[Uncle Billy]

Well I decided that I might as well dive into the 10/22 market like the rest of y'all have done. I wanted to build a nice shooting plinker for Appleseed events, and got a little carried away in the process. Got Damn you 10/22 people are insane, and I am right there with you now. Originally a Carbine with a synthetic stock, I took to the project with great enthusiasm and a determination to make a good shooting rifle that would serve as an Appleseed trainer for me, I wanted that patch to add to my arsenal.

Anyhow I recieved the 50th annavirsary 10/22 Carbine with a synthetic stock and took her out for a few rounds to season the barrel.



Unamused by the antiquated sights and horrendus trigger pull I became hellbent on fixing this rifle and making her a quality shooter on a budget, no four hundred dollar trigger group or three hundred dollar barrel for me. I'm doing all the work myself and by hell or high water I will make a fine shooter out of this clunky mess of plastic and steel. "What the hell have I gotten myself into?" I thought as I ran the first thousand rounds through her, jerking the POA all over the place trying to pull the trigger. "Man, I need some aftermarket parts to help me out". Yes it is that bad at first, the trigger pull feels like 10 pounds out of the box, and the lack of weight only amplifies the issue.

First, I ordered TechSights for my axe and installed them by hammering out the front sight with a steel punch and heavy hammer. I beat the hell out of my brass punch and finally decided to get the job done with a hardened steel unit. It was so difficult to remove I swear that I may have bent the barrel in the process. After what seemed to be a lifetime of beating and banging, looking over my shoulder for the gun abuse police every time I smacked that front dovetail, she came loose.



I installed the front post unit and she went together with relative ease, as long as you follow the directions carefully. I used nail polish to hold the screws into place, more on that below.



After the front sight was replaced I moved to the rear and installed the rear sight with a dab of my daughter's nail polish instead of Loctite on the threads of the screws, an old timer trick I picked up a rimfirecentral. Hay a single dad is on a budget so don't judge me! It has held up well after 4,000 + rounds.



After the sights were installed I needed to install sling studs and swivels to be able to attach a GI sling that Appleseed recommends to improve shooting accuracy. At the time I figured I would drill out a couple holes and attach the 1" GI web sling instead of a 1 1/4" sling due to the (lack of) size of the rifle.



After doing a bit of research I found that EABCO made a M1 Carbine tribute stock, the same gun my grandfather carried from Camp Hale to Naples through the Po Valley in Italy as a member of the 10th Mountain Division, 86th Regiment, F company in 1945. A bunch of badass warriors that not only fought on the battlefield, but skied while shooting Nazi bastards and also climbed steep peaks and cliffs, and fought under severe conditions in Italy as well as the Allusion Islands in WWII. Not a bunch of bastards you wanted to face in battle, no matter the landscape nor the situation. I happily ordered the stock and was giddy with anticipation when it arrived.



She looked good out of the box, I didn't exactly know what to expect but it seemed like a good fit. The finish looked more like a paint than a true oil finish of an M1 Carbine, but I was happy with the way she looked at the time. I couldn't wait to mate her to the action and see how she fit.



And she fit like a dream. Truely a perfect match for the dimutive 10/22. The length of pull is just over 13", a tad short for my body but it is almost an exact fit of an M1 Carbine. I would rather the length of pull be short than long. The stock is complete with a metal butt-plate and the sling swivel has been moved to the barrel band, a popular move among enthusiasts of the M1 Carbine clone.



With all that attention paid to the look and feel of the rifle, I thought I would turn my attention to the trigger and function of the action. To be honest, out of the box the 10/22 trigger group is a piece of garbage. It feels like the trigger is so damn stiff that you almost have to compensate for the jerking of the trigger to fire a damn round. Not good if you are fighting for MOA during an Appleseed event. Not to mention that .22LR is so scarce and overpriced that most of the ammo found is at the least 3 MOA (Golden Bullet and Winchester crap) and no two rounds sound the same when you finally wrestle the trigger rearward to fire off a round.



