Les Jones

Bedding a 10/22 barreled action

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 | Guns | Permalink | 4 Comments |

Bookmarking this for reference. Last summer I used sandpaper and free time on the porch to freefloat my Ruger 10/22 barrel (picture above). A dollar bill wrapped around the barrel slides freely from the muzzle all the way back to the action. There are no contact points as the barrel heats up to shift the point of aim. Now I need to glass bed the action.

Hat tip to Suburban’s Domain list of 10/22 mods via Steve’s Firearms Blog.

Tags: ruger 10/22

More 10/22 goodies

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 | Guns | Permalink | 6 Comments |

Check it out. Ruger 10/22 bullpup conversion with walnut Steyr AUG stock.

Practical? Beats me. Pretty nifty, though.

FWIW, someone on The High Road had good things to say about the item just below that at the link, their combination extended mag release and bolt hold open. “A true extended mag release drops mags fast and clear. Pull the lever back while holding the bolt open, effortlessly activates bolt hold open.”

I really dig the looks of the Tactical Solutions magazine release, which has that falling block lever look. TacSol makes all kinds of 10/22 accessories, from receivers to lightweight aluminum barrels with steel cores and threaded ends. They even make suppressors to fit on that threaded end.

For .22 pistols TacSol has lightweight aluminum barrels with steel liners and optional threaded ends and scope rails: the PacLite for Rugers and Trail-Lites for Browning Buckmarks. I’ve shot Dave D.’s Buckmark with a threaded Trail-Lite and liked it a bunch. Every TacSol barrel I’ve handled has had unusually good machining and finishing.

Volquartsen, Tactical Innovations, MOA, and Tactical Solutions make 10/22 receivers. Someone else has one with a Picatinny rail and hooded AR-15 rear sight. Darned if I could find it in a Google search, though. If you know the link post it in comments. LATER: jcmiller in comments found it: NoDak Spud NDS-22 receivers. They’re affordable, too, at $160.

Tags: ruger 10/22

Impractical but cool guns

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 | Blogging, Guns, Misc | Permalink | 20 Comments |

Tam started a meme: guns that are impractical, but cool.

My pick is the AR-7. It’s cool but not very practical.

Why it’s cool

• It was designed by Eugene Stoner, who designed the AR-15/M-16.
• Thanks to aluminum and plastic parts it weights just 2.5 pounds and is largely impervious to rust, the scourge of all gun owners.
• The barrel unscrews from the action, instantly cutting the stored size in half.
• The barrel, action, and magazine can be stowed in the buttstock, making for an unbelievably compact design.
• When thus stowed the whole thing floats. It was originally designed to be a survival rifle for downed Air Force pilots.
• Jame Bond used one. So did Maxwell Smart.
• You can insert the AR-7 into all sorts of wild-eyed fantasies of surviving alone in the wilderness.

Why it’s impractical

• Magazine capacity tops out at 15 rounds and those are hard to find.
• The gun has never had a reputation for accuracy or reliability.
• Sight adjustments are crude.
• The ergonomics are hella uncomfortable.
• Armalite couldn’t make money on the design so they sold it to Century Charter Arms, who couldn’t make any money so they sold it to Henry Repeating Arms. That’s not a good sign.
• Here’s the killer: there are much better guns available that do pretty much the same thing.

Example. The Marlin Papoose/70P has a barrel that unscrews. The gun floats when cocooned inside the factory storage case. The Papoose is as accurate and reliable as other Marlins such as the venerable Model 60, weighs just 3.25 pounds, and unlike the AR-7 has studs for sling swivels. Newer Papoose models are made from stainless steel and plastic for worry-free carry in Argentina’s rainy season.

For that matter, if you own the ever-popular Ruger 10/22 you can remove the barrel and action from the stock in 10 seconds flat by removing a single screw using a screwdriver or a coin from you pocket. Unlike the AR-7 you can fire the 10/22 while it’s thus disassembled.

