A neighbor kid needed a few bucks. He had a firearm he said he couldn't get to "hit".
He wanted $100. I gave him $125 because I don't like taking advantage of kids.
Want to guess the range? The shots are about 4.5" below the point-of-aim.
The range was 7 yards.
I did the math. The rifle has an injection molded, polymer stock. The front and rear sights are 18" apart. My math said the front sight needed to be 0.32" shorter or the rear sight needed to be 0.32" taller.
I measured both front and rear sight and they were identical for height and it was a "flat-top". Odd, that.
If you look at the barrel, you can see that it appears to be low relative to the bulkheads molded into the stock.
Curious to see how much the fore-end flexed, I pushed a wee-bit on the fore-arm while holding the end of the barrel. "Pop!"
No. I didn't break the weapon. The action chucked in the stock. The barrel now appears to be centered in the bulkheads but I have no confidence in the firearm.
One problem with thermoplastics is that some polymers flow under load, particularly when they are less than 25% mineral or glass fill. The problem with that level of mineral or glass fill is that it impacts the cosmetics. And one thing I can vouch for is that the neighborhood kid was all about "looking cool" and the stock does look totally bad-ass but (potentially) the joint between the stock and the action loses compression over time.
Of course, re-torquing the take-down screw to 20 inch-pounds (give or take) might temporarily fix the issue.
As long I have experts who read this blog...does anybody want to make a recommendation for a replacement stock for a Ruger 10/22? Ideally, the recommendations will cover several different price-points.
If you have some nicely burled Black Walnut laying about, you can make a nice stock and fore end. Or any hardwood will do, but Walnut is the wood of choice and it actually doesn't have to be burled.
ReplyDeleteHow about a standard 10-22 stock, either wood or composite?
ReplyDeleteI mean, yeah, you could go all tacticool on a 10/22, but, really, why? It's a .22 carbine for fork's sake.
Magpul makes a nice one, but I also have a really good aluminum chassis from PMACA
ReplyDeleteI have a Magpul stock on my 10/22 and I like it very much.
ReplyDeleteYou might be able to find a deal on a good take-off Thompson Center TCR22 (their version of a 10/22). I believe you can put their stock on the Ruger.
Why not look into improving the existing stock? Surely there must be a way to add supporting material that will lock it in place firmly. A poor-boy bedding job .
ReplyDeleteThat might be the easiest route. I suspect the kid banged it around and that made the action chuck in the stock.
DeleteI don't even know if the tacticool stock had been properly installed or the screws torqued-to-spec.
I will have to play with it. According to the internet, the torque spec is 18-to-24 inch-pounds. If the screw-head is not countersunk, a washer might help spread the compression. If it is, then a re-torque every six months might be sufficient.
Hogue overmolded stocks are pretty nice. That's what I have on my non-Ruger 10-22 build and it has held up well for over 7000 rounds so far. Retorque the mounting screw every couple of thousand rounds (use blue loctite on first install) and you should have no issues.
ReplyDeleteAnother point: Is it possible that the previous owner simply put the stock/barrel together incorrectly?
ReplyDeleteI have several 10/22s and wrote a book about this rifle.
ReplyDeleteYou can easily get an OEM Ruger carbine or sporter stock on fleabay for short money. If you want a walnut one, more money.
The key question for you is do you want to use standard Ruger sights or a scope (or high-mount irons such as Tech-Sights, Williams Foolproof or M1)? If you want a scope, you need a much higher comb than on the OEM Ruger stocks, because they are made for the barrel-mounted iron sights.
The Magpul Hunter X-22 and the Victor Titan are both excellent, and offer cheek risers as options for your scoped rifle. Avoid ATI. You can spend a ton of $ on fleabay for a fancy, laminated or walnut stock to make it look like a space gun. For for something really special, on the classifieds section of rimfirecentral.com there is a guy, Larry Jennings, who makes custom stocks for the 10/22. Very fine work, and pricey.
I do not recommend a chassis such as the PMACA or Nordic because it's a PITA to disassemble for cleaning the rifle.
If you are going to shoot with a sling for support, I do not recommend the Hogue Overmold. It is too flexible and will move under sling tension.
There is more to say but I don't want to make this a term paper here.
OEM stock looks like a bargain. Great point on thinking through the sights.
DeleteDo you mind sharing the title of the book you wrote? I would love to give it a plug on the blog.
Be careful Joe - if you let yourself get bitten by the "Mod your 10/22" bug, your wife might start looking at you funny, and your "mad money" pile will get significantly smaller!
ReplyDelete