Ruger 10/22 Tuning and Mods

For whatever reason, this is my most popular article.  I'm resorting to desperate measures here, because it's really important.  As an owner of a 10/22, this is going to impact YOU.  Before you can read about 10/22 tuning and mods, you'll at least have to take a second to scroll down past this stuff.  DON'T SKIP IT!  I'm SERIOUS!!

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With the failure of the Toomey/Manchin background check bill in the U.S. Senate, it would seem that we are mostly out of the woods on the gun control front.  Try telling that to the poor schmucks in New York and Colorado though.  My point being that the gun-grabbers have taken a serious blow, but are not defeated.

Write to your state reps and make sure that they know that you oppose further restrictions on gun purchases that only affect lawful gun owners and really do nothing to stop crime, mass shootings, or murders

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Probably one of the easiest and most common modifications to the 10/22 is what most call the “auto bolt release.” The 10/22, as it comes from Ruger, has a unique bolt release. To lock the bolt open, you hold the bolt back, and push up on this lever-type thing in front of the trigger guard. To release the bolt, you pull back the bolt, and then push up on the bolt release again. Releasing the bolt this way is kind of clumsy, at least for those with only two hands. ;) Auto Bolt Release Mod The Ruger 10/22 bolt release can be modified so that the bolt releases with just a little tug on the bolt handle. All you need to do is to cut the canine-tooth-like spur from the big hole in the bolt release. This is not very hard to do with a carbide milling bit (Dremel bit #9901) in a Demel tool. I found that I needed to cut the hole almost to the top edge of the bolt release. That’s really all there is to it. No need to buy an aftermarket part, unless you have to have an extended bolt catch lever. 

The next thing to do is to reduce the trigger pull weight. With most 10/22 rifles, the trigger pull weight actually exceeds the weight of the rifle by a couple pounds. This also is a pretty easy fix. Buy a Volquartsen or Power Custom hammer, and replace the factory hammer. This will very likely reduce the trigger pull from something like eight pounds down to about three and half pounds. The makes it a lot easier to break the shot while the sights are still on your target.

Trigger Group Disassembly/Reassembly Instructions* c/o David Lake of Composite Gunsmithing (which seems to have gone out of business).

JB Weld Mod* Reduce the "take up" in the trigger pull. You can do the same thing with a set-screw, but it's almost not worth the trouble.

Trigger Group Polishing

Glass Bedding the Stock Makes a huge improvement in accuracy when the action is really secure in the stock and the barrel is floated properly.

Extractor Tuning Neither of my 10/22s ran very well before tuning the extractors. They run much better now.

More Trigger Tips* Mainspring strut comes rough, stone that sucker smooth. Check to see if extractor is hitting the notch in the barrel.

Ruger Rotary Magazine Tuning
Mag Tuning
Magazine Sticking I’ve found that they work better for me if I turn the nut 9 flats. That’s not counting the half a flat it takes to start feeling tension on the spring. Like he says, don’t crank down on the screw, or it will bind up the rotor, just turn it ‘til it’s snug. These suckers are finicky, you'll have to work at it a little.

EDIT, 6/9/2013:  One mattv2099 home-made bump-fire stock video.  Unfortunately not the one on how to make the stock.

  My Tack-Driver 10/22. Okay, so this one's got a KID trigger (and barrel too), but the trigger group I tuned went into my plinker/beater 10/22. The scope mount is a Power Custom extended model. Stock is a Bell & Carlson, which I glass-bedded with a Volquartsen pillar, and DIY spacers cut from some old handlebars.

The Tack-Driver and the beater together. I need to take an updated pic of the beater, which now sports a standard Power Custom Weaver-style scope mount and one of my Tasco PDP2 Red Dot sights. It looks nicer with a clear anodized aluminum Tactical Innovations magazine, too. People don't expect the nice target trigger on a plinker/beater gun. Mag dumps are fun and easy. EDIT: Here's the new-and-improved beater.

* - Any and all trigger tuning, and any gunsmithing for that matter, is to be done at your own risk. Firearms with modified actions can be dangerous. In fact, while working on one of the 10/22s, I had a couple rounds go off with the bolt part-way open, which could very well have sent me to the emergency room, or worse.