10/22 Takedown Problems

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Wrangler John

Bearcat
Joined
Mar 26, 2008
Messages
38
Regarding my Ruger 10/22 Takedown Rifle here are a few comments:

Barrel was cleaned, and Leupold Vari-X III 1.5-5x 20mm scope installed. Rifle was set up as noted in Instruction Manual Insert.

Ammunition fired: Winchester 40 grain LRN High Speed. Rifle misfired an average of three rounds per magazine. Firing pin strike impacted extreme top of rim, raising sharp burr. Bolt occasionally failed to extract fired round, feeding another round which jammed action.

Rifle had been bore sighted using Site Lite SL-100 laser boresighter. Bullet impact at 50 yards was approximately 2' high. Impact point varied considerably being inconsistent with scope adjustments. Group fired after final adjustment was approximately 4". Point of aim shift seemed to be related to looseness between barrel and receiver lockup.

Rifle was disassembled, bolt removed, cleaned of excessive lubrication (the bolt was soaked in oil during factory assembly) and a Volquartsen firing pin installed. Test firing showed normal strike pattern and consistent ignition. Reassembled rifle was again boresighted, with noticeable shifting of laser spot across field of view as aim was adjusted on rifle rest. Holding the buttstock still and pushing the forend in any direction caused the laser spot to move a considerable distance.

Barrel clamp (part no. 9) was found shifting due to Barrel Retainer Screws (part no. 10) being loose, less than hand tight as received from the factory. When screws were tightened the barrel flat would not slip over the clamp allowing assembly. Screws were again loosened which allowed the barrel to be assembled. When the screws were just bottomed against the clamp, the barrel would not assemble. Barrel clamp appears to be MIM molded part that has significant dimensional variation in top surface.

It should be noted that disassembling the rifle resulted in three pins readily falling from the trigger guard assembly: 1. Magazine Latch Pivot and Ejector Pin (B-35); 2. Both Receiver Cross Pins (B-5). Ruger places a warning in the manual that the Receiver Cross Pins can fall out upon removing the stock. This is not acceptable in a rifle that is likely to be used in field conditions, where parts can be lost rendering the rifle unusable. I do not recall this being a problem with the vintage aluminum trigger guards. The trigger pull was heavy and had considerable creep. I ordered an aftermarket trigger with adjustable over travel, and interchangeable trigger springs.

The top flats of the barrel clamp were dressed down using a carborundum stone until the barrel would pass over and rotate freely after the clamp was tightened. This required about 5 minutes of hand honing, a few seconds of contact with a fine abrasive belt would have accomplished the same thing in skilled hands. Clearance was set at .0015" measured with a thickness gauge. Barrel Retainer Screws were coated with anti-galling compound and set to 40 in-lb torque. All looseness and motion between the assemblies was corrected, the rifle is now stable and rock solid, while takedown and reassembly function normally. Properly fitted and tightened, there is a remarkable transformation of the little carbine. Possibly the looseness between the assemblies exacerbated the firing pin malfunction and failures to extract. I would recommend that Ruger, if possible, fit the barrel clamp by surfacing the top surface of the clamp flat rather than leaving it completely loose as an expedient to factory assembly. There is no way that those barrel clamp screws could have been tightened at the factory and have the barrel attach to the receiver.

As with any new product, bugs have to be worked out. Yet it's better to do the corrections at the time of manufacture than have the customer faced with the task. At first glance I thought the 10/22 Takedown was a great concept, and it still is, all that is needed is a bit more careful assembly and testing before shipping.
 

scottginfla

Single-Sixer
Joined
Apr 1, 2012
Messages
100
Location
Central Fla
What prefix is your serial # ?, also, if you don't mind give us a range on the # after the prefix., Sorry to hear about all your trouble

I also had a problem with one of mine, the reciever was cracked on both sides , from front to back , just below the adjustment knob, going towards the rear of the reciever, allowing the part that sticks out the bottom front of the reciever to be tilted down, misaligning the barrel to the reciever, that was a 359 prefix and # range of 895xx-89600, sent back to Ruger and waiting on a new gun.
 

