I haven't personally used one of the graphite barrels but i know a couple of poeple that have and they tell me that it really increases the accuracy. I'm really not fond of the short fat barrel look, so i installed a 22 inch midway (www.midwayusa.com) slim tapered stainless steel barrel on mine. At fifty yards it will shoot clover leaf groups with cheap walmart ammo. The barrel didn't alter the weight much but the fajen lamenated stock is quite a bit heavier that the factory stock. If you want to reduce the trigger pull on a 10-22 yourself, install a Volquartsen target hammer (www.volquartsen.com). It's normally a drop in installation and is around $35.00. The trigger pull on mine is a clean two pounds. The automatic bolt release and the extended magazine release are also nice additions. <br><br>And i think it was John in an earlier post who said it best. "we don't get new guns; we get new gun projects."