New Ruger 10/22 have polymer parts

I have been a fan of the Ruger 10/22 rifle for many years. Ruger has decided to make the trigger guard of polymer as well as the trigger and sear parts. The sear is plastic and has a steel insert that contacts the hammer notch. This setup makes for a spongy trigger pull. This makes for a changing trigger pull as compared with the 10/22 rifles made with aluminum alloy trigger guard and parts. We bought 5 Ruger 10/22 carbines for our Junior Club and they were all rifles with polymer trigger guard and parts. It was very difficult to do trigger jobs on the rifles and make them stay consistant.

Another change in the newest Ruger 10/22 rifles is a cast in one piece hammer. The original hammer is made of a high quality steel forging and has 2 inserts that fit into the hammer and the hammer pin slides through the inserts. The new cast hammer is not of the same quality and the inserts are cast in one piece with the hammer.

I guess I just don't like change made for the sake of cheapening the firearm.

Doug Bowser