The Ultimate Lightweight 10-22 Hunting Rifle. Part 1

This article originally at http://prepping2survive.com/

The Ultimate Lightweight 10-22 Hunting Rifle.

We here at Prepping 2 Survive have a fondness of firearms. OK, maybe an obsession… or some would call it an addiction. None the less, Ruger is celebrating the 50th anniversary of what we feel is the best semi-auto .22lr ever made, the 10-22. The fact that the model has lasted 50 years and is still in production speaks for itself. The gun is very much the same gun you could buy 50 years ago. A few parts have changed to polymer that used to be made from metal, but with what is one of the biggest aftermarket followings of any gun in existence, every single piece is available to be upgraded.

We felt it only right to Honor its 50th birthday by building the Ultimate Lightweight 10-22 Hunting Rifle. The 10-22 is very accurate out of the box in any form, but they do have a few drawbacks that interfere with accuracy as most mass produced low cost firearms do. We want to build a lightweight tack driving machine. To do this we are going to replace the trigger and housing, the barrel, and the stock. We will then add on an optic and take her for a test drive from the bench.

Here is a little preview of the components we will be using. We are starting with a bone stock Ruger 10/22 carbine 50th anniversary edition.  For the trigger and barrel we went to Volquartsen Custom. Volquartsen has been a big name in quality 10-22 parts for some time now. They have an outstanding reputation for what they build.

For the trigger, we went with one of their full trigger groups. The 10-22 used to be made with a metal trigger group that is now made from polymer. We still like to use metal when we can. We went with their TG 2000 trigger, but in black, which is made of metal. This trigger will give us the clean and crisp trigger break needed for accuracy and also lower the trigger pull.

For the barrel, we wanted the accuracy that comes from a bull barrel without the weight it adds. For this, we went with the Ultralight Barrel. Per Volquartsen, “This barrel is a lighter weight version of our THMTension Barrel that has set the standard for lightweight barrels. A carbon fiber sleeve is tensioned in place to eliminate barrel vibration issues typically found with smaller diameter barrels.”

For the stock, we needed something that would accommodate the bigger diameter barrel and something that would offer good grip in less than ideal conditions that we often find ourselves in while hunting. For this we went with the Hogue Overmolded stock. This is a nylon stock that is overmolded with a rubberized finish. There are lighter stocks on the market, but they offer less grip.

For optics, we wanted a scope that we could change the distance we were shooting quickly and still be on target. For this we needed a scope with a ballistic drop compensated reticle or BDC reticle. What a BDC reticle does is allows you to zero in the scope at a set distance, the reticle then has more cross hairs under the zero which are compensated for how much the bullet will drop at a set distance. For this we went with the Nikon ProStaff Rimfire 3-9 x 40 Black Matte Riflescope (BDC 150). We will talk more about this and the BDC reticle in part 2.

We have a few other goodies we will be adding during the build. Our goal is to build a sub. M.O.A. rifle that comes in under 5lbs minus the optic. We want something we can carry all day and not get tired. We also want something our kids will be able to handle with confidence out in the field. Look for part II of the build soon to see if we reach our goal in building the ultimate lightweight 10-22 hunting rifle.

The post The Ultimate Lightweight 10-22 Hunting Rifle. Part 1 appeared first on Preparing 2 Survive.

Source: http://prepping2survive.com/the-ultimate-lightweight-10-22-hunting-rifle-part-1/