SD Handgunner
05-07-2009, 09:26 AM
I am a died in the wool Rimfire Fanatic, have been all my life. When it comes to Rimfires I guess I am a kid that never quite grew up. Part of this is in 1990 a buddy and I decided we needed an Indoor Shooting Range for something to do during our sometimes long and cold winters. A club was formed, a building purchased and transformed into an Indoor Shooting Range. We have just completed our 19th year of competition at the club.
When our club started the main use was for Rimfire Handgun Bullseye Competition. We did have some shooters shooting a 4 position NRA Type Gallery Competition, but that never was my cup of tea. A dozen or so years ago we started an indoor Bench Rest Competition also to broaden the courses of fire we offer.
I have used several different Ruger K77/22 VBZ's in .22 LR at our club over the years. There were two problems with this. #1 I always longed for a Custom Ruger 77/22, and #2 every time I would get done tinkering with one of the Ruger K77/22 VBZ's one of our club members would talk me out of it and I'd start over.
I finally purchased a Ruger K77/22RP .22 LR (Stainless-Synthetic). When I purchased this Rifle I bought it for a Hunting Rifle, and as such initially planned on leaving it as is.
Well I detest the looks of the Ruger Boat Paddle Stock, so I just had to do SOME modifications.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/LarryinSD/Ruger7722.jpg
I made filler panels to sit inside of the hollowed out portion of the Ruger Boat Paddle Stock. I then covered the panels I made as well as the grip and forend panels with Camo Tape. I did a trigger job on this Rifle and mounted up a Simmons 22 MAG #10-22T 3x9x32mm AO Riflescope but eventually replaced the scope with a Weaver V-16 4x16x42mm AO Riflescope with a Fine Crosshair / Dot Reticle.
I have killed a truck load of Gophers with this Ruger in this form but eventually decided to finally go ahead with the Custom Rifle Project.
The first part of the process was deciding on what parts-n-pieces I needed. First off I knew I wanted to put it in a Laminated Wood Stock. I pondered over which stock and ultimately ended up with a Volquartsen Custom Laminated Wood Stock. To switch from the Synthetic Stock to the Wood Stock I needed to purchase some parts, a Trigger Guard, Magazine Well and the Action Screws for a Ruger K77/22VBZ.
Next up was deciding on a Barrel. I searched and searched for information and in the end decided on a Clark Custom Guns 20" .920" Stainless-Steel Bull Barrel in .22 LR. Clark Custom Guns uses Lothar-Walther Barrel Blanks and I had read some really great things about the Lothar-Walther Barrel Blanks, which helped in my decision. One other thing that helped is that Clark Custom Guns would make the barrel any length I wanted under 22" at no extra charge, in addition to using their own design .22 LR Match Chamber Reamer.
When my parts started arriving I had to get to work. The bottom metal from the K77/22VBZ had Ruger's Target Grey Finish, so the first job was to polish off the Target Grey Finish so the stainless-steel parts matched my action. Next up was fitting the barrel. The Barrel Shank on the Clark Custom Guns Barrel to the Ruger Action was quite TIGHT. In fact I polished the Barrel Shank slightly and then placed it in the freezer. At the same time I placed the Ruger Receiver on the window sill with the sun shining on it. After about a half hour the two parts slipped together great.
SInce I had done a trigger job on this rifle originally I just wanted to touch things up a bit. I did a bit more stoning and polishing, came up with a custom spring and had a buddy drill & tap the receiver for an over travel stop. The result is a really great feeling, super crisp 1 1/4 pound trigger.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/LarryinSD/CustomRugerK7722.jpg
Above is the result of my labors. I also had to obtain higher Ruger Scope Rings for the Weaver Scope to clear the Heavy Clark Custom Guns Barrel. I did about a 500 round Barrel Break in procedure prior to shooting competition with this Custom Ruger. Once I had 500 rounds through the tube I then started in with some SK Jagd Standard Plus .22 LR Target Ammo.
At our club we shoot at 18 yards (the most distance we can get) and use the USBR Target. The 10 Ring on the USBR Target measures .100" and is scored using inward scoring, ie if the bullet hole touches any portion of the 10 ring the shots scores a "10". If the bullet hole obliterates the 10 ring so no portion of the 10 ring is visible outside of the bullet hole the shot scores a 10 X.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/LarryinSD/USBRTarget.jpg
Above is the first USBR Target I fired with my Custom Ruger 77/22 using SK Jagd Standard Plus Target Ammo.
