I wanted to update on a Springfield 2020 I swapped into a month or so ago.
As you can see It's not a "Target" rifle. I free floated the barrel and it got better but not great.

I shot the target upside down to make it easier for my records, 5 targets in a row across the top. CCI Standard all the same lot.

First target was with a stainless muzzle break, second was with a bloop tube, third was with the factory thread protector. Not very impressive.

Then I spun on a Harrels Tuner Brake and shot while making BIG adjustments to get in the neighborhood for later finer adjustments.

When Making the finer adjustments, one number on the dial, I was impressed with how much the group moved and how much the group shape changed. I re-shot settings 50 and 150 on that target. It's currently set is 38 after shooting the finer settings a bit.

I wanted to test a tuner but I'm cheap and the Tuner Brake is $50 cheaper than the "22" tuner.

I also tested the tuner on my TALO 10-22 which isn't free floated and group size and shape stayed the same and is actually better with a bare barrel.

Thanks for the test report. Is this the Harrel's tuner brake that you used? Harrells Precision Radial Ported Tuner Brake

I used their Tactical Tuner Brake with two ports milled through the brake. The radial ported would very likely perform the same function with different cosmetics.

I wanted one that threaded on and would be easy to cut the brake off later if desired. It's also cheaper than other tuners without a brake..
I'd need to re-tune if I cut the ports off of course.
After shooting a bit I realized, adjusting from 0 to 50 is a Huge jump.
Adjusting one number, from 0 to 1 or 35 to 36 makes a difference so I still have work to do.

Mine clocked correctly with ports left and right and the scale marked on the top of the tuner is on top of the rifle so I left it as is.

P.S. To be clear, the numbers written above my groups are "tuner setting numbers", not group size numbers.

I have (2) of the Harrell tuners that are the plain nonported type.
On one, I added 3oz of weight (Harrell weight system).
This is the best target I have seen out of the 2020.I think the rifle looks good, but as the range reports started coming in, it put a damper on it for me.
Yours looks like it has some potential.
Keep us posted

I saw my first 2020 in my LGS yesterday. IMHO it is heavy and has a chunky feel. I much prefer the feel the Ruger 77/22 and mine shoots better than that.

ammo is wrong

Not diagreeing with you, but you gotta use what you can find. If, for example, my CZ 452 shoots Lapua CenterX superbly, but I can't get any, how is it any better than more easily found XXXXX? I haven't found any more CenterX since that one time I was able to source some at Whittaker's. I seldom buy high cost rimfire anyway, but while that CZ will shoot .25" @50 yards with it, it's no good if I can't get any more, of that lot. I have to "settle" for what I can find, and the OP is probably in the same boat.

I DO enjoy shooting rimfires, but reliably sourcing ammo for them is a PITA.

I have an old Glenfield 25 that'll whip the pants off that springfield.

I stripped the rifle down to a barreled action and cleaned it.
The barrel is pressed in, not threaded.
I had the tuner off so I thought I'd post a picture of the ammo I tested today. Rifle is bare, as is comes from the factory.

50 yds as usual Bushnell Elite 6-24 set at 24. 50yd parallax.
I ran a patch through between each of the different ammo.

From top to bottom on Left:

CCI Standard Velocity, 3 groups of 5 because I wanted a larger sample for this ammo.
Eley Practice
Eley Standard
Eley 10X
Norma Match
Federal AutoMatch

On the Right CCI Blazer 36gr and below Right, Winchester 555... Maybe it's the ammo but I don't think so..

It'll meet the 3 shots in 1" claim but now you know what that claim means!

I found some good setting with the tuner but I couldn't duplicate the results, very similar to the bare rifle results. One group is OK, the next stinks.

I may have to put on a 4x Simmons rimfire scope and donate it to 4H, maybe they can use it..

this really sucks for those rifles. or I should say all the reports for those rifles is not been real positive for accuracy which really sucks. they look pretty good and look like they have some great potential but they're just not delivering from everything I've seen hopefully somebody can figure out a different ammo than we expect that will make them shoot better.

Agree. We are all in the same large boat.

My Tikka T1X is picky, prefers Lapua, but I'm down to a few boxes, half a brick.

This is timely, sorry Springfield.

I'm short a .22 bolt action it seems. A 2020 had been in the running, but now it's down to a T1X or a CA Ranger. The brain says T1X, but I feel like I have that configuration sort of covered with a 77/22. The CA Ranger is something I don't have anything close to, and the Ruger magazine is a bonus.

Thoughts?

I really enjoy my CA Ranger

I pulled four bullets from their cases and slugged the barrel on this Springfield.

From the muzzle end, the bullet starts firmly (engraving) but slides down the bore to a snug area right in front of the chamber.

From the breech end, the bullet starts firmly but then slides down the barrel and out with minimal resistance. Not conducive to accuracy or repeatability.

