Gunsmithing Question - But not a Smith Gun

[Pondoro]

Feel free to move this to the S&W Smithing area if that is more appropriate.

I've got a brand new Taurus 22 revolver. It has had very hard extraction since day one. Today I gave it a real test:
1) All 9 chambers are a bit tight as you slide a 22 LR in, they get tight like the last 0.200" or so. They go in but you feel the tightness.
2) I fired one cartridge at a time (all other chambers empty). Five chambers extract OK, four are very tight on the way back out. I know which ones they are.

I've heard horror stories about Taurus customer service - some people love them and others say the gun came back with the wrong issue fixed.

My options -
1) Send to Taurus (probably $10 or so to ship) and hope
2) Buy a 22 caliber chamber reamer and ream all the chambers or just the worst 4. (Cost about $45 for the reamer. I'm a fairly skilled DIY guy.)
3) I've thought about epoxying spent 22 cases onto four-inch long 1/8" diameter dowels. Drop the dowel through the chamber so the case chambers. Lightly coat the case with some lapping compound. Rotate the dowel (and thus lap the chamber). Could do this to one of the bad chambers first to see if it works. Cost is free since I have the dowels, epoxy, lapping compound and time.


What do people think of these options?

[Rpg]

Your lapping suggestion is best.

[NYlakesider]

Originally Posted by Pondoro

Feel free to move this to the S&W Smithing area if that is more appropriate.

I've got a brand new Taurus 22 revolver. It has had very hard extraction since day one. Today I gave it a real test:
1) All 9 chambers are a bit tight as you slide a 22 LR in, they get tight like the last 0.200" or so. They go in but you feel the tightness.
2) I fired one cartridge at a time (all other chambers empty). Five chambers extract OK, four are very tight on the way back out. I know which ones they are.

I've heard horror stories about Taurus customer service - some people love them and others say the gun came back with the wrong issue fixed.

My options -
1) Send to Taurus (probably $10 or so to ship) and hope
2) Buy a 22 caliber chamber reamer and ream all the chambers or just the worst 4. (Cost about $45 for the reamer. I'm a fairly skilled DIY guy.)
3) I've thought about epoxying spent 22 cases onto four-inch long 1/8" diameter dowels. Drop the dowel through the chamber so the case chambers. Lightly coat the case with some lapping compound. Rotate the dowel (and thus lap the chamber). Could do this to one of the bad chambers first to see if it works. Cost is free since I have the dowels, epoxy, lapping compound and time.


What do people think of these options?

I have lapped a couple S&W .22 Revs, much to the chagrin of some on here.

As a gear head I use automotive valve lapping compound..

My method pull the cylinder put a couple dead .22 cases to hold the star .I use a brass .22 brush on a slow running variable speed drill, run it through completely 3 times. You normally can get two holes lapped with each brush. Move the dead cases so you can get all holes taken care of. Clean the cylinder very well both with Hopes and compressed air. Try out, repeat if necessary!

I wrap the cylinder with a old piece of leather belt and put it in the vise to hold it when I do the lapping. Made a big difference.

[Pondoro]

Originally Posted by NYlakesider

I have lapped a couple S&W .22 Revs, much to the chagrin of some on here.

As a gear head I use automotive valve lapping compound..

My method pull the cylinder put a couple dead .22 cases to hold the star .I use a brass .22 brush on a slow running variable speed drill, run it through completely 3 times. You normally can get two holes lapped with each brush. Move the dead cases so you can get all holes taken care of. Clean the cylinder very well both with Hopes and compressed air. Try out, repeat if necessary!

I wrap the cylinder with a old piece of leather belt and put it in the vise to hold it when I do the lapping. Made a big difference.

I used the wire brush on a drill (with no lapping compound) when I got a hard carbon ring in a semi auto. This sounds easier than my idea but I am afraid I will round the shoulder where the chamber ends. Any thoughts on that?

And I expect lots of chagrin, starting with "Taurus" and continuing through "drills", "lapping compound" and "at home."

[NYlakesider]

Originally Posted by Pondoro

I used the wire brush on a drill (with no lapping compound) when I got a hard carbon ring in a semi auto. This sounds easier than my idea but I am afraid I will round the shoulder where the chamber ends. Any thoughts on that?

