Tech Sights: AR-style Survival Sights for the Ruger 10/22
Major Pandemic 02.10.14
The 10/22 is one of the most fun, rugged, dependable, and accurate-out-of-the-box production .22LR rifles on the market. But for many of us, it represents a starting point for customization and personalization. When it comes to the front and rear dovetail iron sights, they work infallibly, but as I and others have noted in many situations, there can be huge accuracy, durability, and ergonomic improvements by upgrading to AR style peep sights from Tech Sights.
Peep sights have been shown to improve rapid target acquisition and overall shot precision. Where the Tech Sights are unique is that they raise the front sight and mount the rear sight on top of the receiver. The result is a faster shooting and higher precision sighting solution for dedicated iron sighted 10/22 rifles such as this Ruger 10/22TD Take-Down rifle. Tech Sights even has a solution for for existing bull barrel models as well.
Tech Sights was founded to offer shooters an improved combat-durable and higher accuracy sighting solutions for rifles that usually do not have the best sighting options. Among those rifles Tech Sights makes sight solutions for includes SKS, Marlin 60 & 795, AK-47, Mini 14, Remington 597. CZ, Mossberg 702, Savage Mark II, and Marlin 925/917/980/981/XT rifles.
For the purposes of this review, Tech Sights offers several options for 10/22 owners, including front and rear sight kits with either their TSR100
or TSR200
rear receiver sights for factory taper barrels such as shown on the Ruger 10/22TD. The company also offers a slip on front sight for bull .920 barrels.
I picked up both versions of the TSR sights, and both sights are identical with the exception that the TSR100 has a dual flip style AR aperture while the TSR200 is a single aperture with elevation adjustment.
Fit, Finish, Feel, and Features
The TSR100 was mounted to my Factory Ruger 10/22TD takedown model, and the TSR200 was mounted to my MOA stainless receiver with an 18″ .920 bull Feddersen R4 match barrel in a Bluegrass stock.
The 10/22 Tech Sights are designed specifically for the Ruger 10/22. Either version of the rear sights attach via the two rearmost holes in place of a scope rail on the stock receiver. This obviously prevents the use of the full scope rail. You can shorten the rail to mount a red dot, but iron sights of this quality are more than enough for a survival or general purpose hunting rifle
The front sight replaces the factory front sight and is drifted in with a punch and hammer from left to right as any dovetail sight is. Once in place, the new front Tech Sight raises the sighting plane to match the rear sight. The new sights also offer a few other key advantages, such as durable billet steel ears that protect a standard M4/AR-15 screw in elevation adjustable sight and the rear peep aperture.
The bull barrel slip-on front sight mounts to any .920 bull barrel and provides a front iron sight option without the need to permanently machine a sight dovetail into the barrel. The sight is mounted/glued in place with non-permanent Lock-tite. Although it beats a $100 trip to the gunsmith, this is not my favorite mounting method. I would have preferred a design with a grub screw, but it works and is a very secure mount for a dovetail front sight.
If you are familiar with AR sights, then these Tech Sights will seem like a familiar duplication of that great sighting system. Yes, you can use any mil-spec standard AR-15 front sight post you want, including night, fiber optic, and colored plastic versions. For those of us who have snapped the front stock sight off our 10/22s, you will appreciate the much more rugged and durable steel AR-15 sight pins over the less durable factory Ruger bead sights. Just a note that the front post Tech Sights includes is both a taller and finer post. Generally a taller post is required to shoot at shorter ranges, and the thinner post can improve accuracy over the standard GI post thickness.
The Tech Sights TSR100 model allows the use of any standard AR national match rear flip peep sight as a replacement. Again, this opens up the huge variety of rear flip peep apertures for use of the 10/22. That I know of, the Tech Sights TSR100 is the only way you can get front and rear night sights (in the form of tritium AR-15 peep aperture and front post replacement) on a 10/22 without extensive modification. Elevation adjustment is made via turning the front post in 1/4 turn increments, just as it would be on any AR sight. Windage adjustments are again familiar AR national match style made via the battle spec detented windage adjustment on the rear sight.
