru mine I will honestly say I can’t recall a single misfire.. that’s the truth

That gun simply never bobbles not once. I have rimfires costing 3x as much and they piss me off from time to time but man that kidd…

It’s a gun I grab every single time and you know that means a bunch

Well, I wasn't feeling 100% today, so I stopped shooting about 3 hours into it. That is not like me though. As far as liking GM barrels better now, I still feel the same way. I have some buddies that shoot at my club in Washington that swear by them and I've seen how they shoot. Even the lightweight contours shoot good. I've just had a couple bad ones. This one is doing pretty good though. I am happy with it.

Ok, Here are the results of some lesser ammo like the CCI Standard velocity and the Winchester T22 target ammo. I didn't quite feel up to shooting the real cheap stuff today. I'm pretty sure the American Eagle would have done better in both rifles, as would the Automatch. Maybe next time out, I'll try them head to head again. Anyway, here's the rest of the targets. Obviously no cherry picking going on here my friend. It would be cool to see how your Feddersen barrel shoots with different ammo.

CCI Standard velocity "target" ammo in the Elite 22S:




CCI Standard velocity Ruger 10-22 with Kidd barrel:




Winchester T22 target ammo in the Elite 22S:

Ruger 10-22 with Winchester T22 Target ammo:

That's an awesome rifle man. Keep in mind the ammo I'm using is all about 20 years old and the lube is either real sticky or powder from sitting in the boxes. ha ha.. Check out these old suckers:


I also remember starting a thread on some of this ammo and no one had ever seen or heard of it before. The FGMM is pretty cool, with the center of the rim punched for some weird reason. Probably to aide in getting the priming compound just right around the rim of the case:


This ammo was manufactured in 1992, which was more than 31 years ago. it's not as old as some ammo I've seen at my club. Some of those old bastids are shooting ammo from back in the 60's!!!

I don't know how old this stuff is, but the lube is pretty tacky.


If I were just running non lubed American Eagle, this rifle runs without flaw as well.

BSA, when you bedded yours, did you put any bedding under the back of the receiver (on the little shelf), or under the barrel?

Nope. It sits on the shelf just fine, and the barrel rests on the stock. I'm more focused on the void that you often have right at the action screw area. I want the rifle to lay in there as neutral as possible, without any stress induced when I tighten the action screw. Hopefully that makes sense buddy. I've also experimented with freefloating the barrel, and find that the last few 10-22's shoot better with contact through the barrel channel. Again, in a neutral state. No hard upward pressure or anything like that. The cool thing about that magpul x22 hunter stock is they provide a tension ring, that you can adjust pressure to the barrel:


One thing you guys may notice is the lack of huge fliers that you always hear about with these rifles. I've had some that were extreme, prior to bedding them. I've also used Devcon 10110, but that depends on the rifle and stock and how much bedding material you need. You asked about the rear of the receiver, if it is not making contact, I'll put some bedding in the rear. However, these 2 rifles did not require it.

I have heard of people using RTV in the barrel channel at a couple of points to leave the barrel "neutral" but provide a little damping. Have you ever tried anything like that?

Done something similar with a foam ear plug on a heavy kidd barrel to help with droop.

I usually buy one of the cheap 10 dollar pillars for the action screw on a 10/22 if I get serious about one. Then bed that area. I've bed the rear also on one and I'll tell you that action only goes in a certain way and makes a noticeable pop when it goes in.

I've heard that too. Seems interesting. It would probably work. However, I don't know how it would affect torque on the action screw. That is where some guys get lost, chasing their tail. Then they are back to playing with action screw torque to get the best accuracy, and maybe dealing with POI shift.

So, the question is still do you build or buy. If you buy, do you buy used to keep costs down? I took a risk on buying this stainless TI Elite 22S build, but it looked very well thought out and priced right. Far less than it would have cost to actually build it.

Something I forgot to mention about these rifles is trigger pull weight:

This build has a poly unmarked trigger housing. Generally I prefer an aluminum housing, like the one on my other rifle, but this one is working well. I probably won't change it. The only marking on this housing I've found was a "T". I don't know if that means it's for a target model or what?



The pull weight on the Kidd barreled 10-22:


Both rifles for comparison:

The one on the top, costing $575.00 and the one on the bottom costing $473.00 (roughly). Both have their pluses for sure.

As a comparison, you could buy a competition model for around $750-800. One that intrigues me is the LVT model, which can be found for under $400.00. Been hearing a lot of good things about that one, and they can come with a wood stock or Hogue overmold. That 20" Talo may be one to watch out for.

Like I said previously, in a different thread, I saw a nice older target model with laminated wood stock for $275 the other day. That would make a good platform and would possibly only need a new barrel. Sell the factory hammer forged heavy barrel to recoup some of the cost towards a Kidd barrel. You could be into something like that for around $450.00. The route you take is almost limitless.

For cheap ammo testing, I shot more American Eagle yesterday. It is pretty inexpensive, but consistent in most of my rifles. This is the stuff sold in bricks of 400.


The first 5 or 6 went into the same hole^^

Then shot another group to confirm:

I hate to discount fliers, but without the fliers to the right, those 2 groups would be pretty good for cheap ammo.

This is after a good cleaning, a new nylon/polyurethane bolt buffer, and the extended mag release lever install. I'm liking the new rifle, and yes the GM barrel is shooting good, but not nearly as well as the Kidd barreled 10/22. It's an excellent rifle though. Very happy with the purchase.

Interesting thread, I am getting inspired!

I was looking at Kidd parts and see they make a reciever with a "rear tang", and a bolt on rear tang for a stock reciever.

Have you experimented with those at all?

Good question John. I have not. They look interesting, but may not really be needed. I've heard of some fitment issues caused by that rear tang. However, if I ran across one for cheap I would not be afraid to give one a try. I think for my needs, the best route to take is buy a nice used rifle for $200.00, sell off the extra parts, install a Kidd barrel and stock of your choice and do some of the mods I mention, and you will have a damn good rifle on the cheap. These are fun to mess with. If you do happen to buy the Kidd, let us know your experience. Thanks!

If you just clean your 10/22 from the ejection port and the magazine well, you can skip this.

One of the annoying 10/22 quirks is when the action is out of the stock, the receiver pins and the magazine release pin tends to fall out.

The Kidd receiver pins require you to chamfer your action (where they go in) and also require the use of two tiny hex wrenches to remove them. I've tried a few of the 'oversized' receiver pins with mixed results.

I've replaced all of my receiver and magazine release pins with these Tandemkross 'Enhanced' pins. The detent holds them securely and they are easy to remove when needed.

Jerry



https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1020934216?pid=700911

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1025150116?pid=757562

Great suggestion Jerry. I've seen those before, and they look nifty. The 10/22 clone I have, doesn't need them, the pins that go through that stainless receiver are tight as nun's hunt.. My other 10/22 with the Kidd barrel are pretty secure too. Not as tight as the new rifle, but they do not try to fall out, like some 10/22's I've seen/had..

Alright, I had to do it. Spent the $29.94 on a Volquartsen trigger. I love the one that is in my Ruger 10/22, so this one had to have one too. This is very similar to a POS BX25, or an unmarked BX25, one of the 2. They say it can't be done:



Works freaking sweet though, and feels great. That is one upgrade I suggest whole heartedly. But not to a BX trigger like this one, unless you know what you are doing. Warning and full disclosure..

Much depends on what is expected from a 10/22.

Close:
50 yards


or far:

200 yards

Nice rifles buddy.

What barrel is that?

It’s a carbon wrapped and tensioned stainless steel Volquartsen.