IMHO Don't Buy ANY Extended Magazine Releases...

After about 3 years of customizing Ruger 10/22's, I just think that you should make your own extended magazine release...

Here's How:
Remove Current Magazine Release.  Clamp it into a vice, choose a good drill bit size of an expendable (useless) bit.  3/32 or so is good IMHO.  Drill into the mag release CAREFULLY, maybe make a pilot indentation with an AWL...  Then cut the drill bit off at about 3/4" long & grind the newly cut surface to smoothe it out, buff it if necessary.  Then epoxy it into the hole you just drilled with that bit...  This is good if you have old drill bits sitting around from a kit that has broken a few bits and is now incomplete.

(Sorry I have no pictures of this procedure)

Also, regarding the Bolt-Hold-Open or Bolt Catch...  Isn't it a pain in the ass to deal with if you've got larger sized hands?  It's sure easy to lock open, but getting the bolt to close for most people (not me though) is the most frustrating chore ever.  Now FIX IT!  Make it easier to close...  Here's how:

[img]http://www.tc.umn.edu/~armament/img/pics/standard.jpg[/img]
This is the standard bolt-hold open part (After being removed from the trigger/mechanism/housing.  Place this part into a vice, and buy a good small grinding bit for your power drill (if you have a dremel, that's even better).  These bits are usually cone-shaped and very sharp (cost $3.00).  Where there is the larger hole with the nipple sticking into it (see above), you want to grind that nipple off...

NOTE:  You do NOT want to grind the stub perfectly flat so there's a straight line where the part went...  You want to GRIND A ROUNDED EDGE IN THE OTHER DIRECTION of where that stub of metal was!  (See Below)
[img]http://www.tc.umn.edu/~armament/img/pics/auto.jpg[/img]

Notice that it has been rounded out a bit in the upper right side of this picture...  Once you've done this, you may want to take a bit of sand-paper to smooth out any burrs you've made in the grinding, or just grind carefully.

Then re-install this into your gun.  Check the operation of this newly adapted part's fit & function in your rifle a couple times during grinding.  You will find that when you grind it, the metal may appear to be "wider" than it was before, or that it might "Stick" when engaged.  By sanding the edges good, and also by grinding that upper right side of the hole to a more curved shape will eliminate any problems.  That should do it!  Simple Gunsmithing.

*** Edited Because I forgot to add this:
Altering the Bolt-Hold-Open part makes the gun so that it still locks the bolt open like it did before, BUT: when you want to close the bolt, just rack the slide (pull it back & let go).

Now, let's do something about that damn trigger!  Mine was about 5# factory bought.  Take either some 1000 grit finishing sand paper or a "fine hone" knive sharpening stone (ones for "cerrated" blades work better).  Use this to polish the surface on the trigger/disconnector and the hammer, where the two parts interlock.  BE VERY CAREFUL, as you can TOTALLY F^CK up your trigger if you do it too much.  DON'T do it if you're not sure...  I just used steel wool to fix the trigger pull, and then polished it with a cerreted fine-hone knive sharpener.  It jumped down to a good crisp 2 lb trigger pull!  I love it, and so do all the ANTI's I've converted with that ruger rifle.

-inuhbad

If you've ever had anyone b!tch at you about the "ACCURACY" of the Ruger 10/22's standard barrel really sucking?

I've had MANY PEOPLE tell me that 10/22's suck a$$, but I ALWAYS prove them wrong.  First you must MAKE IT ACCURATE!

That damn barrel band is the WORST hampering of accuracy EVER!  You will hear people b!tching about "Free-Float" the barrel for the most accuracy, and others will scream, "DON'T FREE-FLOAT IT, BED THE STOCK!"

Well, I decided to do both.  First, in order to free float the barrel better, I removed the front barrel band, take the barrel/receiver assembly out of the stock.  Sand all the finish off the stock.  Chop that little ugly wooden knob for the barrel band off the forearm area (make it look nice though, and do something unique to it).  Then measure about 1" to 1.5" in from where the receiver & barrel meet on the stock.  Sand out the barrel channel from that point out towards the front of the forearm of the stock:  Here's how:  Take a broom stick or something of similar diameter to your barrel channel, wrap sand-paper around the handle, and sand it out a bit.  This will help with free floating.  Then sand out a little bit of where the barrel meets the receiver.  Buy some of that 3M two-sided sticking foam tape stuff for hanging posters/crap on walls.  Stick about 1" to 1.5" of that into the barrel Channel, and check the fit of this.  This foam will absorb some of the barrel's vibrations when firing it.  In the areas near where the take-down screw is in front of the mag-well on the stock, I drilled some holes and reinfoced that with brass rods (on one gun), and on another gun I used a solid epoxy type thing to reinforce that area.  This keeps the rifle a bit stronger in that weak area of the stock.

Manipulate the rest of the stock all you want, maybe change that ugly area near the butt of the rifle.

If you've sanded off the rest of the finish of the rifle, you can do some fine sanding, and use stain/varnish/polyurethane on it like you would have with any other wood project you've done.  This will help you get your rifle looking PERFECTLY the way YOU want it to look.  I personally added a bit of wood for a cheek-rest on one of mine, then painted it to make it a "BLACK RIFLE".  Finish the wood with paint (I prefer glossy), or stain/varnish/tongueoils, anything to your liking.  Just make it sturdy.  Don't put polyurethane/stain too much into the barrel channel, as this could hamper future accuracy, it's up to you...

My ANTI converting gun has a good 3-9x40mm Tasco World Class Mil-Dot scope, and See-Thru mounts.  This way I can first teach people how to use iron sights, and also later teach them how to use the scope.  This setup I've done (after a bit of tweaking) is capable of 0.75" groups at 100 yds, and 0.5" if I'm trying really hard, and the wind is neglegible (rare in the open field areas of MN).

I'd post pictures of my two 10/22's but I don't have any right now that are scanned in.

If you want EVEN BETTER advice from PROFESSIONAL and AMATEUR 10/22 & rimfire shooters, visit:
[url]www.rimfirecentral.com[/url]

Even SCOTT VOLQUARTSEN himself hangs out there, and answers many questions if he sees them...  I love those forums there...  GREAT ADVICE there.  If you EVER have any rimfire related questions, this is the place to go.