Les Snyder

I use a registered SBR for steel challenge with a pair of ~10" barrels... one for RFRI with a Striplin fiber optic front and carry handle rear with small aperture opened to 5/32" on a 1913 rail... other is RFRO with a Holosun 510c... both use CMMG B units with Bore Buddy firing pin and extractors...advantages I perceive conversion unit is easily removed to clean bolt face and feed ramp, and allow access to chamber and bore for a brush use familiar B5 cheek weld stock, and Hogue AR grip good AR trigger Black Dog stainless feed lip magazines... feed lips do not contain the feed ramp like a 10/22, but rather it is on the bolt collar... feed lips to not wear like 15-22... magazine capacity allows three strings before interruption to re-load

for those looking to get started with something like a SW15-22 or CMMG conversion on an AR...( which I use).. the Striplin fiber optic flip up fits a 1913 rail... I use the OEM carry handle large aperture sight... just starting to work with it, and I think the idea of an open pistol blade might be a good option... regards

I've always enjoyed building my own competition firearms... while I do have a M41 and Citation, the ability to easily clean a .22lr has always been a challenge.... emphasis on easy... the addition of a Ruger MkIV changed that, with easy access to the bolt face and chamber area... really nothing to build, just a little parts changing... TK Striplin thumb flaps, VQ trigger upgrade, VQ lightweight spring set, Holosun 510 jumbo tron, and a barrel weight

I opted for a MKIV lite 22/45 rather than use my SW M41 for ease of maintenance and available options...., friend gave me a comp (don't remember if it was VQ or TK) and did not like the feel,... my cousin machined a barrel weight 1" x 1 3/4" with .270 hole... smoothed out my swing... personal choice... with one shot on target and the large window 510c, I find that I don't really notice any muzzle flip... regards Les L747

I'm a retired high school science teacher, and as such I had access to 14 year old lab rats for most of the time I shot USPSA... one pre lab activity was to trap dropped meter sticks to determine reaction times, by manipulating the distance and time formula for constant acceleration ... distance equals 1/2 rate of acceleration multiplied by time squared) from the caught distance to determine the time... and attempted to equate so some identifiable physical characteristics what we came up with for reaction times left handed students ~ .12s right handed with left eye dominant ~.15s right handed but when you interlace fingers and over lap thumbs have left thumb on top ~.17s right handed with right eye dominance ~,21s unfortunately I'm the slowest category, and at 73, even with recent cataract surgery, I don't think I could do any better than A... I'm currently a B in RFRO... regards Les L747

follow up to my above post... in looking at the problems I encountered with the rotary 10/22 magazines, I measured the fore - aft distance at the top of the magazine... my older black rotor magazines (which I had virtually no problems with when I shot the Sportsman's Team Challenge) were around 1.497"... the range of my new purchase red rotor magazines varied from a short length of 1.480 to longest of 1.487, since both the feed ramp and ejector are located on the feed lip, my supposition is that the problems I encountered came from a non repeatable seating of the magazine in the receiver... when I shimmed the magazines with duct tape, reliability increased... regards

I don't have a scale to weigh my SC rifle, but I'll forward this suggestion... I, too, was disappointed with a 10/22 and historically reliable rotary 10 round magazines for a build... in full disclosure, I did not use a Ruger receiver but a BRN22 with integral 1913 rail and BRN barrel... BX trigger, AR furniture, and housed in a PMACA lightweight chassis... what I now use is a SBR with a 10.5" (with flash hider) CMMG dedicated barrel and collar bolt system... I added a Bore Buddy heavy duty firing pin, and under cut the extractor... the trigger is an old school RRA NM trigger, Holosun 510c jumbo scope, SOCOM style B5 stock and Hogue grip, BlackDog polymer magazines... handles very quickly, less muzzle travel to target, easy to access barrel, chamber, and bolt face for cleaning and lube.. the extractor has a positive first class lever design... the high cap magazines offer only one interruption to the shot string... I don't travel across state lines to participate in matches, so having a short barreled rifle is not a problem...I justified the cost of the tax stamp and setting up the revocable living trust for another purpose, the .22 give me an opportunity to shoot it a lot.