And I expect lots of chagrin, starting with "Taurus" and continuing through "drills", "lapping compound" and "at home."

Go slow its faster, and check often! Unless you over due it remember your basically only polishing/honing not cutting.

I have had no problem, but I (now retired) also worked as a welder for 40+ years and well used to using tools to cut, polish clean up my work.

[iPac]

Originally Posted by Pondoro

I used the wire brush on a drill (with no lapping compound) when I got a hard carbon ring in a semi auto. This sounds easier than my idea but I am afraid I will round the shoulder where the chamber ends. Any thoughts on that?

And I expect lots of chagrin, starting with "Taurus" and continuing through "drills", "lapping compound" and "at home."

Won't get any "chagrin" from me. I'm not a fanboy or snob when it comes to firearms, but I am anal about certain things which is purely personal. I have no doubt there are many guns out there that are built well and will do the intended job they were made for.

I'm not familiar with Taurus' manufacturing processes or customer service, but it sounds like your issue could be easily remedied yourself for relatively cheap. So I would undertake the effort myself instead of spending money on shipping.

You could either invest in chamber reamers if you think you might have a future use for them. If not, then you could probably lap the chambers yourself, as has already been described. It seems you only need a slight lapping to cure the issue.

I wouldn't use any steel wire brushes though. Stick with material softer than the steel as to not fudge things up. Brass or copper would work just fine, and use a good lapping compound. You could probably even come up with something other than chamber brushes to use, if needed.

[Pondoro]

Originally Posted by NYlakesider

Go slow its faster, and check often! Unless you over due it remember your basically only polishing/honing not cutting.

I have had no problem, but I (now retired) also worked as a welder for 40+ years and well used to using tools to cut, polish clean up my work.

I've made musical instruments and knives, so I understand "go slow to go fast" and "measure it twice cut it once." Welders impress me though, that is something I've never been able to do neatly.

[keith44spl]

Just lap em a bit.

Go slow...check often.

.

[2152hq]

I'd lap them out. You can use a 22 case, but I'd use an unfired one,,not a fired case.'
The chamber is supposed to accept the unfired ammo case freely and that is what you are aiming for.

Pull the bullet carefully from a couple cases so as not to disturb the thin case mouth. Dump the powder. You still have live priming compound in there..

You can epoxy your 1/8 or slightly larger dowel into the case right over the primer in hopes that it deadens it if you trust that method and use the setup as a lap. But you'll be pulling the lap from the front of the cylinder.
You can fire off the priming compound, but I still wouldn't do it in the gun to avoid expanding the case any.

I simply soft solder a brass flat faced rod to the back of the case. Use that as the lap.
During the soldering process the priming compound fizzles off.
If it doesn't,,poke a lit match down the case once the soldering is done and it'll take care of it. The whole idea is to keep the case to factory unfired spec.
Wear eye protection of course.

Put the lapping compound very sparingly on the forward part of the lap and work it in the chamber. An older hand crank drill is nice for this but most don't have one. Even a bit-brace works very nicely for this chamber work.

Take it real easy if you use an electric drill to spin the lap and avoid getting the lapping compound to the rear of the lap and on the rim working that portion of the chamber over.
You can cut things over size very quickly if you want too especially using an elec drill and common valve grinding compound.

[jeffrefrig]

You're right by not trying to deal with Taurus. I bought a .357 mag Rough Rider through Bud's. The front sight was visibly off about 1/8 inch. As was the ejector rod. I called Heritage and sent it down. That was middle of June; still haven't got it back. They are now "waiting for a part." Anyways, Taurus & Heritage are the same company. I bought a .22LR/.22mag for my daughter. Shoots like a dream for a $170 revolver, and is pretty neat-looking. But this service has turned me away from Taur-itage for good. I don't know what lapping means, but good luck with it. Peace! Jeff Taylor, Pgh, PA

[H Richard]

S&W .22 revolvers seem to have the same problem, tight (match) chambers. The real solution is to ream them with a Manson Saami standard finishing chamber reamer. I've done over a half dozen now and in all cases the problem was resolved.