Hi people, I've got a 25 year old 10/22 carbine with a beautifully grained walnut stock that I dearly love. I am the original owner. The one thing i've always hated about this rifle is the original plastic butt plate. Maybe I would not have minded it so much if the thing had been properly fitted for my rifle but the thing is just so mis-fitted that I have always wanted to replace it. The thing is, I've never been able to find a metal butt plate for 10/22's and I am wondering if such things even exist? Anyone?
10/22 metal butt plate?
1 - 19 of 19 Posts
Joined
·
60 Posts
Henderson, I posted asking about a SS buttplate and received no replies. I have search the web with every imaginable combination and have not found one. I guess most people are satisfied with the plastic one (I think it is the tackiest buttplate I have ever seen). I have resolved to finding someone that can custom made a metal buttplate.
Joined
·
190 Posts
Metal Buttplates
Henderson,
I checked the one metal plate I have against 4 plastic ones and they are the same size, but the stocks are different widths causing the fit to be better on some than others. You might find a metal plate on a used stock at a gunshow, but if the 5 I have are any example it would still not fit any better. I do not know if anyone makes a replacement. I have seen used ones on E-bay occassionally. Ruger started out using a metal plate, but switched to plastic, I think in the mid to late 70's. I'm not sure of the exact date. Hope this helps somewhat. Maybe someone knows of an aftermarket source for you.
Henderson,
I checked the one metal plate I have against 4 plastic ones and they are the same size, but the stocks are different widths causing the fit to be better on some than others. You might find a metal plate on a used stock at a gunshow, but if the 5 I have are any example it would still not fit any better. I do not know if anyone makes a replacement. I have seen used ones on E-bay occassionally. Ruger started out using a metal plate, but switched to plastic, I think in the mid to late 70's. I'm not sure of the exact date. Hope this helps somewhat. Maybe someone knows of an aftermarket source for you.
Joined
·
134 Posts
I believe Brownell's has a metal buttplate listed. I'm thinking the only one I've seen is blued, but they might, maybe, have a stainless version too.
Joined
·
1,480 Posts
Interesting.
In Wm. Workmans book "The Ruger 10/22" He notes that walnut stocks were dropped in favor of birch in 1981, but that the aluminum butplate was not changed to plastic till 1984.
It would be odd that you would have a plastic butplate on a walnut stock. But the misfitted plate places the year of manufacture between these dates, or about 20 years old. After serial number range 125-xxxxx the stock was machined with the butplate in place, resulting is a much better plate to stock fit and finish.
In Wm. Workmans book "The Ruger 10/22" He notes that walnut stocks were dropped in favor of birch in 1981, but that the aluminum butplate was not changed to plastic till 1984.
It would be odd that you would have a plastic butplate on a walnut stock. But the misfitted plate places the year of manufacture between these dates, or about 20 years old. After serial number range 125-xxxxx the stock was machined with the butplate in place, resulting is a much better plate to stock fit and finish.
I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to respond to my query. I am still in shock about the price of the buttplate. I guess that I was hoping that such an item would cost under $20 but I guess the law of supply and demand rules here (less demand equals higher price).
Vibe, Your posting prompted me to place a call to Ruger customer service to try and pin down the exact time frame where Ruger abandoned the steel buttplate in favor of the plastic one. The lady that took my call said that she did not know for sure but would find out. She did say that plastic was in use in the early 1970's. Her suggestion to me if I really wanted to pursue this is to write a letter to Ruger research and they would eventually find out the true origins of the plastic buttplate.
The reason that your posting caused me concern is that my rifle has never left my possession except for periods of time that I have lent the rifle to friends and I would hate to think that one of my friends had swapped out my metal plate for his plastic one. My rifle has a serial # prefix of 114 and I am fairly sure that I bought it before 1975.
Vibe, Your posting prompted me to place a call to Ruger customer service to try and pin down the exact time frame where Ruger abandoned the steel buttplate in favor of the plastic one. The lady that took my call said that she did not know for sure but would find out. She did say that plastic was in use in the early 1970's. Her suggestion to me if I really wanted to pursue this is to write a letter to Ruger research and they would eventually find out the true origins of the plastic buttplate.
The reason that your posting caused me concern is that my rifle has never left my possession except for periods of time that I have lent the rifle to friends and I would hate to think that one of my friends had swapped out my metal plate for his plastic one. My rifle has a serial # prefix of 114 and I am fairly sure that I bought it before 1975.
10/22 Stock & Butt Plate Changes
Henderson,
According to Wm. E. Workman, in his book "The Ruger 10/22", the transition from metal [aluminum] to plastic [Celcon] took place in November of 1976, between 116-38021 [highest metal butt plate] and 116-39625 [lowest plastic butt plate].