I have a barrel ordered to see if I can make this thing shoot.

Selling it or giving it away would be passing the problem off to someone else.

I'll have my fun and not stick someone else with a turd.

Shoot Straight!

What are the details on the new barrel?

Is the barrel threaded into the receiver or attached some other way like a 10/22 or CZ 457?

From the description it sounds a lot like the Ruger revolver barrel constriction where the barrels are torqued in so tightly the barrel is actually constricted one or two thousandths under the frame. I can think of a couple of reasons that might not happen with a .22 rifle but I guess anything is possible.

If it's not threaded and/or they just use bad barrels, then never mind...

The barrel I ordered a Beyer bull barrel for a 10-22, 16.25" long 1-16 twist.

I'm not afraid to do a little blue collar engineering to make it work.

The old rifle barrel is pressed into the receiver so I'll cut the old barrel off in front of the receiver and drill and thread to 5/8x18.

The Beyer barrel is an aluminum sleeve over a steel bore so I'll turn the shank to 5/8" x 1-1/4" long shank and thread to 5/8x18.

I'll turn the breech of the barrel for extractor clearance and check headspace of course.

If I have to adapt to overcome I'll let you know...

Who knows, it may actually turn out to be a rifle I enjoy instead of a turd in the back of the gunsafe.

Hey JiminIdaho, Yes the barrel being pressed into the receiver and being constricted will surely size the bullets down so they rattle down the length of the bore.

I'll play with fire-lapping this afternoon as the barrel is a couple days out and I'm not going to hurt it at this point...

Hmmm. Now that's interesting since a tight press fit is definitely a way to constrict a barrel. That, plus the fact that every single reviewer reports mediocre to poor accuracy lends credence to the idea that it's endemic to the design and not that they send out rifles with 100% bad barrels. I've looked at several youtube reviews and at least one guy put a new trigger and barrel tuner on his to no avail, but no one that I've seen actually slugged the bore.

Shame that Springfield would put all that thought into what is otherwise a very good design - 700 compatible trigger, 10/22 magazine and such - and then ruin it with the way the barrels are attached.

Do keep us informed on how the fire lapping works, this could be very enlightening.

This is soooooo fhuqking HILARIOUS and upon soooooo many levels! It's like April 1 was born again! Hint.

Bless your poor poor(literally) heart,for doing your best.

As an aside,THE most accurate spouts on The Planet,wear muzzle constriction/choke. Hint.

Dangle a picture,for even more Oblivious Humor. DARE you. Hint.

Fhuqking LAUGHING!..............

Stick, yes muzzle constriction is an advantage but we're talking about constriction at the breech end.

Reading skills, Laughing!

Comprehension Not!

Communication skills...

Isn't it time for 2-3 pages of photos of your centerfire rifles that have nothin to add to the conversation?

Sweetheart,

I miss NOTHING. Hint.






Few things obturate easier than 22LR bullets. You are "educated" wayyyyyyyy beyond your fhuqking "intelligence" and I appreciate the Oblivious HILARITY,of yu simply doing your BEST. Hint.

If only again,dangle a picture,for even more Oblivious HILARITY. DARE you. Hint.

Fhuqking LAUGHING!..............

You miss Nothing? Really? It's more accurate to say You Add Nothing.

It's too bad because I remember a time when your posts were Intelligent, helpful and even thoughtful. I miss that guy.

Now you've become the Ernest T. Bass of the 'Campfire, randomly throwing rocks and breaking windows to get some attention. (Hint, laughing, dare you, sweetheart etc)

I hope you figure it out.

Back to the subject at hand.

Not everyone can or is willing to spend top tier money for a top tier 22 rimfire plus optics and ammo just so we can look down our nose an anything lesser.
I had hopes Springfield wouldn't pin their name on anything that wasn't worthy of their reputation, I was wrong. (Multinational Corporations)

I still like the concept but it adds up to less than the sum of the parts.

I'll learn a few things in the process and may be able to warn away the unsuspecting consumer, that's enough

They’re sure advertising the piss outta those rifles, big ones in glossy magazines. The only test I read used crap ammo, maybe to provide an excuse for an embarrassing result?

Turkish guns seem to be a really mixed bag. A lot of guys I shoot clays with have autoloaders made there and have frequent malfunctions. I’ll stay with ones made in Belgium, Italy, Japan, and maybe even here….

Karen,

Your Vagina Monologue and Professional Victim Status are fhuqking HILARIOUS...you "lucky" kchunt. Hint. Congratulations?!?

Rest ASSURED,that Spingfield did their part and you are the weakest link,but The Pity Party is entertaininger than fhuqk. Read that again. Now one more time. Hint.