Not only can you find plenty of high capacity magazines for the 10/22, you can start with a factory 10/22 and gradually replace every single part until there’s nothing left that was made by Ruger. A Ruger 10/22 has more accessories than a teenaged transgendered schizophrenic.

Tags: ruger 10/22

Pictures and Ruger 10/22 notes from the Manchester, TN Appleseed shoot

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | 3 Comments |

Notes and pictures from last weekend’s trip to the Appleseed rifle training class at Arnold Air Force Base in Manchester, TN.

Ruger 10/22s

Gun-wise, way more than half of the shooters were using the Ruger 10/22. It’s accurate, affordable, shoots cheap .22 LR ammo, you can buy one at your local Wal-Mart, and there’s a smorgasbord of aftermarket accessories. All of the 10/22s had Tech-Sight aperture sights except for a few scope users. There were also a couple of AR-15s, some SKSes, an M1 Carbine, and a few bolt-action .22s. Someone had an M1A, but it seemed like it was just being shot every now and then for fun.

The 10/22s in Manchester went from mostly off the shelf except for the ubiquitous Tech-Sights to models customized with bull barrels and benchrest-style thumbhole stocks. A heavy benchrest barrel is probably an impediment at Appleseed. It won’t shrink your groups much, but it will tire you out over the course of hundreds of rounds fired each day.

The only person to shoot rifleman the first day was Sean, who was shooting next to me. He was using a mostly-stock 10/22 with a carbine-length, tapered barrel that he bought used at a gun show. The only mods he was aware of were the Tech-Sights and Hogue overmolded stock (which is also a factory option). He’s active military and is a scout for his squad. He didn’t use the more-stable loop sling because he felt that he wouldn’t have time to get into it, but he managed to easily shoot Rifleman using the hasty sling.

On the second day Yvette, a mother of six, shot rifleman. (She’s the lady in Oleg’s pictures.) She was also shooting a 10/22 with a few minor modifications (I dig that extended bolt handle), but with a factory stock and tapered barrel.

Lance was the third person to shoot rifleman. As I recall he was shooting a blued, wood stock 10/22 with a tapered carbine barrel. I think he may have been using a scope. Lance and Yvette both shot with a loop sling.

Magazines

Going into the first day I had all seven of my magazines stoked, thinking I’d have a hard time keeping up with reloading. It turns out there was always plenty of time to reload magazines between courses without rushing.

I had the impression that I’d need high capacity magazines for Appleseed, so I brought three Butler Creek Steel Lips 25 rounders to go with four factory 10 rounders. When I was sighting in the week before I had some jams with the Butler Creek mags, so I was disinclined to use them.

It turns out you never need more than 10 rounds during an Appleseed course of fire, so the 10 rounders were fine. You do need at least two magazines for courses that require magazine changes (loaded either 2 and 3 rounds or 2 and 8 rounds). A third or fourth magazine is a good idea in case one magazine develops problems.

Speaking of which, my Ruger factory 10 rounders worked fine the week before and on the first day, but I had failures to feed on two magazines the second day at Appleseed. I’m new to the 10/22 so it’s possible I didn’t clean or lube the gun properly, so I need to work on that. An instructor told me he has had problems with factory 10/22 mags so he always keeps a spare on the mat in case of magazine issues. That’s good advice.

My factory magazines did not go into the gun very smoothly. I had to wrestle with them a little to get them in. I need to see what I can do to improve that. One nice thing about the 25 round Butler Creek magazines is that they stick out of the gun far enough that you can can get a good handhold on them to stick them into the rifle.

10/22 Tech-Sights

The only thing that’s absolutely critical to replace on the 10/22 is the sights. The standard folding leaf sights are too hard to see and they can’t be adjusted precisely. Every 10/22 shooter at Manchester who wasn’t using a scope was using Tech-Sights.

Tech-Sights use an aperture rear sight. Normal leaf or open sights use a flat rear blade with a notch cut out. To align the sights you place the front sight in the notch. That requires your eye to do the impossible: focus on the nearby rear sight and the faraway front sight simultaneously. You can’d do it, so one of the sights is always fuzzy.

