Ruger 10/22 Decked Out for Small Game Hunting

The Ruger 10/22 has to be one of the most customizable guns ever invented! I’ve tricked out numerous Ruger 10/22s, and all of them have been shooters. But, while at the Media Day at the Range event at SHOT, I met Shane with LUTH-AR, producers of a modern Chassis stock, which caught my eye.

Immediately, I started working on tricking out another Ruger 10/22. Later that week, I met with Ruger about a rifle and Burris about a scope. The hardened steel barrels have always shot great for me, so I don’t see the need to put a bull barrel on a 10/22. I’ve found them just to be an added cost with no benefit. Plus, it makes them a lot heavier and awkward to carry.

There are four steps that you can take to increase the accuracy of your Ruger 10/22 (and, for that matter, any rifle). First and foremost is to mount on a good scope. It’s pretty simple: if you can’t see it, you can’t hit it. This is especially true on .22s and airguns since you’re shooting a small game with a small kill zone.

Ruger 10/22 Rifle

Live Inventory Price Checker

	Ruger 10/22 .22 LR Hardwood Stock 1103	Palmetto State Armory	$ 399.99 $ 279.99
	Ruger 10/22 Carbine Black / Hardwood Stock .22LR 18.5 Barrel 10-Rounds	GrabAGun	$ 279.99
	Ruger 10/22 .22 LR Hardwood Stock 1103	Palmetto State Armory	$ 399.99 $ 279.99
	Ruger Magazine, BX-1, 22 LR, 10 Round, Fits Ruger 10/22 Left Hand Models Only, Black	Palmetto State Armory	$ 26.59 $ 15.99

Burris Signature HD 3-15x44mm Riflescope

For .22 rifles and airguns, you’ll want to buy a scope that has an adjustable parallax. So, with this said, I went all out on this project and mounted a nice scope on the Ruger 10/22- a Burris Signature HD 3-15x44mm scope. I selected this scope for multiple reasons:

• Burris’s Signature line of optics is their elite line.
• The 3-15x allows me to take close shots when on the 3x, and yet the 15x allows me to take long shots and hit a small animal with a small kill zone.
• The Burris Signature HD 3-15x44mm scope has an adjustable parallax, which allows me to have a super clear sight picture even at a distance of 15 feet.
• The Plex crosshair is ideal for hunting.
• MSRP is $624.00.

Ruger 10/22 BX-Trigger Module

The whole goal of this project was to put together a tack-driving rifle so I could hunt small game such as the Townsend Ground Squirrel (a.k.a.-whistle pig) and pigeons. There are many factors that go into obtaining an accurate shooting rifle, but a good trigger is one of the big pieces of the puzzle.

Sure, with a lot of effort, you can almost overcome the challenge of getting a good squeeze with a bad trigger, but it will take 100% of your focus, which prevents you from focusing on your sight picture, breathing, and all of the other important items.

In a nutshell what I am saying is, if you want to get superb groups, you have to install an aftermarket trigger. In the past I have always installed triggers that cost up to three times as much as the Ruger BX-Trigger and some have not cycled properly. I’d recommend buying the Ruger BX-Trigger. It’s not quite as sweet as the ones that cost three times as much but the BX-Triggers that I’ve installed have never malfunctioned on me.

The factory trigger is close to 6-pounds. The trigger on the Ruger BX-Trigger is 2.5-3.0 lbs., which is fine with me. I’ve got buddies that favor a 1-pound pull. That’s a little too light for me.

The Ruger BX-Trigger is super easy to install. Just remove the stock and press out the two pins, and the factory trigger will fall out. On one or two of my Ruger 10/22’s, the pins have fallen out on their own. After the factory trigger is removed, install the Ruger BX-Trigger, and press in the two pins. That’s it. Super easy.

So, as we close on the trigger aspect, I recommend going with a Ruger BX-Trigger. The MSRP is only $96.98, compared to $300.00 for some of the more expensive ones.

Choosing the Right .22 Ammo

The accuracy of .22 ammo varies wildly between manufacturers. If you want to tighten down your group, then you’re going to have to shoot the correct ammo which will probably require testing a lot of flavors. Something that surprised me-I took some cheap Remington Thunderbolt ammo to get it on the paper after mounting the new scope. It shot a 3/8” group! But regardless, here is how the various ammo that I tested in this project performed.

1. CCI POLYMER COATED HIGH VELOCITY .22 LR 40 GR. — ¼” group
2. CCI POLYMER COATED SUBSONIC .22 LR 40 GR. 1,070 FPS — 3/16” group
3. REMINGTON THUNDERBOLT — 3/8” group
4. ELEY TENEX 40 GR — 5/8” group
5. AQUILA INTERCEPTOR 40 GR — 11/16” group
6. FEDERAL AUTO MATCH 40 GR. — 3/4” group
7. CCI POLYMER COATED CLEAN .22 HYPER VELOCITY 31 GR. 1,550 FPS — 7/8” group (I’m told it is not good to shoot this ammo in a 10/22, that it slams the bolt to hard).

***Test parameters***

• Shot 3-shot groups
• 25 yd. range
• Prairie winds were 9-14 mph

LUTH-AR MCA-22 Chassis for Ruger 10/22

After sighting in the Ruger on 10/22, I threw the Caldwell Stable Table Lite into the back of my truck and took off across the high desert country, hunting ground squirrels. So, I got to test out the LUTH-AR stock in real-life hunting scenarios right away.

I had previously adjusted the stock to fit me, but if my wife or daughter had been with me in a matter of seconds, we could have adjusted it to fit them just as well—a favored trait of the LUTH-AR MCA-22 chassis for Ruger 10/22. One gun can basically have the same effect as a custom-fit gun for multiple people.

The MSRP on the LUTH-AR is $189.95. Below are the company specs.

• Easy to install, light-weight chassis. Constructed with high-strength glass filled nylon, 6061 aluminum and steel.
• 100% ambidextrous.
• Click-adjustable cheek piece.
• Aggressive grip panel and front grip strap texturing.

About Tom Claycomb

Tom Claycomb has been an avid hunter/fisherman throughout his life as well as an outdoors writer with outdoor columns in the magazine Hunt Alaska, Bass Pro Shops, Bowhunter.net and freelances for numerous magazines and newspapers. “To properly skin your animal you will need a sharp knife. I have an e-article on Amazon Kindle titled Knife Sharpening for $.99 if you’re having trouble.”