Sticky 22LR cylinder

[ltapd204]

I acquired an old model Single Six some time back that only had the magnum cylinder. I was lucky enough that a fellow forum member had an old model 22LR cylinder with the correct OAL. The cylinder arrived and looked brand new and the fit is perfect. The only problem is that 4 of the 6 chambers are very sticky or tight. I can't hardly get the rounds to chamber in these 4 and when I do then extraction is very difficult after shooting. Looking in the cylinder bores I don't see anything that would cause this. I have tried to use a 22 caliber bore mop with flitz and a drill to polish the chambers, but this has not corrected the problem.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[flatgate]

I guess the proper thing to do would be to accurately measure, via pin gauges, the chamber diameters.

If four are significantly smaller then some reamer work is probably in order. If they are just barely smaller so they present chambering difficulty then a "Flex Hone" may be the solution.

Have you tried different brands of ammo?

flatgate

 

[Yosemite Sam]

I had a couple of tight chambers in my Bisley Single Six, and ended up wrapping a bit of 1000 grit wet or dry paper around a .22 bore brush, and gently - very gently - going at the chambers. Stop every couple of strokes and see if the rounds are chambering properly. It didn't take much, and I imagine it was just a small burr in my case.

Note too that the goal isn't to alter the mouth of the chamber, but to clean out/dress the area that supports the cartridge.

After you try different ammo, as Flatgate points out, of course...

-- Sam

 

[ltapd204]

Have you tried different brands of ammo?

flatgate

I thought my problem was ammo at first too because I was using the bulk ammo. So I cleaned the gun including the chambers and tried using other brands and higher quality ammo and still had the same problem. That is when I tried using the flitz, but as I said before that did not fix the problem.

I was wondering about flex honing, but I can not locate the proper size. Anyone know where I can get my hands on the correct flex hone for .22LR.

Thanks for the input flatgate and Yosemite Sam.

 

[Enigma]

It doesn't look like they offer one for .22 chambers; the smallest one I see is for .22 Mag, listed under 'Rifles.'

http://www.brushresearch.com/brushes.php?c2=8

Maybe you could order a custom flex-hone from them?

 

[rugerguy]

you can get by with an aluminum 22 cleaning rod ( hollow) and put a 'slot' about 3/4 inch in the end, and you can slip on ( wrap ) a small piece of fine emery pape ron the end, just enough to slip into the chamber and just "polish" the chambers...you are NOT trying to 'remove matrial' but polish the inner surface......I f you had access to a .22 caliber "finish" reamer, I'd chase the chamber first ,,,this usually does the trick for us....ANY tooling marks left in the chamber can and will cause 'drag" when ttying to empty the chamber..........as well as any time one shoots a 'shorter' cartridge, like 33 in a 357 or 22 short or longs in a 'long rifle ' chamber..............

 

[REP1954]

I once bought a Colt Frontier Scout online that had a simular problem. After a close examination I found that someone had been dry firing the gun and the firing pin had been hitting the cylinder. Looked like they made a half butted attemp to dress down the burr and then touch it up with cold blue. I took some small round hard stones and just worked the area where the pin hit until cartridges fit into the chambers.

 

[tomcatt51]

This is the fix on S&W 617's. I assume it will work equally well on a Ruger cylinder. http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/sid=1946 ... sher__Cyl_

 

[ltapd204]

Well, I found a brass rod and cut a slot in it and wrapped some 1000 grit paper around the rod and went to work a few strokes at a time. After several passes on the sticky chambers all but one is now repaired. The remaining chamber is not as tight as it was so I am making progress. I guess this last chamber just needs a little more TLC.

Thanks for all the input.

