Tech Sights 10/22 Iron Upgrades

I have a Ruger 10/22 Takedown and love its accuracy and compact size, but its sights could be better. My qualm about the factory sights is that they are cumbersome to adjust when I switch ammo.

For instance, when plinking, I use inexpensive ammunition, but when I practice target shooting, I use match ammo. Using different types of ammo will change the point of impact, even bullets of the same grain weight.

With the Takedown’s factory sights, the front sight handles windage corrections while the rear sight adjusts for elevation corrections. Drifting the front sight requires a punch and hammer. There are no reference marks to guesstimate how far the bullet’s impact will move with each tap.

The task is not difficult, but it’s time-consuming to tap the dovetailed sight a little at a time to get the windage zeroed. But my front sight was stubborn and required a lot of coercion to get it to budge a little, which doesn’t endear me to the system.

The Upgrade

If the Takedown wasn’t such a pleasure to shoot, I would have left it like is. But this rimfire is going to get a lot of use, and I want an easy-to-adjust setup.

I considered adding a red dot, but I love the simplicity of iron sights on the Takedown. A call to a rimfire fanatic friend put me on the right track. He recommended the TSR100 and TSR200 Ruger 10/22 sights from Tech Sights.

The TSR100 and TSR200 come bundled with a front sight. In contrast to the Takedown factory sights, windage adjustments are made on the rear sight, and elevation is adjusted on the front. The rear sights are mounted to the receiver, giving the rifle an extra 6 to 7.5 inches of sight radius depending on the sight. The longer the sight radius, the more apparent the movement between the front and rear sights, thereby allowing you to refine your sight picture. The net result is improved accuracy.

The TSR100 rear sight base is made of aluminum and has a dual-leaf aperture sight. The aperture sights have a .062-inch opening and can be flipped back and forth for short and long ranges. The short base aperture is for short ranges. Flipping to the tall aperture sight will change the point of impact approximately 6 MOA. Windage is adjusted via a wheel on the side of the housing using a sight tool. It’s a simple one-handed operation with each click adjusting the point of impact .25 inch at 25 yards.

Like the TSR100, the TSR200 rear sight mounts on the receiver, but it’s designed to be piggy-backed onto a Weaver TO-9M top-mount base. The windage is corrected via a side knob with strong detents and can be rotated with fingers or a sight tool. The TSR200 has an extra elevation adjustment underneath the aperture to co-witness the sights with a low-profile red dot like the Bushnell TRS-25 or Aimpoint Micro.

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The all-steel front sight is an AR-15/M16 type and slides into the dovetail. The elevation is adjusted like an AR front sight with a sight tool; each click will move the point of impact .25 inch at 25 yards.

Easy Installation

Sight installation was a breeze. With the TSR100, I removed the two rearward receiver screws and mounted the rear sight with the supplied screws. For the front sight, there’s no need for a punch or hammer for installation. The dovetail is slotted perpendicular to the barrel and slides easily into the mating slot. To secure it in place, turn the front screw to expand the base to lock the sight in place.

At the range, I couldn’t believe the performance improvement with the new sights. Not only was zeroing the sights much easier, the sight picture was much better.

Range Time

At 25 yards, my first group of shots was 2.5 inches low and 1.5 inches left of the point of aim. With the sight tool, I adjusted the front and rear sights according to the .25-inch-per-click adjustment value and was centered on target with the next volley of shots.

I was also surprised by how quickly I got the sights on target. I was used to the factory sights and thought they were good, but it’s much easier to align a long front post on a target than a small front post. When shooting, I held the round target on top of the post like a lollipop and fired away.

To test whether switching sights improved my accuracy, I shot several groups with the factory sights before replacing them with the TSR100 sights. For ammo, I used Wolf Ammunition’s 40-grain Match Target and Norma’s 40-grain Tac-22. I placed the rifle on a Sinclair International Heavy Varmint Rest and used a Triad Tactical large rear bag to steady the stock. I shot five five-shot groups at 25 yards.

From the first shots using the TSR100 sights, it was obvious that my eyes liked this setup better. My first group was visibly smaller, and the shot dispersion was circular rather than oblong with both types of ammo. Measuring the groups confirmed this. Overall, my groups for both the Wolf and Norma ammo were .25-inch smaller.

I would have been satisfied if the Tech Sights only benefit making quick work of sight adjustments, but they did much more than that. They improved my sight picture and accuracy, making them a must-have upgrade for this great rimfire.

Details

• TSR100 Aperture Sight Set: $59
• TSR200 Aperture Sight Set: $69
• Sight Adjusting Tool for Ruger Sights: $8
• Sight Adjustment Tool: $5
• Weaver TO-9M top-mount base: $5
• Manufacturer: Tech Sights; tech-sights.com

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