Gunsmithing This is what I did to my 10/22...

[Indy_Guy_77]

It started life in a black polymer stock with an embedded laser. This was a limited factory run special edition from Davidson's, I believe. I don't know where I have the photos of the gun as I bought it - nor the stock. Looked just like this:

Rimfire Sports & Custom: Ruger 10/22 Synthetic Stock, with BLACK Laser<font color="red"> - Out of Stock</font>

I determined quickly that the laser was practically useless in the daylight. I decided to sell it.

Then I looked for a factory wooden stock. A fellow INGOer and all-around Good Guy, Simon6101 GAVE me an extra beech stock that he had. It had some water damage and a few gouges on it - no big deal to me.

I asked my step-dad to refinish it for me. I ended up cutting off the front "nub" and re-radiused the now 90* angles into a more pleasing rounded shape.

That made the rifle look like this:

My father in law gave me an old 4x32 Simmons scope that he had and didn't want.

This left the rifle looking like this:

 

[Rhoadmar]

Pretty. Nice job.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

And, because of being who I am - I couldn't just leave "well enough" alone and decided to start along the garden path to upgrades.

Mercy.

Where to even begin?

The aftermarket is FLOODED with 10/22 parts, accessories, and upgrades. One can even build a 10/22 without ever having touched a single Ruger part. And one can spend upwards of $1000 on said parts & accessories should they want to. Very easy to do right off the bat if you want a new barrel and an aftermarket receiver. That gets rather salty rather quickly.

But, being budget minded - I knew I wasn't going to go that route. I like having a 10/22 and all - but I don't want to marry it and have it's babies.

So I started doing some research on common 10/22 upgrades. I found that by far the most common internal upgrades were to the trigger group/sear and the extractor. Probably just behind this were the bolt, bolt release, charging handle, and mag release lever.

Two companies seemed to carry the lion's share of the market on these parts. Power Custom (PC) and Volquartsen (VQ).

I decided against purchasing a whole trigger group - again, due to cost.

This is what I narrowed it down to:

VQ charging handle / recoil spring assy
VQ auto bolt release
VQ exact edge extractor
VQ target hammer
PC extended mag release lever
Buffer Technologies polymer recoil spring / bolt buffer

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

Then I had to install it! Woo hoo!

Because working on guns is fun. For me it is, anyhow.

Remove barreled action from stock

Remove barrel from receiver

Examine the reciver and get an idea how the trigger group / innards are held in place by pins

 

[Rhoadmar]

It's way to easy to go overboard with the 10/22. I admire your restraint.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

Remove a couple of pins and remove trigger group from receiver

Underside of receiver showing the bolt

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

Finagle the bolt and charging handle out of the receiver. This isn't exactly difficult, but it's not super duper easy, either. It seems if you don't hold your mouth just right it won't come out. Once it does, though, it's like "oh yeah, that was pretty easy".

Old charging handle and spring vs. new VQ piece

Note: Some people will polish the underside of the top of the receiver. I've not done that. As of now, I don't really have the tools nor "metal polishing know-how" to do this.

It's done to aid in a more smooth compression of the spring and bolt travel.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

Next I worked on the extractor:

Factory on the left, VQ on the right. Note how "sharp" the VQ one is.

Note - do NOT lose the little extractor retaining pin!

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

I then "installed" the new VQ charging handle / recoil spring in the bolt. I say "installed" because it's basically just a drop-in part. Although in MY case, I had to file down one edge of the new handle assy to get it to fit properly. No big deal.

Then I went ahead and re-installed the bolt assy. back into the receiver along with the new buffer.

 

[indytechnerd]

slowest gun porn thread ever

 

[scottka]

slowest gun porn thread ever

That's what I was thinking too.

Why did you remove the barrel? Or did I miss a part?

 

[PGRChaplain]

Looks Good! A+ on the Pics.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

Then it was on to the innards of the trigger group.

There's a distinct lack of decent photos about this. I just kind of got busy doing it and didn't document it.

I will say this: Be sure that you follow the directions that come with your upgraded parts. YouTube is also an invaluable tool. Many videos detailing exactly how to disassemble and reassemble the innards of a 10/22 trigger group.

Difference between the factory bolt release lever and the VQ. VQ on the RIGHT (thanks to ScottKA for pointing out the error of my ways )

Many folks more mechanically inclined than I am will simply modify the factory one themselves with a few files / dremel tool. I am not one of those guys. Easy to see how easily it could be done, though.

Top view reassembled trigger group, hammer down/forward

Top view reassembled trigger group, hammer back/cocked

Frontal view assembled trigger group

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

Next:

Putting the trigger group back into the receiver

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

THEN I decided that I'd take care of a semi-serious issue that I noticed with the scope rail / receiver.

One of the screws was stripped out. Bummer. VERY easy to do with steel screws in an aluminum receiver.

Nothing that a little thread locker couldn't take care of.

Reassembled:

And, finally, I topped it off with a Mueller APV scope sitting in some Leupold rings

All in all - I'm happy with it! I need to spend a day getting the scope really dialed in. It's mostly there but not quite.

Also, I may or may not keep the rifle in this stock. As pretty as it is, it's kind of short. I've been kicking around the idea of a Hogue over-molded.

ETA: One more thing: I've since had the barrel threaded and the front sight removed.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

Why did you remove the barrel? Or did I miss a part?

Just to have it out of the way. The barrel doesn't NEED to be removed, no.

 

[Thegeek]

I did the bolt release mod to mine. Best free mod ever. Took 10 minutes with a dremel. Lookup the overtravel stop mod. That one isn't so easy, but with a small drill and tap, you can add a cap screw for the trigger overtravel.

 

[IndyGunworks]

You REALLY need to retitle this with the word gunsmithing first so it gets counted towards out attempts at a gunsmithing thread. w/out that word it doesn't help.

either way, really cool thread and I think the stock looks a million times better w/ everything that you did to it.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

slowest gun porn thread ever

You are not nice. :-( You're just jealous. Admit it!

Looks Good! A+ on the Pics.

Thank you. Photography is another "hobby" of mine that I don't have enough time or money to work on.

You REALLY need to retitle this with the word gunsmithing first so it gets counted towards out attempts at a gunsmithing thread. w/out that word it doesn't help.

either way, really cool thread and I think the stock looks a million times better w/ everything that you did to it.

I tried to edit the thread title...

And thanks. I asked for a "dark reddish / Cherry" refinish and that's what came out!

good looking rifle and thanks for the step by step process.

Thanks for the compliments.

 

[IndyGunworks]

You have to report your own post and ask the mods to change it for you... I do it all the time.