how well do aftermarket 10-22 barrels shoot

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6724

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i have an AMT small game hunter 2, an exact clone of the ruger 10-22 but made in all stainless, it came with a 24" heavy barrel. i have a ruger barrel also that i sometimes run on it. i tested 6 different types of cheapo walmart available ammo in both barrels. the ruger barrel grouped about 3" or worse with all of it at 50yds. the factory AMT barrel grouped noticeably better with all of it. federal auto-match was the worst at about a 4+" group, both types of winchester grouped about 2-1/2", federal lightning was about 4+", fed bulk pack about 2" and remington golden bullet about 1.5". but just to see in a "good" rifle, i shot all the same ammo in my remington 513T matchmaster. it shot almost all 1 hole groups at 15yds.
the amt i shot 10 shot groups from sandbags at 50yds with a 6x leupold scope, the remington matchmaster was sandbags at 15yds with iron sights. i would have shot the matchmaster at 50yds, but the bullseye was smaller than the front sight bead even at 15yds.
so, the question is, will an aftermarket barrel for a 10-22 shoot the cheap ammo well, or will it require good ammo for it to shoot well?
 
I can try to answer some of your questions,,All four 10/22 barrels i have,,prefer one ammo or the other for each,,some will shoot up too 3 different ones at minute of squirrel head at 50 yards.

Mostly the price of the ammo has nothing to do with the barrels liking them,,,got some pricey stuff that ive tried in all 4,,,none of em likes it....wolf match shoots one hole on some,,good in others.

Your 513t,,must not be picky,,one outta 4 of mine arent either,,,the other 3 are.

One loves cheap blazers...2 love fiocchi performance 40 solids..last one groups wolf almost as good as blazers,,but not quite...out to 225.

X
 
I have had a few green mountain and adams and bennet bbls. I lapped them with JB bore paste, hundreds of passes. They all shot very well. I built a few guns for buddies and did not lap them, still shot well, but not in the same league as the lapped barrells. Just my experience. No telling what ammo will shoot well out of a barrell, just got to put in some trigger time with a variety.
 
i am just wondering if an aftermarket barrel will shoot appreciably better than what i have got. i dont want to spend a couple bills only to get the same as i have. i also dont want to spend a couple bills and have a barrel that will only shoot well with expensive ammo.
 
I can't answer that one for you. My 10-22 has the original everything on it and shoots minute of clothes peg with remington bulk junk ammo. Good luck!
 
I have two after market barrels on my 10/22s,, both of them are carbon fiber wrapped from Magnum Research... One in .22lr and the other in .17M2

Both outshoot the stock factory Ruger barrel, of course the availability of .17M2 ammo is limited, but the .22lr handles a variety very well...I've acquired and tested over 20 brands/types of ammo in all of my .22s and found that each has a preference, without regard to cost or reputation..

The most accurate in all of them is Federal Gold Medal Match and I'm not sure it's even being produced anymore...There is a newer round out that costs about 1/3 of the more well known Eley Match ammo that shoots just as well in two of mine... It's produced by Aquila and has a sub-name of Centurion...

To your original question, I get good results out of Hyper-Velocity, as well as High Velocity and Standard Velocity ammo, depending on brand, but it's generally individual to the weapon..

I think that it really depends on what you are trying to accomplish and expect out of your rifle as to whether it's worth the additional expense to upgrade the barrel... Personally, I've found that a trigger upgrade will produce an immediate improvement and still keep the rifle in the stock configuration..The plus for most after market barrels is that the chamber is usually a little more 'match' grade than the factory ones and that seems to have as much influence on how the rifle shoots as the rest of the barrel..
 
I have a Green Mountain on my 10/22. On a good day and I'm on my game, it will bug hole at 50yds. using Wolf Match or Standard Plus ammo. Other days, 1/2 inch groups are not abnormal. Its had a little work done to it, but not much above a stocker. It will make the squirels and crows shudder in fear.
 
I would be interested in hearing how well, or not well, the various after market barrels shoot in comparison to the Ruger factory barrels, and compared to each other.....
 
2much,,,i have one with a factory barrel,that has been worked..its nickname is the "turd"..it will keep up with the match barrels,,but every other part except the bolt has been worked over.

One thing i have noticed is folks buying the upgraded 10/22 target...when they would be money ahead buying the 199.00 model...80-150 bucks later its shooting circles around the target model.

X
 
Quote:I would be interested in hearing how well, or not well, the various after market barrels shoot in comparison to the Ruger factory barrels, and compared to each other.....

that IS the question

if all else is the same, how much advantage is there in an aftermarket. and which aftermarket?
 
6724..are they better? yes...does just changing the barrel make it a one holer?most times no.

Just like doing a custom centerfire,,each lil thing shrinks the group,until it can be shrunk no more....cant just say its due to the barrel....Think slapping a lija or hart barrel on a mossberg ATK...the barrel will do the job,,everything else will hold it back.

What you can do is work with what ya got,,,buying not so pricey lil things,,and work the trigger...for some rifles thats enough.

X
 
My 10/22 is completely stock and it shoots good enough out to 50 yards with remingtons HP Golden bullet offhand and from a rest that I'm not to worried about what a "custom" $150 barrel is gonna do from it.

I"ve thought about tricking it out a time or two but in all reality I shoot my .22 the least out of any rifle I own so throwing a bunch of money in it to shrink the groups down to consistent 1/2" is not really worth it to me. You cant shoot a .22 that far to kill anything anyways with all that extra accuracy so I really dont care.

On a bad day its around 1" at 50 yards and on good days it'll do 1/2" from a rest, good enough for a stock auto .22 and it'll kill anything I want it to out to 75 yards with that kinda accuracy.
 
Kidd barrels are now getting the most praise for consistent accuracy.

Rimfirecentral is a much better place to ask and find example groups.
 
To get the best accuracy out of a 10/22 you need to thread the receiver and screw in the barrel. It's not hard and not much more expensive than some clamp in barrels.

Jack
 
Originally Posted By: 2muchgunI would be interested in hearing how well, or not well, the various after market barrels shoot in comparison to the Ruger factory barrels, and compared to each other.....

I think it might be a bit of a mixed bag. I know some people who have aftermarket barrels that shoot marginally, some with factory barrels that shoot very well. I lucked out with mine, my father in law has a 10-22 (old one) that doesn't shoot well at all, both of them are stock factory rifles.
Ruger, like most manufacturers, obviously have quite a bit of variation in their barrels, triggers etc.
 
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