cutting down 22 rimfire rifle barrel

[propercartridges]

i use a winchester underlever    15 shot tube feed     for rabbits   now not to get to complicated there is a  thing called   lock time when u look through your scope  message goes to brain sqeeze trigger now on my winchester the hammer has to fall and strike the round       now as u are aware most accurate guns are bolt action where it does away with the  falling hammer bit    so i am looking for a bolt tube feed    why a tube feed well over 50 years i  have shot a few rabbits but mainly at night from a toyota hi lux now i also have a krico bolt with sticking  down mags and they tear the door top and u just seem to get going wen u run out  and if you catch  the lever the mag can drop out and get lost on the field   so i am after a bolt tube feed     but they are about 22 inches  before the silencer   so wots position about getting a barrel cut down    cheers  george    any body on here do this cutting down work

[Graham M]

If you cut the barrel down you will also have to shorten the tube. Which means re-positioning the fitting at the front of the barrel that holds the tube.

Are you prepared to go through all that bother.???

I sometimes use my Marlin 39A for rabbiting and that doesn't have a moderator fitted; no problem as the .22rf isn't all that noisy.

And as for "Lock time".................................it's a rf rifle not a flintlock ?

[activeviii]

You will still have the problem with capacity. Cut the barrel down you have to cut tube down too. Every 1 inch of barrel is 1 less 22 round. You will not gain anything.

 

Look for a bolt with round mag as their flush, or a semi that you can have a 25 shot mag. Then you can see if you drop the mag

[Walker570]

Sell what you have and buy a Ruger with a rotary magazine. Neat little gun and will do the job.  You could have the barrel reduced to make it more usable in a vehicle. Rue the day I sold mine but someone made me an offer I could not refuse.  I now use a Marlin 880S with 7 and 10 shot mags and when out of the Landie window the mags are no where near the sill ????

[propercartridges]

on my winchester i have put a spacer between the tube and the barrel allowing the brass mag rod to travel past the silencer so no need to take of the silencer to refill  so  can still leave the bolt  fed tube on now lets say we take of the lengh of a parker hale silencer of the barrel the tube wood still be the same distance as the end  of the total rifle   yes if i took the silencer of the  tube would be longer    but this way i would not shorten the tube    they say any barrel longer than 16  inches looses velocity   so i was wanting to do away with the 22 inch lengh but then replace with fitted silencer lengh  and the tube and silencer wood be same

[propercartridges]

29 minutes ago, Graham M said:

If you cut the barrel down you will also have to shorten the tube. Which means re-positioning the fitting at the front of the barrel that holds the tube.

Are you prepared to go through all that bother.???

I sometimes use my Marlin 39A for rabbiting and that doesn't have a moderator fitted; no problem as the .22rf isn't all that noisy.

And as for "Lock time".................................it's a rf rifle not a flintlock ?

lock time is better on a bolt as for semi iwould not have any make given free of charge to much going on some work with different ammo jamming   feeding and not super accurate   i have not seen many 22 rimfire competitions won  on a semmi or underlever   to much going on in semmis as the slide is coming  back round is in barrel next round feeding    to much going on to hold the rifle steady  sorry no semmi for me

[propercartridges]

tube feed to me is by far the best   15 to 22 shots available   no chance of losing valuable mags   have a look now at the 100 plus sppedloader in plastic tube   you get empty pull out your tube attach bottle flick botton  all rounds go in less than a second replace tube away u go

[Scully]

I have had a tube fed Remington ‘Speedmaster’ in the past, which was my first .22 and admittedly faultless. Sold it eventually for a bolt action Ruger M77 in .22. This was even better. The rotary magazines fit flush with the stock and it takes a concerted effort to remove them. No chance of it inadvertently being released. I used mine for years without any such incident. 

I don’t have any fear of losing a mag’ even with my CZ. Barrel was chopped to 20” many moons ago.

Edited to add the CZ is the dogs danglies! ?