Anyhow I spent some time with my local gunsmith, and he took me through some steps that would ease the pull weight without investing a mortgage payment into a $225.00 rifle. He talked me through re-working the angle of the wedge on the hammer with a series of hand tools that will lighten the pull and create a crisp breaking trigger. Sorry, no pics due to the legal stuff, and no I don't recommend anyone do this, just order an aftermarket trigger group and drop it in, it'll save you a bunch of time and work, not to mention ease of use. We polished all the contact points on the seer, hammer and follower as well as polishing the inside of the receiver, getting all that gunky overspray out of the equation. Hell I ended up polishing every friggin contact point on the trigger group to a mirror finish. I love seeing my ugly mug as I stare at a seer. Purdy.



Anyhow I put that bitch together and fired off a few rounds from a rest and this is what I came up with at 25 YDS;



The view from the stock of my new shooter.


She has a long way to go before she starts shooting like my 880SS, but I believe she can get there eventually. Stay tuned folks, this is just the beginning...

 

[2wheelslave]

Cool build. Once I sanded the barrel band on my 10/22 my groups shrunk by 30% (barrel band was touching barrel in a couple of spots)

I've considered bedding the barrel, but it shoots minute of squirrel head at 35 yards which is probably good enough.

 

[America's Patriot]

All this effort on a small caliber weapon that was already deadly accurate. Also on a weapon that, if you are lucky, you can find ammo. You are much more determined than I am.

 

[*Paladin*]

Good write-up. Tech-Sights are good stuff. :thumb:

 

[rabiddog9]

I changed out the stock on my 30 year old 10/22 a while ago for the M1 carbine style stock and also installed the fiberoptic front sight and a peep rear sight and called it good. The new stock has a much better feel for me. I guess it'll go another 30 years.

 

[whirlibird]

Want a dirty gunsmiths trick for better accuracy out of your .22's?

All you need is a 50 to 100 rounds of non plated .22 ammo, I prefer CCI Blazer. (Just seems to work better)
And a little JB Bore paste (Brownells)

You take the first five rounds out and dip them ice cream cone style in the JB paste. Leave some paste on the bullet nose and sides, don't worry about being sloppy. Drop them one by one into the chamber and fire the gun. When you've fired all five, put five normal rounds in a magazine and fire them all.

Repeat, three more times.

Run the remaining ten rounds through the barrel and then clean the gun.
It will have gunk all through the action.

Reassemble and put it on the bench.
The worst I've had only improved @10%, but was much easier to clean.
The best (10/22) went from a 4" at 50Y gun to under 1/2" from this alone, and that's with a factory barrel (no barrel band).

 

[Uncle Billy]

Thanks for the tip Whirlibird, I'm going to give it a shot next time I place an order with Brownells. I surmise Rem Thunderbolts or Win Wildcat's might do the job eh? By the way how are you doing lately? Been a fan of your posts since day one on SB. :thumb:

America's Patriot; I know there might be plenty of other things I could be doing, like laundry, cleaning the bathrooms or mowing the lawn in my free time. This is just a fun little project that I decided to do and am willing to share the fruits of my spoils with the guys and gals here on SB. The ammo shortage is not as bad as one may think now a days, as long as you're willing to pay a premium for the ammo. Plus, I have a metric ton of the stuff stashed that I purchased years before the shortage. 500 round bricks of this ammo could be had for fifteen bucks a few years back, so it's no big deal running through a few thousand rounds.

 

[whirlibird]

Thanks for the tip Whirlibird, I'm going to give it a shot next time I place an order with Brownells. I surmise Rem Thunderbolts or Win Wildcat's might do the job eh? By the way how are you doing lately? Been a fan of your posts since day one on SB. :thumb:

Not doing bad, business has been picking up around here. New location.

T'bolts and Wildcats will work fine. I use the Blazers because they seem to be slightly larger (softer also) and the bore gets a full, even polish.

