Sunday, January 23, 2011

Things I had never done before

Field strip a Ruger 10/22.  #2 Son got one for Christmas, and it's been so busy that I hadn't taken him shooting.  Since it was a new rifle, I thought that I'd do the prudent thing, stripping it down and cleaning it.

It was surprisingly clean - no metal filings or paint dribbles on the bolt, for example.  This might not be a surprise for most of you, but I did say that I hadn't done this before.

Still on my list of "Things I have never done": reassemble a Ruger 10/22 so that it works smoothly.  I actually have that bit down pretty well, but the dang magazine doesn't seem to want to seat properly.  Ah, well.

Maybe I'll get it done, but #1 Son returns from a trip mid afternoon.  Wish me luck.

UPDATE 23 January 2011 13:31: Victory! It seems that, err, Sumdood had installed the Ejector upside down.  That guy must be some kind of idiot.  All happy happy now.

And I wish I had know about Albert Rasch's excellent 3 part series on disassembling, cleaning, and reassembling the Ruger 10/22 before I started.

8 comments:

Robert McDonald said...

Just out of curiosity, are you rocking it into place?

Z@X said...

http://trochronicles.blogspot.com/2009/04/assembling-ruger-1022.html

bluesun said...

When I first got my 10/22, my inner mechanical engineer made me take it apart and put it back together again on the kitchen table. It was touch and go for a while, but everything went back to where it came from. Maybe you inner engineer needs to take some remedial classes?

Arthur said...

My 10/22 was a Walmart special with a painted receiver. If your sample has a painted receiver as well do yourself a favor and strip the paint off the inside.

If you don't the paint will mix with whatever lube and solvents you use and make a real gooey mess.

I stripped all the paint off the entire receiver - inside and out - and left it natural. Looks good with a stainless barrel.

TOTWTYTR said...

The 10/22 is a great rifle, everyone should have one. Or two for that matter.

The hardest part for me in reassembly is putting the bolt back in place with the bolt release being the real culprit.

You can spend a fortune on aftermarket parts for the 10/22, but there are a coupe of things you should do.

Get an aftermarket one hand bolt release and an extended magazine release.

If you really want to, you can buy a trigger spring kit, and a trigger shim kit. Oh, and a replacement bolt buffer.

That's about all you "need" to do, but there is no limit to what you "can" do. There is no part on the 10/22 for which there is not a replacement available. You can even buy a stripped aftermarket receiver and build your own rifle from scratch.

ASM826 said...

Now, can you do it faster? Blindfolded? With all the parts in a pillowcase? One handed?

Oh, that's right, sorry, inner D.I. took over there for a second.

Glad you figured it out.

doubletrouble said...

Fun tip: you can make your own quick bolt release by filing out the little pointy part in the heart-shaped cutout in the stock bolt release. Use a rattail bastard (heh) to get a rounded, convex opening where the little pointy part was.
After reassembly, a short pull on the bolt will release it.
It's much faster when you need it, like at Appleseed, f'rinstance...

Arthur said...

+1 to what doubletrouble said. A round file will get you an auto bolt release in 2 minutes flat. Do it yourself bolt release