I own an 96/22lr, refinished the stock, removed the band, floated the barrel. 10shots in a quarter at 25yrds. likes everything but cci mini mags.

so anyone else own one?

I've got a Ruger 96/22mag. Have a Leupold 6X42mm on it, that has the parallax set for 50 yards. It's my walking varmit gun. Great shooter.
Virgil B.

sadly I only have an cheap, BSA on it right now. it is going to be first scope to be upgraded.

what pissed me off, that the win wildcat 22lr are $35+ per 500. it likes them the best.

I picked up a NIB 96/22 in 22LR a few months ago and love it. My dealer had it in stock for 12 years so I got a pretty good deal. Mine also likes Win Wildcats but the last brick I bought was only $25 and I came across some last week that were $18.95. Maybe I should go pick some of those up...

I'd buy one tomorrow if I could find one in decent shape.

I did pretty much the same thing to my 96/17hmr. When I removed the band (and smoothed the band notch), I sanded the whole thing down and refinished it blond. I like it. I also post bedded the barrel, cause mine drooped a bit.

I also sent it off to Todd at ttshooter,com for a trigger job. Now it's down to about 3 1/2 lbs instead of the 15 or so from the factory.

I have a ruger 96/22 with a 1.75 x 4 Redfield on it and I also have the 17 HM2 barrel for it. Both of the barrels shoot under 1.5 inches at 50 yds. It is a great little gun, but I need to get the trigger worked on.

Bart

I have a 96/22WMR/17HMR (1 receiver 2 barrels) and both will do a 1" to 1 1/2" 5 shot groups at 50 yards with the 3x9x40 Simons Diamond Scope, but I can do 1 5/8" to 2" at 50 yards with my Marlin 1894M with stock open sights.

Their is some things I really like about the 96, way it grabs the case to feed allowing even upside down feeding, the rotary magazine, the lever swings are short and extremely smooth.

One reason for Ruger poor accuracy I believe is the V-block that holds the barrel in place on the 96, 10, and 77 models. Great for selling after market barrels for consumer replacement, but even with fine replacement barrels available they still can't shoot like a T/C, CZ, Kimber or even Marlins and Savage. I have a early model T/C 22 LR Sporter and it has never been out shot by a Ruger with the slip fit barrels. That includes a relatives 10/22 that he has spent about $1200 on, maybe more, to make it accurate.

All that said the Ruger is accurate enough for hunting and is my favorite of the two for hunting.

I've got a 96/22M that I haven't done much with since I've gotten it. I've been thinking about a replacement stock or me doing a reshaping and refinishing on its current stock, as I think it's a bit homely as is. Any pictures of modified 96 stocks out there?

I like the idea of you guys ruining the collector value of the gun, it will make mine more valuable in time.