10/22 Project Update
June 2, 2013
Despite all the delays, the 10/22 project is complete for now. You can see what it looks like below.
It’s not quite what I wanted it to be, but it’s pretty close. I was hoping to find a bull barrel – either plain or fluted – with a threaded muzzle. That turned out to be quite a bit more difficult than I imagined. I searched every distributor I could find; I looked at every manufacturer I was able to find; I even tossed around the idea of having one made.
In the end I stumbled into a Ruger 10/22 Tactical in Cabela’s. Turns out they had one in the store for a price pretty similar to the barrels for which I was shopping. So I ended up with a pair of 10/22s out of this project, one stock and the other dressed up a bit.
This 10/22 is a bit special in that it has a factory threaded barrel. My searching has led me to believe these are a bit harder to find and usually more expensive than the ‘plain’ models. If, in the future, I find the barrel I was looking for all along, I will pick it up and switch it out then.
To recap, this simple project involved switching the stock out for a Hogue overmold rubber stock, adding the red-dot sight, and mounting the suppressor. Internally I have done some work as well. Since this appears to be a higher model, the bolt is polished already but I cleaned it up a bit with a stone. I also deburred some of the trigger parts just a bit, but they were pretty good out of the box. The last bit of internal work was perforing the auto bolt release mod. This allows the bolt catch to release when the bolt handle is pulled back. Turns out this is much better than messing with the tiny bolt release lever.
I have a few more minor things planned for this gun. I would like to install a non-metallic bolt stop – hopefully this will quiet the action down a bit. The bolt/charging handle will eventually be replaced as well since the factory one is a bit lacking. I am sure I will eventually swap the red-dot sight for a scope at some point as well. The red-dot is only on it because I already had it. I have no major issues with the trigger so I will skip that upgrade until it is needed.
Over the next few weeks I will work on writing up how to modify the stock bolt release into an auto bolt release.