so you want to assemble your own 10/22, receiver fiddly bits

So the last post discussed your options when it came to the receiver of your 10/22 – the part that constitutes the actual "firearm" of your gun. Obviously there are a few more pieces necessary to help it function normally in your 10/22, and that is where this post comes in.

We are going to discuss the bolt in an entirely separate post, but aside from the receiver itself, you will also need two receiver cross pins, one bolt stop pin, two v-block screws (also called barrel retainer screws), one v-block, and one takedown screw.

To start at the top, the two receiver cross pins serve to hold the trigger group into the bottom of the receiver. They slide in and out somewhat freely (the dimensions of the pins and their respective holes can snug things up a bit), and are held in place by whatever stock you place your receiver into; in other words, when you take the receiver out of its stock and rotate it about its long axis, the pins are probably going to fall out. This is not bad, just surprising (at least for me).

Options in this case really do not exist… a pin is a pin is a pin. I purchased mine from Tactical Innovations, but that is only because Brownells was out of stock.

When you get to the bolt stop pin, however, things get a little more complicated. The bolt stop pin is somewhat self-explanatory, but in case it was not immediately obvious, its purpose seems to be to keep the bolt from slamming back into the very back of the receiver every time you shoot the gun; I am not entirely sure how this is better, since the pin is mounted in the receiver anywise, but there you are. However, as you can imagine, repeated impacts of the bolt against the pin (which is generally steel, with the receiver generally being aluminum) can supposedly cause the pin holes to elongate and deform (though there seems to be some disagreement on that point).

Enter the bolt buffers – cylinders of polyurethane or nylon dimensionally identical to the original pins. These ostensibly reduce wear and tear, and definitely reduce the sound signature of the metal bolt slamming back into them. I went ahead and snagged a three-pack, since then I could kit out Better Half’s rifle accordingly as well and have a spare.

The v-block screws simply hold the v-block onto the gun, and screws are screws are screws*, so I will simply say I got mine from Tactical Innovations (again, because Brownells was out of stock) and move on to the v-block itself.

While I am going to include it here, there is a fair argument to be made that the v-block belongs in a post about barrels. Why? Well, 10/22s are a little strange when it comes to their barrels – they are not screwed into the actions like most rifles I am familiar with; instead, the barrel "simply" slides into the action (those quotes are there for a reason), and then the v-block holds the barrel in place, courtesy of a standardized knock-out on the ventral side of the barrel. It seems to work, and it is probably a .22LR-only kind of thing (this is one of those points I very well could be wrong on), but it still is wierd.

Given the importance of this part, I guess it is no surprise there are options available for it. On the one hand, you have the standard, symmetrical block that all Ruger rifles come with from the factory and which, apparently, works. On the other hand, you have "offset" blocks which supposedly address the possibility of "barrel droop" inherent in the action. And on the third, but not necessarily gripping, hand, you have v-blocks with set screws to further address and finesse that "barrel droop" problem.

And no one wants droopy barrels.

I concluded that the middle road was probably the best one – I will be putting a bull barrel ("bull" basically meaning "thick"; more on this later) on my action, so the weight will be more than the standard tapered barrel, and there will be no barrel bands to help support it. On the other hand, using a tiny little screw to hold up my barrel did not seem like the best idea ever, so offset it was (that specific one I linked to, in fact). Not sure if it will make that big of a difference, but it probably will not hurt either.

Finally, you have to attach the receiver to your eventual stock, which is where the takedown screw comes in – this one screw is responsible for holding your receiver, barrel, trigger group, optic, and whatnot else all to the stock, but, in the end, it is just a screw. I got the simplest one I could find (coincidentally the first of only two Ruger parts on this entire rifle). Supposedly, the amount of torque you apply to that screw can really throw off your point of impact, however (at least according to the forums on the intertubes), so if you really care, Volquartsen sells a nice hex-head screw as well. 

Next up is the last thing the receiver itself holds, and then on to the rest of the gun.

(* – Well, not really, but your options are somewhat limited in this case too, so there is no point in dwelling on them.)

(Receiver cross pin, bolt buffer, v-block, and takedown screw images borrowed from Brownells.)