Originally Posted By: Chris_BriceRandom thoughts......
Try as I might I still like a good ol' carbine or short rifle.
You can still shoot bug holes with a sporter barrel so unless you are wanting a bull for looks or some added forward weight to aid in offhand shooting you don't really NEED a bull barrel IMO. You can do some touch up on the barrel band so it doesn't make contact with a sporter barrel which generally helps in the accuracy dept.
I've had good luck with Green Mountain barrels. Factory barrels can also be set back and rechambered for mucho improvement too.
The factory stock can be modified (a little or a lot) so with your $200 budget I'd just stick with the factory furniture. Think sandpaper and Krylon. You can also sand/cut the forend to remove/relieve the barrel band area.
First thing on any 10/22 is trigger work. I prefer the Volquartzen target hammer and add an overtravel screw to the back of the trigger guard.
I'm actually going to a gun show (Iowa fairgrounds) today to try to sell off an old Marlin bolt action I redid with the hopes of putting the money towards a new 10/22 project. I'm gonna modify the factory wood, do the obvious trigger mods, gonna either go with a heavy taper or maybe a short, fluted bull (entirely for looks reasons), do some work on the bolt (not required but a little help) and add a few bells and whistles. Kinda going for a combo factory carbine - tacticool - long range rimfire look. An odd duck for sure.
Last build:
CB
For the record, went to the gunshow and traded the old Marlin/Glenfield 25, cheap scope and bipod for a 95% 1980 10/22. Forgot how nice these older carbines looked as compared to the current production ones. Think the only things I "might" do to it are the trigger, new bolt knob, extended mag release, handguard and a weaver rail for scope and/or holo sight. No barrel work, no bolt work. Figure it worked for me back in the 80's and 90's, should work just fine today.
Moral of the story: Don't feel like yo uhave to do a dang thing to it!
CB