Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Ruger Hammer Forged 22LR Barrel?

This Ruger 10/22 barreled action dates from 1981. Was Ruger hammer forging their .22LR barrels then?





5 shots with CCI SGBs @ 50 yards. MiniMag HPs have occasionally done a wee bit better.

I don’t know when Ruger made their rimfire barrels but they didn’t make the centerfire rifle barrels until around 1991. I have heard stories that green mountain produced barrels for the 10/22 in early years but cannot confirm that.

I wouldn’t worry about who made it….just take care of it. Nice shooting for a semi-auto 22

Working for Ruger now?

I totally agree. Having had a couple "hammer forged" Ruger 10-22 target barrels, I'd say exchipy's rifle shoots better than either of those I've had. They were extremely finicky as to what ammo they liked too. Not like a good GM or Kidd. Hang on to that one exchipy, it appears to be a very good one regardless. That is a "sleeper". You don't find them like that every day.

Been so long now, I can’t recall whether I got this 10/22 new, or used at a gun show. I free floated its carbine stock early on, seeing extraordinary accuracy. Same with a Choate folding stock. Later, it wore a Ruger sporter stock. It acquitted itself very well during the Modoc County Squirrel Wars of the late ‘90s. But, it really likes being in the Hogue stock, with the free floated forend. While not every group looks like the one shown, it can be counted on to produce a couple like it out of every box of CCI MiniMag HPs. Just started with the CCI SGBs.

I, too, had been disappointed with the performance of the two 10/22Ts I’d owned. They moved on, while this guy has stayed.