Edited July 27, 2018 by Scully

[propercartridges]

12 minutes ago, chilly1981 said:

Semi are more than accurate enough and as for jamming I fire off between 300-1000 rounds per week  and could count on 1 hand how many jams I get 

so I wouldn’t worry about that 

infact I say there more going on in an underlever on the reload than thee is with a semi auto 

yes i would say u are right on the underlever   first wot rifle and wot make of  ammo u are using but on a semi its doing to many things   while bullet is going up barrell slide is coming  back and then reloading from your mag    underlever is in my control none but one is working only bullet going in barrel   with bolt and underlever nothing happens till the shooter makes it happen i want good accurate shots   and ive tried        remmy speedmaster     rugers        and they are not for me   tell me a competion shooter who uses a auto and wins    no they are all bolt   i just dont like or want autos    you have found a good combination if u like it stick with it  but its not for me

[bruno22rf]

How many competitions are won with under levers - yet you seem happy with the accuracy of yours?

[39TDS]

Chopping the barrel requires reproofing. Folk on here have argued that it doesn't but the chap I asked to do it (a very good gunsmith) insisted it does and he knows better than me.

 

I have a 9422 and also a CZ Scout in 22lr. The Scout is a very short version of a 542 and great for in a truck.

The Scout is miles ahead of the Winchester in terms of speed of reloading and accuracy. I would go with a mag fed gun before tube fed every time for rabbiting out of a truck and having had a 452 of some sort for the last 35 years have never lost a magazine or torn a door card.

 

CZ Scout. Tiny little thing!

Edited July 27, 2018 by 39TDS

[Scully]

1 hour ago, 39TDS said:

Chopping the barrel requires reproofing. Folk on here have argued that it doesn't but the chap I asked to do it (a very good gunsmith) insisted it does and he knows better than me.

 

I have a 9422 and also a CZ Scout in 22lr. The Scout is a very short version of a 542 and great for in a truck.

The Scout is miles ahead of the Winchester in terms of speed of reloading and accuracy. I would go with a mag fed gun before tube fed every time for rabbiting out of a truck and having had a 452 of some sort for the last 35 years have never lost a magazine or torn a door card.

 

CZ Scout. Tiny little thing!

I’m afraid your gunsmith is wrong. The law only states it is an offence to knowingly sell an out of proof or unproofed gun. 

OP seems a tad confused as it is without complicating things further.

[Pigeon Shredder.]

7 hours ago, Walker570 said:

Sell what you have and buy a Ruger with a rotary magazine. Neat little gun and will do the job.  You could have the barrel reduced to make it more usable in a vehicle. Rue the day I sold mine but someone made me an offer I could not refuse.  I now use a Marlin 880S with 7 and 10 shot mags and when out of the Landie window the mags are no where near the sill ????

And when out of the Landi window the Barrel is no where near your wing mirror ? ? ?

[Lloyd90]

6 hours ago, 39TDS said:

Chopping the barrel requires reproofing. Folk on here have argued that it doesn't but the chap I asked to do it (a very good gunsmith) insisted it does and he knows better than me.

 

I have a 9422 and also a CZ Scout in 22lr. The Scout is a very short version of a 542 and great for in a truck.

The Scout is miles ahead of the Winchester in terms of speed of reloading and accuracy. I would go with a mag fed gun before tube fed every time for rabbiting out of a truck and having had a 452 of some sort for the last 35 years have never lost a magazine or torn a door card.

 

CZ Scout. Tiny little thing!

 

Gunshops and smiths always say you need it proofed because they charge a bloody fortune for the privilege!! 

6 hours ago, 39TDS said:

Chopping the barrel requires reproofing. Folk on here have argued that it doesn't but the chap I asked to do it (a very good gunsmith) insisted it does and he knows better than me.

 

I have a 9422 and also a CZ Scout in 22lr. The Scout is a very short version of a 542 and great for in a truck.

The Scout is miles ahead of the Winchester in terms of speed of reloading and accuracy. I would go with a mag fed gun before tube fed every time for rabbiting out of a truck and having had a 452 of some sort for the last 35 years have never lost a magazine or torn a door card.

 

CZ Scout. Tiny little thing!

 

Gunshops and smiths always say you need it proofed because they charge a bloody fortune for the privilege!! 

[Walker570]

5 hours ago, Pigeon Shredder. said:

And when out of the Landi window the Barrel is no where near your wing mirror ? ? ?

  Exactly.

[39TDS]

5 hours ago, Scully said:

I’m afraid your gunsmith is wrong. The law only states it is an offence to knowingly sell an out of proof or unproofed gun. 

