Fine tuning my Ruger 10/22

[Te Hopo]

Well guys before my birthday I felt I really needed to treat my self as it's been a busy year.

For those who don't know I volunteer for the New Zealand Red Cross Emergency Response Team which means I was at the Pike River mining accident, the Christchurch earthquakes in February and I just got back from the floods in Takaka not long before Christmas
All up 7 weeks worth of volunteer work besides my day job, this is why I have trouble saving up to buy myself the lathe and mill I really want.

So this morning I woke up, thought f*&^ work, grabbed my stash of cash and popped into the local Hunting and Fishing instead.
I walked out 10mins later with a second hand Ruger 10/22 stainless synthetic threaded carbine.
Grabbed my Parker Hale suppressor and headed to my nearest shooting block.
A few rabbits later and I'm pleased with how well I did with open sights!

A starter of things to come:


So I will be tinkering with this rifle to make it a reliable handy carbine for use in the woods or on the boat.

Already I have ordered a Tuffer Buffer and after the Christmas break I'm hoping my scope rail and sling studs will arrive.
I already have a USGI sling and a 4x30 Bushnell compact scope sitting here waiting to go on.

Other things will be refined, such as the internals will be polished and few edges radiused to try for my goal of reliable feeding every time the trigger is pulled as long as the ammo is good.

[Te Hopo]

This evenings tinkering was to alter the bolt hold open feature to make it MUCH easier to let the bolt go again and to properly lube the trigger and action unit using RemDry Teflon spray on the bolt and a white lithium grease on the trigger components.

I also fitted a Tuffer Buffer today, damn what a difference in lack of noise!
With the suppressor getting rid of most of the muzzle noise it showed up just how loud the action really is.
now with the polished internals, suppressor and Tuffer Buffer I have a minimum of noise, very much a snick-snick instead of the game scaring horror it was before.

More pics to come.

[Te Hopo]

Here we go, pics as promised.
The first pic is full of nice and shiny things, namely all the triger components that move against the other:


Next the mod to make it much easier to use the bolt hold open feature, here it is standard, it is the heart shaped cut out:


To start with you file the \/ shaped piece flat being careful not to alter the other surfaces in any way:


Then a small curve is filed and blended in:


Originally this was a right PITA to use, it would lock the bolt open just fine but when it came time to unlock it again you needed both hands and a lot of jiggling.
Now all you need to do is pull the bolt back 1/8" and the lock disengages, one handed operation.

[Te Hopo]

And lastly the new Tuffer Buffer compared to the standard bolt stop:


A weaver T-09 rail and Weaver medium rings are on their way to me so that I can mount my old American made Bushnell 4x32 compact scope.

[Te Hopo]

The receiver was showing it's age with some wear and the clearcoat on the outside of the receiver had yellowed and looked horrible compared to the stainless.

[Te Hopo]

After a few hours working with various grits of sandpaper and a block I had it looking much better.
The light isn't great in these shots but you can see the receiver matches the stainless much better now:



Still to go are the trigger group and barrel band.

Once all is polished the final coat to protect it again will be Altex Magnum FMJ (which we have left over from the last time we sand blasted the launch)

Magnum FMJ is specifically formulated for application to aluminum alloy surfaces to allow the original "as prepared" metal look to be preserved in marine and many industrial exposures.

[Te Hopo]

The new Weaver medium height rings arrived today and I was finally able to mount the old American made Bushnell 4x32 Compact I had put aside for this.
You can also see better in these pics how the polished receiver turned out:



And thats about it done for now, only some refinements left to do.
I'm looking forward to taking it out this weekend to sight in and test some different ammos.
The forecast ain't great but that's what a stainless/synthetic rifle is for.