single-six help

[jdb]

I have a new model single-six w/ a 4 5/8" barrel that my wife gave me for our 1st anniversery 20 years ago. I have carried and shot this gun alot over the last 19 years and while I have killed some game w/ it I've never been very happy w/ the accuracy. so my question is where should I start trying to improve the accuracy? Ive tried a bunch of diffrent ammo's so that's not the problem. I ve also compared .22lr to .22mag and the lr. actually groups better which Im fine w/. the trigger seems ok but maybe a set of wolf's? It also seems to lock-up tite but maybe a belt mt base pin? please help and thank you in advance!

 

[WIL TERRY]

HOW tight are the groups it will shoot at 25 yards with it's favorite ammunition ???
[....oh....can we assume you are NOT shooting the 22LR cartridges from the 22MAG cylinder...?..]

 

[jdb]

lol no Im not shooting lr. in the mag cylinder. at 25 yards from a rest I can probably get 4" groups? never actually measured so thats a rough guess. I have a mkII target that shoots much better at 50 than the single six does at 25. the last time I shot it, clay pigeons at 25 yards were being hit about 50% of the time at 25 yards. I'm honestly thinking of doing the wolf springs and the belt mt base pin to see if they'll help butif they dont then I dont know where to turn.

 

[Uncle Howie]

I see that you are finding the .22LR cylinder to be more accurate. Lots of folks find the .22WMR cylinder to be more accurate.

Paco's Acu'rzr Tool might be of interest. As far as I know, it's only available for the .22LR. http://www.leverguns.com/store/acurzr.html

flatgate reports positive results with the Acu'rzr. Maybe he'll be along to share his experiences...

 

[WIL TERRY]

OH MY....you are not kidding, that Single Six is NOT living up to it's heritage.
Springs etc will mean nothing until you find some kind of 22LR ammo that it really likes.
And it shoots even worse with 22MAG ammo !!! YEE GADS !!!
Are you getting a lot of "spray" from the B/C gap. Are there lead marks around the barrel forcing cone ?? { does it HAVE a forcing cone ? ]
When you clean it is there a loose spot in the barrel around where the barrel threads are that screw into the frame ??
Does it lock up tight with the charge holes lines up precisely with the barrel ???
I forgot to add this earlier ; run a new tight 22 caliber brush down the barrel to make sure it is NOT leaded up anywhere. I bought a OMFT 4 5/8" SS a few years ago that shot 20' [ YES 20 foot !!! ] diameter groups at 50 meters. ONE brushing out turned it into a tackdriver and that is NO balogna !!!

 

[Loco Weed]

Yes, as mentioned, I would try a good deep cleaning and be sure to get the carbon donuts out of the cylinder. I usually have to test 10 to 15 different types of ammo before I find the sweet spot. Imagine my horror when I discovered that my prized S&W 617 clearly preferred Remington bulk. I cannot imagine that any new springs or base pin are going to make any difference.

 

[KLR650]

Go to a 6.5 inch barrel, according to Chuck Hawkes its the barrel length he has found to be the most accurate and its what I have in stainless steel and I am real happy with the accuracy! Clay pidgeons at 75 yards. This required 3 shots to figure out where they were hitting and then my targets were hit 9 out of ten times with the good old kentucky windage technique! You have to use this cause these guns are factory sighted in at 25 yards-arm straight out towards a paper target. Anytime your shooting down at the ground with any distance you change the trajectory of the bullet.

 

[mpeltier]

I have a new model single-six w/ a 4 5/8" barrel that my wife gave me for our 1st anniversery 20 years ago. I have carried and shot this gun alot over the last 19 years and while I have killed some game w/ it I've never been very happy w/ the accuracy. so my question is where should I start trying to improve the accuracy? Ive tried a bunch of diffrent ammo's so that's not the problem. I ve also compared .22lr to .22mag and the lr. actually groups better which Im fine w/. the trigger seems ok but maybe a set of wolf's? It also seems to lock-up tite but maybe a belt mt base pin? please help and thank you in advance!

I have exactly the same issues with accuracy with mine. It is an early 70's (pre-warning on the bbl) and accuracy has been worse than any other Ruger revolver I ever owned. This one has a 5-1/2" bbl is spotless clean and times and locks up fine. It just wont shoot better than 4" at 25 with any ammo. Magnums are worse.

 

[Anonymous]

I have a 2008 production 5.5 inch stainless. It even got re-barreled by Ruger to correct the original .011 cylinder gap, now about .045 (it's a tight .005, loose .004).

Open sight on a good day I get three inch groups at 25 yards with any of my usual LR ammo, Federal bargain or Mini-Mags. I've only fired a few 50gr Federal in the Mag cylinder, does no better.

I only get two inch with my Volquartsen kit Mark III, on a great day. I blame it mostly on my '56 production eyeballs. I don't expect a revolver to shoot quite as well as an autoloader, either.

I think mine and mpeltier's would benefit from better sights, either fiber optic, red dot, or scope. I do a little better with a Hogue Monogrip, but it's just too ugly! Checkered wood might help.

I just prefer to leave mine as traditional as possible. Factory sights and smooth Hogue cocobolo.

 

[DGNY]

To the original poster, you might want to first make sure gun is unloaded with cylinder out; then take a magnifying glass to the crown area for dings, burrs or ??? and continue looking carefully down the barrel as far as you can see well. Also, examine the forcing cone at the rear of the barrel for lead.

I had one older .22 revolver with a bad crown that cleaned up when I reground it with a 1/4" x 2" brass round head bolt chucked in a tight [minimal runout] 3/8" elec. drill and a bit of fine grinding paste.

Also - if the cylinder is sloppy on the pin, a Belt Mountain may well help. I have a .32 Mag Single Six which improved about 3/4" @ 25 yds with a BM pin. [My identical .32 Mag was unaffected by trying the pin in it!]

Regards,

Dyson

 

[jpickar]

I have had several single sixes and have a Stainless one in 6.5" barrel now. It shoots 1 1/2" at 25 yards while my MK-II shoots 1/2" at 50 yards , with a scope.

I bought a B-Square scope mount for it several years ago and tried it on my single six. I found that I had to actually pull the barrel up with the screw to tighten the mount to the front sight hole. My sons single six had almost a 1/4" gap between the front of the scope mount and the barrel before tightening. It shot worse. I have found that the further off the barrel is from being screwed in straight the worse it shoots.

Use a steel rule and lay it on top and along side of the frame and see if the barrel is screwed in straight.

John