Ultimate 10/22

Well Mr. Winkie, you are in the right place. Get ready for some input. For my part, I had no prior experience with the 10/22 other than shooting one owned by a friend a couple times. If you are even SORTA handy, you can do most of what you need to do yourself. I suggest you look through some of the threads, tips and tricks, and photos, and think about what you would like to do with your rifle (plink, bench, hunt), then we can help you along some. That is how I started. When I stumbled into this place I was impressed/freaked out by the possibilities. Now, like others, I can hardly wait to start another one.

The stock 10/22 is very, very simple. There are lots of parts available in the market, from our sponsors here. A basic 10/22 is going to cost about $160 or so new. Some of the stock models may be all you need, but, what fun is that? DO NOT fear taking the thing apart. They are easy. I'm going to install a barrel this weekend, and I'm guessing I will have to fuss with it a little to get it in, but I'm looking forward to the project. You can always start simple and then go nuts later.

Welcome aboard.

EDIT: See? As I am writing my post, ShootNut beats me to it. We say basically the same things. Get the picture?

Building it yourself is half the fun!! I had 2 before I started modifiying, that way if I messed one up I could salvage parts off the other. I started small and did more as my knowledge grew. Also some mods I could not appreciate at first wound up on the "need to do" list but we are getting ahead of ourselves. If you get a wally world carbine you can modify the stock to make it look cool, which is a lot of fun, and put in a couple parts to improve the trigger. A hammer, auto bolt release, extended mag release, extractor and bolt buffer are good basic mods. After shooting it awhile you might decide to work on that trigger some more. It will be easier to do at this point because you've gotten some practice putting in those parts. You will have taken it apart so much by this time it will have become second nature.

Then you'll want to start thinking about a new barrel. This will lead you to research on how to swap barrels, you'll find out about different v-blocks and what they do, and you'll start reading about bedding and floating barrels. You'll do some things wrong and you'll post some questions, we will be here to help. If you think a questioin is too stupid to ask don't worry, I've already asked it!!

Once you get that first one shooting and feeling the way you want you can move on to a fancy schmancy laminated stock, by this time you will have a better idea of what style stock will suit your shooting purposes. Will you want a bench gun or something to tote in the woods? You might find your wants may change after working on that first one. You might be ordering those better shims and pins because what seemed like too much trouble on the first one will be your new challenge on the next one. I would recommend the pins last because you might be taking it apart quite a bit and those new oversized pins will all of a sudden become loose, don't worry, there's always kidd pins. What seemed hard on the first one will seem ridiculously simple on the second.

So I recommend getting 2 wally worlld specials, one to cut your teeth on and one with more specific goals in mind. You'll need a few shoeboxes and some baggies for the extra parts you're goiing to have and a small work area, like a desk or table, that will be permanantly cluttered with your work in progress. Dining room tables work great, not the one you eat at every day but the "nice" one that only gets used during holidays. The chandalier will provide nice even lighting but you'll probably want a task light also. Start claiming old towels now, preferably plain colored so it will be easier to see small parts. Tell you're wife you are ashamed of the old towels, that might score you a few more when she gets some new ones. Small parts don't roll off towels as easy as bare tabletop. Disposable food storage containers come in many sizes and are handy to sort and store you work in progress. Some small cheap tools will come in handy, I recommend a drift pin punch set, screwdriver and bit set, dremel type tool, might be the only time you use it but I find it indespensible, allen wrench set that includes the entire spectrum, like 9/64 and stuff, and one of those magnetic retrival tools. I got a magnetic parts bowl at harbor freight that is pretty handy (harbor freight is my friend!) .

Also some kind of folder to print out more used instructions and diagrams. I started a few files on my computer so that when I see a good tip I cut and paste it into that document so I can easily find it. I have one on stock tips, bedding tips, ect, you get the idea.

So basically you'll be starting small and building on that knowledge as you go along. Oh, sometimes these things are fun to shoot also!

Mr. Winkie said:

I'm in the mood for an ultimate after lurking and drooling at some of the examples posted here. I have limited knowledge and gunsmith experience so I'd appreciate some guidance in finding a reliable, professional and qualified person that can build me one. Or, someone who has the patience, time and inclination to teach me how to build one. I suppose another option would be the purchase of a completed 10/22. I live in the monterey bay area.

Thanks in advance for your help.

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If you're willing to take a drive, you can come by the Gun Exchange in San Jose. We can do the work for you, or you can do it yourself. We stock a number of 10/22 accessories, full rifles, pre-built Ultimates, or whatever. We have Whistle Pig and Montana Rifleman barrels in stock, as well as Hogue Overmolds and Barricuda stocks in inventory. We can send off parts to CPC or have Ironwood Designs do your trigger jobs.

If you just want to come by and ask a bunch of questions, or see how a 10/22 dissassembles/reassembles, there's no charge for that. There are probably no less than a half dozen ultimates in different configurations that you can take a look at (most of them are not for sale, but can be ordered), from lightweights to full .920 beasts in .22lr, 22mag, 17hmr, 17hm2.

I'm not necessarily trying to sell you anything, but if you want to windowshop, we do have a number of rifles owned by either me or the owner there to get a feel of what you might like to do.

http://www.gunexchange.com