Select Fire 10/22

The designs offered herein are not the brainchild of a great gun designer but the stubborn persistence of a retired military ordnance man who undertook the project simply because they said it couldn't be done. The project developed into a small Class II manufacturing business which sold the converted 10/ 22's in most of the states where they are legal to own. To date, after at least 100 thousand rounds fired, we have yet to have a parts failure, Ruger's or our own.

After the final development of the first three prototypes, we started a record of rounds fired, which gun and what ammunition. After thirty thousand rounds we quit keeping records because all major brands seemed to work equally well except for residue, grease and wax. C.C.I, ammunition seems to burn cleaner and leave less residue than all the others. So, for that reason we must recommend their product.

Hardly a day goes by that we do not receive a letter or phone call from someone who wants to roll their own. In our supply/ demand economy someone will usually step forward to fill a void sensed by the public. I believe this book will fill that void, otherwise, neither the publisher nor I would have undertaken the task. We both hope you concur.

It is not difficult to design a drop-in automatic sear, to trip it and bypass the trigger sear to allow the 10/22 to, theoretically, cycle automatically. Many hobbyists, gunsmiths and Class II manufacturers have attempted to convert the Ruger 10/22 to closed bolt, select fire since 1964, when Bill Ruger placed it on the market. None, to my knowledge, have worked with any degree of reliability. Most have not and will not work, period!

The first step towards solving any problem is recognizing the fact that there is one and what it is! The answer to converting the 10/22 to select fire is solving the problem of bolt bounce. In counter-recoil the 10/22 bolt will bounce upwards of 3/16 " after striking the breech face of the barrel. This allows the hammer to expend its energy on the bolt rather than the firing pin.

With the bolt just .025 out of battery, the bolt will block the hammer from the firing pin due to the angle of attack. This is, in reality, a safety feature as well as a method to prevent easy conversion of the gun to slam fire. Bill Ruger knew exactly what he was doing when he designed the 10/22.