The 10/22 TECH-SIGHT
By J.M. Ramos
From the countless bolt-on products ever offered for the 10/22 over the past three decades, very few companies really focused on improving its fixed iron sight while retaining its military heritage that made it the world’s best seller. Despite the exemplary mechanical ingenuity that went into the making of his gun, Bill Ruger somehow spent less attention in creating a better sight that limited the accuracy potential of this masterpiece .22 self-loader. What Ruger left out in the design is a rugged GI-style sight that features windage and elevation adjustments. Instead, he settled for the simple folding leaf rear sight and conventional blade front sight—both of which are fixed type requiring a drift punch for adjustments. In addition, the sight lacks elevation adjustment. The 10/22 is fairly accurate within the 25-30 yards, but beyond that, the shooter has to basically make the elevation calculation on pure guesswork by raising the sight blade over the rear-sight notch while aiming. In an emergency situation that requires a quick accurate shot, this will not work. For decades no precision-grade, military-style sight was ever successfully produced for the 10/22 until about 2006.
ENTER TECH-SIGHTS LLC
In March of 2006, Tech-Sights introduced their TSR100 and TSR200, a long-awaited, precision-grade GI style sight for the Ruger 10/22 based from the company’s patented SKS TS 100/200 series.
The same basic advantage gained from their SKS sighting system was also employed in designing their 1022 military sights which resulted in an impressive 8-inch increase in sight radius over the factory barrel-mounted fixed sights. Both TSR sights feature an aluminium sight base with protective aperture wings. The sight base mounts solidly to the rear of the receiver utilizing the existing scope mount threaded holes. The TSR100 comes standard with dual aperture (.062 dia.) and is compatible with mil-spec AR15/M16 sight components. The TSR200 utilizes the same sight base but features the rugged elevation adjustable aperture with detent locking as used on the SKS200. This aperture sight is also available as an option for converting the TSR100 to TSR200 specs. Both the TSR rear-sight models come with the same matching front sight. The early model front-sight base is made of aluminium material featuring M14-style protective wings. Although well-designed, the protective wings did not stand up to hard use and tend to bend when it bumps into a solid object. Tech-Sights eventually replaced the aluminium material with an all-steel construction to eliminate the problem. The installation of the Tech-Sights front sight to the barrel will require the removal of the factory sight using a drift punch or similar tool. The bottom dovetail of the early front sight is made oversized to be force-fitted to achieve the desired tightness.
THIS IS NOT A HARD TASK TO DO SINCE THE BASE IS MADE OF ALUMINIUM AND SQUEEZES RIGHT IN EASILY TO THE DOVETAIL WHEN DRIFTED
The new steel front-sight base is slightly snug when assembled to the dovetail requiring only a thumb push to seat it in place. For tightening the assembly, the front lower section of the sight base had opposing slits. The slits work in conjunction with a set screw mounted below. When the screw is tightened, it will force the vertical slit to open thus forcing the bottom dovetail section of the sight base to spread thus locking the base solidly to the dovetail cut.
To prevent any side-to-side movement of the sight base, two small socket head screws with matching washers are positioned on both sides of the part.
Once the side screws are tightened, the front-sight assembly is rock solid, assuring consistent accuracy even after hard use. The front-sight assembly features elevation-adjustable, AR15-type front post with detent locking. Due to the lower sight base compared to the standard AR15 front-sight tower, the Tech-Sight front post utilized a shorter detent and spring. However, the arrangement still allows the use of a custom AR15 front-sight post such as fiber-optic type, tritium, National Match, etc., to maximize the sight picture at any given conditions.
For those shooters utilizing the heavy .920-dia. bull barrels in their 10/22, Tech-Sights offer an optional barrel adaptor. The adaptorsimply slips over the end of the barrel and is locked in place with thread lock compound. The adaptor is best used with a threaded barrel. This part has a two-step inside diameter hole.
