Having issues with 22 WMR in a Single Six Convertible

I have a Ruger Single Six Convertible and am having issues unloading 22WMR ammo. After about then rounds the unload rod gets jammed in the port between the frame & the cylinder. It looks like there's a buildup of filler or unburnt powder causing the rod to jam in the port.
Anyone else have/had this issue? What did you do to solve it?

Thanks,
Dan

Never heard of such a thing in any of my five Ruger Single sixes.
I do prefer W-W 22MAG amunition to all others and all five pistols. The only exception is the great DWS 22MAG ammo that shoots like a million bux and requires floating a loan to buy the damn stuff.
Take of your cleaning rod system and clean it well. If need be switch ammunition.
And so it goes...

Welcome to the Forum!
As mentioned above,,, a good cleaning of the area in question may be in order. Before your next shooting session,, remove the cylinder, clean it appropriately. Then, take the Ejector Rod Housing off,,, (one screw at the other end of it,) and carefully remove the Housing, the Rod & Spring. Be careful, as the spring is under tension. Clean all of those 3 pieces, and also the section of the frame the Rod goes through. (Q-Tips are your friend!)
Then, re-assemble,,, and go shooting & see how it does.
If it still does it,,, I'd say you need to try a different ammo.

I called Ruger Customer Service and explained the situation to them. Their first question was "What ammo are you using?"
I started my reply with "Armscor..." and before I could finish, I hear "We manufacture our guns to use American ammunition. Armscor is made in the Phillipines." At that point, I asked the rep to let me finish and went on to tell him "Armscore, Hornady, and CCI so far, all with the same result. Yellowish balls resembling filler or unburnt powder residue builds up on the end of the extractor rod and eventually fouls the rod tip so that it jams the rod before it can exit the frame hole. Is this an issue that you're aware of?"

I have polished the edges of the extractor hole and the end of the extractor rod, have removed the guide tube (and got a lot of junk out of it) rounded off all sharp edges, and lubricated all surfaces. Now, I'm waiting to see what happens at the range next week. I have some Winchester and some Fiocchi ammo to try and am waiting for some Aquila to arrive as well.

I must say that I'm quite disappointed with the attitude of the customer service rep. I figured I'd ask here...I'm hard pressed to believe that I'm the only one who's had this problem.

We've bought ARMSCOR BY THE CASE OF 5M, as many as ten cases at a time, with no problems of ANY consequence at all. It has done well in all of my 22 pistols, fourty eight as we speak.
WHY did you not tell us all of it up front instead of playing sillyassed games with us ?????!!!?
And so it goes...

It may be a combination of oil and powder residue that is building up. Try easing up on the lubrication, maybe.

Dan, in general,, we will try & help answer any & all honest questions here. But,, we also need serious details too.
Since the ammo you mentioned is 3 different brands,, and all of it is used by many of us here,,, arfmel may have your answer.

LIGHT lubrication is all that's necessary as a metal protector against rusting. Wiping the exterior of the gun down after cleaning with an oil cloth, is all that's necessary. Serious lube goes onto moving parts such as internal action parts. And even then,, it's not to an excess.
Oils, greases, etc can & will hold dirt, grime & powder residue. so, wipe off all the excess prior to shooting. The key here is LIGHT coating of protectant.

Let us know how it does after your cleaning & all.

As for the Ruger Customer Service,,, not being party to the actual conversation,,, I can not say if they were good or not. Quite often,,, it's how a conversation goes & it MAY be that you hesitated, or felt that Armscor was the main ammo used & the CS rep THOUGHT that was all you used.
Or,, heck, we all have bad days or jump to conclusions at times.

In general,,, Ruger CS is quite good.

I have this problem all the time but it takes several thousand rounds to do it. This one is a puzzler.

WIL TERRY said:

We've bought ARMSCOR BY THE CASE OF 5M, as many as ten cases at a time, with no problems of ANY consequence at all. It has done well in all of my 22 pistols, fourty eight as we speak.
WHY did you not tell us all of it up front instead of playing sillyassed games with us ?????!!!?
And so it goes...