An aperture rear sight is a circle that you let go blurry. Just position the front sight at the center of the circle. Your eye does this naturally, so you don’t even have to think about it. The Tech-Sight is mounted farther back than the factory rear sight, and adds about eight inches to the sight radius to increase accuracy.

Tech-Sight installation and adjustment

To install the new front sight tap out the old one. The instructions say to use a brass punch and hammer. I don’t own a brass punch, so I used a steel punch I had handy and covered it with two small pieces of duct tape to keep from scratching up the old sight. A half dozen mild taps were enough to push out the factory front sight.

The new front sight didn’t want to go in. After repeated taps failed to nudge it in I used a file to lightly file down the leading edge of the new sight using about as much pressure as you’d use to file your nails. One stroke didn’t do it - it still wouldn’t quite go in. After the second stroke of the file I was able to get the front sight into the dovetail. I only took a tiny, tiny amount of material off to make it fit. After the front sight was in I used the supplied set screw and hex head wrench to screw it into place so it wouldn’t come loose, with a dab of blue Loctite threadlocking compound on the screw to glue it in place.

The rear sight gets screwed into the holes in the receiver for the rear scope mount. Just remove the filler screws and screw in the rear sight, again using a little blue Loctite to keep the screws from backing out. You can fold down the factory rear sight and leave it in place, or drift it out with a punch just like you did with the front sight. I left mine in for now, and it never got in my way.

If you buy Tech-Sights you’ll want the sight adjustment tool, which is the same as an AR-15 sight adjustment tool. To adjust the rear sight for windage rotate the adjustment wheel clockwise to move the bullets to the right, and counterclockwise to move the bullets to the left. To adjust the front sight for elevation turn the sight clockwise to move the bullets up and counterclockwise to move the bullets down.

I liked the Tech-Sights on the 10/22 so much I want to get a set for my SKS.

Slings

Appleseed teaches use of the sling in all shooting positions. They recommend a military web sling, which I bought in preparation for the class.

Then I got jammed up. Two nights before I hit the road I discovered the sling was slightly too wide to fit into the factory sling mounts on my rifle. The next night after work I scrambled to find some that were wide enough, but couldn’t, so I bought a Gander Mountain hunting sling that came with mounts.

The hunting sling was wide at the top to spread the weight over the shoulder. That extra width made the hunting sling a bit unwieldy to get my left hand around it in a hasty sling setup. The second day an instructor offered me some sling mounts to work with my GI web sling (thanks, Steve). The narrower military sling wraps easily around my hand and doesn’t get in the way. By unclipping it from the back of the gun you can wrap it around your bicep for a loop sling setup.

P.S. In this long post about guns there isn’t a single gun picture. During the class there was too much to do and think about when we were shooting or getting ready for the next course. During the day my camera never left the car. Other people took pictures, though, and you can see them at the Appleseed forums.

P.P.S. Many thanks to the all-volunteer staff of Appleseed for running a great class, and thanks to Dave D. for helping me get the 10/22 ready for the class.

Previously:
- Home from Appleseed
- Ruger 10/22 buying advice
- Ruger 10/22 parts - anything else I need?

Tags: appleseed, ruger 10/22

Home from Appleseed

Sunday, September 21st, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | 10 Comments |

The Appleseed shoot was lots of fun and I learned more than I expected. I met Oleg Volk the first day and picked his brain about cameras. He already has pics up.

I qualified marksman the first day. I had hoped to improve the second day but I was too worn out to raise my score and actually shot a little worse.

One thing I learned at Appleseed was the importance of aiming with your feet instead of your arms. That was a revelation. I couldn’t believe how well it worked in standing or prone. I also got enough control that I could watch the sight dip below the bullseye when I inhaled and dip back up to the bullseye when I exhaled.

Things I’m glad I took: a long sleeve shirt for sun and elbow protection, a staple gun for targets, shades, lots of water and Gatorade.

The only thing I want to add to the Ruger 10/22: an extended magazine release. Any suggestions (EDIT: and especially one that isn’t likely to get hit accidentally)?

