I cannot find any either. Another member had his gunsmith install a Ruger 10/22 target barrel onto his Ruger American Rimfire, and it shoot pretty good. I’d like to get my barrel set-back with a tight chamber where bullets engage the rifling.

 

Unlike a 10/22 or CZ457, barrel replacement isn't trivial on a RAR. It would cost you a day's worth of labor plus the cost of an aftermarket barrel if you went that route. Having done two, I still couldn't remove a barrel, shorten, rechamber, mill extractor slots, and reassemble in less than 6 hours. Of course, I can always rationalize the cost of my time and money in the enjoyment of a hobby.
The RAR stock is quite flexible, so you might want to replace that, too. Pretty soon, you'll have over $1k in a $300 rifle. Depending on what your goals are, I'd encourage you to begin with a better rifle as a foundation to build upon. Heck, my Tikka T1x shoots so well, I'm not sure where I'd begin "improving" it. However, I'm not a competitive bench-rest shooter, so what I think is awesome and what they think is awesome probably isn't the same thing.

 

Did you use a Ruger barrel when you did your swap? Is this something you’d be willing to do for someone else? I know it’s not quite cost effective, but to end up with a more unique riffle that shoots well is worth it to me.

 

I had a thought that was the reason there were no aftermarket barrels for the RAR and no info on how to remove the barrel. I have a 10/22 that I had to replace the factory barrel because it shot so poorly. I don't have much faith in factory barrels on any of the more budget friendly guns. Figured if I bought a RAR the barrel would need replacing.

 

I have a RAR .22 lr. It's easily squirrel head accurate at 50 yards. Savage Mk 2 is also nice and at least as accurate.

 

I think they are great rifles for their designed intent. Economical, reliable, and accurate enough. Certainly "pop can accurate" to 50 yards and beyond; mine averaged around 1 1/2 inches at 50 yards. They make a great first rifle for a new shooter or youngster. I bought an extra buttstock (short version) so it would fit kids better. I'm also much more likely to take it hunting in bad weather or to keep it handy behind the milkhouse door than I ever would a Kimber Enjoy it for what it is and you won't be disappointed.

 

I had 2, a blued and a stainless. The stainless shoots like a laser,the blued is a tomato stake. Both actions were very rough,sounded like a zipper. I had to flick the bolt back and forth for a football game before they were smooth. The stock has a very weak wrist. In a rest you could put your finger on the wrist and watch the crosshairs go up and down.

 

The stock has a very weak wrist. In a rest you could put your finger on the wrist and watch the crosshairs go up and down.

Mine is the same way: stock extremely sensitive to forearm pressure, to wrist pressure, to cheek pressure, to rear bag pressure. It shoots straight enough, when all these things are consistent. The stock makes it one squirrelly rifle to shoot constantly, but this squirrelly behavior also forces me to be more consistent.

 

Mine shoots thumb sized 15 shot groups with good ammo. That said I'd love to have mine turned down a bit for a tighter chamber, shorten and re thread it at the same time. If I could find someone to do that for $300 or less.

 

Hi CptDave,
Thank you for your interest. I used the original barrels on both RARs. The purpose of my experiments was to see how much accuracy improved by setting back and rechambering the same barrel. This way, my only cost was my labor, plus, I didn't want to be out $300 for a custom barrel and still have a wimpy stock.
I am happy with the results but they still aren't competitive, match-grade rifles.
I own a machine shop which keeps me busier than I want to be and gunsmithing is just my hobby. I am not licensed or insured to work on guns for a living, so I have to turn it down.
Have a great day,
John

 

It would be nice if they were setup to take 10/22 or even 77/22 barrels. Mine all shoot exceptionally well so the only appeal would be for chasing groups or a specific configuration.

Isn't the barrel easily changed on the precision version? Wonder what it would take to drop that action into a conventional stock. As has been said, maybe throwing good money at something just to be different.

 

It would be nice if they were setup to take 10/22 or even 77/22 barrels. Mine all shoot exceptionally well so the only appeal would be for chasing groups or a specific configuration.

Isn't the barrel easily changed on the precision version? Wonder what it would take to drop that action into a conventional stock. As has been said, maybe throwing good money at something just to be different.

My RPR shot a best 6 moa (after testing 16 different ammo's) out of the box. The bolt movement was horrible and the nearly took vice grips to switch the safety on and off. My 10/22 was worse. Both were bought during covid. Ruger wouldn't even answer the phones nor respond to emails at the time. Tried again by email (after waiting 30 plus minutes the phone a couple times), haven't gotten a response in a couple weeks. Polishing the bolt, receiver, safety rod, and lapping the barrel improved the accuracy of the RPR to 3/4 moa. The 10/22 will require a new barrel and receiver.

 

My advice is to start with a better rifle. I bought 2 Ruger's during covid. The RPR was bad (shot 6 moa with best ammo out of 16), the 10/22 was horrible (shot 8 ft to the left at 50 yards, removed and reinstalled barrel and it shot 1 ft to the right). Have never gotten a reply from Ruger after numerous attempts.

My CZ 457 Varmint 22lr shot 3/4 moa out of the box at 100 yards. After a couple modifications (Timney Trigger and adjusting headspace), it shoots under 1/4 moa from the bench. I wrote a very long detailed "article" on the CZ 457 Improvements on Rimfire Central. Note: the CZ accuracy is based on a scientific approach to selecting the best ammo for my particular CZ. Mine is unusual in that it absolutely loves Eley Club. I use Eley Target as a backup. Target is just the ammo that didn't meet Club's tighter velocity specifications. Thus the two lots of Target I've used had different ballsitics but both were consistent within the lot.

