10/22 accuracy woes

It doesn't take $200 to make the Ruger shoot as well as the competition. There are many upgrades that are cheap to free and as stated, do some ammo testing. If you do spend $200 on a 10/22 you should end up with a gun that will shoot circles around the Marlin and Remington and will shoot as well most guns costing, well............$400-$500. Imagine that.
Click to expand...
You expect Ferrari performance from a Honda Civic?
Mass produced rifles are subject to parts tolerances. On rare occasion, the tolerances stack up produces a fine shooter. In other occasions, a poor shooter.
Click to expand...

A friend bought a new Ruger Deluxe model (no barrel band) and it shot about the same as yours before I worked on it. I did the trigger, bedding, upward pressure pad in the barrel channel, bolt milling, firing pin staking and nose job, but it didn't shoot all that much better.

After he got a new Green Mtn. Barrel, it shot half-inch groups at 50 yards with CCI Standard Velocity, and Wolf Match. My older factory sporter barrel shot about 3/4", but after more mods and a Shilen barrel, it averaged .37" for 10 consecutive groups at 50 yards (on a submitted Prove-It target).

If you can find any semi-auto that will shoot under 3/4" at 50 yards, as it came from the factory, buy it! They are very rare indeed.
Click to expand...

Here's how I made my M&P15-22 accurate. Clean, mount scope, zero, and dime size groups at 50 yards. Yes my MP15-22 cost more than a standard 10-22. It got to easy to shoot at that distance, so I took off the scope and shoot it with a red dot or iron sights.

Here's another story. My wife has a pink camo 597 and my son has a green 597. How did we make it accurate? You got it! Clean the rifle, zero the scope and it shoots less than a quarter at 50 yards. My wife likes to shoot out to 100 yds to make it more challenging. Oh the 597s with 3-9x32 scope cost $169 + tax. Yes you can improve the trigger. But here's what we did, practice with that awful trigger and it shoots as good as we are capable of shooting.

Realibilty for both 597s have been great. Only ammo it does not like are the golden remington.

As far as 10-22s, I don't doubt that they are great guns and extremely reliable. However, if I ever buy one (I'm looking at ones with iron sights) and it does not shoot accurately, I will not spend time and more money trying to make it more accurate. I will sell it quickly and look for a different rifle. AS a matter of fact, I'd do that with any rifle or pistol.
 
Here's what I'd do:

1) Wrap 1 layer of black electrical tape around the barrel so it right under the barrel band.

2) Experiment with different ammos - Buy 1 box (50 rounds) of all the inexpensive 22LR ammo you can find. Then shoot the first 35 rounds - Then shoot 3 five shots groups with the remaining 15 rounds. Don't clean the barrel till your done experimenting - OK to clean rest of gun just not the barrel.
 
, but even with prefered ammunition the best I could ever get out of my 10/22 "unworked" carbine was around 2 MOA, with a 4X scope.

Phil---Are we taking the same rifle here?. I only ask because 2MOA with a 10/22 is sad indeed. Hell my BB gun will do that. Are you free handing it or a rest?. At 25 yards a 10/22 will hit a dime 10 out of 10 times with ease. Thats coming from my 13 year old shooting it. I have 2 of them and both are just as accurate as can be. I do not think i have the 2 in a million either. I mix ammo and all.No matter what it shoots it is very accurate.
 
My 10/22 came factory with a tapco stock(which was cool) and it will hit spent 22lr brass at 35-40yrds. Once I got the sights right it has been a great little rifle and more accurate than my older 10/22. Mine only gets mini mag or velositors shot out of it, and green tag every once in a while.
 
Is it so hard for someone that has a good shooting .22 to understand that not every rifle of that same model doesn't shoot just as accurately as the one they own? Some of these rifles span a multi-decade production run. Of course, we all know that QA never fluctuates over a 30 or 40 year period....or maybe even Monday to Friday for that matter. :rolleyes:

I have a 10-22 and I also have a 15-22. Neither shoot dime sized groups at 50 yds. If it matters, I do have .308 Savage that allows me to do that at 100 yards. I get the how to shoot part well enough. I also understand that not all rifles will, regardless of what someone else with the same model thinks.
 
4runnerman, the 5 shot 2 inch groups my stock-standard Ruger 10/22 carbine could shoot consistantly at 100 yards served me well as I used this rifle primarily as a rabbit gun, not as a target rifle. I found my "unworked" 10/22 still fine for head shooting rabbits at 50 yards & body shots at 100 yards.
I enjoyed hunting with my Ruger 10/22 carbine immensely, however I couldn't compare its accuracy to my current CZ452, which can consistantly shoot 5 shot groups at 100 yards under 1 inch.
 
