RUGER 10/22: From Factory To Fantasy

Guns Magazine, Sept, 2000 by Charles E. Petty

On first examination it was obvious that the barrel covering was made by an injection molding process. Most composite barrels these days are made by either spinning or wrapping a composite material over a barrel liner or by simply putting a sleeve over a smaller barrel. This is completely different.

The process is covered by several patents and there are others pending. David Nau of Butler Creek explained it to me this way: a chrome moly steel, button-rifled tube about 3/8" in diameter is surrounded by a "reinforced, super-strong sleeve."

At each end are stainless steel caps that are, "mechanically and chemically bonded to both the liner and core." This assembly is then covered with an injection molded copolymer sleeve containing fiberglass, carbon fiber and nylon. The only criticism is that small mold parting lines remain. The stock is also molded with a smooth black finish. A built-in bipod folds right into the forend.

Midway's Fluted 10/22 Barrel

One of the really nice things about the little Ruger 10/22 is that changing barrels is very easy -- simply remove two Allen screws. The installation is one of those deceptively simple tasks that requires no metal cutting or much of anything beyond making sure that the barrel is properly oriented so the extractor on the bolt goes in the middle of the slot in the barrel. With this done, a simple V-block arrangement secured by those two screws holds everything together.

The corresponding half of the V-block is cut in the barrel and all that remains to be done is to align the extractor cut and tighten the screws evenly It is important to not overdo tightening because the receiver is aluminum and it's possible for the unwary gun owner to strip the threads. It really isn't necessary to get them much tighter than "nicely snug."

The Midway barrel is 18" -- which seems to be the most popular length for this type of work -- deeply fluted, and measures a cylindrical 0.918". It adds considerable weight. With the carbon fiber barrel installed, the package, complete with scope, weighed 6 lbs. 1 oz. The Midway barrel increased that to 7 lbs. 10 ozs.

While nobody can complain about the accuracy of the Ruger in the earlier test, some questioned whether the very light barrel was a disadvantage in benchrest shooting. Midway's barrel provided an easy way to answer the question, so we installed it and repeated the test with exactly the same ammo.

The way the little rifle changed in feel was surprising. I had been shooting the gun with the carbon fiber barrel just days before and the memory was fresh. On the bags there was only the tiniest movement of the scope's crosshairs when the shot broke and it afforded me one of my favorite sights: with the 6-24x Weaver cranked all the way up and the sun behind me, it was easy to see the black streak of the bullet as it dove into the target.

We don't really think about it, but a .22's trajectory -- even at just 50 yards -- is far from flat. Under the particular conditions that day the bullet appeared at 10 o'clock in the scope several inches above the bullseye and plopped right down, seemingly at the last moment.