The walnut stock of the 10/22-R was changed to American hardwood [birch] in 1981, and the model to 10/22-RB. This change was spread over a wide range of SN's, with the highest walnut SN being 121-50355, and the lowest birch SN being 119-70067.
Butt plate 'fit' also changed in 1984, going from an unfitted plate to a fitted plate matching the contour of the wood. This change was between 125-75285 and 125-80487.
I hope this helps....! !
Henderson,
According to Wm. E. Workman, in his book "The Ruger 10/22", the transition from metal [aluminum] to plastic [Celcon] took place in November of 1976, between 116-38021 [highest metal butt plate] and 116-39625 [lowest plastic butt plate].
The walnut stock of the 10/22-R was changed to American hardwood [birch] in 1981, and the model to 10/22-RB. This change was spread over a wide range of SN's, with the highest walnut SN being 121-50355, and the lowest birch SN being 119-70067.
Butt plate 'fit' also changed in 1984, going from an unfitted plate to a fitted plate matching the contour of the wood. This change was between 125-75285 and 125-80487.
I hope this helps....! !
Joined
·
1,480 Posts
Well, BigMike and I are referencing the same book. And that particular book places the serial number of your rifle in the time period you said that you bought it ('74-75).Henderson said:
Oh.. As far as I can tell Ruger NEVER made the 10/22 with a steel butplate...only aluminum and plastic.
Bigmikes reference at least confirms that your stock should be walnut instead of birch. This is good. I still do not understand though how it could have had a plastic butplate almost a year before Ruger made the change to plastic. There were some serial numbers that actually got assembled at dates later than the ones indicated by production records...but those were (I thought) also marked with a letter prefix or suffix of some sort. But this would also throw the date of manufacture of your serial number off by a year or so.
You may just have an "interesting" rifle in that it does not strictly fit the normal expectations. I would not get too concerned about your friends and their actions just yet.
Joined
·
292 Posts
I think Ive seen steel butplates on real old 10/22 but big mike is would certainly know. I think he is Encyclopedia Brown all grown up
If you are lucky enough to find a walnut stock with an aluminum buttplate, as I did at a gun show for $25, you can do what I did - strip the butt plate and polish it up; do the same to the receiver, mount a s/s barrel and bright alum scope, rings, mount, and you have a very nice looking rifle. I wet sanded the stock to fill the pores and refinished it by rubbing diluted polyurethane in several coats, then polished the finish with Brownell's stock polish #3 and 5 to give it a deep sheen. I even inlaid two Ruger Vaquero stock emblems into the rear of the stock. One can amuse one's self endlessly with these 10/22's.
One other interesting thing is that Brownell's does not even sell the replacement plastic butt plate.
I looked a little more and found this part number. I am not sure if it is plastic but for the price I would guess it is. Also not sure why they sell this part and not the other butt plates listed for different models of the 10/22. Maybe the others are all aluminum but that does not seem right.
11 C63 780-001-181 Butt Plate $3.79
I looked a little more and found this part number. I am not sure if it is plastic but for the price I would guess it is. Also not sure why they sell this part and not the other butt plates listed for different models of the 10/22. Maybe the others are all aluminum but that does not seem right.
11 C63 780-001-181 Butt Plate $3.79
Joined
·
56 Posts
Aluminium Butt Plate
Steel plates are available from Numrich gun parts
http://www.gunpartscorp.com/
http://www.e-gunparts.com/DisplayAd.asp?chrProductSKU=581390&chrSuperSKU=&MC=
The price is about $20 plus s&h.
I have a couple of walnut stocks with the metal (Aluminium)buttplates and I would be willing to sell one or two. PM me.
C. Jay
Steel plates are available from Numrich gun parts
http://www.gunpartscorp.com/
http://www.e-gunparts.com/DisplayAd.asp?chrProductSKU=581390&chrSuperSKU=&MC=
The price is about $20 plus s&h.
I have a couple of walnut stocks with the metal (Aluminium)buttplates and I would be willing to sell one or two. PM me.
C. Jay
I have a 10/22 with the black aluminum buttplate that was made in 1976 the barrel actully says "Made in the 200th year of American Liberty" SN 116-11236. The buttplate fits real nice to the Birch stock. It would seem that this would fall in line with BigMike's post with the SN's.
Your right it is Walnut, I bought it from a friend of mine last month (for $100 I hope I didn't pay too much!). He told me it was birch but now that I have looked at other 10/22's I see the difference. Is the Liberty model something special that I shouldn't modify or doesn’t it matter?
Thanks.
Thanks.
1 - 19 of 19 Posts
Join the discussion
