A couple years back I purchased a 10/22 from a friend at work. It was built mostly for silhouette shooting. I mainly shot the rifle from 25-75 yards for steel and for groups at 50 yards and never ventured too much beyond that.
Specs at that time were Force receiver, CT Precision worked bolt & trigger group, Volquartsen barrel, Fajen stock, and a Weaver V16 scope.
Fast forward about 2 years and the 10/22 was spending a lot of time in the safe. I was bored with the silhouette shooting and 50 yard paper punching sessions. About this time I purchased my EDgun Matador precharged air rifle and was using it to make kills on ground squirrels from 50-130 yards. Ranging and wind reading is critical but it was still very possible to print small groups and make first round hits on critters at 100+ yards with an air rifle. This made me start thinking... if I can make consistent hits on squirrels at 100-130 yards with an air rifle why can't I stretch the 10/22 out to 150+ yards?
That's when I found this section and started reading about other people reaching out there with the .22. Next thing you know the duplex-reticle weaver gets swapped for a Bushnell 3-12 x 44 FFP so I can crank in elevation and hold for wind.
While the rifle printed tiny groups at 50 yards I decided the rifle wasn't hitting consistently enough at 100-200 yards so I shipped the barrel and receiver back to Randy at CT Precision to have the barrel and receiver threaded to eliminate the V-block.
Then after shooting it some more I decided the Fajen silhoutte stock, while comfy offhand and sitting, isn't all that suited for shooting from prone and it doesn't lend itself well to sitting on a rear bag. So I swapped it for a Boyd's stock. Much better!
Last week I shot several 10 shot groups in the 2.0-3.0" range at 200 yards in changing wind (groups had mostly horizontal spread) and was having a lot of fun doing it. The 10/22 is so picky about consistent hold and follow through (not to mention wind reading) so it's really good practice much like shooting the air rifle. After shooting at 200 I wanted to try hitting some clay pigeons someone had set out on the backstop at 300 yards... and that's when the reality set in the scope was out of elevation travel at 220 yards. I was already using Burris Signature Zee rings with the offset inserts which left 9 mils up and 12.5 mils of down elevation in the scope from a 50Y zero. To get more usable elevation travel out of the rifle & optic would require more drastic action.
Since the Force 10/22 receiver has an integral weaver rail I decided to do the most logical thing... stick the sucker in a milling machine and start making chips.
Here's how it started, the stripped receiver and a Millet gunsmith rail blank...
And here's how it ended up. The old integral weaver rail was milled down and the sides faced flush to the integral riser. The top of the receiver was machined for 6x 8-40 weaver head torx screws and 2x .125 light press fit dowel pins. The rail was angle milled (0.85 degrees was the target, it ended up at 0.82 degrees) and was then drilled/reamed/spotfaced/countersunk to fit the pins & screws and match the receiver. The dowel pins positively locate the rail square on the receiver as do the screws (reamed 0.003 clearance holes for the screws in the rail.) The scope was then reinstalled using the 0 offset ring inserts.
All back together...
It's windy and raining today but as soon as the weather clears it's time to zero it back in. With the new 0.82 degree canted rail and the 0-offset ring inserts the scope should have 3.0 mils down and 18.5 mils up travel from a 50Y zero-- so I'll have no problems getting out to 350 yards without having to use the reticle for holdovers.
I would have never even considered trying the long range rimfire thing prior to reading all the posts here and now I have no reservations of sticking a perfectly good aftermarket 10/22 receiver in a mill.
And now here I sit thinking about building up a CZ452, Anschutz, or a Sako Quad so I have a bolt .22 to keep my 10/22 company...
Specs at that time were Force receiver, CT Precision worked bolt & trigger group, Volquartsen barrel, Fajen stock, and a Weaver V16 scope.
Fast forward about 2 years and the 10/22 was spending a lot of time in the safe. I was bored with the silhouette shooting and 50 yard paper punching sessions. About this time I purchased my EDgun Matador precharged air rifle and was using it to make kills on ground squirrels from 50-130 yards. Ranging and wind reading is critical but it was still very possible to print small groups and make first round hits on critters at 100+ yards with an air rifle. This made me start thinking... if I can make consistent hits on squirrels at 100-130 yards with an air rifle why can't I stretch the 10/22 out to 150+ yards?
That's when I found this section and started reading about other people reaching out there with the .22. Next thing you know the duplex-reticle weaver gets swapped for a Bushnell 3-12 x 44 FFP so I can crank in elevation and hold for wind.
While the rifle printed tiny groups at 50 yards I decided the rifle wasn't hitting consistently enough at 100-200 yards so I shipped the barrel and receiver back to Randy at CT Precision to have the barrel and receiver threaded to eliminate the V-block.
Then after shooting it some more I decided the Fajen silhoutte stock, while comfy offhand and sitting, isn't all that suited for shooting from prone and it doesn't lend itself well to sitting on a rear bag. So I swapped it for a Boyd's stock. Much better!
Last week I shot several 10 shot groups in the 2.0-3.0" range at 200 yards in changing wind (groups had mostly horizontal spread) and was having a lot of fun doing it. The 10/22 is so picky about consistent hold and follow through (not to mention wind reading) so it's really good practice much like shooting the air rifle. After shooting at 200 I wanted to try hitting some clay pigeons someone had set out on the backstop at 300 yards... and that's when the reality set in the scope was out of elevation travel at 220 yards. I was already using Burris Signature Zee rings with the offset inserts which left 9 mils up and 12.5 mils of down elevation in the scope from a 50Y zero. To get more usable elevation travel out of the rifle & optic would require more drastic action.
Since the Force 10/22 receiver has an integral weaver rail I decided to do the most logical thing... stick the sucker in a milling machine and start making chips.
Here's how it started, the stripped receiver and a Millet gunsmith rail blank...
And here's how it ended up. The old integral weaver rail was milled down and the sides faced flush to the integral riser. The top of the receiver was machined for 6x 8-40 weaver head torx screws and 2x .125 light press fit dowel pins. The rail was angle milled (0.85 degrees was the target, it ended up at 0.82 degrees) and was then drilled/reamed/spotfaced/countersunk to fit the pins & screws and match the receiver. The dowel pins positively locate the rail square on the receiver as do the screws (reamed 0.003 clearance holes for the screws in the rail.) The scope was then reinstalled using the 0 offset ring inserts.
All back together...
It's windy and raining today but as soon as the weather clears it's time to zero it back in. With the new 0.82 degree canted rail and the 0-offset ring inserts the scope should have 3.0 mils down and 18.5 mils up travel from a 50Y zero-- so I'll have no problems getting out to 350 yards without having to use the reticle for holdovers.
I would have never even considered trying the long range rimfire thing prior to reading all the posts here and now I have no reservations of sticking a perfectly good aftermarket 10/22 receiver in a mill.
And now here I sit thinking about building up a CZ452, Anschutz, or a Sako Quad so I have a bolt .22 to keep my 10/22 company...