Hey phil i have heard alot about these CZ's. Are they really that good?. Im always looking to buy another rifle and i keep hearing about these things.
Can't say i have ever even seen one. Must cost a lot more than a 10/22?.
 
CZ452 in .22lr is an excellent out of the box rifle. Like any .22 you still have to find the right ammo to get the best results. In my opinion the CZ represents good value for money. I topped my 452 with a Leupold 2/7x32 & couldnt be happier with the results. Probably costs about the same as kitting out a 10/22.
 
The CZ 452 is no longer being produced. The replacement is a switch-barrel 455 that may shoot about as well, though my .22 WMR needed bedding and finding CCI A-Max 30 grain rounds before it shot under 1" at 100 yards. I really love the rifle now!
 
Just for a price comparison, one of my favorite gun stores in the Twin Cities is Joe's Sporting Goods. They have the standard 10/22 for $300, the 10/22 target for $400 and the 10/22 tactical target for $460. The CZ bolt action 455 is going for $430.
 
Forget the Ruger and get the Remington or a Marlin model 60. Either one will shoot circles around an out of the box Ruger.
 
These are always interesting posts and quite often come back to something basic.
Any time I ever read anything about shooting groups at 50-100 yards I always have one initial default question. Do you have 1 or 2 wind flags at a bare minimum? If not get a couple because you won't ever shoot consistant groups or realize often it's nothing more than condition which you'll never realize because you've no way to quantify it. Don't say the wind was only about 5-6 [fill in the blank] mph because 5-6 with a switch is good for 3/4" right off the top.

It may be the cheapest accuracy improver you'll ever get.
 
10/22

My thoughts are if you played with Lego's or Lincoln Logs you should have the skills to make a 10/22 shoot better. Everyone makes parts for it. I'll post some mods and groups from my 10/22's. Most bulk ammo is random weights and should be measured on a powder scale to make 10+ groups out of a brick this will tighten up your groups a lot.
 
Power Custom hammer/sear kit: $16

Butler Creek 10/22 barrel and stock combo: $219

Sub 1/4" 50 yard group with federal automatch: Priceless

10-22group.jpg
 
I love my 25+ year old ruger 10/22. I recently swapped out the factory barrel for a green mountan fluted match barrel plus I tweeked the trigger by adding a volquartsen target hammer to the reduce trigger pull. Toss in a Boyds Tacticool bedded and free floated stock and I have a "new" rifle. With Fiocchi Exacta Match ammo it will shoot sub 1" 10 shot groups all day log at 50 yards.

I just bought a marlin 795 for $99 (after $25 rebate). I mounted a centerpoint 3-9x32 AO rimfire scope I had rattleing around with some ancient 1" dovetail rings (also laying around) and brought it to the range today for the first time. All I can say is WOW...this little thing can shoot! I was using cheap bulk Federal 525 round ammo and my groups were not much bigger (~1/2 on average) than the Ruger with the same ammo. I cant wait to see what the 795 will do with some match grade ammo:D
 
Last edited:
795? Come by -- sell ya mine, 3-weeks old, new, in the box, never fired for $114 if ya promise not to try to return it to me. Full disclosure: it makes Ruger 10/22 triggers look GOOD! Took out trigger group, cleaned, lubed. No change -- still cheap junk I'm sorry to say. THEY GOT ME!
 
Gehrhard I agree, the trigger is not "match quality":o BUT, go out and shoot that little 795 and see what it can do as far as accuracy before you get rid of it. I was VERY shocked at the performance of of that little $100 .22. My 11yo told me that he preferred the 795 to my CMMG .22 upper and RRA national match lower w/ very smooth 2 stage trigger! Kids these days!
 
10/22s are not the most accurate semis out of the box, but they should be a little better than that.

Nevertheless, I didn't want to spend hundreds getting my 10/22 to where it should have been out of the box, so I sold it and got a 77/22. Great gun, but not comparable.

Recently, I got into Marlin 60s. Try one; they're MUCH more accurate than Rugers out of the box, and more reliable. Higher capacity with a flush-fitting magazine too. (14 or 19 rounds vs. 10 on the Ruger)

I just sold my "spare" 60 in the Classifieds for $135 with scope. I shot 5/8" at 50 yards with it. (5-shot groups) with MiniMag.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top