A Noob Shooter Impressions - 10/22 vs 15-22 or Confessions of a Rambling mind.

stratdragon92

Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2010
Messages
69
Reaction score
1
What's up everyone. Love the forum and I've found some useful info here. The positive things about the newer 15's that I've read here were the deciding factor in my getting a 15-22 yesterday. My wife and I recently got into shooting and I've had my 10-22 for about a month now. I've put about 600 or so through it and only had one FTF. I wasn't able to see the round, when I cleared the chamber it flew foward of the firing line of the range. But if I had to guess I would say it was the ammo. I was shooting Federal Champion 36g CPHP. I love the Ruger, but I was looking to add something to the collection (already). A little more evil black rifle. I decided not to go with a Tapco or Archangel stock because it seemed like it would just make it more of a pain to break down and clean the ruger. I was thinking about buying an actual AR and either doing a conversion kit, or a dedicated upper. But the price didn't make sense to me. If I'm going to drop that kind of money I might as well just go the .223 route.

I picked up my NY compliant 15-22 yesterday and got her out to the range today. Here are a few of my opinion on both rifles. A little compare and contrast if you will.

Break Down and Cleaning- Winner: 15-22
Before the first time I took each one of them out. I gave them both a little cleaning. The Ruger isn't that bad to take apart and clean. But the 15-22 is a breeze! Take down pin baby. The bolt and charging handle slide right out and go right back in. It was a little bit tricky to get the 10/22 back together. Plus the pins for the trigger group slid out on me and I had to put the mag and bolt release back together.

Handling, shooting, general ergonomics, etc- Winner: 15-22

Even though I have a pinned stock I find the 15-22 more comfortable and natural for me to handle. My wife says it feels a little lighter to her. The sights are easier for me to use. I love that the bolt stays open when the mag is empty. The bolt release and mag release are quicker to use and alot simpler. The saftey is alot more intuitive too. I've only really shot a few guns but, I like the trigger feel better on this gun.

I find the 10/22 to be comfortable. But the factory sights really give me some problems. I wear glasses or contacts so it can get hard for me to focus using the Ruger sights. The mag extended mag release is nice but not a quick. To lock the bolt open and unlock it when changing mags is little annoying. Not impossible at all, but after the 15-22 it's not as quick or convienent.

Magazines- Tie so far

Both off about the same level of hassle to reload. The first five or six rounds go in easy then the rest get progressively harder. I wish S & W had included the Load Assist with my NY neutered mags. I'll have to figure something out.
Both mags have fed without problem. Although the Ruger has about 400 more rounds through it.

Accuracy

Right now for me they both shoot about the same groups. Off hand and resting on a bench. Once I get a little better and get some optics on them I should be able to tell. Right now I'm leaning on putting a scope on the Ruger, and a red dot on the S & W.

Reliability - Both guns have been pretty much flawless so far, but I feel it's too early to decide on this. If the zombies come and I have to pick one gun right now I'd probably take the Ruger because it's a proven and time tested design. I've read aobut too many problems that others have had with the 15-22 so only time will tell.

Ammo- Both guns have worked perfect with the limited types of ammo. CCI CPHP, Federal CPHP (both 525 rd champion from the gun store, and 550 from walmart) and Remington Super X CPHP.

I would definitely recommend either of these guns to a new shooter. In fact I'd recommend both. I really think you can never have too many guns. Next up for us is my wifes pink 10/22, a Mossberg 500 tactical, and once we get our pistol permits some .22 hanguns for plinking.

Well I'm off to clean both guns. Hope this will be helpful to someone. If you can't tell already I love my 15-22 ;)
 
Register to hide this ad
Congrats on the new toys and its awsome that your wife enjoys it also...anyway welcome to the forum and the disorder
 
There's a pin in the stock that you can remove and make the stock adjustable. If the factory pinned position is all the way out it's too long for me, I shoot shortened one and sometimes two holes. I doubt anyone cares if you pull the pin unless you hold up the local liquor store with the rifle or turn it into a machine gun. ;)

-- Chuck
 
Thanks for the warm welcome and info guys. If I do unpin the stock, it'll only be temporary. I'd like to try a few diffrent positions, and then re pin it. To me the benefit doesn't outweight the penalty.

I'll have to check out that reloader. I was thinking of ordering some mag rebuild kits from .44 mag, some of the 10 round restrictors on ebay and then epoxying the pin that could be used to remove the bottom of the mag. This way it can't be "readily" converted to a higher cap without fubaring the mag. Hopefully I'll be moving out of NY eventually. Love the sports teams, but I hate the gun laws.
 
And now you can begin the madness of modding each of those to the detriment of your wallet ;)

A nice heavy BBL, new stock, trigger, VQ bolt and reciever, etc. and all of a sudden you have spawned two 10-22s where only one used to be. Magic...
 
Lol. I've been looking at the 10/22 and thinking along those lines. Well if I buy a new barrel and stock and have the old one lying around...

I'm thinking up ways of justifying an Eotech for the 15-22 to my wife.
 
Back
Top