9x19

Hunter
Joined
Dec 1, 1999
Messages
2,558
Location
Texas
Loose pins is the luck of the draw...

I own more than a few 10/22s of varying vintage and there is no guarantee that you'll get one with tight or loose pins based on vintage, or materials.

If you plan to remove the action from the stock in the field, then you can use a piece of tape on both sides to hold the pins in place, knurl the ends or stake them.
 

Wrangler John

Bearcat
Joined
Mar 26, 2008
Messages
38
scottginfla said:
What prefix is your serial # ?, also, if you don't mind give us a range on the # after the prefix., Sorry to hear about all your trouble

I also had a problem with one of mine, the reciever was cracked on both sides , from front to back , just below the adjustment knob, going towards the rear of the reciever, allowing the part that sticks out the bottom front of the reciever to be tilted down, misaligning the barrel to the reciever, that was a 359 prefix and # range of 895xx-89600, sent back to Ruger and waiting on a new gun.

Serial number range is 359-65xxx - 66xxx.

The rifle now locks up solidly so I have hope for the range trip thins weekend.
 

Wrangler John

Bearcat
Joined
Mar 26, 2008
Messages
38
9x19 said:
Loose pins is the luck of the draw...

I own more than a few 10/22s of varying vintage and there is no guarantee that you'll get one with tight or loose pins based on vintage, or materials.

If you plan to remove the action from the stock in the field, then you can use a piece of tape on both sides to hold the pins in place, knurl the ends or stake them.

After cleaning the action and trigger group, it appeared that it was dipped in oil and shaken off at the factory, the pins now stay in place. I have ordered an aftermarket trigger group which should solve all weight of pull and creep problems. I understand the economics of using polymer parts in low stress production parts, however the one sure way to retain the pins would be a thin-headed pin with e-clip retainer on opposite end. Too expensive for something at this price point, and then we'd be complaining about loosing the e-clip. I'll also order spare parts to carry in the kit.
 

DWood

Bearcat
Joined
May 15, 2008
Messages
58
Wrangler John said:
Regarding my Ruger 10/22 Takedown Rifle here are a few comments:


...............Point of aim shift seemed to be related to looseness between barrel and receiver lockup.............

How many clicks past the point where the tensioning nut stops when hand tightening did you use when first assembling the barrel and receiver?

I followed the instructions for setting the correct tension on the adjustment nut and mine locks up very ightly. The recommended two clicks past the point where the nut stops when hand tightening didn't seem to be enough to me. I experimented and found that 9 clicks past hand tight was possible, but mating the receiver and barrel seemed a little too hard. I settled on 4 clicks past the point where the nut stops to be about right.

I don't have a laser to test like you did, but the lock up on mine is tight and there doesn't seem to be any play.
 

Wrangler John

Bearcat
Joined
Mar 26, 2008
Messages
38
DWood said:
Wrangler John said:
Regarding my Ruger 10/22 Takedown Rifle here are a few comments:


...............Point of aim shift seemed to be related to looseness between barrel and receiver lockup.............

How many clicks past the point where the tensioning nut stops when hand tightening did you use when first assembling the barrel and receiver?

I followed the instructions for setting the correct tension on the adjustment nut and mine locks up very ightly. The recommended two clicks past the point where the nut stops when hand tightening didn't seem to be enough to me. I experimented and found that 9 clicks past hand tight was possible, but mating the receiver and barrel seemed a little too hard. I settled on 4 clicks past the point where the nut stops to be about right.

I don't have a laser to test like you did, but the lock up on mine is tight and there doesn't seem to be any play.

