Saturday, April 23, 2011

Winter Hangs On...



...with Her teeth. Been snowing hard up here at the Secret Hidden Bunker all day, so the planned range trip with the Solo and the mountain bike ride went by the wayside. Instead I spent the afternoon overhauling my Ruger Rimfire Challenge rifle, a Target 10/22 with the hammer-forged barrel. I replied the trigger group with the wonderful Volquartsen TG2000 trigger group, a 2-pin solution to a perfect trigger. The group also includes an extended magazine release -- critical if you want to race a 10/22 -- and a bolt release that doesn't require 2 friends and a monkey to drop the bolt.


I also added a Volquartsen polymer bolt stop (so the bolt's not stopping against a piece of steel, an extended bolt handle and recoil rod, and a stainless V-block (that holds the barrel in place).

I really like the rifle, but I did want to clean up a few of its shortcomings. I shot it last year in the RRC World Championships (in New Mexico in 2011) fitted with my ancient Tasco Pro-Point red dot (hey, it's sighted in, even if the scope mounts are pretty much stripped). An Aimpoint Micro my be in my 10/22 Target's future, to be sure.

I'm thinking about the RRC because...wait for it...wait for it...we might be running a state championship here in Colorado. I've been asked to serve as Match Director for an RRC, which if this comes off will be filmed for the new SHOOTING GALLERY...whoops! New SG? Did I say that out loud? Maybe an announcement next week!

RRC-wise, we're looking at a September 10 match date at the Colorado Rifle Club, if it can be arranged with all the appropriate clubs. That's a Saturday, and on Friday we'll also be hosting an RRC workshop open to everyone. More as it develops, but we might be giving away a trip to this match on DRTV...stay tuned.

Of course my poor Sweetie is being drafted as an assistant match director...since she's never run a match, she doesn't know how much pain is headed her way! She also hinted that a 10/22 made to her specs might be the payment for her work...paging Tactical Solutions! She already ransacked the gun safe and claimed the Tactical Solutions 1911 .22 conversion as her own.

7 comments:

Overload in Colorado said...

I'd attend such an event. Hopefully there's a class for me: Browning semi-auto and a Buckmark. I even have a holster for the Buckmark.

Budi Tanjaya said...

Hi michael..
lets exchange links!
i've put yours on my blog..

Anonymous said...

By the time one has replaced everything but the receiver, is it really a 10/22 any longer?

Michael Bane said...

Hey Anon...that's a good question! "Platforms," be they 10/22, 1911, AR15 or AK-whatever, are what they are, the base that becomes whatever we want it to be. I have custom 1911s built on both a top-of-the-line Kimber and a commodity-priced Taurus. In both cases, all that remains of the "host" gun is the slide, frame & grips ( and a few misc parts). Are they still a Kimber and a Taurus?

The cool thing about 10/22s is you can build a very nice custom gun very inexpensively. I could have simply rebuilt the Ruger trigger group for less than $50 in parts (just as you can rebuild an AR group rather than dropping in a Timney or Wilson trigger group)...whatever works for you.

I love the look and feel of my 10/22 Target, with it's hammer-forged heavy barrel and laminated wood stock. Itbalso is far far more accurate than I am with a surprisingly wide assortment of ammo.

There are guns I use as-is out of the box (can you spell "GLOCK?"), but they're not my " fun" guns!

mb

Michael Bane said...

BTW BTW, if you think I dink around with .22s, you should visit Mr. Completely, who never met a .22 he couldn't drastically modify!!!

http://mrcompletely.blogspot.com/

mb

PS: Don't worry, Overload...there will *always be a class for you!

Mr. Completely said...

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the mention, I think! Lots of credit to Ruger for taking rimfire seriously and treating it as a legitimate caliber and class, rather than something only for a starting point to get you into centerfire, or worse yet, ignoring it completely.

I sure wish your Ruger Rimgire Match was on some other date though, that's Gun Blogger Rendezvous weekend, dang it! I've got a nearly new 10/22 in the closet that I bought just for things like that.....

Mr. Completely
##

Darrell said...

I recently got a 10/22 "Target Tactical", with the 16" bull barrel and Hogue overmolded stock. I didn't care for how front heavy the 20" version is. I wanted something that would shoot out of the box, preferably without tinkering. I considered the TC R55 Benchmark, but didn't like the big cheekpiece on the RH Monte Carlo stock (I'm a southpaw.)

The TT comes with Ruger's "improved" trigger, which still needs some TLC. Bill Springfield, here in Colo Springs, does 10/22 triggers as well as HKs and such (what he's known for), I've thought of giving him a try. I hate the thought of dropping hundreds more on the gun for a decent trigger.

If you're looking for a good scope, check out Mueller Optics APV. Its parallax adjustment let me get down to 25 yds with a crisp view and reticle. I've managed a 0.34" group with it so far at 25.