Rimfire Range Day

I had a very therapeutic day at the range shooting two of my .22 rifles: a Ruger 10/22 and a Norinco ATD.

The Ruger is one that I bought in the early '00s, largely out of nostalgia. My father had a 10/22 that my brother and I shot quite a bit when we were kids in the late '70s/early '80s. I bought mine with the intention of leaving it mostly stock, sans a Power Custom hammer to improve the awful factory trigger. However, over the years it's picked up several mods:

• The Power Custom Hammer,
• A Volquartsen oversized left handed safety,
• "Slingshot" mod for the bolt release,
• An extended mag catch,
• A Butler Creek folding stock, which has now been replaced by
• A Choate Machine and Tool M4-style telescoping stock, and
• Tech Sights.

So much for leaving the rifle mostly stock.

I installed the Choate stock and Tech Sights last week so that my almost-11 year old daughter could shoot it. She's been wanting to move up from her Savage Rascal single shot, but most .22 rifles have a  stock that's too long for her. She should be able to shoot the Ruger from a rest with the stock in the fully collapsed position.

I really like the Choate M4-type stock. Stylistically, it looks like a cross between an M1 Carbine stock and an M4 stock. It feels solid and the shape of the buttstock gives a good cheek weld. The stock has two storage tubes for batteries or whatever. The texture of the stock gives a good grip. It installed easily, although I did need to relieve an area inside the stock to accommodate the oversized lefty safety.

I installed Tech Sights because my daughter didn't want to use a scope or red dot. She likes peep sights. Shooting with iron sights is a valuable skill so far be it from me to discourage her. I got the TSR200 which is fully adjustable.

I bought the stock and Tech Sights from E. Arthur Brown Co. They were great to deal with and I'll probably order more gun stuff from them in the future.

One mod I did to the Tech Sights was to replace the front post with a Hi Viz fiber optic unit. At 47, it's not as easy to see iron sights as it used to be, especially in low lighting. The Hi Viz fiber optic from post is an improvement over a plain black post.

I got the Tech Sights zeroed at 25 yards with Remington Golden Bullets. I figured that if the rifle shoots the cheap Golden Bullets well, my daughter can use them for plinking. I also tried Federal Automatch and Aguila Super Extra subsonics in the Ruger. They also shot well.

Along with zeroing the Ruger I was able to run plenty of rounds through my three Ruger BX-25 magazines to wring them out. The BX-25s are the mags to get if you want high capacity magazines for the 10/22. Last year I found this Rothco pouch at Amazon, which hold three BX-25 magazines and has a small pocket to hold accessories like a sight adjustment tool or basic cleaning kit. It has a belt loop on the back.

The Rothco 2-pocket ammo pouch is inexpensive but fairly well made from canvas. It's a good choice for long .22 magazines.

After I got the Ruger's sights zeroed I switch to my Norinco ATD, which is a copy of the Browning SA-22 that's been in production since 1914 or so. (I previously posted about the ATD here and here.) I wanted to try the Federal Automatch and Aguila Super Extra in the Norinco. It shoots very well with both rounds, although I had a couple failures to eject with the Automatch. Accuracy with both loads was good. Each target is 20 shots.

The sights on the Norinco consist of a bead front with a buckhorn rear. Frankly, they suck. I am very pleased with this accuracy.

Since I'm on vacation this week I'm hoping to get to the range at least one more time.