Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires 10/22?

I have always wanted a fancy 10/22.

Do you suppose it's better to buy a cheap carbine and fix it up or would it be cheaper to just build it from scratch?

Depends on what you want. Don’t know about current pricing and availability, but a couple of years ago I priced out a build vs. the Ruger 10/22 CSC and couldn’t beat the price of the Ruger, even going a bit cheap on the stock. The CSC has some features you won’t get cheaply, like the integral rail on its machined receiver. Read the specs on the Ruger site and you’ll see it offers a lot for the money. Mine is a solid shooter with good ammo. The BX trigger is quite light and crisp, but I may have just gotten lucky. Of course you can upgrade anything on the CSC just as any other 10/22.

For somewhat more, you can also get something like one of the Kidd rifles, which are very nice and might provide you with features you won’t get with the CSC, but for easy and pretty dang good for the money the Ruger is tough to beat. One or two other guys here who were skeptical changed their minds after seeing one in the flesh. I paid somewhat under $700 for mine.

Most folks start with a cheap carbine and toss everything except the receiver group. A Tac Sol receiver would cost about as much as a better grade complete 10/22.

Anyway, I was just contemplating this and worked up some costs starting with one of the older target models with the heavy barrel which would be kept vs. the generic carbine and tossing everything but the receiver.

Ruger 10/22 Target....$429.50
Boyd's Stock............$206
Volquartsen trigger....$287.00
Total........................$922.50

10/22 carbine used....$250.00
Kidd Barrel...............$271.30
Boyd's stock............$206
Volquartsen trigger....$287.00
Total.....................$1,014.30

Those are generic figures based on some recent sales of used rifles on gunbroker. Obviously choice of parts will affect the price considerably but figure the barrel alone will run close to or over $300 for a really good one depending on the style and brand you get.

Fwiw, whichever style you get I'd start with a rifle preferably made before 2010 and the more before the better. Ruger has been cheapening their products considerably in the last dozen years. The good news is that there are so many of those out there you can pick and choose a good one for a very reasonable price. I saw a 1998 basic wood stock carbine with a nice rail, rings and Ruger branded soft case fail to sell for $229 today so good deals on good older rifles definitely exist.

Ruger's heavy barrels from their target models of a few years ago are tack drivers, a custom barrel would cost a lot of money to get a little gain in group size so my choice would be to get a heavy barrel model of some kind, keep the barrel and add a stock and a good trigger of your choice.

10/22s are modular, so spec out what you want in a "fancy" 10/22 and then decide how to proceed.

I'm a tinker, so I seldom find a factory specs rifle that is an exact match to what I want in a rifle. I like 10/22s, currently have 19 of them in 17 different configurations.

For a little over $200 CPC will make just about any 10/22 into a sub-MOA shooter when mated with the brand and style of ammo that make the best groups. Randy's work is holistic, in that all of the parts work in harmony, something you're unlikely to get when you replace parts from different manufacturers.

One of my favorites was put together with a 24" Green Mountain stainless flutted barrel, a Ruger American style stock with the modules for changing LOP and comb height, that I sent to CPC for a full tune up.

What do you mean by "fancy"? Do you want it to look flashy, tacticool, classic? How precise does it need to shoot? Does weight matter?


What size groups at what distance can your CSC deliver?

The best bang for your buck used to be buying a 10/22 Target from a walmart sale and send it to CPC (conneticut precision chambering) for a full tune up. It wouldn't be a Kidd or Volquartsen but it'd be real good for less than half the price.

That target was shot at 50 yards. The small dots are I believe, 1/2”. At the same time I tried SK Flatnose and Rifle Match, but the Club was a bit better. Have yet to try top-grade ammo like Center-X or Tenex, or stretch it out to 100 or more. For its purpose, pleasure shooting, practice, and maybe small game, I can’t see where better accuracy would be an advantage, and I have a CZ Varmint MTR that’s my “target” rifle. Certainly you can spend more and get better accuracy, or maybe even get it for less money. I was happy to get a solid shooter without a bunch of futzing around and possible dead ends. And, as mentioned before, I could swap out the barrel or other parts to try and improve the accuracy, but see no need.

Well...I am kinda poor....so it wasn't going to be too nice.

Green Mountain makes a sporter weight barrel in SS.

I kinda like the look of the MagPull hunter stock.

So I would just need a nice bolt handle and a decent trigger.

Jim

The barrel and trigger may a difference in accuracy .

The stock is an improvement if adds to the fit for you.

The handle is ethics.

Spend your extra money on glass and trying out as many different ammunitions as possible, any 22 is picky.

Not long ago I saw a very fetching SS Mannlicher-stocked one at an LGS for about $550. Hard to pass up.