OP seems a tad confused as it is without complicating things further.

Didn't really matter if he was wrong, he wasn't going to do it without reproofing so that was that.

1 hour ago, Lloyd90 said:

 

Gunshops and smiths always say you need it proofed because they charge a bloody fortune for the privilege!! 

 

Not quite so in my case, he told me how to go about things in a different way which turned out much better for me and he didn't make a single penny out of it.

[Graham M]

Shortening a barrel isn't weakening it in any way, as cutting a thread is supposed to  

So!!! it doesn't require re-proofing because no structural weakness has occurred.

I'm a bit puzzled as to why the OP seems to think that a semi isn't accurate enough as a rabbit gun. We have a Remington Speedmaster in the club which, quite frankly, is one of the most accurate rifles I have fired.

I think the OP is a relatively new shooter who has been sold the myth that a semi-auto is naturally inaccurate. The Ruger 10/22 fires from a closed bolt so I don't really see why it shouldn't be as accurate as a bolt action (excluding some of the really top notch BA rifles) if used with matched ammo'.

[39TDS]

20 minutes ago, Graham M said:

We have a Remington Speedmaster in the club which, quite frankly, is one of the most accurate rifles I have fired.

I owned one for a while, a fun thing to shoot but it wasn't accurate. (not saying the one you refer to isn't)

I tried to part ex mine and the reply was "yes we are happy to part ex a semi 22, unless it is a Speedmaster we don't want one of those". I hadn't told them what it was at that point. ?

[Houseplant]

My mate asked me to zero his 10/22. Wretched , rusty, uncared for thing. It put tens shots through the same hole at 25 metres.

[Scully]

8 hours ago, Graham M said:

We have a Remington Speedmaster in the club which, quite frankly, is one of the most accurate rifles I have fired.

I think the OP is a relatively new shooter who has been sold the myth that a semi-auto is naturally inaccurate. 

Really enjoyed my Speedmaster; only reason I traded it in was that the Ruger was .22WMR. Great fun. 

[1066]

4 hours ago, Houseplant said:

My mate asked me to zero his 10/22. Wretched , rusty, uncared for thing. It put tens shots through the same hole at 25 metres.

I think it's a well established fact that there are a few accurate 10/22's out there, I heard one turned in in Nebraska a few years ago and there's rumoured to be one in New Mexico, although unverified. It's now been established that the one in the Smithsonian museum is a fake but there are still at least five unaccounted for.

[Dekers]

You can cut a rifle barrel to a minimum of 300mm in the UK, and it DOES NOT need to be re-proofed unless it can be demonstrated doing so has materially weaked the barrel.

It the case of the OP it may well seem that length will give tube magazine issues!

 

[Houseplant]

54 minutes ago, 1066 said:

I think it's a well established fact that there are a few accurate 10/22's out there, I heard one turned in in Nebraska a few years ago and there's rumoured to be one in New Mexico, although unverified. It's now been established that the one in the Smithsonian museum is a fake but there are still at least five unaccounted for.

 

Yes, I was surprised that I actually had my hands on the holy grail. 

[1066]

23 minutes ago, Dekers said:

You can cut a rifle barrel to a minimum of 300mm in the UK, and it DOES NOT need to be re-proofed unless it can be demonstrated doing so has materially weaked the barrel.

It the case of the OP it may well seem that length will give tube magazine issues!

 

Much to the chagrin of the masters at the proof house who, I understand, are now stamping barrels at the muzzle to try to eradicate this insidious and evil practice. This, of course, is purely on the grounds of safety and absolutely nothing to do with empire building, mission creep or to protect their revenue stream.

[Scully]

30 minutes ago, 1066 said:

Much to the chagrin of the masters at the proof house who, I understand, are now stamping barrels at the muzzle to try to eradicate this insidious and evil practice. This, of course, is purely on the grounds of safety and absolutely nothing to do with empire building, mission creep or to protect their revenue stream.

? I like that....’mission creep’. Sums it up nicely. 

What they don’t want people to know, however, that removing the proof marks in the process of cropping, still doesn’t mean by law, that the gun has to be reproofed. It isn’t an offence to use or own an out of proof or unproved gun.....yet. ?

Edited July 28, 2018 by Scully