I set it up with a couple clicks beyond what was recommended in the instructions. However, because the barrel clamp was never tightened by the factory and loosened further as it was being used, the barrel was never stable. Once I discovered the problem, fit the clamp to the barrel and torqued the clamp down, it became rock solid. Sad to say that this is the first factory rifle I have purchased in many years, normally I buy actions and build them myself. Ruger really has a good idea with this little carbine. I bet the problem is partially related to training the crew to pay attention to how they are assembled. That, and the bugs of rolling out any new product.
 

DWood

Bearcat
Joined
May 15, 2008
Messages
58
Wrangler John said:
I set it up with a couple clicks beyond what was recommended in the instructions. However, because the barrel clamp was never tightened by the factory and loosened further as it was being used, the barrel was never stable. Once I discovered the problem, fit the clamp to the barrel and torqued the clamp down, it became rock solid. Sad to say that this is the first factory rifle I have purchased in many years, normally I buy actions and build them myself. Ruger really has a good idea with this little carbine. I bet the problem is partially related to training the crew to pay attention to how they are assembled. That, and the bugs of rolling out any new product.

I need to check the barrel band on mine. I think I have an aluminum band somewhere and may swap them out.
 

Wrangler John

Bearcat
Joined
Mar 26, 2008
Messages
38
Tested the 10/22 TD at the range yesterday. Since the barrel clamp has been fitted and tightened down properly, and the firing pin exchanged, the rifle performed normally.

The only ammo I had on hand was Oliver Winchester 200th year Anniversary 40 grain high speed. Of 100 rounds there was one failure to extract although this may have been an ammunition problem, all other rounds fired normally.

Accuracy was good although hampered by the very heavy trigger pull. Because the barrel / receiver are now mating solidly, the rifle returns to zero when taken down and reassembled.

Bottom line is that the Ruger 10/22 TD is a great concept, one that likely suffered from early production woes. Ruger no doubt has been working on correcting the early problems. The one area they need to address is that trigger, Even though I have hands like hams, and weight trained for decades, that trigger is just too heavy. Something closer to 3-4 pounds of pull would make the rifle ideal.

Note: Barrel clamp refers to the block that attaches to the front of the action (#9 as noted in the parts drawing), fastened down by two hex cap screws. On a standard 10/22 this would be the v-block that attaches the barrel.

Don't let my experience prevent you from looking at acquiring one of these neat little rifles, Ruger will have things sorted out in short order.
 

DWood

Bearcat
Joined
May 15, 2008
Messages
58
My TD trigger breaks at an average of 6 pounds and has some creep. It is also a little "gritty" as they say.

I will be sending it off to Brimstone for a Tier 3 trigger job which should make it a nice 2.5 pound trigger for $35.
 

wingman

Single-Sixer
Joined
May 17, 2011
Messages
109
Location
Michigan
DWood said:
My TD trigger breaks at an average of 6 pounds and has some creep. It is also a little "gritty" as they say.

I will be sending it off to Brimstone for a Tier 3 trigger job which should make it a nice 2.5 pound trigger for $35.

Who is Brimstone and how can they do a decent trigger for $35?
 

DWood

Bearcat
Joined
May 15, 2008
Messages
58
wingman said:
DWood said:
My TD trigger breaks at an average of 6 pounds and has some creep. It is also a little "gritty" as they say.

I will be sending it off to Brimstone for a Tier 3 trigger job which should make it a nice 2.5 pound trigger for $35.

Who is Brimstone and how can they do a decent trigger for $35?

http://www.brimstonegunsmithing.com/ruger-1022-trigger-work-tier-3/

Brimstone is highly regarded on RFC.com. There are also others over there like swampfox who do nice work, but the Brimstone Tier 3 job seems just like what the TD needs; a better trigger, with your factory parts, for cheap.
 

Chief 101

Hunter
Joined
Feb 14, 2007
Messages
2,613
Location
Idaho
guess I gotta feel fortunate that the one I got has performed flawlessly and most accurately from the onset without reading the manual and doing the adjustment, or, adding any aftermarket parts other than sights. ..come to think of it I never have used any aftermarket parts on a couple other wellworn 10/22's... Good luck with yours!
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