Thinking of building a 10/22, or, help me spend money

[UncleGabby]

Here is a pic of my stupid 10/22. Stupid because I started with a run of the mill 10/22 takedown and have spent a stupid amount of money on it. The basic rifle wasn’t very accurate, so I swapped out the barrel for a Volquartsen, then needed a different chasis, so I put it in a Midwest Industries chasis. At this point, I get a bolt and receiver and now I have two rifles. I have only had it to the range once but it was definitely more accurate.

[mmc45414]

I put it in a Midwest Industries chassis.

This is the one I want!

[UncleGabby]

This is the one I want!

The Volquartsen barrel didn’t want to line up squarely with the forend, but other than that it’s very nice.

[mmc45414]

The Volquartsen barrel didn’t want to line up squarely with the forend, but other than that it’s very nice.

I am thinking of buying the MI chassis and dropping my current rifle into it to confirm I like it.

[alamo5000]

So I’m thinking of building up a Ruger 10/22. I’ve never modified a 10/22 before but I understand they are pretty simple. My requirements are:

Light weight. I handled one once upon a time that had a thick contour carbon fiber barrel and it was very light. I liked that. Is carbon fiber still king? Is Vopquartsen still the go-to place? Has something newer and better come along in the 15 years since I was really paying attention?

I want a youth length stock. Where’s a good place to get a good youth length stock without spending a fortune? I know thumb hole types are popular now, but I’d prefer something slightly more traditional.

Does it just make more sense to look up a 10/22 Lite and skip out on the “custom” work? I know sometimes it’s really a whole lot easier and cheaper to just buy the factory option and skip all the money/time pit stuff. I also highly value reliability on this rig. I don’t want to have to have premium ammo for it to run, in part because it’s gonna be a heavy use plinker in addition to other roles.

I’m probably going with a red dot optic as opposed to magnified glass, if that alters anyone’s thinking.

I don't know about anyone else, but after a lot of research I built up a 100% Kidd 10/22. I wouldn't go any other way and have actually considered doing it again.

About the only thing I might do differently would be to use an 18" barrel instead of a 16" barrel. Maybe.

I went to a gun show and I found a booth where you could try out tons of triggers. Click, good. Click, ok. Click, nice. Click, ohhhh WOOOW!!!

In my opinion Kidd was head and shoulders above all the rest.

Regarding 22 pistols Volquartsen has no competitors that I know of, but for 10/22, Kidd is the king.

[jlw]

As of about a year ago, the S&W 15/22 is once again permitted at Appleseed events.

The decision to ban this rifle was based on a number of documented problems on our firing lines, including one case where a student was injured when a 15/22 fired out of battery. Smith and Wesson eventually took notice of the problem with their rifle and has taken steps to address it. See here. The shoot boss at any Project Appleseed rifle event will have a bolt inspection tool on hand to allow checking any 15/22 that shows up on the line. Given that inspection, shooters may use their 15/22's at Appleseed events. The safety of our students is the primary concern on our firing lines.

That's good to know. I ordered one of the gauges to check mine.

[Tannhauser]

So I’m thinking of building up a Ruger 10/22. I’ve never modified a 10/22 before but I understand they are pretty simple. My requirements are:

Light weight. I handled one once upon a time that had a thick contour carbon fiber barrel and it was very light. I liked that. Is carbon fiber still king? Is Vopquartsen still the go-to place? Has something newer and better come along in the 15 years since I was really paying attention?

I want a youth length stock. Where’s a good place to get a good youth length stock without spending a fortune? I know thumb hole types are popular now, but I’d prefer something slightly more traditional.

Does it just make more sense to look up a 10/22 Lite and skip out on the “custom” work? I know sometimes it’s really a whole lot easier and cheaper to just buy the factory option and skip all the money/time pit stuff. I also highly value reliability on this rig. I don’t want to have to have premium ammo for it to run, in part because it’s gonna be a heavy use plinker in addition to other roles.

I’m probably going with a red dot optic as opposed to magnified glass, if that alters anyone’s thinking.

The least expensive way to do what you want is to buy a Ruger 10/22 Compact and add a red dot.

16” carbine barrel and 12.5” LOP. The standard carbine barrels are pretty light and usually fine shooters.

Having modified multiple Ruger 10/22s, at this point if I can’t find a factory rifle close to what I want as an end user, I just buy a receiver and build it up from scratch.

[jlw]

This is the T/C that I mentioned upthread:

https://www.tcarms.com/firearms/semi-automatic/t-cr22

[Jared]

The least expensive way to do what you want is to buy a Ruger 10/22 Compact and add a red dot.

16” carbine barrel and 12.5” LOP. The standard carbine barrels are pretty light and usually fine shooters.

Having modified multiple Ruger 10/22s, at this point if I can’t find a factory rifle close to what I want as an end user, I just buy a receiver and build it up from scratch.

I may well do exactly this. That or just buy a used carbine (they are everywhere around here)and toss it in a Magpul stock and a Ruger BX22 trigger. I can accept the extra 2” of barrel. I don’t necessarily want/need 1/4” groups at 50 yards as this is a way to introduce someone near and dear to me to plinking (and for me to play with too).

So why not the S&W 15-22? Because I have a lot of 10/22 mags around as I’ve always had a fondness for the little Ruger carbine and that’s caused me to accumulate some things for them, like mags. That and I’m frankly a little bored with everything being AR patterned.

[Pistol Pete 10]

So I’m thinking of building up a Ruger 10/22. I’ve never modified a 10/22 before but I understand they are pretty simple. My requirements are:

Light weight. I handled one once upon a time that had a thick contour carbon fiber barrel and it was very light. I liked that. Is carbon fiber still king? Is Vopquartsen still the go-to place? Has something newer and better come along in the 15 years since I was really paying attention?

I want a youth length stock. Where’s a good place to get a good youth length stock without spending a fortune? I know thumb hole types are popular now, but I’d prefer something slightly more traditional.

Does it just make more sense to look up a 10/22 Lite and skip out on the “custom” work? I know sometimes it’s really a whole lot easier and cheaper to just buy the factory option and skip all the money/time pit stuff. I also highly value reliability on this rig. I don’t want to have to have premium ammo for it to run, in part because it’s gonna be a heavy use plinker in addition to other roles.

I’m probably going with a red dot optic as opposed to magnified glass, if that alters anyone’s thinking.