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Sir, I DO NOT play "sillyassed games" I asked a legitimate question about a new gun, hoping it was just a simple issue that I was unaware of.

Thanks for the warm welcome.

Just so you all know, I'm a 67 year old who has been shooting, handling, and cleaning guns since I was 10 years old.
I do not play games when I ask a question.

Dan Carey said:

Just so you all know, I'm a 67 year old who has been shooting, handling, and cleaning guns since I was 10 years old.
I do not play games when I ask a question.

Click to expand...

There's a few sad old fun hating grumps here that are card carrying members of the internet mean and nasty club. Ignore them. :mrgreen:

Many of the rest of us are fun people, and if we can be involved in a thread, we try. 8)

Welcome to the Forum.

Would it be possible to get pictures of what you're finding in there?

CraigC said:

Would it be possible to get pictures of what you're finding in there?

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I've tried, but my phone won't focus clearly that close. I'll be at the range this week and will bring my camera and, hopefully get a good pic.
This doesn't happen with 22LR ammo (Winchester, Federal, CCI), only with WMR which prompted my question about possible fillers in today's ammo.

I have polished the frame hole that the ejector rod passes through and have polished the end of the ejector rod. We'll see what happens...hopefully on Tuesday.

Dan

CraigC said:

I have this problem all the time but it takes several thousand rounds to do it. This one is a puzzler.

Click to expand...

I would definitely expect it after a lot of shooting, but not after 18 to 24 rounds. I use use corn meal as filler in Colt Walker black powder pistols and the stuff I'm seeing in my Ruger sort of resembles that! It left me wondering what was happening as I haven't used any 22 WMR ammo since the late 80's.

Just an old guy lookin' for answers.

I shoot quite a bit of .22 magnum from a variety of handguns and haven't noticed a particular tendency to a buildup like you mention, but it sounds like powder residue I've seen on centerfire revolvers that aren't efficiently burning the entire powder charge. A lot of 22 magnum ammo is optimized for use in rifle length barrels. Much of the powder burns outside the muzzle with that type of ammo in a handgun, which is why you get so much flash and muzzle blast. The powder charge in a LR cartridge possibly burns more completely in a handgun length barrel, which might explain why you aren't having issues with 22LR.

You might try using something like Hornady Critical Defense .22 magnum ammo, which is optimized for use in handgun length barrels.

Dan

I think my next step would be to see if I could trace it to a specific brand of ammo. Bring the brands you have and your cleaning kit-----then shoot each brand to see if it happens with all or if one certain brand shoots noticeably dirtier.
Also, does the barrel cylinder gap appear larger on the mag cylinder than the LR cylinder?

We will get to the bottom of it!

Ron

trapperon said:

Dan

I think my next step would be to see if I could trace it to a specific brand of ammo. Bring the brands you have and your cleaning kit-----then shoot each brand to see if it happens with all or if one certain brand shoots noticeably dirtier.
Also, does the barrel cylinder gap appear larger on the mag cylinder than the LR cylinder?

We will get to the bottom of it!

Ron

Click to expand...

That is what I was thinking too. If the gap it too large, it could reduce pressures to the point that the powder doesn't burn clean plus the gap allows more fouling to get into the extractor rod hole. 8)

Is the barrel / cylinder gap overly wide causing a lot of blow by?

Apparently, the residue that I'm seeing is being left in the cylinder and spent casing and being drawn into the ejector port when the ejector rod returns to it's normal position after ejecting the brass and picking up whatever this fouling is. I don't see it around the forcing cone at all. I have three different brands of ammo on hand for (hopefully) Thursday at the range and will try to get some more. Depends what the local shop has in stock

I'm also going to bring my camera to the range this week and try to get some good photos. 22LR ammo doesn't do this at all...just the normal powder fouling one would expect of 22 ammo and no ejector rod jamming issues at all, even after 200+ rounds. I'll check the cone/cylinder gap as well.

Thanks all, for the positive input.

Sounds good. I've never had an issue with winchester super X 22mag--and have shot thousands of rounds of it. If the shop has this brand I would try it for sure. Not the dynapoints--just the 40 grain hollow point or full metal jacket.

Ron