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Had to drive 20 minutes out of the way but I found a Walmart that dug up a carbine from the back for me for 209.
Thanks for the suggestions guys, now I gotta find a good thread about customizing
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The best deal on a 10/22 is a pre-1980 with steel butt plate, walnut stock, and aluminum trigger housing. If it's in excellent condition, it's still a deal even if you pay $400 for it. The 10/22 was introduced as a quality, adult sized .22 sporting rifle, and the factory specs required at least 4 MOA accuracy at 100 yards. Most of those early carbines would shoot 1.5 MOA at 100 yards with match ammo. Not surprisingly, the 10/22 also had a price to match as the $54.50 MSRP in 1964 is equivalent to $417 today. To put that in perspective, it's about what people expect to pay for a CZ455 today.
The later (and current) 10/22s are designed to be inexpensive to produce with reduced quality assurance processes and the knowledge that shooters want a cheap "starter" rifle to tart up with aftermarket parts.
Given that seems to be your intention, it's a good thing you bought one of the new ones, rather than ruining one of the good ones.