Ruger 10/22 First Impressions

The bad news is that I didn't make it to the outdoor range. I was really looking forward to it, but one member of our party had an unexpected girlfriend's family obligation. These things happen and we'll make it to Parma Woods next week. I was still determined to shoot my Ruger yesterday, though, and shoot my Ruger I did (at the indoor range by myself). Here are my observations:

It is not a picky eater. I fed it nothing but the cheap Federal red box stuff from Wal Mart (the 550 round value pack, high velocity, 36 grain copper plated hollow points) and in 200 rounds there was not a single failure. I am delighted that it eats the cheap stuff and I'm looking forward to having an excuse to try other varieties of 22LR. 

The trigger seems fine to my uneducated hand. It didn't feel mushy or gritty or any of these other adjectives I see thrown around. Maybe it's because I don't yet know what a good trigger pull feels like but I had no issues. Not heavy, either. 

Honestly that auto-bolt thing is starting to seem like a pretty non-essential upgrade. I might change my tune after a few trips to the outdoor range, where locking the bolt on the firearm is required during cease-fire periods, but yesterday I felt that the way it works out of the box was fine. The Ruger doesn't hold the bolt open after the last shot like the Marlin does, so every time I loaded a fresh mag I just pulled it back, it then went forward, and the round was put into battery. The mag release seemed slightly awkward, though, and since that's such an easy replacement job I'm still looking to do that.

The BX-25 magazine makes it extraordinarily easy to burn through a lot of ammo. Between the 25-rounder and the stock 10-round magazine I went through 235 rounds yesterday in a pretty short time. Good thing 22LR is so cheap.

22LR brings people together. A couple of guys next to me at the range were shooting pistols and at one point I heard them talking about my 22s (I also had the Mosquito out, put 20 or so rounds through that to mix it up). A few minutes later, when we were trying to figure out what another guy was shooting (it was his home defense shotgun), they asked me directly what I had - I told them what it was and invited them to give it a go. They shot off maybe 10 rounds each, and as I told them how little I spent on the gun and how cheap ammo is their eyes lit up and they said "man, I gotta get me a 22!"

The most important thing I learned yesterday was that my sight picture was all wrong. Here is a MSPaint illustration:

The 2nd picture is what I interpreted the manual was telling me to do, but all my shots were going above where I wanted them to go. Pretty tight groups, but too far up. Some research later indicated that the 3rd picture is what I want, which would explain why my shots were going above. I'm confident that the next time I take this out I'll be a little more on target.

In closing, I can't stress enough what a great purchase this was. Everyone should have one; if not the Ruger then some kind of 22 rifle. The recoil is nonexistent, the ammo is plentiful, and the fun is endless.

I Take that Back...

Well, contrary to the previous post and all the time I spent looking at Marlins, I bought a 10/22.

I think the main thing that did it was the aftermarket support. I figure the rifle is ubiquitous for a reason. I don't think I'll be replacing the stock and buying new receivers that cost more than the gun itself ($180 - very lightly used from my local gun store/range), but I wanted to ensure that I had options going forward for perhaps more sensible modifications. That, and with the 10/22 I have tons of options for extended magazines (including Ruger's own BX-25, one of which I bought along with the gun) and with the Marlin there was effectively none. I just couldn't get over that.

Wood over synthetic - this was also something that took a while for me to get comfortable with. I planned on synthetic. A few weeks ago, at Cabela's, I came very close to buying a 10/22 with a black synthetic stock, a slightly longer barrel, and fiber optic sights for $230. It was the last day of the sale and I figured I'd be able to find a similar deal elsewhere; no luck. My local gun store said they'd order it and match Cabela's sale price, but turns out it's a discontinued model. Throughout all of this I was going to Bass Pro and other stores, asking the guys behind the counter if they preferred wood or synthetic - everyone said wood. Synthetic is cool and all, but I think wood is a timeless look that also adds some needed heft to the rifle, and I'm confident it will last so I can give it to my grandson or granddaughter.

So now I have a 10/22 in great condition but completely bone-stock. What am I going to do with it?

Internal Modifications

At first I thought this was a weakness of the 10/22 - the fact that all over the internet are people who will rattle off a laundry list of mods that YOU MUST DO AS SOON AS YOU TAKE IT OUT OF THE BOX. Even though I haven't shot it yet, I'm sure that this is just typical internet hivemind hyperbole; however, I am finding out just from handling the gun that some of these mods, while not essential, are easy enough and provide enough of a boost in usability and enjoyment that I will be doing them pretty soon.