The CZ cost 30% more than the RPR and 69% more than today's Rural King's sale price of a Ruger American 22lr. After CZ modifications: 70% more than RPR and 118% more than the Ruger American but still 69% less than the least expensive Vudoo. I believe you get what you pay for and every little improvement in accuracy becomes incresingly more expensive, but more enjoyable. I wanted a Vudoo, but am very happy with the CZ and enjoyed improving the accuracy.

Arrachements: Bench setup, 100 yard 5 shot group on a 40mm benchrest competetion target after 5,000 round thorough cleaning, 50 yard 15 shot group on a home made 1" target prior to installing Timney. The Timney eliminated fliers like the one in the last photo.

 

This is my American with the 10-22 target barrel. $130 for the barrel and $150 for the smith to fit and chamber it.

One target CCI mini-mags the other SK rifle match

50 yards same day
Rich

 

This is my American with the 10-22 target barrel. $130 for the barrel and $150 for the smith to fit and chamber it.
View attachment 459312 View attachment 459313 One target CCI mini-mags the other SK rifle match
View attachment 459314 View attachment 459315 50 yards same day
Rich

Really like the benchrest!

 

I was ready to write mine off as well and buy something else. But I tore into it to see what could be done to make it better. It is a std American 20", plastic stock, around 2016 or so I think.
It shot 1 1/2 - 2" groups with cci minimags and a little smaller with target ammo. But it always had a couple fliers in every group. I started out by using JB bore paste and polish on the barrel but it didn't change much. Then I started tweaking the stock bolt settings and found best groups at 30 inch pounds rear, 25 front. Still had fliers but not as far out.
I then ordered and installed the bolt and trigger shims from Triggershims.com and now no more fliers. Groups are from about 1/2" to 1" depending on ammo. So about half of what it started out at only cost a few bucks and some time. In this gun it took .008 shims for the bolt and .010 for the trigger.
I just picked up my second American, a stainless & walnut Talo edition and it only needed a .0015 bolt shims and .006 for the trigger. It shoots just as good if not better than the first one. I just need better weather and more time to get them dialed in.

 

I was ready to write mine off as well and buy something else. But I tore into it to see what could be done to make it better. It is a std American 20", plastic stock, around 2016 or so I think.
It shot 1 1/2 - 2" groups with cci minimags and a little smaller with target ammo. But it always had a couple fliers in every group. I started out by using JB bore paste and polish on the barrel but it didn't change much. Then I started tweaking the stock bolt settings and found best groups at 30 inch pounds rear, 25 front. Still had fliers but not as far out.
I then ordered and installed the bolt and trigger shims from Triggershims.com and now no more fliers. Groups are from about 1/2" to 1" depending on ammo. So about half of what it started out at only cost a few bucks and some time. In this gun it took .008 shims for the bolt and .010 for the trigger.
I just picked up my second American, a stainless & walnut Talo edition and it only needed a .0015 bolt shims and .006 for the trigger. It shoots just as good if not better than the first one. I just need better weather and more time to get them dialed in.
View attachment 459378

That limited edition Talo is a nice looking rifle. Better than nice wood!

 

Finally. Someone else who understands that changing the stock screw torque can shrink groups and minimize flyers.

 

I knocked out the factory barrel, set back .200", new match chamber and recrown. Shoots my chosen CCI suppressor into tiny bug holes now even with the flimsy green stock.

 

these are actually easy to change if you have access to a press to press the barrel out. You get the precision barrel and measure the difference between the barrel and receiver. Or just measure the old barrels tennon. The difference for mine was 0.003" So I used a 0.0015" SS shim stock to wrap the tennon. Then heated up the receiver and froze the barrel. They slid together easy. Just make sure to go fast as you have to line up the extractor and the other thing on the bolt with the cutouts on the barrel. Make sure to use a headspace gauge while doing this to get that right. Once the barrel sits overnight, I drilled the cross pin to lock the barrel. I also used locktite 680 on the tennon to hold everything together.

 

Seems like a lot of trouble for a Ruger. Press/Hot/cold/shim/drill/pin does not sound that easy to me.

I still give tomme a 'like', he got it done.

 

not that big of a deal to do. plus it shoots WAY better than my cz457 does

 

tomme boy

On a custom barrel you could get the manufacture to make the tennon .002 bigger and a .001 smaller than the receiver ,
would make a good fit . With the locktite 680 and the pin . don't you think ??

 

if you could get one to do it. I forgot to add that you should get a GO head space gauge to check it before you pin it. I did mine as I pressed the barrel in a little at a time till I got it to where I wanted it.

 

tomme , what was the diam of your tennon on the Americam.

 

don't remember right now. I don't have the old barrel anymore to check.

 

When pressing on the new barrel . I have a press do you just press on the rear tang of the action or do you have some kind of a fixture ?

 

Don't go off what the search engines say with a 1" tenon. It is not! I do remember it was 0.680" or 0.690" range on the factory barrel. NOT the 1" google says it is. That is for the centerfire barrels

 

There was a guy who put a Kidd barrel on his Ruger American and it was one of the coolest builds I’ve seen.

I know the Ruger gets a bad rap compared to the CZ and Tikka but I own all 3 brands (even have a RPRr) and I can say that my kids for some reason really like the Rugers (bother American rimfire and RPRr).

The action is super easy for kids to use. Took my kids out shooting yesterday to sight in my youngest’s new smith and Wesson 15/22. All of them ended up wanting to shoot my 17hm2 Ruger.

maybe it’s the caliber, maybe it’s the action nut they all loved shooting it to the point I need to make a new ammo order.

if I could get a RAR with a Kidd barrel on it for a decent deal, I would snag it.