Project Appleseed

I want to share some of my experiences with my 10/22 LTR.
First some history on my rifles. The first is a '80's K-mart 10/22 I purchased when I was in college. It had been used and abused before it became my son's rifle. The second is a current model stainless version I recently bought as a bug out/ survival rifle. As such I replaced the factory Hogue overmolded stock with the old Ram-Line folding stock I had on my first 10/22. I also had a red dot sight mounted on the rifle.

When I first heard about Appleseed I replaced the scope on my son's rifle with Tech-Sights (much to his chagrin!) but left my rifle alone. I also purchased USGI slings from the Armalite website at $10.00 a piece.
After two Appleseeds there were no issues with my son's riffle other than he wanting his scope back.
My rifle however, has provided a small list of lessons learned.

First, the red dot sights while great for the 100 and 200 yd targets, were adequate on the 300 yd target and totally covered up the 400 yd target. After adjusting POI to be right above the dot, I was able to qualify rifleman but I would not recommend this type of sight for these events.
Second, my folding stock's rear sling attachment is on the pistol grip which tended to make the rifle cant when using the hasty sling.

To address these issues I mounted Tech-Sights and went back to the factory stock. I was a little concerned about the "flex" on the Hogue stocks but did not get a chance to really put it through the paces until my second Appleseed.

I went into my second Appleseed with a bit of a cocky attitude since I had already qualified rifleman. I spent the "sighting in" portion making sure my other son's bolt action was sighted in (brand new rifle). When I started shooting my rifle it became apparent I might not shoot rifleman this time. My groups were large and inconsistent and my POI seemed to be shifting. I attributed my troubles to the use of iron sights, my eyes are definitely not as good as they used to be, and worked on improving my sight picture. I then switched to my AR, my groups were nice and tight but about an inch off target. Thus ended my second Appleseed.

This weekend I went back to the Ram Line stock and, lo and behold ten shots into a one inch ragged hole! I was also able to adjust my hold to eliminate the rifle's tendency to cant when using the hasty sling.

So, the whole point of my ramblings is to warn against the Ruger factory Hogue stock. While it looks and feels good, in my experience, it will flex and change POI when using a sling.

On another note, I swapped out the rear Tech-Sight with a Nodak sight with built in rail. I left the front Tech-Sight on but will probably be swapping it out also since the Nodak I think is a little taller. I was able to sight it in, but I had to raise the front sight post almost as far out as it will go. The Nodak sights are available through Brownell's and have the advantage of being able to mount optics if desired.

Many rifles will change POI if the sling is too tight.  With reasonable sling tension, the factory Hogue stocks are not problematic from my personal experience and judging by how well  I have seen others shoot with them.   
You can also mount an optic with the Tech-Sites installed if you use the front mount from a 2 piece scope base such as the one from Warne or Redfield. 

As soon as I attached a sling to the stock I noticed there was some visible flex on the fore end. I searched through the internet forums and found mixed reviews on this stock. While many talked about the flexing issue most only addressed accuracy as a theoretical problem.

The key to being a good shooter is consistency. Small variations in hold, stance, sight picture, etc. can all affect bullet placement. It follows then that the more variables we eliminate the more consistent we can be. Maintaining consistent sling tension through different positions and varying levels of fatigue while possible, will require many hours of practice. It takes five minutes to replace a stock or better yet stick with the wood or wood laminate stocks (I'm talking Ruger factory stocks).

I am not trying to bash Hogue. I am just making an observation that for my style of shooting with a standard profile barrel the stock's flexing led to noticeable inconsistencies in POI. I understand that for many shooters this may not present a problem but for those of us that maybe use more than "reasonable sling tension" it can be.
I would recommend that anybody considering a rifle with this type of plastic stock to sling the rifle to see if they notice any flexing and if they do, understand that it may lead to inaccuracy.

There are enough variations between the stocks and the guns themselves you can have one combination that shoots like crap and another just like it that shoots well. One can mix and match until they find a good combination or "fix" the combination they have. Way too many variable to go into it but the first thing I'd do with any stock is float it if possible or even up pressure points if it can't be. Saw that first hand this weekend, a fellow had some type of tacticool clam shell stock on one and it was scattering every where, stuck a Black Hawk Axiom on it and it became a tack driver. Yep, the wood stock are stiffer than any of the plastics/composits and as a rule will cause less problems......O.L.