I only just seen this post and read your comments with interest gundoc as until you mentioned the push fit barrels l had forgotten about them.Back in 85 l was shooting rabbits professionally in oz and the mob we were shooting for had a deal where once you proved your worth you could purchase through them at dealer rates customized Brno Model 2's and also custom 10/22's which had the following done to them-trigger job set at 2lbs-barrel permanently fitted (l thought they were silver soldered but they may well have been loc-tited as you said)-Cleaning hole drilled and tapped-weaver bases with a 2x loopy fitted these were guaranteed to shoot 1/2 inch at 50 mtrs at most and all came with the test target. l got my boss to rummage through them at the office and got one that shot just over 3/8 with the plain wrap bulk winchester solids we used (everything had to be head shot).These were what we used to shoot in the sun set hours from the ute as we drove to our spotlighting block, the rabbits were that thick on the edge of the salt bush desert country where we shot a lot of the rabbits did not burrow but would just push up the salt bush into little hutches and squat there thinking they were safe,the 10/22's were easier to use than a bolt for the bulk shooting involved,we would then swap over to the Brno's for the spotlighting later we had to average 200 pair a night to make a good quid and we shot 250-300 pair a lot of the time.Those little rugers spent their whole working life covered in the fine talcum like desert dust and would only hiccup when maintenance was not kept up .All the work was done by a Gunsmith in Sydney named Heimo Petzl who also set up our Fox and roo Rem 700's in .222, l put that much lead through the ruger l could hit quail flying with it and head shooting rabbits on the run was no problem,l much later went on to represent my state in Skeet shooting and shot on invitation internationally and l really believe it was my time behind the butt on that Ruger that got me to that level.
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