When chasing small groups with your firearm a good trigger is of the utmost importance. Precision rimfire has gotten very popular and the Ruger 10/22 carbine has a nice foothold in that market. Being so popular it makes sense one would want to upgrade and customize your 10/22 if you were into such a thing or even for accurate plinking. The trigger should be one of the first things to consider and Tandemkross has an excellent option with the Ultimate 10/22 Trigger Kit.
I have a few Ruger 10/22s but one I have owned since the late 90s had a downright miserable trigger, breaking at eight pounds with plenty of take-up and overtravel. So, I figured that would be the best test of the new Ultimate trigger.
Following the instructional video from Tandemkoss I was able to get everything disassembled but quickly realized my Ruger factory trigger pin was 0.010″ larger than the hole in the Tandemkross trigger and sear. I placed a call to their customer service and after a little digging, we learned Ruger did a line change many years ago when they went from the steel trigger assembly to the plastic one with a smaller trigger pin. It is my understanding Tandemkross has addressed this but me being a bit impatient I took the trigger to Barnes Precision Machine and had Andrew enlarge the hole in the trigger and sear 0.010″ so my older factory Ruger trigger pin would fit. I took everything home and it went together without further issue. This is only a problem for the old 10/22s and has been addressed.
The trigger face is flat and well serrated.
If you choose to cut down the overtravel, you have an adjustment screw that can help you fine-tune the overtravel. The trigger is also available in red if you want to gussy up your rifle a bit.
After installation and a few test runs the trigger now measures three pounds with take up and over travel cut in half. In my opinion that is excellent results from a simple trigger swap.
Specifications
Copied from the Tandemkross website
“The upgraded 10/22 trigger shoe features TANDEMKROSS’ signature flat-faced, textured design for the ultimate purchase and control, even when shooting with rain, sweat or gloves. The flat-face allows the user to place their finger low on the trigger, boosting leverage and reducing the trigger pull even further. The flat-face trigger helps promote good technique to make it easier and more natural to pull the trigger consistently and correctly.
The trigger also mimics the design of the TANDEMKROSS “Victory” Triggers for rimfire pistols, offering a consistent trigger feel across pistol and rifle during a Rimfire Challenge or Steel Challenge competition.
The upgraded 10/22 hammer and 10/22 sear are made of hardened, impact resistant S-7 tool steel. The parts are machined from billet stock and critical surfaces are EDM cut for the most precise machining, allowing for a unique, completely redesigned sear-hammer engagement.
These precision-machined parts allow for an extremely light trigger pull, while still maintaining strong sear-hammer engagement. By changing the geometry of this engagement, we’ve created a trigger kit that is incredibly light, incredibly safe and reliable long-term, ensuring your trigger pull doesn’t change even after many thousands of rounds have been fired.
We’re keeping the upgrades coming with the “Ultimate” 10/22 trigger kit, including a redesign of the factory trigger return spring and plunger. The design of the factory spring and plunger requires a heavier spring in order to have consistent, positive resets. The “Ultimate” Trigger Kit does away with this design, replacing the spring and plunger with a single coil of music wire spring that flexes and rebounds with zero friction, binding or other trigger noise.”