Accurize Your Ruger 10/22 — Victor Company Titan Stock

The .22LR is about as American as apple pie and it’s safe to say that no other .22 rifle is as American as the Ruger 10/22. Since the 1960’s, the Ruger 10/22 has been responsible for the countless shot-up cans, the taking of small game, and general fun having then just about any other .22LR made. This is for good reason. Similar to the AR-15, the 10/22 is manufactured in a way that makes it easy to swap out components to go from plinker to tack driver in no time. The most common way to do this is to swap the Ruger’s relatively thin factory barrel out for a heavy .920-inch bull barrel for better accuracy.

Since the factory stock’s barrel channel is only made for the thin barrel, the new bull barrel isn’t going to be able to just drop back down in the old stock, a new one is needed. Now, aftermarket stocks for the 10/22 are very plentiful and it’s easy to find one that can fit any budget but they are not without their pitfalls. For several years I had been using a Bell & Carlson 10/22 stock that closely emulated the B&C Light Tactical to create a sort of tactical trainer rifle. That stock was good but I decided an upgrade was needed and boy did I did I find it in the Victor Company Titan 10/22 stock.

SPECS

• Type: Aftermarket stock; fits Ruger 10/22
• Material: Ultra-rigid engineering fiberglass; hardened aluminum bed anchor locking system
• Finish: Black, FDE, OD Green
• Features: Accepts free-floated barrels up to .920 in.
• Rail: Mini Picatinny Rail section
• Sling: QD swivel sling studs
• Design: Ambidextrous
• MSRP: $170
• Manufacturer: Victor Company USA

Victor Company USA has been around for a while, mostly making aftermarket skins and accessories for the Accuracy International chassis systems. A few years ago they branched out and introduced a new stock for the Ruger 10/22, which I’m sure made some enthusiasts roll their eyes at “another Ruger 10/22 stock”. If you start to peel back the layers though and start going down through the features and specs, it’s easy to see that this stock isn’t just another 10/22 stock. For starters, when you take the Titan out of the box the feel and quality of the stock belies its relatively low price point of just $170. It’s constructed not of cheap plastic or laminated wood but from a rigid fiberglass composite resin with hardened aluminum inserts to help support the action. The stock will fully free float a .920 bull barrel with room to spare and multiple sling attachment points and methods mean that a variety of slings can easily be used for carrying or shooting the rifle. It’s available in three colors, but the finish isn’t painted on, the colors are molded in for maximum durability over time without any peeling or chipping. The profile and feel aren’t too dissimilar from some of the popular tactical rifle stocks such as the McMillan A3 or Manners T2 so it can be a good choice for someone wanting to put together a .22 that mimics their centerfire rifle.

As I said before, I’d been using a B&C stock for quite some time but it had its quirks. The receiver area was tight and I ended up having to relieve some material with a file in order to get the safety to function properly and have magazines drop free. The stock also didn’t completely free float the barrel, it had two barrel pads at the front and rear of the barrel channel for support. This meant that if I wanted to sling up to practice positional shooting I could count on my zero shifting in some form or fashion. In the B&C stock the rifle was also prone to experiencing inexplicable zero shifts, which was a bit annoying, especially if I was looking for accuracy and precision. Many of these issues could’ve been cured by pillar bedding the action but that is a time-consuming and messy affair I’d rather do without. Bedding a traditional stock like the B&C for a Ruger 10/22 involves installing a front bedding pillar, relieving the rear of the stock to create a shelf, and then bedding the rear of the receiver to that shelf. Most people that are looking to make enhancements to the 10/22 simply want to able to put a new barrel on, drop it in a stock, tighten a screw, and hit the range. This is where the Titan 10/22 stock comes in.

The Titan 10/22 stock isn’t really like other 10/22 stocks because it has what Victor Company calls the Anchor Lock System, which creates a chassis-like bedding interface for the receiver. It starts in the back of the receiver channel where a hardened aluminum insert creates a cozy shelf for the rear of the receiver to rest on. In many ways, it’s just like in a traditional 10/22 stock that has been relieved and bedded but with a twist those other stocks don’t have. The aluminum insert has a threaded hole that you use to insert a nylon tipped set screw so that it just barely protrudes out of the bottom. The nylon tip contacts the trigger assembly hanging below the receiver as it’s inserted into the stock and creates a bit of a wedge action that holds the rear solid. The front takedown screw is likewise well supported by a generous bedding pillar that has a surface area almost equal to the v-block holding the barrel on. When done correctly you should not feel any movement between the rear of the receiver and the stock when you flex the barrel as it sits in the barrel channel. I will say that I had to do zero inletting or fitting to the stock to get the magazines to drop free or the safety to engage properly. This wasn’t by chance though, Victor Company intentionally enlarged those areas to have additional clearance to mitigate any fitment issues across the wide range of aftermarket parts for the 10/22. At this point the receiver is locked in, the barrel is fully free floated back to the v-block, and it’s ready for some range time.

