Publisher’s Note: ” Skip is one of my best friends and he is our Village Armorer. He is quite expert in the technical and arcane aspects of building and maintaining the teeth of Liberty. He compiled this brief but detailed primer on building one of these handy little rifles. I am an Appleseed Instructor in the state of Arizona (there are two of us now) and we urge those who wish to husband their ammunition with the prices they command now to maintain their skill set with modified .22 rifles to ensure the edge does not dull for the Riflemen standing up across America. The main platform we use is the Ruger 10/22 and modify it fairly substantially to better replicate the handling and characteristics of a Main Battle Rifle or Carbine much like the purpose built rifles that festooned colonial mantles in the 18th century here in America. It is an implied task that once you build the rifle, you go out and practice and become proficient. While the primer below is by no means exhaustive, it will give you a terrific head start. You will notice some tabs above which speak to the Appleseed program. I would urge you to explore the RWVA and Appleseed pages and sign up for an event near you. -BB
Yes… we call it a Liberty Training Rifle (LTR)
I would get an adjustable stock… my kids are shooting with it completely collapsed, but other people borrow them, so I wanted a Magpul stock.
If there are no kids using the rifle, any OEM stock is fine… the iron sights are more important.
The sights are the most important modification you can make to the 10-22… I am a firm believer everyone should learn to shoot iron sights first, and I’m certain I’m preaching to the choir on this.
I prefer an automatic bolt release, but I don’t like paying the extra cost… here’s were you can learn to modify it using a dremel tool, which is what I do for all my friends that have the 10-22… https://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-auto-bolt-release-170004/
I recommend using the OEM magazines… here’s a cheap place to start, you need at least two per rifle for an Appleseed:
You need an adjustable sling at least 1″ or thicker. I use the standard Garand/M-14 slings:
Lastly, I like an extended magazine release… the newer rifles come with it, but here is an option: https://www.cheaperthandirt.com/58033-1.html
I make my own extended mag release using the hardware that comes with cheap furniture… and screw it into the OEM mag release. I think they are called caming bolts or screws and they look like a bolt, at the tip, then a solid cylinder with a screw head matched to a caming surface… Everytime a buy cheap furniture, they always pack extra and I just keep them in a drawer for anyone that wants an extended magazine release. I drill them into the OEM mag release (cast metal) flat surface until I am through the bolt entirely. The hole needs to be slightly smaller than the bolt threads (doh!) so the bolt can thread into the mag release, but not too small or the screw head will twist off before you have it threaded in. Once in, cut it down to about .60″ to .75″ using a hacksaw and then dress it up using a belt sander. Then cut off the excess threads coming through the mag release until it is flush. If you don’t, or the bolt is left too long, it will not cam far enough to release the mag…
Now, I found this interesting… unnecessary, but cool: https://www.eabco.com/m1_carbine_ruger_1022_tribute.htm