 

[Uncle Billy]

After a few trips to the back pit and gun club, I noticed that the "paint" was chipping from the new stock. I hadn't been rough with her, but nonetheless it was coming off. I knew that the original M1 Carbine had a Linseed Oil finish, but that stuff can be a pain in the butt to work with, and I knew the rifle was never going to be an exact clone, the Tech-Sights were different (and better in my opinion) from the original, and the finish of my action was black, not an exact color match, but I did like the way it looked.

So I gathered up my supplies and headed to the workshop for a little stock re-finishing session. Here is a quick preview of what I employed for materials to get the job done and the finished project unassembled.



From Left to right: Boiled Linseed Oil, Minwax oil based stain in Gunstock and Dark Walnut, Basil Hayden's, Rock Miracle Paint Stripper, Butcher's Bowling Alley Wax. Not pictured are three plastic containers for mixing, 00 steel wool for applying the finish, 80 and 120 grit sandpaper, and a boatload of rags.

 

[Systematic Mechanic]

How long did you wait for the first application of BLO to dry
before you applied another?

 

[Uncle Billy]

How long did you wait for the first application of BLO to dry
before you applied another?

Mostly 24 hrs, but a couple coats took up to 72 hrs due to weather and humidity. I'll explain in detail below.

 

[Ricekila]

http://www.tufferbuffer.com/

 

[Uncle Billy]

The first step I took was to find a glass, add 3 large ice cubes and fill it with three fingers of Basil Hayden's Bourbon, more on that later. Next, removing the original finish from the stock. Find a well ventilated area such as a garage or shed. I used a liquid stripper that I picked up at the local hardware store, applied it liberally with a cheap paint brush and let it sit for a while. This particular stripper goes on nice and thick and within a few minutes I could see the original finish bubbling up from the stock surface.



Be sure to stay close to the stock, monitoring the stripper's progress and applying additional stripper if the first coat starts to dry out.



After about an hour or so the entire surface of the stock was all bubbly.



Next, I started to remove the stripper with a putty knife. The original finish came off with ease, but there were a few spots that didn't come off, so I applied a second coat after pouring another three fingers of Basil Hayden's.



After the second application of stripper I wiped the stock clean with mineral spirits and let her dry out completely.

The next day the stock was ready to be sanded. Using a coarse sandpaper, I removed any residual finish and touched it up with the medium grit sandpaper. Another wipe with mineral spirits and after she dried out I inspected her for any abnormalities in the wood.



I didn't go with a fine sandpaper scrub, because the application of BLO would be performed using steel wool. More on that below.

 

[Ricekila]

Are you gonna do the hot towel treatment ?

 

[Uncle Billy]

Are you gonna do the hot towel treatment ?

I was thinking of using the hot towel treatment, but because I was using the steel wool application and going for more of an antique look I decided against it.

 

[Systematic Mechanic]

Mostly 24 hrs, but a couple coats took up to 72 hrs due to weather and humidity. I'll explain in detail below.

BLO can take a long time to dry depending on how thick you apply it.
It can take up to 3 to 6 months if it was put on too thick.
I'm not joking. BLO is something that you have to put on sparingly.
It's nothing like Stain, Tru-Oil or Danish Oil.

You basically put on a thin coat on the wood and then sand it in about
a few minutes so that you get a mud of saw dust and oil. That fills in the
pores in the wood.
Then you set that aside for about 7 to 14 days depending on the
air conditions. After that you do the same thing 2 more times but you use
very tiny mounts. Just enough barely cover the whole stock.
But hey if you don't mind waiting months then do what ever you like.

 

[Uncle Billy]

BLO can take a long time to dry depending on how thick you apply it.
It can take up to 3 to 6 months if it was put on too thick.
I'm not joking. BLO is something that you have to put on sparingly.
It's nothing like Stain, Tru-Oil or Danish Oil.

