10/22 finger groove Sporter

[North Country Gal]

It’s not often that I buy a gun to both shoot and collect, but this early 10/22 Ruger is just such a gun. Picked it up at a gun show, yesterday.

The Ruger 10/22 was introduced in 1964 and two years later, in 1966, Ruger introduced the first Sporter version of the 10/22 along with the full stock International version as options to the standard Carbine. This is a 1966 Sporter, the first year for the 10/22 Sporter.


These first Ruger 10/22 Sporters had the finger groove forearm stock, so everyone just calls them finger groove Sporters, though Ruger just cataloged them as the Sporter, since it was the very first 10/22 Sporter. The stocks for these first 10/22 Sporters with the finger groove were actually made for Ruger by S.E. Overton.
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Besides the stock, here are some of the other distinctive features of the finger groove Sporter.
pistol grip cap
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sling stud on forearm


The last of the finger groove Sporters was produced in 1971. That short production run and the fact that the finger groove Sporter was just an option to the more popular and more affordable Carbine is why you don’t see these finger groove Sporter 10/22s for sale very often. That’s why I grabbed this one and, yeah, I paid the hefty going market price to get it. It’s in excellent condition, though.

In that same year of 1971, Ruger replaced the finger groove Sporter with the first Deluxe Sporter. This new Deluxe Sporter had a stock that Ruger made themselves. This new Deluxe Sporter had a checkered stock without the Monte Carlo and no finger groove. Very different stock than that first finger groove Sporter. Here’s our mid 80s Sporter Deluxe with the finger groove Sporter to show the difference. Much slimmer stock on the newer Deluxe Sporter.


Next gun on my 10/22 bucket list is a liberty (made in 1976) 10/22 Carbine or at least an early 10/22 walnut Carbine prior to 1978. The early walnut 10/22 Carbine was the first 10/22 I shot, back in the day.

Now to get out and have some 10/22 shooting fun.

[markiver54]

Very nice !! Congratulations!

[BigAl52]

Nice NCG. 10/22's are just habit forming. I sure like the carbon fiber barrel.

[BrokenolMarine]

The Ruger 10/22 is the one Rifle I have gone looking for several times and they always seem to be out of them. They are handy little shooters and they are usually pretty accurate. When I ended up buying the CZ455, I was looking for the Ruger 10/22 with the Bull Barrel and target sights. My long time dealer outside Richmond said they had just sold the last of the pair they had on the shelf and pointed me at the CZ. That CZ is a shooter, but miss having a 10/22 in the rack.

As I said, over the years, I have always seemed to just miss finding them in stock. Now, I'll just shoot what I have.
At least for the next six months to a year. Gotta build back up the savings....

[Sir Henry]

Congratulations. Can’t wait for the range report.

[North Country Gal]

Thanks, guys. Back in the 70s when I was still doing a lot of squirrel hunting, the myth of the squirrel rifle needing to have bench rest accuracy was alive and well and I still see run across it now and then on the internet. At the time, I was using a superbly accurate Mossberg 22 bolt gun and a few years later even the legendary Marlin 39A for a time. Both great squirrel rifles and the Mossberg was astonishingly accurate. Definitely qualified as that "true" squirrel rifle.

I then picked up a nice, lightly used, walnut 10/22 Carbine at a great price, added an inexpensive 4x scope and took it squirrel hunting. The little 10/22 was so light and so handy to carry that I started to leave my "true" squirrel rifles at home. It was more than that, though. I found that the accuracy I was getting with the 10/22 was more than adequate for my squirrel hunting. Had no complaints at all, in fact. Granted I wasn't taking 50 yard shots, but then I never took 50 yard shots when squirrel hunting, anyway. That "not a real squirrel rifle" 10/22 was one of the best squirrel rifles I ever had. Wish I still had it.

[Hatchdog]

Very nice NCG, I’ve never seen that finger groove stock before. Also thanks for sharing the history of Ruger’s production of the Sporter.

[Hatchdog]

The Ruger 10/22 is the one Rifle I have gone looking for several times and they always seem to be out of them. They are handy little shooters and they are usually pretty accurate. When I ended up buying the CZ455, I was looking for the Ruger 10/22 with the Bull Barrel and target sights. My long time dealer outside Richmond said they had just sold the last of the pair they had on the shelf and pointed me at the CZ. That CZ is a shooter, but miss having a 10/22 in the rack.

As I said, over the years, I have always seemed to just miss finding them in stock. Now, I'll just shoot what I have.
At least for the next six months to a year. Gotta build back up the savings....

Ruger has a different 10/22 available but it may just be a Talo special. It’s called the Sporter Varmit Lite or something like that. Note it’s optics only. I picked up one earlier this year and have found it to be a very accurate shooter.

https://www.ruger.com/products/1022Spor ... 31166.html

[BrokenolMarine]

Might be just what I'm looking for, it's even suppressor ready. But it'll have to wait a bit. We just had to replace the Polaris Ranger. We didn't have any expenses but the house payment, but for a bit We'll be paying for the new farm vehicle. Want to pay that off as quickly as possible.