RST Blogs: Ruger 10/22 Ultimate

The Ruger 10/22 is one of the most popular semi-automatic rifles out there. They’re reliable, affordable, versatile, accurate, and easily maintained. With such a large following behind them, all kinds of after market parts are available. A complete custom precision rifle can be built to your specifications with only aftermarket parts.

This post documents the changes made to a Ruger 10/22 Carbine to convert it into a target rifle. With the exception of the trigger group, all the upgrades made to the rifle are relatively simple drop-in replacements. The most difficult part of this conversion would have been obtaining the different components needed to complete this project because availability of aftermarket parts isn’t the best here.

A shout-out to the members of Canadian Gun Nutz and Rimfire Central for knowledge they shared to make this project a possibility.

Disassembling the 10/22

The Ruger 10/22 Carbine

Here’s the Ruger 10/22 Carbine that will serve as the base for this project. No modifications have been made to the rifle, except for the addition of a 3-9mm Bushnell scope.

Removing the Stock

Removing the barrel band.

Removing the takedown screw.

The safety catch needs to be halfway between safe and unsafe positions in order for the action to be removed from the stock.

The stock now simply slides off the action of the rifle, allowing me to change the internals of the rifle.

Disassembling the 10/22

Trigger Work

The trigger group is the mechanism that initiates the firing sequence. The pull (or resistance) of the stock trigger is set to 6-8lbs. A lighter trigger pull is ideal on a target rifle because it minimizes the amount the rifle is pulled off target when the trigger is squeezed. For this project, the professionals at Brimstone bought the trigger pull down to 2.5lbs.

The trigger group easily separates from the receiver by removing the pins indicated in the figure above. Simply push them out. I used hex screws. Do remember to set the bolt in the closed position first.

Here’s a side and top view of the trigger group before it was sent it off to the gunsmiths for modifications.

Here’s the trigger group after a three month long wait. Notice the internals in in the top-down view has been cleaned and polished? Below is a list of all the work done.

The trigger pull has been brought down to 2.5lbs.
There is no noticeable movement when pulling the trigger, just crisp and sudden click.
An auto-bolt release modification has been done; the bolt now closes without having to fumble with the bolt lock. Only pulling the bolt further back is necessary.
The disconnector, and hammer has been polished for to reduce friction of the internal mechanisms for smoother performance.
The hammer has been reshaped.
A wider red trigger has been fitted and installed into the trigger group.
The trigger return spring has been replaced with a torsion type spring and an over travel stop.
The magazine push release has been replaced with a larger red pull release to match the red trigger.
The sear is replaced with a adjustable sear.
An over-sized safety is installed.

In short, the components of the trigger group have either been replaced or polished in an effort to change the feel of the trigger and make the rifle marginally more accurate.

The Receiver and Bolt Assembly

The internals of the receiver can now be accessed with the trigger group removed, but the barrel was removed too so the receiver would be more manageable. It will be replaced later anyways.

Here’s the bolt assembly, bolt buffer, and charging handle separated from the receiver. The stock steel bolt buffer is replaced with a Tuffer Buffer polymer buffer. This will eliminated metal on metal contact when the bolt is pulled back, removing that metal clang when the bolt is pulled back. Moreover, it should dampen vibrations within the receiver during semi-automatic operation and theoretically improve accuracy (marginally).

No modifications have been made to the bolt, however, it can be polished to reduce friction for smoother operation which could improve accuracy (again, marginally). A polished bolt is mainly more for aesthetics.

The casing extractor in side the bolt has been replaced with a Volquartsen Edge Extractor (on the right in the figure below).

This is an upgrade made not to (marginally) improve accuracy, but rather, improve functionality of the rifle with my aftermarket components. This new claw has a a sharper edge, allowing it to better clasp the casing of a spend .22LR round and extract it from the action of the rifle. This new extractor is necessary as the new barrel I am using (further detailed in the the subsequent subsection) has tighter tolerances; the round just fits through the barrel so the casing may difficult to remove.

Upgrading the stock aluminum alloy receiver to an aircraft-grade aluminum receiver was considered. However, such an upgrade would offer only a few benefits. The rifle with the upgrade would be (marginally) lighter, however, this target rifle will be shot from a bench or from the prone position where a bipod will endure most of the weight of the rifle. With the a new receiver costing as much as a complete new rifle, the upgrade will be held off (for now).

With the bolt removed from the receiver, now is also a good time to replace the charging handle.

A red charging handle to match the trigger and magazine pull release is used. Performance wise, the weight of this new charging handle is different, it will (negligibly) affect the bolt during semi-automatic operation.

Barrel

A new barrel would be the single best one can make to the Ruger 10/22 upgrade to improve accuracy.

A 20 inch .920 Green Mountain Fluted Bull was chosen. Keep in mind, when installing a new barrel, the notch on the barrel should be aligned with the extractor on the bolt.

Barrel installed. It will be left free-floating against the new Hogue stock (detailed in the next section). Hopefully, barrel droop will not be an issue.

Putting it back together

Barrel

Everything will be put back together in a Hogue Overmold Stock.

The Hogue stocks have the benefit of being coated in rubber, making them more comfortable to hold than the factory stock. They also have swivel studs installed allowing for the installation of a bipod or sling.

I also replaced the stock takedown screw with this new Volquartsen takedown screw which utilized a hex key instead of a flat head screwdriver. Why? I lost the stock screw. The benefits of this new takedown screw is that it can be tighten tighter by hand easier with a hex wrench.

Rifle Scope

Seen here is a Bushnell 3-9mm rimfire rifle scope, weaver rings, the factory rail (which will later be replaced with an red anodized rail) and some Blue Loctite to hold everything together. This low budget scope offers very bright magnification.

Rail installed. The charging handle wasn’t replaced in this picture.

Bipod

The purpose of the bipod is to act as a forward rest for the rifle and reduce motion when aiming the rifle. Installing the bipod was pretty straightforward. Simply the adapter onto the forward swivel stud on the stock, and then the rail onto the adapter. Next, install the bipod onto the rail.

THE FINSIHED Product

Rifle Scope

Function tests were performed with dummy rounds, just to ensure everything works. The hammer strikes the rounds when the trigger is pulled, and the bolt extracts the dummy rounds (most of the time). Everything appears to be good.