Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires 10/22 upgrades…which ones and in which order

Fiddling with a 10-22 is about fun for me. I have one of mine shooting pretty well that has not seen quality ammo yet, maybe have $400 into it including purchase price many years ago. My Savage Anschutz 141, Rem 541, Sako P72 and Bergara B14R shoot extremely well for $1000 or much less. That said, playing in the accuracy arena with 22 rimfires is pretty new to me. It certainly is teaching me to be a better shooter after 45 years of shooting...

Why?? Because it's fun. Who doesn't like to tinker? You can have all kinds of such fun with a 10/22. And - - - if you choose your upgraded components well and get a good barrel, you can get them to be significantly better shooting than the std factory offering. It won't be able to compete with a custom, purpose built, benchrest rifle, but some can get close. I've finally got mine shooting as well I want it to shoot. Years ago I had a trigger job done on the factory trigger but this year put on a Kidd trigger and that was better. Also, I replaced the heavy barrel I had on it with an 18" FJ Feddersen barrel and that was a big upgrade. I don't care what my wife or son are able to get for it once i kick off. They will not have to depend on my gun collection for their security.

True, but most people won't commit to spend the cost of a Volquartsen up front for a .22 rifle and prefer to spend money incrimentally in an attempt to equal the accuracy that a Volquartsen is capable of out of the box. I agree that a Volquart will always have more resale value than a tricked out 10/22, but some people don't care much about resale value.

I'm a tinkerer, that's why I learned to run a mill and a lathe, so that I could do most of my own metal work. Buying rifles like Volquartsens and Coopers don't interest me much 'cause there isn't anything that needs to be reworked and improved. Back in 2007/08 I spent around $28K on Remington 700 donors, McM stocks, and barrels from Douglas, Hart, and Shilen. I could have spent that money on several nice rifles from name builders, but they wouldn't have been exactly what I wanted. But, like you say, shoot what you like and enjoy it.

I bought a birch international 1022 like new, used
Sold the bbl and stock off it.
Got a Volq hammer GM heavy taper 19" and Titan stock.

Shot under a half inch at 50 yards for under 500 bucks ( not counting scope ).

That was the goal, mission accomplished, parted it out..... actually came out on the plus side.

Not much and IMHO not worth the hassle. But I got to play the game and not lose money ( for once lol ).

Personally i dont think putting together 1022 or ARs to be fun. Its just assembly, not building.

To each his own.

Just a word of caution, dont fall for the hype 😉

OMG. YOU may not get your money back, but people like myself do. You have a lot of stupid azzed suggestions like sending your chidt off to someone else. The reason a lot of guys switch parts on a 10-22 is to make them suit their needs better and fit them better. Like you said. That's about the only thing I agree with in your post. The factory stocks are about 3" too short for me. Except for the deluxe stocks on some rifles posted here. They (factory carbine) are made for a dwarf, so first the stock needs to be taken off and replaced. There's a way to properly outfit and regain some money too. You don't just take the stock off and throw it in the corner or in the closet. You sell your take off parts on sites like ebay or gunbroker. By the time you sell your factory stock and barrel, you have some money to put into a new barrel or other parts. Let me break it down for you. It's pretty easy really. This is what I did with my most recent 10-22:

Cost of rifle (last year) $249.95
Sell factory take off barrel: $120.00
Cost of new Kidd barrel: $274.00
New extended charging handle: $24.95
Extended magazine release: $19.18
Cost of Magpul X-22 stock. New stock from ebay: $109.99
Sell factory stock: $75.00
Volquartsen match grade trigger: $26.99
Volquartsen target hammer kit: $25.00
Bolt buffer: $3-5
Bolt release mod: Do it yourself. Its very easy and worth it $0
You can also fine tune your bolt face for optimum headspace. I worked mine down to .043" measured with a depth mic.
You can also change out your extractor and springs, but it is not necessary if yours is working good.
You can also keep and use the one piece mount supplied by ruger, so I won't list a cost for the picatinny like I use on my rifle. So, total cost of the rifle as outlined above:

Total: $490.16

To date, I've been offered $700.00 for my rifle a few months ago at one of my clubs rimfire shoots. I declined that offer.. It is also $200+ more than what I have into the rifle, as you can see from the breakdown above.


Keep in mind, when you send your rifle off for someone else to work on, that is going to cost you a lot more money, than if you do it yourself. I think most here get that. Some fail to comprehend. Some also fail to see how easy the 10-22 is to work on. In fact, the op has the right idea of working on this platform with his son because it is such a modular design. That is a great way to get a kid interested in working on their own guns. A stepping stone if you will. With all this being said, the recommendations to shoot the rifle first before changing out the barrel is wise advice. Some factory barrels shoot very well. Some do not and those are the ones you may want to replace. It all depends on your requirements and what you can live with. I do a lot of competitive shoots, so accuracy/precision needs to be second to none. I highly doubt your CPC rifle will shoot as well as the one I built. Unless he uses a similar barrel. Keeping in mind, he'll charge you more for the same barrel I bought or any other part he installs. When you go that route, you would lose money. And I don't know about you, but my money is hard earned. I like keeping it in my pocket when I can..

Not a lot of guys are going to pay what Volquartsen wants for their rifles. At my club (of 250 members), we have one individual that buys Volquartsen rifles. They are all chambered in 22WMR. He has money. The rifles are extremely accurate, but they are not without their problems. I smoke his azz with my Savage A17 and that chaps his hide, but that's life. His rifles all start to malfunction after around 70-100 rounds. Generally during one of our shoots, he has to swap a rifle out for another. I personally would not buy a Volquartsen rifle, as you will most likely never recoup the initial purchase price. Finding a buyer may also be difficult, unless you sell on gunbroker.

Sounds like a blast.

I wouldn't overthink it too much, or throw the baby out with the bath water.

Unless you want to build Ultimates (check out the Ultimate subforum at rimfirecentral.com for ideas), I'd just have fun shooting those rifles together. And don't throw the barrel away without getting a bunch of rounds down it first. I don't know if the barrel actually breaks-in or just needs sufficient fouling but they can perk up after several hundred rounds. Just need to be patient as it can take awhile.

For me, the top modifications would be an extended rail with 8x32 screws and a decent trigger/job. Extended rail gives flexibility in scope ring position, and the 8x32 seem less likely to strip.

I like KIDD triggers but have a BX that is pretty good so you don't need to spend a lot. And heavy barreled rifles can shoot well, but I still like a handy tapered contour.

This 10/22 has the factory barrel, and Pike rail. And KIDD trigger, recoil spring, and charging handle. I used it last year to kill a bunch of sage rats. I don't bother shooting paper with it anymore as it shoots cheap bulk hollow points plenty good to kill critters.

I used these two rifles last year for sage rats. I love the heavy barrel for a lot of uses, but the other one was my preference for shooting sage rats. I mostly shoot offhand standing, or seated on my butt with elbows on legs.