The first is the auto bolt release. At present, the way you lock and unlock the bolt is sort of weird. To lock the bolt open, you pull back and hold the bolt, and then with your other hand press in a little metal piece on the trigger guard. To release, you hold back on the bolt again and press the little metal piece upward. It's hard to describe and weird to execute. Even when you get it, which in fairness happens pretty quickly, you still have to juggle the thing around when you want to release the bolt - I think that having to do such a complex maneuver to perform a standard function is kind of irritating.

Enter the auto bolt release modification. There's a metal plate in the trigger assembly that governs the bolt's behavior, and when a certain hole in this plate is made wider the action of the bolt is made infinitely easier. Once this mod is complete the operator need only pull the locked bolt back a fraction of an inch, and then the bolt will move forward and place the round in battery. To the best of my knowledge you will still need to press the metal piece in to lock it back, but that is far more forgivable. So to perform this modification, you can dremel out the hole on your own (I am not confident in my ability to do this) or buy a replacement plate (much easier). No gunsmithing required - all that is needed is to open up the trigger assembly and take a bunch of things out to expose the plate.

I have less of a problem with the mag release - it's on the underside of the gun and it's a lever you push forward. Not nearly as awkward as releasing the bolt. But companies make extended, thicker, and other replacement mag release levers, and installing it is even easier than the auto bolt release mod, so why not?

External

I think it would be really fun to throw a scope on my 10/22. Maybe a cheap red dot sight instead. For this I will need a rail and scope rings, if I'm mounting a scope.

10/22s don't come with rails already installed. Had I bought one new in the box there'd be a Ruger factory rail packaged with it, but I bought the gun and the gun alone so I need to decide what rail is right for me. Much more research is needed here - there are a couple different kinds of mounts, for one thing. I can get a "low profile" rail that will allow me to still use the factory iron sights if I take the scope off.

Once I figure that out I have the even more difficult task of settling on an optic. Cheap knockoff red dots might not be of super high quality, but I can get them for $40 or so. Scopes come in fixed zoom or variable; many recommend a fixed 4x scope for a rimfire rifle, as it is well-suited for the kinds of distances at which I will be engaging targets. Scopes range wildly in price, from a $40 Wal Mart special to something many times the cost of the rifle and undoubtedly more optic than I need. Research is needed here too.

I could, of course, forego the optic and buy a set of Tech Sights, which I mentioned in the previous post about 22 rifles and which come highly recommended. These would replace the irons and foreclose the possibility of mounting a scope, since the rear ring sight is mounted in two of the holes in the receiver. This is a situation where I would have to make the decision of irons vs. scope; even though you can still unscrew something mounted in with blue loctite (the non-permanent threadlocker of choice for mounting stuff on a gun), I wouldn't want to keep adding and removing things like that.

Worth mentioning as I bring this to a close is that I have made one tiny modification to the 10/22 so far; I bought some bright orange nail polish from Wal Mart and put a couple of dots on the gold dot on the factory front sight to make it more visible. Everyone starts small!

I'll be taking this out for the first time on Saturday morning at an outdoor range in MO; my range report will detail the performance and operation of the gun. Stay tuned.

Guns I Will Know and Love Part 1 - A 22 Rifle

Even though I've yet to own a gun, I've done a fair bit of shooting in a variety of calibers and sizes. I've had a lot of time to think about what I'll do once I begin to accumulate my own arsenal, and this series of posts are a discussion of my thought processes, my market research, and my goal to become a well-rounded gun owner.

Part One: A .22 Rifle

In the political world we live in, ammo is expensive and the masses stocking up in anticipation of a nationwide clampdown on firearms only makes it worse. The oasis of value in this chaotic sea is 22 Long Rifle. This little rimfire cartridge can be obtained by the gas can for pennies per round. A rifle or handgun that accepts this ammo means that you can have hours of fun at the range in a very economical way. There is very little recoil, meaning that one's stance and trigger pull habits can be built properly, without the detrimental effects of flinching. The lack of a big scary boom also means that it's more forgiving and fun for new shooters, as a .22 is still a bullet and can still put satisfying holes in paper, cans, and fruit. I wouldn't trust my life to it, of course (though back in February a Maine man inflicted a mortal wound on a home invader with a .22 pistol - always remember that this little thing can still do damage), but for range day, for introducing new shooters to the joy of firearms, and hopefully to pass along to my son or daughter one day, I want a .22 rifle.

