Project Appleseed

Here are some tips and tricks i have picked up in my 20+ years of smithing 10/22's. This will cover trouble areas, give specs, help trouble shoot and improve the 10/22 magazine.

Tools required for this project are a 9/64" allen wrench or hex key. A fine cut flat file. Some sand paper 150 grit or so. A 7/32" chain saw file, and dremel with cloth polishing wheel.

First pic is your basic black 10/22 magazine.



First problem with 10/22 mags is they dont always drop free when the mag release is hit. The biggest culprit on the mag is casting flash on all four corners. I hit them a couple licks with the flat file and then clean up that with sand paper.



If they still wont drop free after that you have either a tight/swelled stock or if plastic maybe flash in the stock as well. relieve the mag well till they drop free. (the clear anniversary mags are even bigger and will require more relief)

Next problem that they have/get is failure to advance the rotor. This happens a lot when they get real dirty but it can also be casting flash on the nose of the rotor. Marked in black in the picture. Simple and careful sanding will take it right off.



That solves the two biggest problems. Simply wipe clean and Reassemble. I try to put a drop of good oil on the bolt where the spring rides during re-assembly. Try to put at least 1.5 turns of tension on the spring. I like 2.5 turns but it's tough to get them that tight and they load harder. When the bolt is tightened crank it down tight then back of 1/8 turn to make sure the rotor does not bind.

Next comes an improvement. This will help your rifle run better when cold, dirty and run finicky ammo as well.

Cutting a feed ramp.

While you have your magazine apart and IF you have the proper tools you may attempt this if you wish.

With the feed lip assembly out of the magazine using the 7/32" chainsaw file cut a feed ramp into the forward part of the feed lips.





Your only cutting the front and just letting the file ride on the back edge as a guide. after you get it cut to your liking ( I leave about .010" flat out front) then round over the bottom edge using the same file. Then with your Dremel and CLOTH polishing wheel and compound buff it out till it's shiny.



this will increase your reliability AND your consistency since your ammo is not getting beat up on the way to the chamber as bad.

Another magazine related issue Failure to feed or stove pipe jam caused by interference fit of the feed lips to the bottom of the bolt. This is very prevalent on newer magazines with the cast feed lips. If you have one of these take the magazine apart and sand it down with paper on a flat surface. I literally use a belt sander to do them. (be careful they get HOT if you do that) Sand them down till they are nice and smooth like the mags of old.



The newer guns with cast bolts can also be bad about this even with older better finished mags. New gun plus new mag is almost always contacting somewhere.

Hope this helps somebody out there.

Great post.  Hadn't considered cutting a feed ramp into the magazine. 

For those of you out there who don't know how to properly disassemble / assemble the 10/22 magazine, I suggest this article:  http://trochronicles.blogspot.com/2009/04/disassembling-cleaning-and-reassembling.html 

For those of you with newer 10/22's, the receivers appear to be spray painted.  Apparently even the 'stainless' 10/22's are just spray painted silver.  I used a liquid paint remover on the receiver to strip off the paint, then I used steel wool to clean up the receiver.  The bare aluminum looks pretty good.  The receiver is significantly smoother with the paint removed.  I've also used a fine stone on the wear surfaces of the bolt.  Haven't had any more issues since.

Thanks Nemo.
Now I just have to find a chainsaw file.
2cl

Thanks NeMo. Good info. I don't know who the Mod is on this board but I'd say that's worth posting as a sticky at the top.  Celt

This is very timely.  Was going to go thru the fleet this weekend and tune them all up. 

And add my name to the backside of the metal upper with an electric pencil.

And how many have you lost?   

Thx for the tips - RR

Thanks, I will have to try the mag mod the solution is so easy it's overlooked maybe now I can use all my ammo now mine chokes on certain types of ammo now.

Quote from: 2 clicks low on December 30, 2011, 09:35:30 PM
Thanks Nemo.
Now I just have to find a chainsaw file.
2cl

You can find them next to the replacement chains at Home Depot or Lowes. 

Found the file, can't find the chainsaw! ...O.L.

Quote from: Celt on December 31, 2011, 02:59:52 AM
Thanks NeMo. Good info. I don't know who the Mod is on this board but I'd say that's worth posting as a sticky at the top.  Celt

Not sure who has that authority on this board.  I used to be able to "lock" a thread once we had all the info in it we felt was needed to make it short and to the point without getting 15 or 20 more pages of comments, what ifs, etc.  See the threads on the 10/22, Rem. 597, Marlin 795, etc.

I did not have the authority to make anything a sticky.  I'm not currently able to lock threads anymore to keep them from growing into something unmanageable/unreadable once the necessary info has been posted in them.

Great information, thank you for the tutorial.