Post by stalkingbear on Aug 27, 2009 12:53:35 GMT -5
What's your favorite rifle? For me, especially these days, it's a finely accurate .22 rifle. It seems most people that start out with a .22, outgrow it-at least for awhile. Sooner or later most of us come "full circle" and rediscover the lowly .22 rimfire. This is about how I built my own .22 squirrel rifle.
The Ruger 10/22 is perhaps my all time favorite .22 rimfire rifle, but they'll never achieve optimum performance out of the box. Lawyer proof triggers are the norm today, and the 10/22 is no exception. Not only are they extremely hard to pull in weight, but also suffer from excessive takeup & overtravel. Now I realize that a lot of you may have built a 10/22 before, but how many will build them the way I did? Sure anybody can slap a bull barrel & bull barreled size (barrel channel) stock on, but I wanted something that looked as good as it shot (hopefully). I also wanted a light rifle I could carry as long as I wanted without having to sling it after a short while.
I was all set to order a stock blank for my existing 10/22 when I was at a local gun store (buddy of mine), and spotted 5 Ruger 10/22s with STUNNING french walnut stocks w/cheekpiece. I chose the best of the bunch. Naturally I glass bedded it & made sure the barrel was free floating. This slim contoured stock would never be thick enough to sport a conventional bull barrel. I ordered a Shilen factory contour sporter weight 20" barrel & fitted it to my action.
I tuned my trigger using factory parts but it's advisable to install aftermarket hammer,sear, & trigger. I've been fooling with 10/22s for a long time and can honestly state that I can't rework a trigger much better than simply dropping in aftermarket parts set such as what Volquartson or Power custom offer. The easiest way to obtain adjustable overtravel is to drill either the trigger, or rear of the trigger guard, install a set screw, and adjust to lightly contact the other as soon as the hammer drops while pulling the trigger. That makes a world of difference on 10/22 felt trigger pull. I got my trigger down to 1.5# with minimal excess travel 100% reliable and stopped there.
With any serious (accurate) 10/22 build some work needs to be done to the bolt. Factory bolts for the 10/22 are sloppy by nature in order to be 100% reliable out of the box. This is not conductive to top notch accuracy. The 1st thing I did was mill the face of the bolt to have .043 maximum rim thickness. That makes for tight headspace & less "wiggle" room for the cartridge inside the chamber. While I had the extractor out, there was no sense in putting the factory one back in when this was the perfect time to upgrade.Fortunately I had an Volquartson extractor & spring lying on my bench. Another place that helps reliability is radiusing the bottom rear of the bolt. Replacing the firing pin with a beefier aftermarket version also makes sense.
Finally having it completed, I was ready to scope it & test for accuracy. In keeping with the lightweight sporter theme I wanted to top it with a 3x-9x-32mm adjustable objective scope-either Leupold or weaver. Such was not to be the case however as my wife reminded me of other, more pressing bills. I wound up taking a 4x-16x-44mm side focus Nikko Sterling scope off another rifle & topping my ultimate squirrel rifle with it. I still had hopes of changing over later at that time. Upon accuracy testing it, I decided I really liked that scope on it-even if it was 1/3 as long as the whole rifle. The 1st group went into .400 for 5 shots. Upon testing different types/brands of ammo-everything from stingers to subsonic hp & in between, I was pleasantly surprized. the grouping for everything ran from .190-.400 for 5 shots,with the average around .250. There was NO WAY was I going to change a single thing!
I have other firearms that I regularly use on squirrels, but none I enjoy as much as my own squirrel rifle. Early season just begs for me to pack my Ruger mk 2 Competition Target Slab side barrel topped with a 2.5x-8x scope. It's good for 1/2" groups at 25 yards from a solid rest. That's better than I can do in the actual squirrel woods while bracing against a tree. The Thompson Center Contender with the Super 14" barrel with match chamber will beat it handily, but I can't hold it any steadier in the woods.
Late season requires a different strategy & different weapons. Visibility is a lot further, and the squirrels that are left are more "educated". I've learned that a .22 WRM or .22 magnum with fmj bullets perform with the exact same terminal wound channel as .22 LR HP, but with twice the range & more penetration. I have 3 .22 magnum rifles but my all time favorite is my Kimber of Oregon .22 magnum. It's EXTREMELY accurate even though .22 magnums aren't known for gilt edged accuracy. My other .22 magnums are a Marlin bolt action & a Brno model 611 semi-auto. The marlin needs no introduction, and the Brno is the exact same model that famous exhibition shooter Tom Knapp uses in his shooting demonstrations.
I've never been good enough to deliberately hunt squirrels with a bow & arrows, being only occaisionally lucky while deer hunting to bag a squirrel or 2. An OLD method is to use a .31-.36 caliber Ky rifle reproduction and "bark" the squirrels. The idea is to shoot just below the squirrel's head to violently dislodge a piece of bark hard enough to kill the squirrel. I've never used a shotgun much on squirrels either-seeming not much of a challenge that way.
As I was going into the squirrel woods, I met an old man on his way out of the woods with a beltful of squirrels. Not seeing any obvious weapons, wounds or marks on the squirrels I inquired as to how he obtained them. The old man replied that he "uglyed" them. I asked what in the world is that. He responded that he hides behind a tree & when he saw a squirrel on the ground he would jump out from behind the tree. The squirrel would then look back & run into a tree, breaking it's neck. The old man then said that he used to take his wife with him but she tore the squirrels up too bad.
