My sainted mother gave me a "Wal-Mart Special" 10/22 for Christmas, the stainless, 22" barrel, checkered stock model. I felt like ol' Ralphie getting his Red Ryder. You've seen it sitting there, with its yellow tag, begging for a ride home.

Fit and finish: It looks really good externally. The stainless finish has a "deep" look to it in the barrel. The reciever has that plastic coating on it. I don't really dig that but it does look nice and clean. The stock is clearly not a fine grade of wood. The checkering looks a little soft and shallow. However it is the best looking rifle you can buy for $217.00, as far as I am aware.

The internal parts look awful. They have loads of machine marks and divoted surfaces. They do not have any functional defects, though. It'll buff right out, I'm sure.

Action: Smooth, reliable and accurate. The supplied 10-round mag works flawlessly. The trigger needs some work but is decent.

Range Report: I bought a Bushnell 3x9 Sharpshooter for $46, rings included. Use Loc-tite to set the scope mount, as those screws will work loose no matter how tight you turn them, when the rifle gets hot. I zeroed at fifty yards for lack of a better suggestion. The rifle is very accurate at that distance. I got some dime-sized groups. At magnification 9, the POI at 100 yards is just above the thick part of the bottom reticle leg. I was dancing a diet coke can across the berm at 100 yards, hitting it on every shot. Ladies and Gents, that's what you call a fine squirrel rifle.

Ammo: My favorite is the CCI Mini-Mag. It is fast and reliable, and cheap. It is cleaner than the Remington "Gold," which also seems to have some variation in construction or powder charge from round to round. Ruger advises against using "stingers" as the case pressures are too high.

I love this rifle. It is a fantastic deal for the money. They only sell them at Walmart as far as I know, which is what the gun shop guys tell me, whatever that's worth. I could see it becoming a collector's item if they discontinue the model.

UPDATE 1/7/06: Since applying blue loctite to the scope mount screws, my scope has stayed sighted-in across two range visits. VERY accurate.

I have the exact same model except I paid approx $208 and change but that was pre-tax.  I have no real complaints.  A few gimpy 10/22 mags but thanks to members here they cleaned right up.  One small complaint ... The take down screw on mine keeps coming loose and I'm constantly having to re-tighten it.  YMMV.

CONGRATS, ENJOY YOUR NEW RIFLE, AND GOD BLESS YOUR MOTHER SHE COULD NOT HAVE MADE A BETTER CHOICE

so you would recommend that scope?  i'm looking for a scope for my 10/22, a lot of people have told me to get a bushnell 3200 3-9x 40mm, but i don't think i want to spend $200.

Quoted: Ruger advises against using "stingers" as the case pressures are too high.

i'm 99% sure that that only applies to the "target" model 10/22, because the chamber is constructed slightly differently.  please correct me if i'm wrong, because i've been shooting CCI stingers in my regular model 10/22

You are correct! It's the target model only per the manual.

Quoted: so you would recommend that scope?  i'm looking for a scope for my 10/22, a lot of people have told me to get a bushnell 3200 3-9x 40mm, but i don't think i want to spend $200.

It seems to be a really good scope for the money. It's got pretty good light-gathering at the lowest magnifications, clear picture, good reticle, good focus, etc. Parallax is zero at fifty yards, which is cool because that's where I sighted mine in. The loc-tite on the base is critical as you may already know. With Mini-Mags it's a very accurate combo. And cheap!

As a rule I stay away from Bushnell, not sure why I just do on a .22 I guess its ok  though. I use Simmons as a cheaper scope and they've worked fine for me.

For ammo you might wanna try the Winchester Brick from walmart, very cheap and its reliable and accurate out my gun, what I like most is unalike the remington brick the shots are more consistant.  500 rounds 10$ = the best IMO

The Winchester is good, but the Mini-Mags are the best! And they're still pretty cheap. Unless you are just blasting away. It takes me a good two hours to go through 100 at the range.

I've got a pre-ban Ruger 10/22 with the same scope.  I love it.  

I shoot the hell out of the little silhouette in the upper left corner of the target, all the time.  
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pre-ban?  does that mean you can put both a folding stock and a pistol grip on it?

i'd like to do that, but the NYS AWB prevents it.  also no high cap mags :-( but from what i hear they're mostly crap anyway.