The rear of the hole that goes over the barrel is about .920” while the smaller diameter is .500”. If the muzzle is turned to .500 O.D. the adaptor will pass through it for better connection. An 8-32 set screw can be positioned right at the base of the turned down section, and this will lock the assembly of the adaptor instead of using a compound to allow normal disassembly if needed. Another excellent set up if you have a threaded barrel (1/2 X 28 t.p.i.) is to turn the barrel past the threaded area by approximately .500–.600” to allow the adaptor to be slid past the threaded section to permit the installation of an AR15 muzzle device. The device itself will lock the position of the adaptor when tightened. The latest addition to Tech-Sights’ series of 10/22 sights is the TSR200RL, a rugged all-steel rear sight assembly. This particular model caters mostly to those who would like an option to use an optic like a small red dot as an alternate to the iron sight. Tech-Sights came up with a simple but very effective solution to meet the criteria without having to design a new sight but rather utilize their existing product with the right combination, and the result is the 200RL. The TSR200RL mounts directly to the upper step of the factory scope mount. This has the elevation and windage adjustable detent locking aperture system mated to the standard matching front sight. If you are using a shorter barrel less than 16 inches in length, the front sight will require an extended post in order for the sights to co-witness. The taller post is available from Brownell’s (Part # 231-000-331WB) and is made by DPMS. The Ruger scope mount has smaller rail notches than mil-spec cuts and will only accept optics with a small diameter locking mechanism or retaining screws such as the Bushnell Holo-Sight and TRS-25, Aimpoint Micro and reflex type sights and other similar models within those specs. To use optics with a larger locking mechanism, simply enlarge the notches to accommodate the specific model.
ADDING A RAIL ON THE TSR100/200 SERIES
Those who prefer the TSR100/200 series for the advantage of having the longer sight radius over the TSR200RL and also wanted a rail combination for optic installation, there is another set-up that can be employed which would allow the use of both smalland medium-size red dots. The RL model will only allow the use of small red dots due to its limited rail space. The alternative set-up will require modifying the factory supplied scope mount. This mount has the same thickness as the Tech-Sights’ rear sight base. When installed, the modified mount will have the same plane as the sight base creating an attractive and highly functional set up. The first step to do this modification is to install the factory scope mount to the receiver in the usual manner. Now place the TSR sight over the factory mount lining up the two assembly holes of the sight at the rear. With a pointed metal scribe or similar object, mark the outline of the sight base’s front end contour over the scope mount.
Remove the scope mount from the receiver then cut and reshape the outline as marked on the mount. Make sure not to over cut as you want the modified part to be fitted as seamless as possible on the joint with the TSR sight base when installed. For best results, add another assembly screw at the rear of the modified mount using the same thread specs and supplied scope mount screw.
I first learned of the 10/22 Tech-Sights back in early 2007 after seeing a small ad in the Shotgun News. An order for both the TSR100 and TSR200 was placed immediately to see how they would fare over the factory sights. The TSR sights arrived on time along with adjustment tools. Needless to say, my anticipation was greatly rewarded by quality products and excellent customer service. My first evaluation of the TSR sights was conducted at an outdoor range in the summer of 2007. The test guns include a 20-year old model with an 18.5-inch barrel and had the TSR100 sight, the newly introduced Compact model with 16-inch barrel for the TSR200, the third gun was the heavy-barrel Target model with 20-inch barrel set for TSR200 with an IRAS insert. This model required the optional .920 barrel dovetail adaptor (TS157). Used as a control gun for the test was the Sporter model with 18.5-inch barrel.
Ammunition used included sub-sonic, standard and hi-velocity rounds made by Remington, CCI and Winchester. Targets are set at 25, 50, 75 and 100 yards. At 25 yards, the fixed-sight Sporter was able to match the accuracy of the Tech-Sight equipped 10/22 (except the Target model), averaging 5-shot, 1-inch group on a Harris bipod. Moving at 50 yards, the fixed sight model had difficulty hitting the 4-inch-diameter bullseye, and the grouping had spread considerably especially with the standard velocity ammunition. The subsonic is now shooting low and the sight has no elevation adjustment to compensate. This is where the TSR fully adjustable sights had the advantage. Not only can the sights be adjusted to the desired point of impact, but the sight picture remains crisp and clear making it possible to accurately place the rounds in the black even at 100 yards, a difficult task for a stock 10/22. My grouping shrank by almost 40 percent with the TSR sights.
This is an amazing improvement over the factory sight. My recent test with new production TSR sights involved short-barrelled models with custom barrels at an indoor facility to see how they would fare in accuracy when employed to a defensive type gun engaging multiple targets at various distances 15-25 yards at a fast pace scenario.
The result was equally impressive. The combination of precision and clear sight picture proved unbeatable. Tech-Sights really did their homework when creating these GI-style sights that clearly made the 10/22 a much better gun than ever before. For the complete line of Tech-Sights products visit them at: www.tech-sights.com.
At 25 yards, the fixed-sight Sporter was able to match the accuracy of the Tech-Sight equipped 10/22.
Two beautiful 1022 SBR’s in fixed and folding stock variations featuring Tech Sights seen here with available sight adjustment tools and spare parts.
This article first appeared in Small Arms Review V21N2 (March 2017) |
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