SIMPLE THANGS
By Swamprat
Sometimes I
get so caught up in the rat race. Always
trying to get something or the other done or on the go all the time. I forget how much fun the simple things in
life can be. That includes
shooting. The other day I got out the
little Ruger 10-22 I bought and did all the modifications on a while back and
took it and my 17 HMR to the range. I'm usually doing some kind of load
development or sighting in a big game rifle and had forgotten how much fun a 22
can be.
I bought an older 10/22 on Gunbroker a couple of
years ago, I forget I think it was made in the 60's, before the plastic trigger
groups and all the useless "safety" additions the lawyers made them
add to them. Then I bought a pdf book by
Roger Seher, at roger@dominateyourmarket.com called Performance Enhancements of
the Ruger 10/22. Man that is a good resource
if you want to make one shoot. I think I
did everything he suggested in that book, it took quite some time to get it all
done. Then I bought a Green Mountain
barrel for it and mounted a Bushnell Banner 3-12 scope on it. I expect the new barrel and trigger work had
more to do with the accuracy of that little rifle than anything else, but that
little gun will shoot. I can shoot the 1"
center of a target all day long at 50 yards.
I've never seen the beat of it. I
usually take it with me when I go to the range.
I really enjoy it when a kid or woman is trying to learn to shoot and is
having trouble with their groups. I take
it out, load it up and let them shoot it.
It's a real confidence booster when they can actually hit what they
shoot at.
Anyway I
took it to the range and was shooting it and a guy walked up and asked how I
got that kind of accuracy out of it. He
bought one for his grandson and was really disappointed in it. I told him what all I did (that I could
remember) and he said he didn't want to do that much work on one. I understand that but you don't get something
for nothing. I hear it all the
time. They want accuracy and
dependability but they want it without any effort on their part. It's too much trouble to reload and do all
that load development, it shoots ok without it.
I understand that but then they ooh and ahh over my groups and wish they
could do as well. Kinda like the work
force these days. Somewhere along the
way Americans have forgotten that it actually FEELS GOOD to accomplish
something with their own hands. I guess
I'm crazy but that's what I enjoy most about shooting and hunting.
I wish 22
ammo wasn't so scarce because I really had a good time with it. It's about as much fun as you can have with
your clothes on.
God Bless,
Swamprat
3 comments:
Good job. The old 10/22 was made to shoot but was limited by design and fit issues as to accuracy. heavy trigger pulls, uneven bedding, torque created by that barrel band and varying quality in bore condition made accuracy a sometimes thing. I did the same thing about 10 or so years ago with a few 10/22s my buddy acquired and was pleased with the results. Some I totally re-stocked and installed new barrels and others I re-bedded in the original stocks and lapped the bores. All shot much better and two of the re=barreled rifles could manage 1/5" 10-shot groups at 50 yards with select ammo. You are totally right, nothing beats the satisfaction of doing a good job yourself. Have fun!
Thanks SSL, I thinned down the old stock, did away with the barrel band, and opened the barrel channel and floated that new Green Mountain barrel. I also drilled a hole on each side of the reciever and installed set screws to tighten up and center the trigger group (the metal trigger group). I'll have to look up the PDF I used to remember what I did to the trigger, but it is much better now. I would love to take this little rifle squirrel hunting (tree squirrels), oh well maybe some day.
We are out of town right now but I'll post some pics of it soon.
Swamprat
Glad you knew about the set-screw trick...I forgot to mention it.
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