Well time heals heartbreaks and while the scars remain, we must move onto new loves.
Money is still tight right now so I couldn't afford a precision varmint rifle build, but I needed a winter project that would not cost me a fortune.
A new .22 LR was in order because I had sold my Kimber Classic .22LR prior to the .204, (yes finances were really bad) and my current .22 was an old farm gun beat all to heck.
I decided on a Ruger 10/22 build having seen some really neat builds with short barrels.
Canadian legal mumbo jumbo, feel free to ignore but I include it for interests sake....
Now here is an interesting thing that we get to have here in Canada. Firearms are divided into 3 classes, non-restricted, restricted and prohibited. A non-restricted gun is the typical hunting/sporting gun; restricted are pistols, AR-15 family of rifles and anything that looks scary. Think of them being NFA Class III weapons as a comparison, not an accurate one but close enough to illustrate the hassle involved should you wish to own or transfer a restricted firearm. (I won't go into the prohibited class because it is irrelevant.) Restricted guns can only be used at a designated shooting range, cant be used for hunting, not even for plinking on your own private property, thus they have a lot less desirability, (for me anyways). Now here is the nice thing, as long as the firearm is not a semi-auto centerfire the gun is classified by its overall length not the barrel length. Keep the overall length over 26" and it is non-restricted, barrel length is irrelevant, with a collapsible or folding stock it is measured from the "close" position). An extreme example I have seen that takes advantage of the law as it is written was a 6" barreled Rem 870, (magazine capacity was lousy and pump hand was uncomfortably close to muzzle but it was all legal). Now before any of my fellow Canadians grab a hack saw and put their barrel in a vice you must know this. YOU CANNOT shorten a factory barrel to less than 18", even a gunsmith cannot do it. You CAN REPLACE the barrel with one manufactured in a factory of a shorter length. A busy cottage industry has arisen here in Canada with a few small business's getting thier manufacturing license and selling 8-16" Ruger 10/22 barrels and 12-18" Rem 870 barrels like hot cakes.
So enough of that non-sense, and onto the fun stuff.
It started out as a plain, blued barrel Ruger 10/22 with the cheap composite (plastic) stock, basically the cheapest model they make.
Added a Dlask 12.5" bull barrel....
with their compensator, (modified Levang).
I wanted the compensator (because I needed to make use of the threaded muzzle
). And this compensator is supposed to direct more of the muzzle blast forward away from the shooters ears. It does not reduce the report (that would be an illegal device and it actually is louder downrange, they claim) just away from the shooter. I am concerned that a 12" barreled gun will make the normally mild .22 LR report to become something that requires ear protection.
Modified the factory plastic/composite stock for the bull barrel. Incorporated a cheap ChiCom made "Universal Weaver Style Quad-Rail Barrel Mount " to the fore end with some TIG welding and grinding. Used some bondo to give a raised cheekpeice for use with a scope. Picatinny mount is too far forward for a comfortable vertical fore grip but it is perfect for my Surefire which will be great for a late night rendezvous with raccoons in the henhouse.
Arma-Coated the metal parts in Desert Sand after bead blasting them. (Arma-Coat is a firearm finish similar to Gun Kote or Duracoat) All except the scope,(Simmons 4X) it is what I had laying around in my box of gun stuff. Hope to score a used optic bargain before spring arrives. I can tell just in the mounting that the Arma-Coat did not adhere to the smooth, unprepared, scope body but media blasted parts look great.
Painted stock with a textured dark brown from a rattle can, they laid over the stock with a mesh (from the dollar store) and tried to use up the left over Arma-Coat. Very simple design but looks cool.
As of now I am just waiting on some internal parts, target hammer and a couple other goodies.
Then I will get out and shoot it.
