Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Worthwhile modification to a 10/22

I've got a couple of 10/22's that I have set up for Steel Challenge matches, along with some just standard versions. For my SC guns, I've always run CCI standard velocity ammo because it has been the most reliable (in terms of firing and no duds) and is very accurate.

After doing a little checking around, I decided to upgrade the firing pin and spring with a Kidd version. I had already done the extractor. The Kidd firing pin is a little thicker through the body and has a sharper edge that hits the primer. On one of my bolts, it fit perfectly. On an older bolt that I had, I had to do a little filing on the top edge of the pin for it to fit. No big deal.

I took the gun that I had to modify the firing pin on to the range this morning to make sure it functioned fine. I also took some bulk ammo that has previously given me a lot of failure to fires.

First up was the Winchester box of 333 with 36gr copper plated rounds. I would usually get 1-2 "duds" per mag with this stuff in the 10/22's. I went through about 80 rounds without a single FTF. All fired with no issues. Accuracy at 50 yds wasn't that great though (as expected with cheap bulk ammo). Had a bit of a left to right wind blowing this morning. One of the 10-shot groups with all others being very similar.




Then, I fired about 80 or so rounds of Federal bulk pak 36gr copper plated. Historically, I'd get 1-2 FTF every 2 mags or so. This time, not a single FTF. Accuracy was a little better than the Winchester. One of the 10-shot groups:



For grins, I had 20 rounds of Eley Match left in a box that I decided to run through the gun while there. All 20 rounds:



The rifle's other mods include:
Kidd lightweight barrel
Kidd hammer, sear, springs, etc
Tac Sol mag release
Kidd firing pin, spring and extractor
Hogue overmolded stock
Volquartsen bolt release
Kidd charging handle assembly
Kidd buffer

It normally wears a red dot, but one of the boys is using it for a Appleseed match this coming weekend, so it's got a Nikon 4X rimfire scope on it for the moment.



Next will be a trial of Remington bulk ammo, it's always been the worst for me in the 10/22's in terms of FTF's. But, so far, this firing pin upgrade seems to be a very worthwhile upgrade with (so far) a lot more reliability in firing off the rounds. I highly recommend it!