The Ruger 10/22 – Crowning and Bedding

Benjamin David | July 27, 2016

Since I bought the 10/22 for hunting, and not target shooting, I did not buy a bull barrel or target version of the gun. If I wanted a target 22lr from the get go, I’d probably have looked at the CZ line of rimfire rifles, or other bolt actions.

Sticking to the original purpose and use of the gun for hunting, I did not want to invest a ton of money changing the character of the rifle. I simply wanted to increase my accuracy a bit, and take small game ethically at longer distances.

I decided to do 3 things.
1: Re-crown the barrel with a de-burring bit and clean up with polishing compound.
2: Bed the action and tip of the barrel with about $10 worth of reinforced resin and some shoe polish.
3: Swap the hammer with a Volquartsen hammer and shim kit for $35.

I re-finished the stock, which was purely cosmetic, to hide the scratches in the fake walnut color that had accumulated season to season. Its now a blue and ebony finish that that tries to enhance the grain of the pretty average birch stock.

The 10/22 still has its barrel band, and original character, but its a little more accurate, even with my pretty average shooting.

With the bedding of the action and barrel at the tip of the fore-end of the stock, I am able to produce 1 MOA groupings whereas before I could only consistently achieve 2.5 MOA groupings.

I haven’t used any real high-end ammo, as I don’t hunt with it. And I’ve only measured my accuracy to date with Federal Automatch 40gr lead round nose and Winchester 36gr copper coated hollow points.

Photos of the bedding.

Written By Benjamin David

Benjamin is an avid outdoorsman with a wide range of experience hunting, fishing, climbing, and backacking. He brings his knowledge and experience, to Sportsman's Magazine, and is a major content contributor. Leave Ben a comment or question.