Thread: Ruger 10/22 - Tricks, tips and modifications

What is the "BCG"?

I put mine back in the safe and got a JW15. Problem solved, runs quiet as and never jambs. The 10/22 hasn't been used in ages. Might start using it for golf balls though.

Originally Posted by Dama dama

What is the "BCG"?

Bolt carrier group was my guess

Ahhhh yes. Makes sense.

Originally Posted by 223nut

Bolt carrier group was my guess

Yep, referring to the 10/22 bolt - sorry about that. Must have been playing with the AR15 a bit too much of late.

Its all very foreign to this bolt action man...

Anyone played with cutting the barrel down? Thinking of losing a few inches off mine so it's still legal but much nicer in the tight scrub chasing the dogs after possums. On this thought, presume the minimum length is to the muzzle rather than the end of a suppressor fixed permanently to the end?

Only thing ever bought from Gun City on Trademe was a Polymer buffer. Took the slap out of

Originally Posted by Steve123

I put mine back in the safe and got a JW15. Problem solved, runs quiet as and never jambs. The 10/22 hasn't been used in ages. Might start using it for golf balls though.

I did the anshutz upgrade

Originally Posted by northdude

I did the anshutz upgrade

I did the CZ upgrade. But the 10/22 was definitely the most fun for plinking and shooting rabbits magpies etc in close.
I found the cost to get the parts for the 10/22 to make it a sub moa gun was out of my reach. Easily doable, but not cheap.

Originally Posted by quentin

I can also elaborate on what upgrades did not work well:
Replacing the factory sporter barrel with a Gun City carbon tension barrel - no accuracy improvement, and ended up with ejection problems. The supplied suppressor was rubbish.
Hogue stock. The barrel channel was not straight, so the barrel would touch the stock. How much depended on whether I was using the bipod, or shooting off hand. Too flimsy to be useful.

Now that's interesting. I was considering that modification but when looking at the photos on TM the barrels seemed to be made from a three-piece arrangement. It looked like there was a sleeve (I assume steel?) inside a fluted aluminium extrusion over which they screwed on a carbon tube. Is this correct?

I couldn't work out how this was going to be better/faster/lighter/quieter etc?

As for the Hogue Stock, I bought a 10/22 with this fitted from new and I really like it. No issues with the barrel channel and I use a bipod on it all the time without problems. Maybe yours was made on a Friday mate?

Yeah, my first modification was to replace the buffer too. That took some of the noise out of the action and for the price of the buffer, well worth it.

Then I found some info online about lightening up the trigger and since I'm a tight-ass and didn't want to spend a fortune on an aftermarket trigger assembly, I spent a winter evening reworking the trigger parts. It was easy to do and was the single best modification I've done to the rifle. It really improved accuracy.

I'd never had an issue with the guns cycling - even with subs. Another modification I found recommended rounding off the back of the Bolt Carrier. I played with this for a while until I understood the geometry then took to it with a belt sander. It didn't take much work to change the profile a little and now the cocking of the trigger group is much smoother. Everything was polished with 1500 wet and dry afterwards. Basically you spread the load of the cocking action over a larger area (and a longer period of time). This seems to reduce the load on the bolt carrier and makes the action smoother. Again this helped with accuracy and it also reduced the noise of the action. I expect it also helps with cycling when using reduced loads such as subs because I would have to conclude less energy is used to cock the trigger group.

Taking to the Bolt Release with a file like Ryan talks about was also worth the effort. No need spending money on an after-market one... 10 minutes on a small file is all you need. That's another worthwhile modification. So much better.

I'm still using the original standard barrels and each of my 10/22's has had a few thousand round through them, yet I was mucking about with a 100 m target the other day and without much effort surprised myself with the results. While sitting unsupported I put 10 rounds into less than 100mm using subsonic ammo. When I get a chance to repeat that I'll take a bipod and see what it will really do but I've recently been impressed with my new-found ability to drop rabbits out to 100m while using subsonic ammo.

The carbon tension barrel is a multi piece effort. Steel rifled core and chamber, alloy finned extrusion, carbon sleeve over it all, and an alloy screw at the muzzle end to pull it all together. The theory being the steel core is put under tension keeping it straight and accurate.
The only part of the brief they hit was the weight. It was a lot lighter than the same diameter barrel in steel.

Glad you got a nice straight Hogue stock.

After 50 years of tuning 10/22's (I did my first one in 1966) I can tell you that they are accurate and reliable rifles, head and shoulders above any other semi-auto on the market. There have been more unneccesary gizmos offered on the aftermarket for them than any other rifle, with the exception of the AR15. These following things are ALL that is needed to bring out the full potential of the 10/22; a good 2.5 lb trigger job, permanently fit the barrel to the receiver, replace the factory 'scope base with a Weaver (or similar), fit a buffer pin, drill a cleaning rod hole in the back of the receiver, modify the bolt release to trip when the bolt is retracted slightly, learn how to strip, clean and reassemble your magazine correctly (about once every 2-3,000 rounds). If you intend to run subsonics through a suppressor then the return spring needs to be clipped by 12mm. Most of these jobs need to be done by a professional who is TOTALLY familiar with the work (especially the trigger job and the return spring job). These few (and inexpensive jobs, less than $100) will give you an accurate (12-15mm groups at 50 metres) and totally reliable rifle that will last a lifetime. There is no need for all the expensive and superfluous aftermarket junk that seems to be all the rage!

Originally Posted by quentin

The carbon tension barrel is a multi piece effort. Steel rifled core and chamber, alloy finned extrusion, carbon sleeve over it all, and an alloy screw at the muzzle end to pull it all together. The theory being the steel core is put under tension keeping it straight and accurate.

Right. So I was correct in my assumptions about the assembly... thanks for that Quentin.

Hmmm... so that would suggest that in order to retain accuracy you would need to have that Alloy Nut tightened to the correct torque and that in turn would also be affected by a number of things... like temperature. Not to mention the effect of compression on the carbon tube over time because I'd assume that the heat of the barrel would affect the resins and over an extended duration (of years, maybe?) the tension on the inner barrel might become reduced. It sounds like there are too many variable to me.

But it LOOKS cool!!!



And is the suppressor a separate part of the barrel or an integral part of the overall design? Can you buy them individually?