USA –-(Ammoland.com)- We’re building a custom rifle. For education and charity. And fun.
We’ve always thought that the Ruger 10/22 rifle is one of the classic customizable platforms out there.
It’s so popular, and so extensible, that an entire supporting industry has sprung out of the (gun) works – so to speak – offering replacement parts, custom options, and various enhancements.
That people would build entire companies around Ruger 10/22 customization speaks volumes about the quality, longevity, and flexibility of the rifle platform.
Earlier this year, while jawing with the Brownells folks at the 2012 SHOT Show, we got to talking about all the things one could do with a Ruger 10/22. Dave Bennetts, GunTech Team leader at Brownells even bragged that eventually, you could replace every single part on a Ruger 10/22. So we took him up on that claim.
Over the next 6 weeks or so, we’re going to customize the dickens out of this rifle – just to see what’s possible. And we’re going to document the process here so you can learn how to do it yourself.
With parts and expertise donated by Brownells, a 10/22 Carbine donated by Ruger, and assembly by our fearless gunsmith-wannabe team, we’ll end up with one heck of a rifle at the end. And we’re going to auction it on GunBroker.com so 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Project Valour-IT of Soldiers Angels.
Step 1 Objectives
- Replace the factory stock on the Ruger 10/22 Carbine with the new Revolution Extreme stock.
- Do NOT call the Brownells GunTech Team whimpering and begging for technical assistance.
- Do NOT send a bag of parts to the Brownells GunTech Team with a note asking if they can ‘fix it.’
- Make sure that the rifle still shoots (preferably in a forward direction) after this step is complete.
The Parts
Ruger 10/22 Carbine
We’ve got a stock Ruger 10/22 Carbine equipped as follows:
- Wooden stock with metal buttplate
- 10 round rotary magazine
- Removable scope base adapter
- Iron sights adjustable for windage and elevation (gold bead on the front sight)
- 18.5” barrel
Keystone Sporting Arms Revolution Extreme Stock
The Revolution Extreme stock is just plain racy…
- Contoured palm swells
- Vertical thumbhole grip
- Rubber buttplate
- Cutouts in the forend and stock to reduce weight
How To
Well, here goes nuthin’.
The Revolution Stocks people must know us well – especially our habit of ripping open packages and tossing the instructions. Directions for changing the stock are printed right on the back of the package. We suppose it can’t be too hard then.
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Make sure the gun is unloaded! Remove the rotary magazine, open the bolt and lock it in the open position. |
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Check again to make sure the gun is unloaded and be sure there’s not a stray cartridge in the chamber! |
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Now remove the barrel band. This is techno-gun-speak for that round metal thing near the front of the stock. First, loosen the screw on the bottom of the band. You don’t need to remove it entirely – just enough for the barrel band to slide off the front of the rifle. If you want to be professional about this and not butch up the screws, use a gunsmith screwdriver set like this one available at Brownells. It makes a huge difference. Since we are donating this gun, we’re using all the correct tools! |
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Now simply slide the barrel band off the front of the rifle. It should pass right over the front sight. |
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Next, loosen the takedown screw. This is located on the bottom of the stock just in front of the rotary magazine. |
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Gently lift up on the front of the barrel, making sure that the safety button is positioned in the middle – halfway between on and off. Be careful with this step as the safety can catch on the inside of the wood stock if it’s not centered. Also, there is a notch on the back of the receiver so be sure to remove the barrel end first. We want to keep this nice little stock for future use after all. |
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Position the receiver and barrel into the new stock, receiver end first, so that the notch in the receiver fits over the corresponding protrusion in the stock. Lower the barrel into place. |
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Using the takedown screw from the original stock, fasten the new stock to the action. The front barrel band is not required with the Revolution Extreme stock so store that away. |
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Go shooting! |
Next Steps…
Admittedly, the stock replacement step was a piece of cake. We’ll consider it a warm-up exercise for the barrel swap, which we’ve not done before, so if you hear explosions originating from the southeastern US we might know something about that. We’re going to call the folks at the Brownells GunTech Team to get some advice for the proper one for this rifle and some tips on how to do this without breaking too many parts. We’ll cover that next week.
Stay tuned!
About Tom McHale
Tom McHale describes himself as a conservative gun-totin’ bible-clingin’ literary assault dude who enjoys finding humor in just about anything. His web blog My Gun Culture is an irreverent, twisted look at gun news bordering on the ridiculous. It covers shootin’ stuff, loud noises, defending your own, the occasional mall ninja, and about 200 years of the American way. “These are the (partially) true stories of… My Gun Culture” says Tom. Visit: www.mygunculture.com