Heck, as long as I’m editing this, one more thing I’d consider is an automatic bolt release. That wasn’t a huge issue, but it was occasionally annoying.

Tags: appleseed, ruger 10/22

Ruger 10/22 buying advice

Thursday, September 4th, 2008 | Guns | Permalink | 6 Comments |

Some advice on buying a Ruger 10/22 sent in by a “humble reader” who prefers to go nameless.

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Either go with a 18″ barrel or (if you can find them) a 20″ or 22″ barrel. The latter is for increased sight radius as past 16 inches of barrel a .22LR will usually start to slow down a bit (but not too much). I would suggest putting out the extra cash for stainless. It’s strictly anecdotal but I’ve always found them easier to clean than carbon steel barrels. A standard barrel or bull barrel is a question for you to decide. My advice is go with the standard for now. They’re cheaper & lighter & will do fine while you learn to really shoot the thing. After you have some experience you can figure out if you need to upgrade your barrel or not.

Some models have a longer than standard stock so if that may be an issue for you double check it against a standard length stock (as found on their plain model 10/22) before you buy. A note though - After market stocks are readily available. So if you otherwise love the rifle you’re looking at, but might want a different stock - just figure if it’s worth the $100-$150 or so for the after market stock as opposed to continuing your search. If price ain’t no thang, then grab it & start looking at your options.

Laminates are great. Mainly because they resist the effects of humidity. They don’t swell or shrink like walnut does, so they offer a more stable platform for the rifle. But they are a bit pricier than the walnut versions. Synthetic stocks are even better than laminate at stability, but I never liked the look or feel of them. You might find a used (maybe even new) 10/22 with a synth stock for a great deal. Boyds makes 2 decent stocks for the 10/22 (the Blaster & SS Evolution). Boyds’ website is new & mighty messed up, so just look at the pics & call them before making an order.  But $100 to $150 or so will get you those two stocks, & a host of companies make stocks for the 10/22 in the same price range or a hair more, so your options are only limited by your desire & budget. (Here’s MidwayUSA’s 10/22 Stocks page, for example) & remember - .920 barrel channels in stocks are for bull barrels, not standard taper barrels.

The stock triggers on 10/22’s aren’t great, but depending on how nice you want it you can change that. Replacement parts abound & for around $100 or so (or more, depending upon your desires) you can change out the trigger completely if you wish. SayUncle will give good advice on this, as I never bothered with trigger work on mine. Or you could just buy a ready-to-drop-in part - I’ve had my eye on this one for a while, for example.

Sights - you’ll either have a blade & leaf rear sight with a front bead (V-notch), or no iron sights at all. All 10/22’s come drilled & tapped for a scope (or more accurately have a scope mount included that you install yourself). This I am a bit of a bore about - invest in an aperture sight. Once you learn how to use them properly you’ll be almost as accurate as with a scope. By all means, get & use a scope, but learn to use an aperture. Why? Well, because they’re very accurate (especially compared to other iron sighting systems), dependable (they rarely break), commonplace on military & competition rifles, & they’re a great back up for those rare but not unheard of times when your scope cannot or will not work.

MidwayUSA has a Williams receiver sight for the 10/22 running at $59. (I prefer Lynman myself but they stopped making their 10/22 model). It’ll run another $40 or so to have a gunsmith install it (assuming $20 per hole to drill & tap the two holes needed) but it will be worth it if &/or when you need a really accurate iron sight.

Sling - make sure you get a model with sling swivels, or look into having them installed (if you don’t wish to do it yourself - but it’s not that tricky). A sling isn’t for carrying the rifle - though it can be used for that. A sling is the greatest aid to accuracy you’ll ever use after the sights & the trigger.

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Good stuff. Thanks anonymous dude!

I got this advice after I bought my 10/22, but it matches that advice to a T. It’s the “Wal-mart special” with 22 inch standard profile stainless steel barrel and sling swivels. I’ve got a Tech-Sight aperture sight on the way.

Tags: appleseed, ruger 10/22