Who is "Clerke"

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joebogey

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As some of you already know, I have given my stainless 10/22 to my 8 year old daughter. I am now about to build another one for myself, and I'm looking at bull barrels.
J&G sales are advertising "Clerke" barrels. Does anyone have any experience with these barrels and is this the same "Clerke" that made the cheap little 22 revolver I owned as a young man that wouldn't hit the same barn door twice in a row?
 
Clerke barrels are made by "Bo" Clerke in Raton, NM. He has an excellent reputation for his barrels, both rifle and pistol, and for his .38/45 acp conversions.

Whether this is the same Clerke that produced that "revolver" (I remember it also) known as the Clerke 1st (produced by Clerke Technicore of Santa Monica, CA) from the early seventies, I'm not sure.
 
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joebogey:

I purchased the $100 stock and barrel deal from J&G. Goods shipped promptly as promised. They were used on a '60's era 10/22 I had with a trashed barrel. Old barrel worked flawlessly but was rusty from experimentation and neglect.
The barrel was a very snug slip fit into my 40 year old receiver. I have had considerable feed problems with the new barrel. As far as I can tell the barrel is of good quality/accuracy - 16.1" bull barrel - and is a heavy little pig with it on. Nice for offhand steadiness, but different balance point for sure. My feed troubles seem to be a failure of the extractor to pluck cases out. This could be a a tight chamber, old worn extractor, assembly problem, etc. I don't play with it much - usually just my pistols - so haven't sorted it out in the 2 weeks I've had it on.

Hogue overmolded stock is of nice proportion and a nice tight drop in. Grabby overmolded rubber texture will take some getting used to.

Only my 2 cents worth. I am not disappointed, I may just have to shoot it awhile for problems to sort out. Remember also my 10/22 is approx 40 years old and this barrel change may only have pointed out a worn extractor.
 
I am really happy with my Volquartsen THM barrel that I got from On Target Guns. The nice thing about the Volquartsen is it is short (16.5") and it is light! Makes the gun very accurate and very handy. After going to a gun show and handling some of those all metal bull barrels, they are heavy compared the Volquartsen THM.
 
On a recommendation in Guns & Ammo , I bought the Clerke bull barrel for my Ruger 10/22--and also replaced the stock with the Hogue. Had just terrible problems with extraction, so I called Clerke and they asked me to ship it in.

Did so (I paid freight one-way) and got the weapon back in about 2 weeks. NEVER had a problem since--and this (with a Harris bipod and a 3x8 scope) will put ONE hole about .35 in diameter with 5 rounds fired at 50 yards.

BTW, the gun shoots best with Winchester 'X'--another item to check. My stock Ruger .22/45 SS shoots Federal Gold best.
 
Cal4D4,
Just guessing, but they probably polished the throat of the barrel to make just enough room for the casings to extract.

Now I'm wondering if this is a good idea. Here's 2 out of 4 posters with an extraction problem. Not to say they aren't good barrels, but I don't want to order one only to send it back to have it reworked. Maybe the Green Mountain Barrels are the way to go after all.
I have an Adams and Bennet barrel on another 10/22 and I'm very happy with it. Only problem is that I cannot seem to get as good a deal on them as I can the Green Mountain or the Clerke.

El Rojo
I appreciate the info, but I just like the heavy bull barrels best. Preferrably the fluted, but either one would suit me. I just can't seem to justify the cost of the Volquartsen parts in a 22 rifle to plink with. I know you get what you pay for, but Volquartsen is just out of my leauge.
 
joebogey,

I bought the Clerke/Hogue set up for a 10/22 and had no problems with it. The extraction problems are probably caused by a slightly tighter chamber and worn down extractor. Factory and after market (better then factory) extractors are easy to come by and should solve all the extraction problems. I was hesitant at first as well and I had never heard of the company, but you won't regret it. The group size dropped by over a half or more (haven't shot it in awhile so I can't remember exactly, but I know I was happy).

Victor
 
I know this is an old thread, but I've had similiar problems. Bought the Clerke/Hogue barrel combo from j&g and put it on my old 10/22.

First off, the hogue stock was so spongy and moved so much it affected poi so I ditched it.

I've had nothing but problems with the clerke barrel.....numerous failure to fire with the occasional ejection problem. Is there something I can do to fix the failure to fire? I can live with the fail to eject....
 
Questions

Badmuther
You may be able to send your gun into Clerke to correct this issue (see post above). If you do not want to do that you will have to do a little troubleshooting.
Did you get failures to fire before?
Do the rims look like the firing pin has made contact?
Old ammo?

Failures to extract could be shells that stick in the chamber.
Did you try to clean the barrel before shooting it?
Does the shell slide freely into and out of the chamber? (You may have to take the barrel off to check this)
The chamber may be on the tight side and any little bit of dirt may hang the shells up.
If the rifle is older it could be extractor problems that are made worse by the tighter chamber. I had extractor issues with my first 10/22.

Hope this helps you solve your problems.


I also just bought a 20" Clerke barrel and a Fajen adjustable stock. Shoots great, no problems with extraction or failures to fire. Groups are definitely smaller, a lot smaller. Love the stock too, since it has adjustment for length of pull, always a problem for me due to my height, and adjustable cheek rest height, for proper scope alignment.
 
I stopped in to meet Bo Clerke a couple of years back. Neat operation. Several machinists and a "barnful" of lathes and mills. He produces some 150 barrels a week, mostly .17, .20 and .22 calibers. He told me he holds one ten-thousandnth on his barrels.

Clerke invented the chain gun, among other things. He's a record holder in many rifle events. Or was; he's much less active, nowadays.

Really great guy and a fine wife. Heck, even their dog is friendly. :) He'll do gunsmithing at his shop even on weekends, if somebody has trouble at some major match at Whittington.

Obviously, I was highly impressed...

Art
 
Bo Clerke and his barrels are good to go!
FWIW as weird as it may sound the extractor on a 1022 is not for extraction of fired cases. The extractor is for removing a unfired round from the chamber. In the 1022 the extraction is a result of blow back. The extractor may assist with extraction on 1022s with tight chambers but that is not usually the case with factory barrels. One can verify this by removing the extractor claw and spring and firing their 1022. I didn't know this myself until getting schooled on the 1022 on rim fire central dot com. On a side note, did you know that the Ruger factory 1022 rotary mag has a ejector built in the lip? Well neither did I until just recently. As simple as it seems the 1022 is an amazing design.
 
i worked for clerke international arms. bo clerke is a firearms legend and has great barrels. if you want the best .22 LR barrel made by clerke international, buy the buttler creek.
 
JB in SC said:
Clerke barrels are made by "Bo" Clerke in Raton, NM. He has an excellent reputation for his barrels, both rifle and pistol, and for his .38/45 acp conversions.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. I was wondering the same thing as I have one mounted on my Ruger. :D
-Bruce
 
Not to revive an old thread or any thing, but for those that may be interested in seeing this set up. ;)
-Bruce
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