This winter I was able to fullfill a dream of building a Custom Ruger 77/22. I am totally pleased with how it turned out and how it shoots. The icing on the cake was I won our Indoor Rimfire Bench Rest Competition this year. We shoot 6 scores for record and a perfect score would be 1500-150X for the year. I ended up with a 1496.
Thanks for reading.
Larry
When our club started the main use was for Rimfire Handgun Bullseye Competition. We did have some shooters shooting a 4 position NRA Type Gallery Competition, but that never was my cup of tea. A dozen or so years ago we started an indoor Bench Rest Competition also to broaden the courses of fire we offer.
I have used several different Ruger K77/22 VBZ's in .22 LR at our club over the years. There were two problems with this. #1 I always longed for a Custom Ruger 77/22, and #2 every time I would get done tinkering with one of the Ruger K77/22 VBZ's one of our club members would talk me out of it and I'd start over.
I finally purchased a Ruger K77/22RP .22 LR (Stainless-Synthetic). When I purchased this Rifle I bought it for a Hunting Rifle, and as such initially planned on leaving it as is.
Well I detest the looks of the Ruger Boat Paddle Stock, so I just had to do SOME modifications.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/LarryinSD/Ruger7722.jpg
I made filler panels to sit inside of the hollowed out portion of the Ruger Boat Paddle Stock. I then covered the panels I made as well as the grip and forend panels with Camo Tape. I did a trigger job on this Rifle and mounted up a Simmons 22 MAG #10-22T 3x9x32mm AO Riflescope but eventually replaced the scope with a Weaver V-16 4x16x42mm AO Riflescope with a Fine Crosshair / Dot Reticle.
I have killed a truck load of Gophers with this Ruger in this form but eventually decided to finally go ahead with the Custom Rifle Project.
The first part of the process was deciding on what parts-n-pieces I needed. First off I knew I wanted to put it in a Laminated Wood Stock. I pondered over which stock and ultimately ended up with a Volquartsen Custom Laminated Wood Stock. To switch from the Synthetic Stock to the Wood Stock I needed to purchase some parts, a Trigger Guard, Magazine Well and the Action Screws for a Ruger K77/22VBZ.
Next up was deciding on a Barrel. I searched and searched for information and in the end decided on a Clark Custom Guns 20" .920" Stainless-Steel Bull Barrel in .22 LR. Clark Custom Guns uses Lothar-Walther Barrel Blanks and I had read some really great things about the Lothar-Walther Barrel Blanks, which helped in my decision. One other thing that helped is that Clark Custom Guns would make the barrel any length I wanted under 22" at no extra charge, in addition to using their own design .22 LR Match Chamber Reamer.
When my parts started arriving I had to get to work. The bottom metal from the K77/22VBZ had Ruger's Target Grey Finish, so the first job was to polish off the Target Grey Finish so the stainless-steel parts matched my action. Next up was fitting the barrel. The Barrel Shank on the Clark Custom Guns Barrel to the Ruger Action was quite TIGHT. In fact I polished the Barrel Shank slightly and then placed it in the freezer. At the same time I placed the Ruger Receiver on the window sill with the sun shining on it. After about a half hour the two parts slipped together great.
SInce I had done a trigger job on this rifle originally I just wanted to touch things up a bit. I did a bit more stoning and polishing, came up with a custom spring and had a buddy drill & tap the receiver for an over travel stop. The result is a really great feeling, super crisp 1 1/4 pound trigger.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/LarryinSD/CustomRugerK7722.jpg
Above is the result of my labors. I also had to obtain higher Ruger Scope Rings for the Weaver Scope to clear the Heavy Clark Custom Guns Barrel. I did about a 500 round Barrel Break in procedure prior to shooting competition with this Custom Ruger. Once I had 500 rounds through the tube I then started in with some SK Jagd Standard Plus .22 LR Target Ammo.
At our club we shoot at 18 yards (the most distance we can get) and use the USBR Target. The 10 Ring on the USBR Target measures .100" and is scored using inward scoring, ie if the bullet hole touches any portion of the 10 ring the shots scores a "10". If the bullet hole obliterates the 10 ring so no portion of the 10 ring is visible outside of the bullet hole the shot scores a 10 X.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/LarryinSD/USBRTarget.jpg
Above is the first USBR Target I fired with my Custom Ruger 77/22 using SK Jagd Standard Plus Target Ammo.
This winter I was able to fullfill a dream of building a Custom Ruger 77/22. I am totally pleased with how it turned out and how it shoots. The icing on the cake was I won our Indoor Rimfire Bench Rest Competition this year. We shoot 6 scores for record and a perfect score would be 1500-150X for the year. I ended up with a 1496.
Thanks for reading.
Larry