If what you want can be bought in factory configuration, buy that one. If what you want is not available, build it. The factory gun will be worth more if you decide to sell at some point.

IMO you would get noticeably better performance by spending the cost of the GM barrel and a Ruger BX trigger after-market parts on a full CPC tune up of a plain jane factory specs 10/22. I am convinced that Randy's CPC full tune up will give you the biggest increase in accuracy per dollar spent and as a rule I prefer to tinker on my own rifles, rather than send the work out to a 'smith, but I'm sold on CPC.. Buy the stock that you like the aesthetics of and that fits you and your style of shooting the best.

On 10/22s with sporter contour barrels I like the factory laminated mannlicher-style stocks and the factory American style stocks with the LOP and comb height modules.

On 10/22s with heavy contour barrels I like the factory match-style stocks with adjustable LOP anc comb height. The nearly vertical pistol-grip style is great for shooting off a bench, but I find it awkward in nearly any other position.

That said, stocks are an often under-appreciated component of a firearm, but they serve as the interface between the shooter and the barreled action and a good fit is important. Mass produced stocks are designed to fit some version of "average", while most people aren't exactly "average", so most high volume production stocks, both factory installed and after-market, need some adjustments to better fit the primary shooter.

Or so it seems to me.

The cold hammer forged target rifles I had were dogs. Your idea of the Kidd barrel is a good one. I'd either do like pappy did and buy a newer CSC and be done with it, or build one you will really like. I chose to build one off of a cheap rifle I bought last year. I've gone over prices before, but only having about $450.00 into the rifle after selling the original barrel and stock on ebay to recoup some costs. Its not hard to build a great rifle for FAR LESS than what you have outlined. You are taking your chances with the older target models. I've had standard barrel models shoot better. The new ones like Pappy is talking about is night and day difference and one I'd consider. I'm one that was skeptical about the left hand competition model, but after having it in hand and really checking it out, it has some great features that I like. Ruger went all out on that model. Also for those thinking a factory rifle is gong to sell for more money than a custom, they are smoking something. This isn't an AR we are talking about. You bolt a Kidd barrel on a 10-22 receiver and it's going to be highly desirable. Far more fetching than a damn cold hammer forged target model. Those generally only sell for around $350 in my neck of the woods.

My sporter Green Mountain barrels is a shooter. Five shot groups at fifty yards.

What is that mount? It looks like a beefier version of the DNZ.

Do you care if the barrel has the dovetail cut in for the rear sight? Since you’re looking at the taper barrel you could stick with a factory barrel, have it rechambered and crowned. Spend the savings on having your bolt worked and jeweled for that fancy look.

Two things to pay attention to if buying used: Supposedly Ruger fixed the receiver molds so the new production rifles will be true. The older rifles, especially the last 15 years, would need to be trued. The newer trigger housing made of plastic is generally a smoother trigger pull than the older aluminum trigger housing.

That looks right up my alley Ed. Thanks.

Back around ‘96 I purchased a ‘71 vintage 10/22 Deluxe for $100. It shot poorly. Investigation followed. Results? Installed a Power Custom trigger and full length bedded barrel and action. Dinked around with a few different ammo brands and settled on WW Power Points. 1/4” groups at 50 yards and 1/2” at 100 are routine. I don’t waste good ammo on pigs, so CCI SV is what they get. Pop’n FLOP.

The mount is a DNZ. The rifle was originally a Walmart special run "stainless" mannlicher I bought on closeout in '94 for $180. The mount and stock were bought a few years ago out of a "junk bin" at a small gun store for $60 total. A Volquartsen hammer was installed a number of years ago. The barrel set me back $150 IIRC. I am pleased with the result.

Much as I like my CSC, those walnut/SS models really look nice. Putting one together that shoots as good as it looks seems like a worthwhile project.

One of my friends asked me how much the left handed CSC is and I told him I was looking at one for $700. He said, "I'll give you $700 for your right handed 10-22 so you can go and buy a left handed one". I was damn tempted, but my Kidd barreled 10-22 shoots pretty dang good. Its hard to give that up. I would have been $250 ahead though, since I only have about $450 into my rifle.

Very nice. I had one just like it. I really like those deluxe walnut stocks. The rifle I had had the factory barrel and it shot better than my target model. One of my buddies really wanted it, so I sold it to him. He still has it and won't ever sell it. If he did, I have first right to refusal. This was how it shot a few different ammo's. Trying to find out what it really liked:


10 shot groups, just cause.... It also shot federal automatch and the cheap American eagles into a ragged hole. It liked the cheap bulk box federals too.. Basically the same thing as the copper plated American eagles, but in a bulk box.