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To be fair, this isn’t my first outing with my Ruger 10/22 in the Titan stock, I’ve actually had it for a few months but this is the first time that I’ve had the action in and out of the stock without confirming my zero. This would be a good test of the stock’s zero retention capabilities that I could then use to compare to my experiences with the B&C stock. My plan for the range was pretty simple, get a zero at 50 yards, shoot some groups, maybe do some positional stuff, and basically just have fun. You know the typical stuff that you do with a 10/22. Well, I couldn’t quite get 50 yards in the bay that I was in but I could get 45 yards so that would just have to do. At first, my intent was to shoot a partial box of Aguila rimfire ammo only in hopes of getting on paper and then getting a final zero with CCI Mini-Mags. Instead what happened is that I shot three very impressive groups with the Aguila that were so close to the original zero that I didn’t have to make much of an adjustment to the scope to the get the rounds hitting to point of aim. The first ten shot group measured about 5/8 inch, and it was really nothing more than a large hole in the paper. The next two ten shot groups both measured right around 3/4 inch but I was noticing that the groups were staying fairly consistent.

I haven’t shot much of the Aguila ammo but I was liking what I was saw. I switched over to my usual CCI Mini-Mags to double check the zero on the scope and let loose with the first 10-round magazine. The first shot went a little low right but the next nine shots created a ragged hole just a little left of center, I almost couldn’t believe how good the group was. Keep in mind that CCI Mini-Mags are not match grade .22LR bullets so to me this kind of accuracy was awesome. I shot two more 10 shot groups with the CCI Mini-Mags before I concluded that after taking the action in and out of the stock twice, the elevation required no adjustment and I only needed to add .2 mils of right adjustment to get it shooting to point of aim. That is pretty darn good considering that in the B&C stock if I had to remove the action for cleaning or switch out parts, I could count on the zero shifting considerably. I measured all six groups with the smallest 10-shot group being .530 inch while the largest group was .903 inch. When I averaged the groups together it yielded an aggregate group size of just .676 inch over 60 shots between two different brands of ammunition. I can tell you honestly that I’ve never seen that kind of consistency and accuracy when the rifle was installed in the B&C stock.

I’m also happy to report that slinging up in shooter’s sling to add some stability in the sitting or kneeling positions also didn’t have a negative impact on the zero. The Anchor Lock system and the free floated barrel allowed me to really get some tension on the sling so that I was pretty steady looking downrange. I’d found some clay pigeons that got left on the range so I threw a few out and loaded up another magazine to see how well I could break them up from the kneeling. The comfortable grip angle, texturing in all the right places, and consistent accuracy that was afforded to me by the Titan stock meant that nine out of the tens shots broke those pigeons up into small bits. I spent a good portion of the afternoon ringing some of the steel targets and thoroughly enjoying this little rifle. The Titan 10/22 stock has breathed a little fresh air into this Ruger that I’ve had since I was 14 years old and it was a complete drop-in affair. It’s pretty hard to not like that.

Not only will Victor Company USA sell you the Titan 10/22 they also have accessories for the stock that some might find quite useful. There’s a cheek riser system that screws into the comb of the stock to tailor the stock to the shooter’s eye so they’re more comfortable behind the gun. A small Picatinny rail section can be attached to two pre-installed holes in the forend near the front swivel stud that allows a shooter to attached their Atlas or other quick detach bipod. To some people, the Titan 10/22 may not be the prettiest stock or the lightest but it does offer a solid set of features at an incredibly affordable price that makes it an excellent choice for those wanting to enhance the performance of their 10/22.

For more information about Victor Company USA, click here.

For more information about Aguila ammunition, click here.

For more information about CCI Mini Mags, click here.

To purchase a Ruger 10/22 on GunsAmerica, click here.