The Ruger 10/22 is perhaps my all time favorite .22 rimfire rifle, but they'll never achieve optimum performance out of the box. Lawyer proof triggers are the norm today, and the 10/22 is no exception. Not only are they extremely hard to pull in weight, but also suffer from excessive takeup & overtravel. Now I realize that a lot of you may have built a 10/22 before, but how many will build them the way I did? Sure anybody can slap a bull barrel & bull barreled size (barrel channel) stock on, but I wanted something that looked as good as it shot (hopefully). I also wanted a light rifle I could carry as long as I wanted without having to sling it after a short while.
I was all set to order a stock blank for my existing 10/22 when I was at a local gun store (buddy of mine), and spotted 5 Ruger 10/22s with STUNNING french walnut stocks w/cheekpiece. I chose the best of the bunch. Naturally I glass bedded it & made sure the barrel was free floating. This slim contoured stock would never be thick enough to sport a conventional bull barrel. I ordered a Shilen factory contour sporter weight 20" barrel & fitted it to my action.
I tuned my trigger using factory parts but it's advisable to install aftermarket hammer,sear, & trigger. I've been fooling with 10/22s for a long time and can honestly state that I can't rework a trigger much better than simply dropping in aftermarket parts set such as what Volquartson or Power custom offer. The easiest way to obtain adjustable overtravel is to drill either the trigger, or rear of the trigger guard, install a set screw, and adjust to lightly contact the other as soon as the hammer drops while pulling the trigger. That makes a world of difference on 10/22 felt trigger pull. I got my trigger down to 1.5# with minimal excess travel 100% reliable and stopped there.
With any serious (accurate) 10/22 build some work needs to be done to the bolt. Factory bolts for the 10/22 are sloppy by nature in order to be 100% reliable out of the box. This is not conductive to top notch accuracy. The 1st thing I did was mill the face of the bolt to have .043 maximum rim thickness. That makes for tight headspace & less "wiggle" room for the cartridge inside the chamber. While I had the extractor out, there was no sense in putting the factory one back in when this was the perfect time to upgrade.Fortunately I had an Volquartson extractor & spring lying on my bench. Another place that helps reliability is radiusing the bottom rear of the bolt. Replacing the firing pin with a beefier aftermarket version also makes sense.
Finally having it completed, I was ready to scope it & test for accuracy. In keeping with the lightweight sporter theme I wanted to top it with a 3x-9x-32mm adjustable objective scope-either Leupold or weaver. Such was not to be the case however as my wife reminded me of other, more pressing bills. I wound up taking a 4x-16x-44mm side focus Nikko Sterling scope off another rifle & topping my ultimate squirrel rifle with it. I still had hopes of changing over later at that time. Upon accuracy testing it, I decided I really liked that scope on it-even if it was 1/3 as long as the whole rifle. The 1st group went into .400 for 5 shots. Upon testing different types/brands of ammo-everything from stingers to subsonic hp & in between, I was pleasantly surprized. the grouping for everything ran from .190-.400 for 5 shots,with the average around .250. There was NO WAY was I going to change a single thing!
I have other firearms that I regularly use on squirrels, but none I enjoy as much as my own squirrel rifle. Early season just begs for me to pack my Ruger mk 2 Competition Target Slab side barrel topped with a 2.5x-8x scope. It's good for 1/2" groups at 25 yards from a solid rest. That's better than I can do in the actual squirrel woods while bracing against a tree. The Thompson Center Contender with the Super 14" barrel with match chamber will beat it handily, but I can't hold it any steadier in the woods.
Late season requires a different strategy & different weapons. Visibility is a lot further, and the squirrels that are left are more "educated". I've learned that a .22 WRM or .22 magnum with fmj bullets perform with the exact same terminal wound channel as .22 LR HP, but with twice the range & more penetration. I have 3 .22 magnum rifles but my all time favorite is my Kimber of Oregon .22 magnum. It's EXTREMELY accurate even though .22 magnums aren't known for gilt edged accuracy. My other .22 magnums are a Marlin bolt action & a Brno model 611 semi-auto. The marlin needs no introduction, and the Brno is the exact same model that famous exhibition shooter Tom Knapp uses in his shooting demonstrations.
I've never been good enough to deliberately hunt squirrels with a bow & arrows, being only occaisionally lucky while deer hunting to bag a squirrel or 2. An OLD method is to use a .31-.36 caliber Ky rifle reproduction and "bark" the squirrels. The idea is to shoot just below the squirrel's head to violently dislodge a piece of bark hard enough to kill the squirrel. I've never used a shotgun much on squirrels either-seeming not much of a challenge that way.
As I was going into the squirrel woods, I met an old man on his way out of the woods with a beltful of squirrels. Not seeing any obvious weapons, wounds or marks on the squirrels I inquired as to how he obtained them. The old man replied that he "uglyed" them. I asked what in the world is that. He responded that he hides behind a tree & when he saw a squirrel on the ground he would jump out from behind the tree. The squirrel would then look back & run into a tree, breaking it's neck. The old man then said that he used to take his wife with him but she tore the squirrels up too bad.
