Ruger 10-22 takedown questions and concerns? and some testing!

[grunt soldier]

Ok so I really like the idea of the take down model so I got one.  I'm one of those people who like the concept of it and being able break it down and throw it in the ruck to take camping whatever.  I decided to put a scope on this one as I think it's also going to be my squirrel hunting rig.

anyways on to the issue I'm noticing.  So I put in a set of warne qd rings.  good solid rings suppose to be repeatable with in 1 moa or so.  not cheap rings but not larue status either.  put a vortex 2-7 rimfire on it and set it all up. 

here comes the issue now.  I wanted to verify it was repeatable.  so I set out zero'd it.  Then started testing it.  I would shoot 10 rounds then take the scope off bang it around move the rifle around and then put it back together and shoot 10 more rounds.  it was no where near repeatable.  So I took apart that night check all the screws and bolts tightened it all up moved the scope much further forward for proper eye relief when in prone and tried it again. 

this time doing it was semi repeatable to about 3 moa but always to the left.  so I started taking it apart the same way and putting it back together exactly the same way and was having much better results.  but still the first groups fired were always off and by a good bit

well I had more time today so I took it out and wanted to test again really taking my time with it.  I'll show some pics with it this time.  I carefully put it together exactly as I had the days before. 

So I loaded up 20 rounds and started slow fire prone sling shooting.  It's crazy off like like 9 moa high and 5 left.  when I had finished up yesterday it was about 2.5 moa left of target.  so I decide I'm going to just keep shooting it for a bit and by about the 15th round it was back to where it was yesterday!!  I had exact same poa for all shots and this  was the results.  the top left were the first 2 shots.  then the top right 3 were the next.  then it progressively started dropping lower right each shot. 



so  once there I made my adjustments and fired again.  center of target we are good.    so I pull the scope shake it and the rifle around to loosen things up.  put the scope back on and and  it's dead on repeatable!!!        next group below.



repeat the process again and again.  I called the 3 that were high on this group so it's still very acceptable for me as I was kinda rushing because I was excited to have figure out the problem possibly.



again repeated several more times and the results were always the same!! 





So If your still with me after all this rambling (most probably aren't lol) Here is my question concern.  does the rifle need to settle in after being assembled each time?  as I thought about it every time it would be way off at first then be much more repeatable after a mag or so.  Also I noticed the the first adjustments I would make would be no where near tracking right and the vortex definitely adjusts/tracks correctly.

anyone else noticed this or had this issue?  does anyone think tightening the ring a few more clicks will help this issue?  I was told when I bought it to rack the bolt 5-6 times to help it settle in and I have been but it doesn't seem to make much difference for this.  Thoughts or opinions appreciated! 

Lol sorry it's so long but maybe this might help as I have seen a ton of these on the lines and a few had similar issues!

[Slow2Speak]

Im guessin it might be a temperature thing Grunt stuff moves around when it warms up.

[SteelThunder]

I'm going to shoot a note to Whippet and tell him to chime in.  He has had a quite a journey with his Takedown.

[grunt soldier]

Im guessin it might be a temperature thing Grunt stuff moves around when it warms up.

Rob I didn't think about that part of it.  very possible you could be right sir!

please do steelthunder.  I think it's a great little rifle and 10-15 shots is really nothing in the long run as long as the shooter is patient and realizes that it will get back to where it's suppose to be after the first string.

[Whippet]

Hi Grunt Soldier, SteelThunder asked me to pop over here for a little group love --->HATE --->love chat about the Ruger 10/22 Takedown.

I actually experienced exactly the opposite situation, but I suspect we may have the same cause. My specimen of the 10/22 TD started out holding zero and then after 20-30 rounds the POI would migrate up and left by up to 8-12 MOA. After trying EVERYTHING (see this post http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=34983.msg269496#msg269496 ), I ended up sending the rifle back to Ruger with a detailed description of my findings.

At first the Ruger Tech just thought I was another hack blaming his rifle for poor results, but when I told them I was an Appleseed Instructor, the actually took the time to fire a bunch of rounds through the rifle. The first tech eventually reproduced the problem and told another tech, the second tech just assumed that the first tech and I were hacks so he had to test it for himself. The end result was that Ruger called and asked if they could send me a new 10/22 Takedown and it works as well as any other 10/22 that I have ever used (with the possible exception of Superheat's Instructor Maker Special  ). When I followed up to see if they determined WHY the POI moved, they told me that they suspected a metallurgical flaw in the barrel that caused asymmetric expansion of the finished barrel. If I had to guess I would assume you may also have a metallurgical flaw causing your POI to shift was the temp of the metal changes.

It makes my inner science nerd excited to ponder the following...

The flaw in my barrel was at about the 4:00 position and caused my barrel to "deform" toward the 10:00 position as it asymmetrically heated and caused me to lose my zero (because I set my zero from cold bore).

The flaw in your barrel may be at the 10:00 position and causes your barrel to "deform" toward the 4:00 position as it asymmetrically heated until it eventually reaches your warm zero.

PHysics is PHascinating

[grunt soldier]

whippet that is very interesting and concerning at the same time lol.  I'm going to test it again tomorrow and see what happens.  I would hate to have to send this rifle in as I kinda already love it.  though I have plenty of others to replace it.  thanks for the explanation and hopefully after a few hundred more rounds it will be broke in and not a problem.   

very strange that we are having the same problem but just opposite lol

[grunt soldier]

So before my overtime today I tested this bad boy extensively.  It is 100 percent positive.  the results are repeatable every time.  it's always high left then lowers in directly to the center.  I shot about 300 rounds in between the rain today and I would let it get warmed up and shoot a few strings.  2  moa all day.  take a 35 minute break and let it cool off.  High left then slowly drops into it's zero again.

I called ruger and they said it most certainly isn't right.  they said it shoot be good to go right out of the box.  The question is now do I really want to mess with shipping it all back to them and waiting lol.  but I suppose I have plenty of others to hold me over and I should just do it.  that is really annoying because I really dig this rifle.  I'm sure they will make it right. 

[Engineer shooting]

Tomblin borrowed one off the line from a student, zip tied a sling to it and scored. Autococker07 has shot the score with his many times.