Majestic Magnums James E. House and Kathleen A. House
business and the makers of aftermarket products could turn out the lights. Fortunately for many of us, such goods and services are available. Moreover, some fi rearms are designed in such a way that the owner can make some modifi cations without getting into the deep water of high technology. Although they may not have been designed with such
I
things in mind, two Ruger rimfi res are highly conducive to modifi cation. In fact, the Ruger 10/22 autoloader may well be the most readily modifi ed fi rearm ever … unless that honor goes to the Colt 1911 and its clones. Somewhat less well-known is the fact that the Ruger 77/22 series can also be modifi ed rather easily although the range of aftermarket products is much less extensive than it is for the 10/22. Both the 10/22 autoloader and the 77/22 have been produced in .22 WMR, our favorite rimfi re caliber for many uses. Un- fortunately, the 10/22 Magnum version recently has been discontinued. For several years, we have enjoyed using unmodifi ed
77/22M and 10/22M rifl es. They have performed well in factory confi guration, but as our projects have developed, we decided to make some changes. The 10/22 Magnum (hers) was given a major overhaul that included a trigger job by Herman Tom of Hornet Products. That reduced the trigger pull from about 12 pounds to a more manageable 4.5 pounds. Also included was a new magazine release that is convenient to operate. Next the factory barrel was replaced and the replacement barrel is a Majestic Arms Aluma-Lite version that features a Lothar Walther steel insert held in a 0.920-inch aluminum sleeve. The barrel chosen has the fi n- ish that mimics stainless steel although it is also available in several colors. That barrel is light in weight, but we have found that the .22 LR version gives outstanding accuracy as described in an article in The VARMINT HUNTER Magazine®, Issue #59, 2006, p. 183. It was now necessary to fi nd a stock that would accommodate the large barrel and the choice was a Hogue OverMolded® synthetic that provides outstanding gripping surfaces. At this point, Kathy’s rifl e was declared to be a suitable walkabout partner. Modifi cation of the 77/22M (his) was less extensive
than that of the autoloader. First, the factory barrel was replaced with a Majestic Arms Aluma-Lite model in black matte fi nish. The barrel on the bolt action is attached in the same way as it is with the autoloader, but the barrels are not interchangeable between the two types of actions because the barrel shanks are of different length. The excellent fac- tory walnut stock was not going to have the barrel channel enlarged to accommodate the 0.920-inch barrel and after- market stocks for this rifl e are not numerous and they are quite expensive. So, the next best source is eBay, the source for almost anything that does not launch projectiles. A nice factory stock that had been modifi ed showed up and the
f there were not an ongoing quest for high perfor- mance fi rearms, many gunsmiths would not be in
The Aluma-Lite barrel features a Lothar Walther insert held in a 0.920-inch aluminum sleeve.
bidding began. After the bidding ended, the stock arrived a few days later. Although there had been some concern about how well the additional barrel inletting had been done, it was a pleasant surprise to fi nd that the barrel channel was extremely smooth and uniform. However, it not only ac- commodated the 0.920-inch barrel, it did so with room to spare. Obviously the stock had been modifi ed to free fl oat the barrel, but I wanted slight pressure near the end of the forearm so I inserted a thin shim. There was no modifi cation to the trigger so the bolt-action rifl e was complete. In both cases, minor polishing of the barrel shank was required to allow a snug fi t in the receivers. Both the Ruger 10/22M and 77/22M receivers have
The .22 WMR rifl es were tested using (left to right) 30-grain CCI V-Max, 33-grain Remington Premier, 40-grain Remington JHP, 40-grain Winchester Super-X, 40-grain CCI Maxi Mag, and 50-grain Federal loads.
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