Which kind? That's the tougher question. After a bit of research I found myself between the Ruger 10/22 and the Marlin 795 - both economical and reliable semi-automatic rifles. There are other .22 rifles, of course, by other manufacturers. A company called Henry makes lever-action rifles with a good reputation. Savage is where to go if you want a bolt-action .22. A lot of companies, big and small, make rifles in the AR-15 style that are chambered in .22LR, if you're willing to pay a premium for the ergonomics and seemingly infinite options for attachments and optics that come with that kind of firearm.

The Ruger 10/22 needs little in the way of introduction - it has been America's most popular .22 rifle since the 60s. Its reliability, ubiquity and wealth of aftermarket parts and accessories have given it a reputation as the "Honda Civic of rifles." You can get all manner of trigger adjustments, extended mags (for states that allow such a thing), and accessories for this rifle - even replacement stocks that make your rifle look like an HK G36 or AK47, with no gunsmithing required. The 10/22 comes in a wide range of models, with wood and synthetic stocks, different barrel lengths, and even a "takedown" model that easily separates and fits in a small backpack. The 10/22 has some downsides, though. First is the price. They seem to hover between the $200-$250 range, which is about $100 more than the 795. For that cost you're also getting a less accurate rifle out of the box. The multitude of aftermarket options indicate the other issue with the Ruger; the 10/22 can be an absolute beast, but you have to put a fair bit of time and parts into it. It is not only possible but quite easy to spend the equivalent of the cost of the rifle on aftermarket parts and accessories. The prevailing opinion is that if you want a rifle with plenty of options that you can mold into something new, get the Ruger. If you're going to leave your rifle alone for the most part and want something better out of the box (not to mention cheaper), get the Marlin.

The 795, made by the also-venerable Marlin company, is pretty similar to the 10/22 in looks and semiautomatic action. One difference is the magazine: the 795 stores its ammo in a conventional, rectangular 10-round magazine, unlike the 10/22s which come with a proprietary rotary magazine that fits flush inside the rifle. Also, unlike the Ruger, the 795's action will stay open after the last round in the mag is fired, meaning you are less likely to dry fire it accidentally (which can be an issue with some, though not all, rimfire weapons). It is cheaper than the Ruger, which means I'd have more money to spend on tech sights (replacement aperture/peep sights that apparently are nicer to use than the stock iron sights, a recommended upgrade for both of these rifles) and ammunition. Marlin apparently offers rebates throughout the year, and their rifles frequently go on sale at the big box retailers. As noted, however, the Marlin lags severely in aftermarket customization options. I don't have much of a desire to dress my gun up, but it would be nice to, for example, get a reliable and well-made 25-round magazine, which the 10/22 has in spades (there's even one made by Ruger, the BX-25) and the Marlin does not. Another possible downside is that Marlin's rifles haven't enjoyed the best reputation as of late, since Marlin was sold to another company. Some Marlin buyers, for example, report that the "dovetail" part of their 795's sights was crooked. Tech sights would remedy this, but this doesn't bode well for what I thought was the cheaper, yet better-out-of-the-box alternative to the Ruger.

Worth mentioning is the Marlin 60. It's also a .22 but rather than the detachable magazine, the ammunition is loaded into a tube under the barrel and is then stored internally. One advantage here is that you won't struggle to get that last round or two into the mag, but I have heard that the tube, due to its location, can get hot after you've been shooting for a while. When I took a trip to my local Bass Pro Shop to investigate my options, the gentleman behind the gun counter showed me this one first, since he preferred the tube to the magazine. He said his 60 was something like 39 years old, and proudly told me about his "jihad" (his words) against the raccoons on his farm. He had bagged 12 of them with his Marlin 60 - a mighty high endorsement.

In the end I think I'm going to go with the Marlin 795. It has cost on its side, I have little desire to tacticool it out beyond the tech sights, and it's more accurate out of the box. I also prefer a detachable magazine to a tube. It's unfortunate, however, that I won't be able to get a higher-capacity magazine easily. All I'll be able to do is hope that some 3rd party makes a reliable one eventually. Or just buy a 10/22 later.

