My new/old 10/22 - First new gun I ever bought, re-stocked!

Help Support Ruger Forum:

mm6mm6

Blackhawk
Joined
Oct 31, 2007
Messages
511
Location
Illinois
Growing up, we had a wood and glass gun cabinet in our dining room. As I got older, it was moved to the basement since having "guns out" became a sort of a "no-no." In that old cabinet was my dad's Mannlicher-Schoenhauer 6.5x54 bolt action rifle with a Zeiss scope and double set triggers. I always thought that "Mannlicher" style full length stock that reached all the way to the muzzle was just the neatest thing ever. There was something very attractive to my eye and unique and classy about that wood stock.

My dad passed away in 2004 after battling cancer for 7 years. In 2006, I had to sell his guns to raise money for my mom so she could have 24 hour in-home care after she broke her back and suffered from alzheimer's disease.

Here's a photo of my dad's Mannlicher-Schoenhauer:



It sold for a little over $6,000. My dad always said it was the most valuable rifle he owned and he was right.

When I graduated from college back in 1987, the first new gun I bought was a Ruger 10/22. Right away, I installed a Choate folding stock, a flash hider, a fixed 4x Tasco blued scope, and a Ramline extended magazine release. My dad put in a Volquartzen hammer and a Clark trigger for me. I've shot so many rounds through my 10/22, I can't even imagine how many it's been. Lots of fun times and it's still super accurate with the factory barrel.



The stock that came on my 10/22 was a nice orange-ish colored birch and I installed a blued steel butt plate on it years ago just to replace the factory plastic one. Sometimes I would put that original stock back on the gun and shoot it like that, as it came from the factory.

Then I learned that the International stock, the one like my dad's Mannlicher-Schoenhauer, would swap right out with a standard Ruger stock. I thought about that for years. I found some used Ruger 10/22 International stocks on Ebay and Gunbroker, but they were either birch or had weird checkering or they had the stainless steel muzzle fitting or they were dinged up pretty bad or they were crazy expensive.

Then Ruger and Talo teamed up this year for a 50th Anniversary International model with a walnut, hand checkered, red butt pad International model with blued steel. After looking for around 2-3 months, I finally found one on Gunbroker for a reasonable price (under MSRP). I snapped it up!

But as much as I like the rifle, I just don't need two of them. I could never sell my 1987 10/22! It's the first new gun I ever bought (my first gun was a used Marlin 1894 .357 lever action)! My dad installed the Clark trigger and Volquarzen hammer!

So I swapped my 1987 10/22 over last night to the International stock and I put the 50th Anniversary rifle into my original stock. A buddy at work is going to buy the 50th with my original stock from me for a good deal. He just wants a 10/22 for his kids to shoot. Selling the 50th to him means this swap didn't cost me much at all.

Here's my "new" Ruger International with my 1987 vintage 10/22 mounted in it:













Here's the 50th in my 1987 stock that my friend will soon be shooting with his kids:









I finally have the Ruger 10/22 that I've always wanted! It's right where it will always remind me of that Mannlicher-Schoenhauer, in the wood and glass cabinet that I still have in my basement today.



More importantly, every time I look at my Ruger 10/22 International, I will remember my dad….
 

mojo

Bearcat
Joined
Feb 16, 2011
Messages
87
Location
Southern Nevada
I have one of the international stocks that I dont need,I guess I should post it in the for sale maybe somebody could use it.
 
Top