Don't forget the Butler Creek 25 round mags (about 4 of these)

I learned not to install the $10 "upgrade" kits from ebay.  You'll just have to get better parts and install them later.

"BC" mags all the way!

Quoted: Quoted: Ruger advises against using "stingers" as the case pressures are too high. i'm 99% sure that that only applies to the "target" model 10/22, because the chamber is constructed slightly differently.  please correct me if i'm wrong, because i've been shooting CCI stingers in my regular model 10/22

Thanks guys for that bit of info -- I bought a new target model 10/22 and saw that note in the manual and then bought a used standard 10/22 and just figured that same rule applied.

Congrats.  The 'plastic' coating on the receiver should be clear anodizing.  

I use a Bushnell 4-12x 40mm with adjustable focus objective on my 10-22.  It has served me well for 10 years.

Since threads are worthless without pictures, here is one of mine:



My receiver was originally black anodized.  I bead blasted it and then polished it.  It has a Volquartson barrel with cantilever scope mount, along with a Clark trigger and hammer. The stock is Butler Creek.    I easily dust clay pidgeons on the berm from 100 to 140 yards.

Someone posted a thread yesterday, I can't remember where, which had advice for lightening and tightening up trigger pull by applying forward pressure on the hammer (of an AR) while dry-firing in order to peen the surfaces of the trigger assembly against each other. I tried it on the 10/22 and it works like a champ. Trigger pull noticably improved! There is so much particulate matter left behind, though, that I had to use gunscrubber to blow it out. No wonder the damn thing was so rough.

Congrats on your new rifle.  Go to http://www.rimfirecentral.com for lots of good 10/22 info.  Get a Volquartzen hammer to drop tha trigger pull and a recoil buffer to save your reciever.  I shoot Wolf MT ammo in both of my 10/22's.  They are only slightly modified .

Quoted: Congrats on your new rifle.  Go to http://www.rimfirecentral.com for lots of good 10/22 info.  Get a Volquartzen hammer to drop tha trigger pull and a recoil buffer to save your reciever.  I shoot Wolf MT ammo in both of my 10/22's.  They are only slightly modified . img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/jrinfoley/Ruger1022project.jpg img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/jrinfoley/Custom1022Sporter.jpg

Did you stain that yourself, or did it come that way?

Reason I ask is, I have that same style stock, in the bone/grey pepper.  I've been wondering what a dark stain would do to it.

This is in reference to your first pic.
 

 

Boiled linseed oil finish.  Many coats hand rubbed and 000 steel wool between coats.  Lots of labor but looks nice.

Quoted: Boiled linseed oil finish.  Many coats hand rubbed and 000 steel wool between coats.  Lots of labor but looks nice.

Oh, and it was dark when I got it.  Its a midnight Fajen stock.  Glass bedded reciever and two inches of barrel, KIDD trigger group,  squared bolt face, VQ extractor, Weaponkraft buffer, GM barrel.  Shoots very nice!!

Quoted: The Winchester is good, but the Mini-Mags are the best! And they're still pretty cheap. Unless you are just blasting away. It takes me a good two hours to go through 100 at the range.

The Mini-Mags actually aren't that accurate. About one in ten seems to have a lower powder charge. Ammo suggestions?

Quoted: Quoted: Ruger advises against using "stingers" as the case pressures are too high. i'm 99% sure that that only applies to the "target" model 10/22, because the chamber is constructed slightly differently.  please correct me if i'm wrong, because i've been shooting CCI stingers in my regular model 10/22

never heard of that before.
eta: must be a new warning because my manual says nothing about this but the online version has it

I just purchased a new 10/22 from walmart, I basically bought it for the reciever as a project gun. My only complaint is the recoil spring wasnt smooth at all compaired to the other 10/22 I own. It still funtioned OK but I swapped them out anyway as this will me my target/hunting gun that I use with subsonic ammo.



It wears a 16in GM barrel, Core-Lite stock paineted with OD rustolium. I free foated the barrel and added a peice of foam near the forend to support and tune the barrel. Also added the Volquartzen hammer, sear and distconnector. After I got the barrel "tuned" by fooling with the position of the foam yesterday I was shooting .3 to .5 in groups with federal gold metal at 50yards.

Quoted: Ammo suggestions?

Wolf Match Target for target shooting and Wincherster Dynapoints for plinking.



Mine