Rifles talk,yet nobody listens. You couldn't begin to summons the "knowledge","experience" or "results" to "critique" a bottle of fhuqking water. Even YOU,know how fhuqking Stupid you are and a picture scares you to death. Keep pointing fingers,because nothing is fhuqking funnier,than a Melting Snowflake's inability to capture a FIRST Fhuqking Clue. You CLUELESS Drooling Dumbfhuqks are a hoot! Hint.

Gals who "know" and "do" as "much" as you,will ALWAYS be best served by asking questions,rather than giving "answers". Hint.

Fhuqking LAUGHING!..................

What a let down. I thought it was neat that someone was making a solid looking .22 again. We're happy here with the 77/22. One shoots well as it came, the other needed shimmed but they're good rifles.

A lot of manufacturers factory barrels are enlarged slightly at he last inch of barrel due to manufacturing process. They cut the barrel to length and machine both ends. The center in the muzzle end leaves an enlargement in some cases. You can check with plus and minus pin gages at the muzzle end to see if yours qualifies for being cut off and rethreaded to remove that. Also chambers matter a lot. Many manufacturers make a good looking rifle but use a SAAMI reamer to avoid chambering problems with different brands of ammo. Rimfire chamber reamers are small and can chip or break during the process especially with factory chambering of hundreds of barrels. They can leave a number of problems often undiscovered by QC. It's what it is. A so-so chamber is not going to give great accuracy. Checking with a borescope can tell you a lot about the chamber end of the barrel so a trip to a gunsmith with one would be productive there. 22 actions vary in rigidity and they are sensitive to flexing when tightened too much. A good rimfire gun builder can diagnose problems and offer solutions if you can afford them Mark Penrod is good and there are others. CZ's have a decent reputation but some of them end up being so-so in capabilities. Facing the truth about rimfires it is nearly impossible to compete with a full blown precision rig but we all buy our stuff with different expectations accuracy wise and price wise.

Edit to say that the sentence about muzzle anomalies applies to centerfires as well as rimfires and cutting an inch off and re-crowning can help accuracy but I can't say how much. Each barrel is different.

Final (Maybe) update on the 2020 Rimfire.

I cut the factory barrel off and after modification, threaded a 10-22 barrel to the action. Now it shoots like I'd expect it to when new!
This is definitely the longest path around the barn to get a rifle that shoots. I recommend you don't buy a Springfield 2020

I used a barrel from Beyer as it's bull barrel profile but it's aluminum over a steel barrel sleeve so it's much lighter than a steel barrel.
I'll be getting another from Mr. Beyer for a 10-22 project rifle. (He might have avoided me if he knew what I had in mind for his barrel)

There's a storm blowing in so I shot one target, 50 yards, 30 rounds of CCI standard. I need to sand more clearance to float the barrel.
You can see marks where I had the barrel chucked in the lathe..Cosmetic, don't care.

Sad that it took all that work to make it shoot like any good 10/22 shoots

I hate to say it but that was my first thought also.
It's sad that you had to spend that much money and time for those results.

The rifle itself appears to have been fairly well thought out by Springfield but poorly executed.

Sad story. Never had a problem with older 22rf bolt actions. Winchester m69 with a 25" barrel was very accurate. My old Marlin bolt action I got for Christmas when I was 12 would shoot through the holes of notebook paper I used to use for targets. Picked up a Winchester 72a recently but have yet to shoot it. It's like the M69 but with a tubular magazine.

More bad news….



Nice rifle, aside from the fact that it doesn’t shoot very well.

Too bad about the magazine compatibility issue as well.

I haven't seen a good a good accuracy report from one of these yet.

I’m always bitching about magazines that hang down, so that’s not a problem for me. The crappy accuracy is. A 1” 3-shot guarantee for a “target” .22 is laughable, but at least they’re honest about it.

Yes, I remember watching pursuit for accuracy fighting with the POS 2020 a while ago. It is a shame because the rest of the rifle looks pretty good. Looks like it feeds nice, and good triggers are available. If they had a better barrel that produced 1/2" 5 shot groups, I'm sure more people would buy them. But as we speak, they appear to just be a crappy shooting cheap bolt action 22lr. I'd just as soon buy a Savage because I know the Savage is going to shoot like a house afire.

Imagine dropping a grand on one of the ones with pretty wood and then it won’t shoot for beans.

That video tries to be kind, but in reality it’s brutal. Those guys tell it like it is.

I would rather have a Savage based on the reviews and reports I have seen on the Springfield 2020

I agree. If I were going to spend that kind of money on a rifle with nice wood, It would be CZ all the way!!!

I agree.

Ditto.

The Tikka T1x is a great rifle and the Savages are about the best bang for the buck, but IMO the CZ 457 is the best all around bet for a quality .22 bolt action rifle these days without going the multi-thousand dollar route. Smooth action, nice wood or synthetic stocks with lots of choices for either, great trigger and to top it off Accurate with a capital A.