Shoot Report: May 20, Private Land, Osawatomie, KS

This is first in what I hope will be a series. I don't plan on documenting every last trip to the range, but bigger outings like this are worthy of retelling.

Cast of Characters:

Myself

Thomas, my friend and fellow Kansas attorney

Ben, Thomas' friend from way back

Michael, Ben's friend

Weapons:

Glock 19 (9mm)

Ruger single-action revolver (.22LR)

Vintage rifle #1 (.22LR)

Vintage rifle #2 (.22LR)

Benelli hunting shotgun (12ga)

Deer rifle (7mm) (not used)

Thomas and I met last week and discussed going out shooting - he suggested we go to Osawatomie, and I agreed. Last summer we took a trip to this pretty small town in Miami County, Kansas, and had a solid time. Last summer's trip was just Thomas and me, his two handguns, no ear protection, shooting off a bridge at trash in the creek.

This trip was more organized and more well-armed. Thanks to Ben we had a vehicle that could handle driving through fields, as well as a 12-gauge hunting shotgun and a 7mm deer rifle. In addition to his handguns (the Glock and the Ruger) Thomas brought a couple of old .22 rifles of questionable condition. I also had ear protection this time! The four of us assembled at Thomas' house at 6:00 and left shortly thereafter in Ben's truck. In about 30 minutes we reached Thomas' aunt and uncle's house, off of a gravel road somewhere between Osawatomie and Paola. His uncle led us to the entrance to a big piece of land behind their house, and separated from all neighbors by considerable distance and trees.

We drove further in to an area near a wood pile - this is where we shot the pistols and 22 rifles. We had a large adhesive Shoot-n-C target as well as some empty cans. The 2 vintage rifles belonged to Thomas' grandfather and were recently unearthed and probably hadn't been fired in decades, yet I felt them beckoning to me. I loaded up the first one, which was a bolt-action Remington and loaded via a tube magazine (like the Marlin 60), said "well, worse comes to worst, it's just a 22 so it won't blow my whole hand off," and fired - and it went off without a hitch! The other one did as well, but it wasn't as fun to fire since it was a single shot and required opening the bolt and loading it into the breech each time. These little rifles, though inaccurate and likely in need of a good cleaning, were a lot of fun and a very enjoyable addition to the evening.

As time went on we decided to take out the shotgun. Ben demonstrated it by taking a few shots at the reactive target, which was promptly riddled with many tiny green holes. We drove closer to the entrance to the land and readied the clays. Thomas, Mike, and I had all never shot clays before; Mike and I had never even fired a shotgun. Ben threw the clays with a hand thrower and we all got several attempts. The others took to it better than I, but by the end even I was hitting 3 out of 5 and I view it as a success. There is really something special about pulling the trigger and being greeted with an instantaneous orange explosion in the air. The four of us went through the whole box of 90 clays with surprising speed.

By this time it was pretty dark. Thomas suggested that we go to the bridge anyway, but it was even darker by the time we got there and Ben ruled it unsafe and pointless to fire a few out of his deer rifle. A somewhat anticlimactic end, but the four of us set out for Johnson County very satisfied with the evening and looking forward to the next one.

The Four Rules

These rules of firearm use and handling, introduced by Colonel Jeff Cooper, are the foundation on which a shooter's habits are built, so I thought I should post about them early. This is also an admittedly self-serving effort to firm them up in my mind, so I can easily rattle them off when I have a new shooter with me and, in time, drill my kids on them endlessly. Of course, this whole blog is essentially self-serving, so if you're here then you're hopefully ok with that.

The theory behind these rules is that, when they are followed, a negligent discharge will be impossible, or if it happens the damage will be mitigated to a great extent. Of course, nothing is certain - mechanical safeties fail, and human error is a given - but the goal is redundancy. You should be treating the gun as if it's loaded, so you're careful with it at all times. If that fails, then your finger's not on the trigger. If that fails, then it's pointed in a safe direction, and so on.