Precision iron sight shooters will appreciate the added tuning flexibility of the Tech Sight TSR200, which trades the TSR100’s rear dual flip aperture for a single fully adjustable aperture. The TSR200 unit has all the same sight tuning flexibility of the TSR100 unit with the added ability for simple small precision elevation adjustments required for various ranges and ammo model changes without the hassle of changing the front sight setting.
Function
We have all seen more than a few used 10/22s with the front sight bent or broken off and the rear sight missing an ear; a survival-based 10/22 needs more durable sights. Tech Sights solves this problem with the steel AR style protective ears on each side of the front and rear sights. This setup delivers a nearly indestructible set of sights for your rifle and a set of sights exponentially more durable than the stock versions. The rear sight base is aluminum, and though it’s light and durable, I would have prefered a steel base instead for extra durability
Both Tech Sights models deliver a more user friendly sight adjustment than the factory sights, which are only adjustable via drifting the rear sight for windage or messing around with the reading glass sized screw for the simple blade elevation adjustment. The 10/22 Tech Sights deliver a repeatable click adjustable sighting solution in a format that will not fall out of alignment with even a hard bump or rifle drop.
The downside to converting over to this sighting system is that scope mounting becomes a bit more challenging. In order to mount either a red dot or scope, the user will need to modify and shorten the factory rail. If a red dot such as a Vortex Sparc or Bushnell TSR-25 is used, then the setup works great, but with a scope, higher than normal rings are required to clear the rear sight. Honestly, this is not a sight setup for a 10/22 intended to be scoped, but it is one which greatly improves shooting with iron sights.
From a functional perspective, I liked these sights much better than the factory versions. The sights fall in line more naturally with the eye because of the height increase. On the stock Ruger, I find I need to smash my face down on the stock just a bit to align my eye with the sights; with the Tech Sights, sight alignment was much more natural and consequently faster on target. Additionally, I have found the peep and post combination a much faster and more accurate sighting solution for the 10/22.
The 10/22 Tech Sights also provide the shooter more of a M1 carbine style sight picture, which coincidentally, Bill Ruger modeled the 10/22 after. I can see that some people will want to recreate a .22LR version of a M1 carbine using these sights and an aftermarket 10/22 M1 style aftermarket stock to complete the build.
Final Thoughts
The 10/22 Tech Sights are a fast and easy upgrade that anyone marginally handy can do with just a punch, hammer, mini-screwdriver, and a drop of thread locker. Whether you have a bull barrel or standard stock barrel, they have you covered with a solution. The sights provide fast and accurate sighting at a more ergonomic and natural sight height that delivers a faster shooting 10/22.
I believe both models have their place. The TSR100 is perfect for 90% of survival rifle type builds, but if you find you need a little extra precision, the TSR200 micro-elevation adjustable single aperture is available as a sight set, as a rear sight assembly individually, or also as a aperture replacement unit for your TSR100 base.
Specs
- 8″ Longer Sighting Radius
- Rear Sight Base mounts solidly to the rear of the receiver, utilizing the existing tapped scope base holes.
- TSR100 comes standard with dual apertures (.062) and is compatible with M16/AR-15 apertures.
- TSR200 allows for additional elevation adjustment at the rear sight.
- Uses incremental windage adjustment with rugged detent locking.
- Front sight tower comes standard with an incremental detent adjustable AR-15 type post designed for the AR-15. This gives the shooter a wide variety of post designs.
- TSR100 – 10/22 Receiver mounted Rear Sight with AR Style Apertures – $59.99
- TSR200 – 10/22 Receiver mounted Rear Sight with Elevation Adjustment – $69.99
- TS157 – .920 Barrel Dovetail Adapter for Ruger 10/22 – $15
- TSR110 – Front Sight Tower Assembly for Ruger – Steel – $22