 

[rugerguy]

That "fine" of a grit only takes LONGER..........you're doing OK :wink:

 

[Snake45]

This is the fix on S&W 617's. I assume it will work equally well on a Ruger cylinder. http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/sid=1946 ... sher__Cyl_

THE FIX on S&Ws with this problem is to send 'em back to the factory and let them fix it on their lifetime warranty. I had a 4" M17 that had this problem so bad that the empties had to be hammered out with a block of wood. The factory fixed it and returned it to me in less than two weeks and it has worked PERFECTLY ever since.

It is not an uncommon problem on Smiths so they've had a lot of practice fixing it. Everyone I know who's returned their gun to Smith for the fix has been 100% satisfied with the results.

The problem with trying to fix this yourself is that .22LRs seem to be extremely chamber-sensitive as regards accuracy. If you try to fix it yourself by "polishing" with some sort of homemade gizmo, you're likely to end up with two or three or six different sizes and shapes of chamber, which as you can imagine does not help your accuracy in any way.

 

[I_Like_Pie]

Agree with others....I have used a brass rod slotted on one end, insert fine sandpaper in one end, and chuck in a slow drill to remove just the very slightest amount of material. Don't spin until the paper is in the chamber 100%...in other words stay away from the edges.

If they are going in, but sticky - from a mathematical standpoint it is pretty amazing how little material has to be removed to resolve a sticky cylinder.

 

[rugerguy]

as said, if you "polish ONLY, NOT remove material or oblong ,distort the chambers", you will be alright.............'we prefer to "chase" the chamber with a 'finish reamer' to make sure the fit is proper...but far too many chambers we see tool marks, gouges, fouling, whatever.........

 

[Bucks Owin]

Here's your chance to build a "Jim Taylor Special"! That is, one charge hole recut for ..22 WMR. You ARE carrying that OM with the hammer down on an empty chamber right? Might as well be a WMR chamber. The mag shotshell is a more effective snake round and when a long shot is needed, you're all set with magnum velocity. I did the same as you BTW, bought an OM with a mag cyl only and swapped it for a LR cyl to modify....I like mine! (A dab of red fingernail polish ID's the mag chamber)

 

[tomcatt51]

This is the fix on S&W 617's. I assume it will work equally well on a Ruger cylinder. http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/sid=1946 ... sher__Cyl_

THE FIX on S&Ws with this problem is to send 'em back to the factory and let them fix it on their lifetime warranty. I had a 4" M17 that had this problem so bad that the empties had to be hammered out with a block of wood. The factory fixed it and returned it to me in less than two weeks and it has worked PERFECTLY ever since.

It is not an uncommon problem on Smiths so they've had a lot of practice fixing it. Everyone I know who's returned their gun to Smith for the fix has been 100% satisfied with the results.

OK. If that's the case why would you not also recommend a Ruger be returned to ream the chambers?. They should be well versed using reamers considering how frequently they get the cyl throat diameters wrong. But then you probably won't have it back in the same 2 week time frame.

 

[ltapd204]

This is the fix on S&W 617's. I assume it will work equally well on a Ruger cylinder. http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/sid=1946 ... sher__Cyl_

THE FIX on S&Ws with this problem is to send 'em back to the factory and let them fix it on their lifetime warranty. I had a 4" M17 that had this problem so bad that the empties had to be hammered out with a block of wood. The factory fixed it and returned it to me in less than two weeks and it has worked PERFECTLY ever since.

It is not an uncommon problem on Smiths so they've had a lot of practice fixing it. Everyone I know who's returned their gun to Smith for the fix has been 100% satisfied with the results.

OK. If that's the case why would you not also recommend a Ruger be returned to ream the chambers?. They should be well versed using reamers considering how frequently they get the cyl throat diameters wrong. But then you probably won't have it back in the same 2 week time frame.

Ruger won't accept the cylinder without sending them the entire gun. They would then convert my old model which I do not want done. Ruger's policy is if they get an old model in for repair they install the safety conversion.

 

[tomcatt51]

That's why buying the reamer made sense. It costs about the same to buy the reamer as shipping the gun and then you have the reamer. Ruger has some "odd" policys about fixing your gun.