You basically put on a thin coat on the wood and then sand it in about
a few minutes so that you get a mud of saw dust and oil. That fills in the
pores in the wood.
Then you set that aside for about 7 to 14 days depending on the
air conditions. After that you do the same thing 2 more times but you use
very tiny mounts. Just enough barely cover the whole stock.
But hey if you don't mind waiting months then do what ever you like.

I wouldn't go so far as to throw a blanket statement out there like that. Each project has many variables, and while the method you used may have taken months to dry, this did not. Don't jump to conclusions before you know all the info bub. Have a little patience, I have a feeling you might just learn something from this thread.

 

[Uncle Billy]

Now that we have a nice, clean hardwood stock it's time to get moving on the finish. First things first, let's fill that glass up with the usual Basil Hayden's and ice. Next thing we should do is to grab a handfull of clean lint free rags such as painters rags from the local hardware store and a metal bucket to toss them in after we're done using them. I also wore latex gloves during the process to protect my hands.

Using the 00 Steel wool, apply the BLO by dipping the steel wool into the BLO and scrubbing it on with the grain. Go ahead and lay it on thick if you want. Let it stand about a half hour to an hour and then wipe off any access with a clean rag. The first coat was almost completely absorbed on the butt end by the time I finished the fore end it was so dry. Be sure to store the used steel wool and rag in the metal bucket, because they can combust if conditions are ripe. If it happens just douse it with the bourbon you're sipping while working. :upsidedown:





As you can see the stock I was doing was extremely dry, and the first couple of coats only needed about 12 hours to cure. It all depends on the condition of the wood. Anyhow, I repeated this process 4 times, leaving the BLO to dry after wiping on average 24 hours. After the 3rd coat of BLO the stock stopped getting darker. YMMV





Since it was a hardwood stock, I wanted to darken her up and make the wood look a little aged. BLO will darken over time, but to speed up the process I mixed up a little minwax oil based stain using Gunstock 231 (reddish stain) and Dark Walnut 2716 (really dark brown, almost black) and added it to the BLO using 2 parts BLO to one part custom stain, then applied using the same steel wool scrub method, wait and wipe two more times untill the desired color was reached. Look at how the grain really popped after applying the stain, then wiping off the excess.



Some areas I wanted to darken even more to get that aged look, so I scrubbed areas with straight up Dark Walnut 2716 and let sit for a little while before wiping it off. The longer you let it sit, the more time the stain has to seep into the pores of the wood resulting in a darker finish.







Once I had the color I was looking for, I applied 2 additional coats of BLO via the steel wool scrub method, leaving time for the stock to dry to the touch in between each coat. One day it rained, so I had to let her dry almost 72 hours before I could continue.

 

[Uncle Billy]

With the stock completely dry and the color I was looking for, it was time to protect that **** with a finish. Some of the ardent service rifle dudes may get all up in arms about applying anything but BLO to a service rifle as blasphemy, but I figure since it isn't a service rifle with any historical significance, and a "frankenstein" looking rifle with all it's mismatched parts and look I thought I was good to go.

Anyhow I found some old Butcher's Bowling Alley Wax that had been sitting around since the late 60's. After a little research on the interwebs I came to the conclusion that this wax would be the perfect stuff to lock in the stain and BLO on my little plinker.



So I began the process of wiping on a generous coat of wax with the grain, letting it sit for about an hour, sometimes longer, and then buffing the excess off with a fine rag. I did about 4 coats this way and she turned out fairly nice. The trick is to let the wax harden after you buff off the excess, overnight at room temp. Trust me the wax will become epoxy hard and it won't leave fingerprints if you take your time. By doing so you will retain that "satin" look the BLO scrub provides as well. Nothing worse than a military type weapon with a shiny glaring wood furniture that gives away your position. Them squirrel bastards ain't gonna know what hit em.

 

[Ricekila]

All that work -- and no cosmoline smell -- must be nice ?