Whats a baseline cost estimate for a built 10-22? I know it all depends on your choices, but what could I do one for, say, middle of the road?

1. Ruger 10/22 - $199-260 ( I have seen them cheaper during big holiday sales like Black friday)
2. Barrel - ~$100
3. Stock - ~$100
4. Trigger Group - $150-250 ( I like the Timney that has the extended mag release built in)
5. Scope mounts - 40-50$
6. Scope - $100-300

There are a lot more things you can do to these rifles, and parts can get super pricey.

Buy the cheapest 10/22 you can find, new or used, as long as functional. Send receiver group and barrel to Randy at CPC for exam and truing if applicable. He won't do it if he don't like it. Let him true the bolt and rechamber the barrel. He'll send it back to you shooting. Get a Power Custom three piece trigger set, hammer, trigger, adjustable sear, install it yourself. Now you have a nice 10/22 for the original price plus about $400 for all the stuff so far. Put it back in the stock, get a scope mounted and shoot it. Customize the stock later.

I did this with an all original 1969 10/22 and it is now my favorite gun.

Last 10/22 I bought was exactly the same. Front sight fell off and couldn't make it run. Plastic trigger housing is low quality in my opinion. Going to try a takedown model though.

I received my 10-22 for my birthday 34 years ago. The front site became loose about 20 years ago so I removed it and put it in a box to save, then I put a scope on it. It was about that time that I realized that it had never been cleaned, so it got its first cleaning.
The only problem I ever had was with ejecting and that was when I was using an aftermarket magazine. I went back to the Ruger one and it starting working just fine.