I just installed the VQ trigger/hammer/sear upgrade for my SC 22/45 lite... previously the Striplin/Tandemkross front thumb rest and extended safety were added... the reference video did a good job, though I would have liked a better animation on a couple of steps... when you insert the sear spring the long end needs to rest in the frame cut out...a medical clamp or long needle nose pliers is best, but I managed with a Victorinox multi tool, and is needed to insert the spacer next to the sear spring as well as the spacer on the hammer pivot... a reader on Rimfire Central suggested using the factory trigger return spring which I did... the installation deletes the magazine safety... came out very well, trigger pre travel and over travel are not fine tuned at this point... I honestly think the trigger pull rivals that of my SW M41... regards edit: the video stated to use the short Allen set screw for the trigger over travel (shown in this picture).. mine was just about out of threads in the trigger before getting where I wanted it... replaced it with the longer set screw, but removed about 1 thread off the nose first

TRUBL... you are probably way ahead of me... I have a couple of friends using the polymer 15/22 as basis of a Steel Challenge rifle... one with a lot of rounds through it has noticed that carbon will build up in the grooves the bolt rail fits into, and slowly compress the rails until the bolt fails to go completely into battery... very difficult to see as it is black on black color....have you ever run into similar problems?... I have suggested he use something like Mercury Outboard Quicksilver 2 cycle racing oil as a lubricant as it dissipates carbon... query your comments... regards Les L747

10" CMMG dedicated upper and bolt group, RRA NM trigger . 510c. B5 SOPMOD stock, Hogue grip Black Dog polymer feed lip mags.. easy to clean and quick to handle...only one interruption to your string to change mags

I stuck the H2 buffer for my SBR in the lathe, and rebated a small section of the rim away, so the center slightly protrudes past the detent plunger... slightly past the lower receiver extension opening, but easy to depress when assembling the carbine...

re: ejected brass in charging handle....my CMMG polymer charging handle is over 13 years old and has seen a lot of use, .... I now prefer the DIY one I made as it seems to lock in place better, just a little two part epoxy in the forward portion to fill in the open area

so far it is working well... I've shot 4 sanctioned matches with it so far... a 10:06 on 5 to go beats anything I've shot with the 16" BRN 22, so I'll hang in there... will post any problems... the polymer feed lip Black Dog magazines solve the difficult to strip rounds I encountered with the BDM X stainless mags... at 73 and in need of cataract surgery I don't think I can find a better platform at this time ... I built a Chevy Truck Sportsman's Team Challenge 10/22 in the mid 90's and shot it for 5 years, it ended up being able to shoot 10 shots into an IPSC paster at 100yd...and it never bobbled due to a mag problem... I"m going to try shimming the magazine axle to see it that might help holding it a little better in the mag well... keep posting on your 10/22 vs. SBR thoughts... regards Les

....it sure wouldn't hurt to knock down any obvious rough spots and polish it out...but a couple of comments.... when I was shooting my 10/22 I bought 6 new red rotor 10 round OEM Ruger magazines... 4 work flawlessly, 2 hit or miss... at first I attributed it to shooting old ammo (at Hernando practice matches)... as both the feed lip and ejector are located on the magazine, any movement when locked into place can cause a problem, and I didn't have much of a chamfer on the chamber mouth... I thought seriously about using something like a revolver crane shim on the rotor axle to slightly lengthen the axle and make the magazines fit a little tighter, and a little more consistent.. I had one loosen in a match, and it tightened in the gun, which gave me the idea... I've switched to a CMMG insert 10 1/2" barrel for my SBR for a competition gun so did not follow up with the idea re: stainless... curiously my Black Dog X magazines with the stainless feed lips for the CMMG were plagued with a binding problem, where a push rod and considerable force was needed to strip cartridges off the magazine... switching to the polymer lipped magazines, and they can be easily stripped with thumb pressure... looked like a wedge problem with the follower and excessive friction between the stainless lips and the brass case (curiouser and curiouser)... I don't need the Boonie packer bolt hold open and SW 15-22 magazines, and prefer the Black Dog mags

I had concerns about the outcome of the 2016 election, so in anticipation of a change to the NFA built a couple of AR pistols, one of them a short .22lr upper for my registered SBR...when I started shooting SC I gravitated to a 10/22 but was not really happy with the newer generation of 10 round magazines... with the feed ramp and ejector contained with the mag, I did not get repeatable performance, which I suspect comes from magazine to receiver movement... I think that shimming the axle to make it fit more snug might be an option, anyway I looked at my other .22 rifle, and gave the SBR'd upper a try.. I really liked the combination although the angle of arc between targets is the same, the actual distance the muzzle swings is considerably less than a 16" rifle the removable CMMG stainless conversion is very easy to access for cleaning the feed ramp is on the collar the extractor is a first degree lever the action spring appears longer than 10/22 or 15/22 springs the AR15 trigger group has a number of aftermarket light weight pull options the SOCOM style rear adjustable stock gives me a good cheek weld when I bring the rifle up to my field of view (I use a Holosun 510 jumbo-tron sight) good hand grip with Hogue overmold set with a pair of BDM (plastic/not steel feed lip) 25 rd magazines you are interrupted in your shooting string only once for a reload thought I would throw this out for thought... regards Les L747

follow up... old age is setting in (73)... I thought I'd lubricated the hammer spring on my initial check of the new pistol... after installing the light VQ spring, it was still not very smooth to work the bolt... couple of drops of lube in the main spring/plunger tube and well duh, it really smoothed out... edit... shot a practice match today, ran very smoothly with some junk ammo