Before getting to the rules, I should note that if you follow these to the absolute letter at all times you'll never get anything done. Cleaning your gun or dry-firing it for practice necessitates suspending one or more of the rules for a little while, and that's ok. The important thing is being able to think to yourself "I know I need to act like this is loaded, but I've dropped the mag and triple-checked the chamber, and I'm pointing it in a safe direction, so I'm ok to do a little dry fire practice." By knowing exactly how you're breaking the rules, you're still aware of them and, as far as I'm concerned, you're still acting safely.

Rule #1 - Treat all guns as if they're loaded

Even if it's not, the gun is always loaded. This requires a bit of doublethink, but it is the most important of the rules because it is the building block of all of your smart gun habits. Guns are designed to do one thing, and this rule is about respecting that fact. You wouldn't take a loaded gun and point it at your own head or your buddy's head just for a laugh, right? So don't do it with an unloaded gun either. Even if you've triple-checked it. This is also why you don't muzzle-sweep other people at the range or at the gun shop, even with an unloaded firearm. Yes the clerk just took an obviously unloaded gun out of the case, and checked the chamber just to be sure, but you still don't point the thing at him when you're checking the sights, because it's loaded (even though it's not). Build smart habits, early and often.

Rule #2 - Never let the muzzle cover anything you're not willing to destroy

Ties in with #1 quite a bit, but remember that redundancy is the goal. The muzzle is the end that the bullet comes out of, so don't point it at your friends, or other people, or your cat, or your own face. This rule fosters awareness of where the gun is pointing, which should always be prominent in your mind when a weapon is in your hand (especially because that weapon is always loaded!). Indoor ranges always have this rule on their books - all guns must be pointed downrange (towards the targets) at all times. When it's on the table, or when it's in your hand - never pointed anywhere but where you're going to shoot.

Rule #3 - Keep your finger off the trigger until you're ready to shoot

TRIGGER DISCIPLINE! Everyone loves pointing out poor trigger discipline in movies and tv shows because it's all over the place. Trigger discipline refers to this rule, also colloquially and colorfully known as "keeping your booger hook off the bang switch." More redundancy - if you slip up and muzzle sweep someone, with your gun that is loaded even if it isn't, your finger won't be on the trigger so it's "ok" (really not ok, but at least nobody got hurt and you learned your lesson). Your trigger finger, when you're holding the gun and doing anything but actually firing it, should be pointed straight ahead and resting on the area above the trigger, on the frame. This serves several purposes: beyond being safe, of course, it lets anyone else looking at you see that you're being safe, and it also gives your brain an easy, no-look way to know where the gun is pointing.

Rule #4 - Always know your target and what is beyond it

"Beyond" means behind, above, next to, and below. At indoor ranges, this is taken care of; the range has been built with bullets in mind, so as long as you're shooting (and keeping the gun pointed) where you're supposed to be, you are ok. This rule is more important in the context of shooting out on your grandparents' farm, or on some Federal land (BLM land is ok to shoot on), or out on a bridge in Osawotamie, KS, or something like that. When you shoot, you need to account for what may happen if you miss. This rule is why you shouldn't be shooting up at a target, why you shouldn't shoot at cans right on the edge of your neighbor's yard, and why - I hope I don't need to say this - you don't fire your gun in the air in celebration. Yes, you're a crack shot and you'll hit the target every time, but what if you don't? What if you're shooting up at your target and your bullet, which might have a few thousand feet of travel left, goes toward your neighbor's house? These things have to end up somewhere and, tragically, sometimes they end up inside of people half a mile away who had no reason to expect it.

Learn and internalize these rules and you will be a better gun owner and human being for it. Safe handling doesn't just benefit you and the people in your life; all of us who enjoy the hobby have an interest in everyone being safe with their guns.

Why Guns?

Why guns? Why the (relatively) sudden interest?

This question has been asked of me, and sometimes I ask it to myself.

I was born in Kansas City, Missouri and grew up in a suburb on the Kansas side. I had school friends who hunted and whose parents owned firearms, but my parents grew up in Queens, NY and were largely not exposed to guns growing up. For much of my life I viewed hunting as a "redneck" activity and, I'm ashamed to admit, somewhat looked down on those who did it. My parents, my mother especially, were horrified at the idea of my being in a friend's house where guns were present - that I am an only child only compounded her worry. Other than that, guns just didn't come up in conversation, and I didn't think about them much. I really didn't even have that many friends whose parents had guns, that I know of. Perhaps they hid them well, but I never saw them or heard about them when playing with my closest friends.

