how to tell if the barrel is shot out.

Sp00ks

Sp00ks

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I picked up a 10/22 a couple years ago. It wouldn't cycle so I replaced all the innards with Kidd components, same bolt, receiver, trigger group. I haven't shot it much. I looked up the Serial and it looks like a 1976 manufacture date.

I was shooting decent, but bulk ammo today and the groups were all over the place. (@35 yds) Definitely not MOA. I could try some different ammo and see where I'm at but it made me wonder if the barrel is just shot out.

That puts me at a cross roads. Do I use the receiver to build something else? but I want to respect the old girl. No idea of round count obviously.

Any Thoughts?
 
Give it a serious deep cleaning. As in go watch some YouTube’s of top ranked RIMFIRE shooters cleaning their barrels. Rimfire need different approach vs center fire.

Then, put ~50 or so rounds through it to season the barrel. Now shoot for groups. If it won’t shoot well after that, then time to move on.
 
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Perhaps I have not lived long enough, but I can not imagine shooting out a steel 22 LR barrel shooting lead bullets in a lifetime. I can imagine having a the barrel damaged by improper cleaning or having a barrel leaded up pretty bad. I second the suggestion about a deep cleaning. I realize a 30/06 is not quite the same as a 22LR, but my brother bought a used pre-64 M70 Winchester decades ago that did not shoot worth a hoot. He did a long and thorough cleaning of the bore over a period of several weeks to get all the fouling out of it. The rifle turned out to be extremely accurate.
 
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Sp00ks said:
I was shooting decent, but bulk ammo today and the groups were all over the place. (@35 yds) Definitely not MOA
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What size groups were you getting? I would expect 1-1.25” group at 35 yards with a stock 10-22 and bulk ammo. I think a 0.35” group at 35 yards is a lot to expect from that setup.
That said cleaning the barrel as mentioned before would be the first step.
Check the torque on the scope mount and check the fit of the action in the stock would be next.
Trying different brands of ammo would be the next step. 22 lr firearms can be quite particular.
 
Like has been said a good cleaning of the bore would be first place to start. So many of the old 22 rifles I pick up even though they have been cleaned over the years if there shot much the leading will build up pretty good. I've plugged end of barrel on a few and filled them up with hoppes 9 and let them set for few days then scrub the hell out of bore. But those the leading was so bad they looked like smooth bore rifles. If after a really good deep clean you still can't get the accuracy you want build her till she is what you want. That's the great thing about the 10/22 is its such a plug and play platform where you can make some small cheaper improvements or go full on custom match tack driver.
 
I took my 10/22 to the range once and within about 40 rounds I noticed really bad groups.
Within 10 more shots they were keyholing.
Extreme leading. Happened so fast I couldn't believe it was leading. Hunks came out after bore foam and a lot of elbow grease.

Remington thunderbolts. I'd check bore carefully. IME, 10/22 barrels fairly durable.
 
I grew up with a Remington 550-1 and shot more rounds thru it than most people have shot in their lifetime. I would hate to hazard a guess at how many. Lived most of its life with iron sights. Scoped it in later years and continued to squirrel hunt with it. Still shot accurately till the day it was stolen from my house.

Give that sucker s through cleaning like Tim said. Expect to find lots of lead.
 
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If it wasn't such a danger to you and your dogs, a deep cleaning like this would be a legitimate reason for using a solvent trap. I shudder to think of getting at my wife's 10/22 but it will need to be done some day soon (ish). Same thing with a few of my ARs. I have one of those CMMG kits and man oh man I need to do those barrels sooner rather than later.
 
Find someone with a bore scope and examine the barrel before and after cleaning. I suspect the bulk ammo is super dirty. Try different ammo, after cleaning. CCI Standard Velocity isn't going to break the bank and may give you a base line to compare to other ammo. I use a bore light to check the chamber for a carbon ring, which will impact accuracy, if you can't get your hands on a bore scope.
 
I've had good luck using kroil when it comes to lead fouling. I've pulled a spiraled sleeve of lead from a barrel that way. At 10 yards, it would only hold a 3 foot group. Let the kroil soak, scrub with a brush, and repeat if necessary.

You can buy an inexpensive bore scope nowadays if you want to have a better look.
 
NKD said:
I took my 10/22 to the range once and within about 40 rounds I noticed really bad groups.
Within 10 more shots they were keyholing.
Extreme leading. Happened so fast I couldn't believe it was leading. Hunks came out after bore foam and a lot of elbow grease.

Remington thunderbolts. I'd check bore carefully. IME, 10/22 barrels fairly durable.
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Yep, sometimes ammo gets made with too soft of lead and will foul a barrel quickly. I had some old Winchester Wildcat ammo (circa 1970's) foul up my Ruger MkII Competition target pistol back in the early 90's. The initial cleaning was done with a tornado brush and I think Shooters Choice solvent. The final cleaning step was done with liquid Mercury courtesy of being friends with my high school Chemistry teacher who was also an avid shooter and helped me quickly diagnosed the issue. :cool:

For the OP definitely give the barrel a good deep cleaning; and if you continue to shoot a wide variety of bulk ammo some routine cleaning will likely need to occur to maintain accuracy.
 
My guess is lead fouling in the barrel and carbon ring at the end of the chamber.
 
Charlie said:
Perhaps I have not lived long enough, but I can not imagine shooting out a steel 22 LR barrel shooting lead bullets in a lifetime. I can imagine having a the barrel damaged by improper cleaning or having a barrel leaded up pretty bad. I second the suggestion about a deep cleaning. I realize a 30/06 is not quite the same as a 22LR, but my brother bought a used pre-64 M70 Winchester decades ago that did not shoot worth a hoot. He did a long and thorough cleaning of the bore over a period of several weeks to get all the fouling out of it. The rifle turned out to be extremely accurate.
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Good info here. Almost all modern barrels (made within the last 100 years) are basically impossible to shoot out. Even those 5k, 10k, 15k abuse videos for AKs and ARs the barrel is usually fine.
 
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