GreggK... I lightly chamfered the VQ front mounting lug hole with a tapered ream just breaking the corners... it smoothed out the spring guide feel pretty well... will put the high buff the next time I dis assemble ... thanks

I shoot CCI Blazer for a competition ammo in both my MKIV and CMMG kitted SBR... the last match I had a couple of malfunctions with the pistol where the bolt did not travel far enough to cock the hammer, and re-chambered the fired case...the pistol was well oiled and the chamber cleaned prior to the match...I ordered a Volquartsen spring kit for the pistol, and installed the lightweight spring, but have not shot it yet two questions... has anyone actually shortened a factory spring to help tune for marginal under powered ammo? the length of the factory spring looks like a good 1/2" or so could be removed without sacrificing its ability to close the bolt has anyone run into problems using the VQ lightweight spring over a protracted length of time? thank you for your comments Les L747

old comment... but I round the strike end of my 9mm firing pins, to allow the hammer to strike closer to the center line of the firing pin... I modified an OEM Colt pin, and has been in several bolts and over 5000 rounds without a problem

I got a quick response from Troy OK ing the use of a registered SBR for RFRO...after cleaning the newer stainless unit, decided to clean the older unit as well .... it did not have the cotter pin style firing pin retainer, and needed the roll pin to be removed... when I removed the pin, discovered that the nose had broken off... I can usually remove the return spring with a Q tip after removing some of the cotton, and twisting into the spring... this one was stubborn....I could not reach it with a pin punch...so heated the nose of a large sewing needle red hot, and bent a 90 degree hook... it easily pulled out the spring, which had been broken also... have no idea where the rest of the spring went...

I installed the thumb rest without looking at a video (mistake)... on the MKIV the trigger pivot pin is held in place with a small wire spring that locks in a groove on the right side of the pin... naturally my pistol was dirty, and on observation, I did not see the spring which is to the right and beneath the trigger bar...finally located it after referring to a video, and used a small punch to move the trigger bar over and depress the nose of the spring... the forward thumb rest then easily pushed out the pin with the spring depressed, and was locked into position with a new hinge pin if you do the thumb safety also, the directions are worth reading... only problem I had was the bolt release lever slipped off the stud.. the lever has a slot on the back that the stud fits into

I wanted to build a 10/22 that would duplicate the stock and grip of my ARs used in other competition... started with a BRN22 receiver and barrel from Brownells as I wanted an integral 1913 rail... Ruger bolt, charging handle, and BX trigger (better than I thought it would be)... placed in a PMACA lightweight chassis to attach collapsible butt stock (SOPMOD style with slanted cheek rest) and Hogue grio... cantilevered an angled fore grip off the front of the chassis with a section of 1913 rail... Holosun 510....I am presently re-thinking the use of a CMMG dedicated 10" upper on my SBR that has a pretty good trigger... had good luck with BlackDog mags with the smooth investment cast feed lips pic of the 10/22

if you shoot an AR platform for other gun games, a PMACA chassis will allow you to add an AR adjustable stock and grip to your 10/22... there is virtually no fore end... a added a section of 1913 rail to the fore end, and use an angled fore grip... index down the barrel with my weak index finger as I shoot shot guns....

for the 10/22 I use a Plano tray for fishing lures... it has multiple compartments...holds six mags with wooden bumpers installed... partitions for oil bottle, allen hex wrench to fit the mag axis bolt, 2032 spares, adjusting screw driver, spare chamber flag..I unload ammo loose in the partitions when done... will hold a couple of 50rd boxes, snap closure I have a small plywood shelf attached to the umbrella support on my 3 gun cart used for SC... makes a convenient loading position

I have the plain jane Midway case with the velcro flap, and don't have a problem with it staying open... I lay the case so that the flap is to me, with the bottom of the bag away, and so far it stays flat... the pistol is oriented muzzle forward when I leave home, and I use the pull tabs to indicate orientation...I remove the pistol first, than un-do the flap.... I have noticed that some of the ladies have covered a large portion of the flap velcro with duct tape, leaving about 1/2" or so as to make it easier to open