In the seventh grade a friend's father took my friend and I shooting at the local indoor range. This was my first time handling a weapon and I remember it well. I shot a .22, a .40, and a .45, all handguns, a mix of semi-automatics and revolvers. It was a brilliant time and I proudly displayed my targets and some spent brass in my room for a good while afterwards. But again, after this, the magic faded and I didn't really think about guns beyond recalling the fun time at the range. The concept of actually owning a firearm was pretty foreign to me.

In 10th grade I worked for a time at a local big box sporting goods store as a cashier. I recall once or twice someone paying for a gun at my register, but the process of a "gun deal" seemed so complex and esoteric that I still didn't think of it as a common thing. I was becoming more familiar with guns, in a sense, through video games. The Nintendo 64's Goldeneye 007 prominently featured realistic (for the time) depictions of firearms, with the names slightly changed, and I remember eagerly learning about the real-world analogues for James Bond's arsenal. As the technology got better and the games got more realistic, I continued to gravitate toward games that prominently featured real-life firearms, but they remained the stuff of games.

I went to college and later law school in Massachusetts, not the friendliest state for guns as I eventually found out. I eagerly embraced liberal causes while in college and, while I did not take part in any protests or anything of the sort, I recall thinking that gun control was not a bad thing, that lay citizens had no use for powerful rifles (beyond - ugh - hunting), and that allowing civilians to carry a concealed firearm something from which no good could come. I recall a conversation with friends shortly after the Virginia Tech shooting in April, 2007. One friend thought that if VTech students had been allowed to carry, the situation would have been resolved faster and with less loss of life. Another friend and I, however, believed that your average CCW holder is more likely to injure or kill an innocent party, create a crossfire, or simply be useless in a firefight.

While in law school I regularly visited my fiancee's (girlfriend, at the time) family in Pennsylvania. Her younger brother, toward the end of his college career, purchased a Sig Mosquito .22 pistol. I had a pretty good time racking the slide and playing with it, and we shot it in the backyard a few times. We also, on several occasions, visited the Sunset Hill range, a range largely intended for city folk (it's only an hour and a half away from New York City) that, with plenty of supervision, allows firearm newbies to play with an immense variety of vintage and modern arms. It was always a great time, but it never occurred to me that I would enjoy firearm ownership, and I never even looked into it until the end of law school.

Maybe it was graduation into a tough legal economy with a lot of loans, or maybe it was just getting older. Whatever it was, my thoughts and political positions began to turn more conservative. This included handgun ownership, and upon researching Massachusetts' and particularly Boston's onerous firearm laws, a feeling grew inside of me. This is a tough feeling to describe - a mix of frustration, anger, and hopelessness perhaps approximates it. Why, in the city that was the flash point for America's revolution, could I not obtain a gun without a complex dance of licensing, taking a class that I would certainly need to rent a car to get to, and paying untold sums of money, simply to obtain something that the Constitution says I am entitled to?

It seems silly but the visits to Pennsylvania and home to Kansas City became more painful. When I would return to Boston, my heart would sink. I hated East Boston, where I lived. I spent probably too much time regretting my decision to attend law school where I did, and not just because of the loans and the crummy job market, but because at times it felt like I had imprisoned myself in a place that I really, really didn't want to be. Somewhat irrationally, I will admit, I envisioned what I would possibly be able to do in the event of some kind of societal collapse. No police, no running water, no food - what chance would my fiancee, my hypothetical kids, and I stand, disarmed? I thought about all of those "rednecks" back home who would be armed and at least somewhat skilled in the event of a dangerous situation and I began to think that my choice of lifestyle - to be "car-free," to live in a state that was about as strong in social welfare as you can get in the USA, to eschew my roots in pursuit of the young professional urbanite life - was wrong.

So I took the Kansas bar. I, despite finding some work in Massachusetts, positioned myself and my job search to focus on Kansas. At the end of April, 2012 I accepted a position as corporate counsel with an IT company in Prairie Village, and that's where I'm working now. I've spent a lot of my spare time (and some work time) over the last 6 months reading about firearms - about laws, policy, history, and the weapons themselves. Guns interest me - on a mechanical level, on a policy and political level, and on a "let's go to the range and put some holes in paper" level. This blog is about all of this, and more.