I know of a few barrel crown designs, but know there are about a zillion of them. I am going to cut a 10/22 barrel to 16". it will be used for general pest control, target shooting, and especially plinking. Help?

If I were you and gunsmithing is my profession I would cut at 16 1/2" this way there is no ATF questions. The ideal crown is razor sharp edges and 90 degrees to the center line of the bore but this is not practicle at all. Cut an 11 degree crown or there abouts. This protects the rifling from bumps errosion and such but still gives excellent results.

Yes, cut to at least 16.1 inches as measured from the boltface. Don't give the feds anything to make your life miserable; they do that on April 15 every year already.

I agree totally with the guys. When we make a 10/22 barrel we cut it to a minimum of 16 1/4" just so there is that "fudge factor". No sense in stirring anything up if you don't have to. We normally use a recessed target crown, but everyone has their preferences and will tell you one is better than the other.

Judson,

Why do you say that a 90 degree cut is not practical? As long as it is recessed it should be fine. If you are worried about cleaning from the muzzle end you simply have to drill a hole in the back of the receiver and clean from the rear. Besides, how often do you clean the .22's?

for your information, I clean my .22 every time I'm done shooting. .22's deserve as much care and protection as any other guns.

Actually, there is some theory that the 11 deg crown is the most accurate.

As to cleaning, most serious 22 shooters think the danger of cleaning is more than the benefit to accuracy. I recently heard that an older gunsmith in Lexington that had a rifle he used to set several benchrest records in light rifles had to clean his rifle because accuracy fell off. He hadn't cleaned the rifle in something like 15 years of competition.

I wonder if you could clarify the "don't clean the .22's" rule. Is that don't clean .22 rimfires, or is it centerfires too?

I recently started shooting a .22-250, and I try to run a few wet and then dry patches down it every twenty rounds or so, using a bore guide and a one-piece rod. Is this a mistake I will regret?

SDS. Your not in any danger keep that 22/250 clean. The 22lr rimfires have a very broad following of folks that believe cleaning is not really necessary except maybe every few thousand or so rounds. I cant remeber when I had a patch in mine.