I recently bought an All Weather Ruger 10/22 and i noticed that the bolt handle wiggles up and down. Do all 10/22s do this or is there something wrong with my rifle? Thanks.
If you do a complete teardown, you'll see how the recoil spring, spring guide, bolt, and bolt handle fit and work in the receiver. It's perfectly normal to have a fair amouint of "wiggle".
No worries: every factory 10/22 I've ever seen has some wiggle in it. As Snake and wwb already noted, not only is it normal, but I think it's supposed to, for proper operation.
I'm not a 10/22 customizer, though, so I dunno about those that have been "upgraded" to VQ bolts and such. I'm sure someone here can tell you about them.
DayMan91, Because of the engineered design of the 10-22, "play" is necessary for the bolt to function and "return" to the proper battery position. There are quite a few semi-auto .22 cal rifles with this concept built in although the "concept" doesn't especially lend itself to the best accuracy of the rifles!...............................Dick :wink: