Picking a hobby

In reply to Drewsifer:

i just "built" my first AR, and i believe the savings were fairly significant. i picked up a RRA complete lower with the 2-stage trigger for 270 at a gun show, and a DPMS complete flattop 16" carbine length upper for a total cost of about 750. retail, the same or similar spec from either RRA or DPMS would have been over a grand.

if you're a 2MOA shooter, with a 2MOA gun, on a bad day, you could be lucky to hit paper.

thats whats frustrating to me about the 10/22. one shot, or even a whole magazine, will be dead nuts on, and the next will be all over the page. i had pretty good results with cci mini mag, so i picked up another box before going to the range. i didn't look, but the guy gave me 37 grain hollow points instead of the 40 grain round nose i had been shooting. spreads went from fairly consistent to all over the page, even on the bolt gun. really frustrating

In reply to Strizzo:

I have had similar results when using the 37 grain hollow points on most of my .22 rifles, and that is with trying multiple brands of ammo as well. The most consistent combo I have found is my Marlin bolt and the Federal hollow points I can get in bulk at the local Bi Mart, that is short of going into some of my target ammo stores. With that combo my girl friend can stack 5 shots at 25 yards that will easily be covered by a quarter. However same ammo loaded into my bone stock '76 built 10/22 starts to show more spread and cannot hold as tight of groups, however if I load the round nose stuff it is much more consistent and closer to what the bolt gun will shoot.

You would think that this would mean I would not want to use the 10/22 as a platform for an accurate rifle, however with the work I have planned to do to it the thing will be quite accurate.

if you really want to burn through money, take up sailing.

In reply to rebelgtp:

yeah, i'll be going back to the round nose mini mags once i finish running through this hollowpoint junk. the first mag through the 10/22 tore a ragged hole about the size of a quarter, but that was the best shooting it did all day.

i know the ruger can be made into a decent shooting gun, i just wouldn't buy a brand new one, then go out and replace nearly the whole thing to shoot competitively. there are a lot of them that the only factory part left is the receiver and the safety. didn't realize you already had an older one that you are going to use for your build. i will be interested to see what difference a different barrel and some bolt work do in the next few months.

Strizzo,

You're right, the savings are there if you are patient and wait for the deals. And I wouldn't go any further in "building" an AR than you would. The gun show route doesn't work here. Where I live, gun shows are 90% bolt action hunting rifles, 5% shotguns and pistols, 5% gear, and whatever is left over is quality AR parts. (Yes, I know what I did )

well thats a shame, the one i went to had a ton of pistols, but most of the long guns on display for sale were AR variants. best deal in a ready to go rifle at the moment seems to be spikes tactical, which were going for around 780 at the show.

In reply to rebelgtp:

for your ruger: http://www.gmriflebarrel.com/ 12 days of christmas sale, every day one of the 12 are 50% off, they are all 25% off while the sale is going on.

i see the 10/22 mentioned a lot. anyone have experience with the 77/22 bolt action? i just took the required course and will be looking to add anther hobby too.

the 77/22 is based off of the M77 Mk II rifle, but uses the 10/22 style rotary magazines. i think the 10/22 barrels are interchangeable to the 77/22, or vise versa, but haven't done much research into it. just know that one requires an adaptor or something to go on the other. its also available as a 77/17 chambered in 17 HMR/HM2

Get C&R FFL ....

"modern" firearms are boring.

In reply to Strizzo:

Thanks for the tip today is their sub sniper barrel with the 1:9 twist hehe can't wait to get my hands on that. Now I just need to get some of the SSS ammo .

My current hobbies are painting, video games (I just got a N64) and working on a bike. Once I finish with school I plan on adding guns and cars to that list and probably dropping video games.