What to do with this Model 63? UPDATED WITH RESULTS OF REAM JOB.

I bought it sight unseen - an old cop friend's neighbor had gotten it for his daughter, but the gun was plagued with sticky extraction. He sent it to Smith, and they returned it saying it was an obsolete gun and they wouldn't work on it.

I paid $450, thinking I could polish out the chambers a bit. First range visit I noticed the rounds dropped in very easily, and then stuck hard after firing. I worked the chambers over with some polishing compound and Q-tips, and followed with a little teflon spray, also applied lightly with a Q-tip.

I used shorts, subsonics, and standard velocity rounds. All stuck still, and could only be ejected by judicious whacks with a mallet.

I then looked at the letter that Smith had sent - they diagnosed oversized charge holes, and they had no replacement cylinder.

I would bet it was a little sticky when it was made, then a previous owner (not the guy I bought it from) got overzealous in polishing the chambers, thereby making it far worse.

I've got no complaints with the seller - he said it was sticky, and he included the letter. I should have asked him exactly what it said, but that's my fault, not his. (The gun was shipped from Idaho)

So I guess these are my options.

- Buy a replacement 63 cylinder from eBay, knowing I may be getting another problem child.

- Buy a replacement .22 mag cylinder, either stainless or blue. The cylinders are the same length, only the chambering is different. I know the .22 magnum bore is .224 and the .22 LR bore is .223, but I'm not going to worry about a thousandth of an inch. If I explode, I explode.

- Ream this cylinder out to .22 mag. I can get a reamer for about a hundred bucks, or try to find one to rent.

(Yes, I did check to see if it was already reamed out. No go on any .22 mag ammo I had.)

- Try to find a gunsmith to ream it out.

- Leave it as is and use the mallet.

It shoots great, other than this issue.

Your thoughts?

I'm certainly no expert, but I believe you'd be better off keeping the mallet handy. I think the magnum idea is a bad one.

Find a gunsmith who will rebore the bbl and ream cylinders to 32 H&R.

Gee...I had no idea that the parts were so expensive. I see a cylinder on eBay going for $190.00...I'm not sure why kudzu thinks the magnum idea is bad. After all, that was one of the original options, and you could always try to find an extra 22 LR cylinder later, perhaps at a lower price. I might give that some consideration. 22 mag now, 22 LR later.

Best Regards, Les

Look for another .22 cylinder would be my recommendation

Id do both the magnum and look for a new cylinder

This is not an unusual thing. My son has a 63, and I have a 17-1 and after some shooting the empties get very sticky. I just run a brush and dry cloth through them after each 25-30 shots and the problem is much improved. I found that keeping the chambers dry makes a big difference.

Why not just buy or rent a standard .22 LR chamber reamer and try that first? The factory reamer might have been at its end of life and under sized. You could probably turn it with your fingers and fix it. You can always go to .22 MRF, too, if you want. I've reamed a couple Ruger cylinders to .22 MRF by hand. Oil, turn, check, repeat!

sigp220.45 said:

- Buy a replacement .22 mag cylinder, either stainless or blue. The cylinders are the same length, only the chambering is different. I know the .22 magnum bore is .224 and the .22 LR bore is .223, but I'm not going to worry about a thousandth of an inch. If I explode, I explode.

- Ream this cylinder out to .22 mag. I can get a reamer for about a hundred bucks, or try to find one to rent.

(Yes, I did check to see if it was already reamed out. No go on any .22 mag ammo I had.)

Click to expand...

Okay, I'm not too embarrassed to ask: If a .22 magnum bore is .224 and a .22 LR bore is .223... and if a .22 magnum round won't drop in... how oversized does oversized have to be to create this sticking problem? We know it has got to be something less than .001" oversized in this case, right?

TTSH said:

Okay, I'm not too embarrassed to ask: If a .22 magnum bore is .224 and a .22 LR bore is .223... and if a .22 magnum round won't drop in... how oversized does oversized have to be to create this sticking problem? We know it has got to be something less than .001" oversized in this case, right?

Click to expand...

Its because a .22 LR uses a heel-type bullet, so the case is the same diameter as the bullet. A .22 Magnum bullet sits inside the case, and the case is a larger diameter. So a magnum chamber is larger, even though the bullets are nearly the same.

TTSH said:

Okay, I'm not too embarrassed to ask: If a .22 magnum bore is .224 and a .22 LR bore is .223... and if a .22 magnum round won't drop in... how oversized does oversized have to be to create this sticking problem? We know it has got to be something less than .001" oversized in this case, right?

Click to expand...

The bore size refers to the diameter of the barrel. The sticking problem refers to the cases expanding into oversize chambers in the cylinder.

For all you know the cylinder holes aren't even round. Take it to a good machinist not a gunsmith. A good machinist can tell you and they don't need a reamer to fix it if out of round. Reamers are for people who don't know how to do precision work. Your engines cylinders don't have reamed holes neither should your revolver unless you want a hack job by a so called gunsmith.

sigp220.45 said:

Its because a .22 LR uses a heel-type bullet, so the case is the same diameter as the bullet. A .22 Magnum bullet sits inside the case, and the case is a larger diameter. So a magnum chamber is larger, even though the bullets are nearly the same.

Click to expand...

Muley Gil said:

The bore size refers to the diameter of the barrel. The sticking problem refers to the cases expanding into oversize chambers in the cylinder.

Click to expand...

Thank you gentlemen. I should have asked my question without the quote. Trying again...

Question: How much does a cylinder chamber have to be oversize in order to create an ejection problem in a .22 LR revolver?

I ask this because I too have ejection problems (sticking) with a couple of my .22 LR revolvers.

Usually with S&W K 22 the problem is tight chambers, not loose ones. I imagine they use the same reamers on the J frames. You get a cylinder that was reamed near the end of a reamers life you get tight and not quite perfect chambers. I rented a cylinder chambering reamer from 4D rentals. I think I did like 6 of my K22 and an old Taurus 22 I have. Some of them had various degrees of extraction problems. When I reamed them I got a little bit out of each chamber. No more problems. S&W is know for tight 22lr chambers. This may well be your problem and not tight chambers.The cost of renting a reamer is well worth the $45 it cost when you include shipping. You could of course rent a 22 mag cylinder reamer and go that route, and keep you eyes out for another 22lr cylinder and have a convertible.

The 32 caliber conversions are a poor idea, first 32 caliber barrels are really hard to find, but worse you have a rim fire frame and unless you rework the firing pin and hammer it won't work on a center fire. What a pain.

Non-expert here, but is it possible to reline the chambers ?
In the past I have had a gunsmith to reline a worn out .22 rifle bore.

Zipdog said:

For all you know the cylinder holes aren't even round. Take it to a good machinist not a gunsmith. A good machinist can tell you and they don't need a reamer to fix it if out of round. Reamers are for people who don't know how to do precision work. Your engines cylinders don't have reamed holes neither should your revolver unless you want a hack job by a so called gunsmith.

Click to expand...

True that a machinist can tell you if they are out of round and how large they are. But, lots of precision holes have been made with reamers. Almost every chamber in the shooting world was made with a reamer, including precision bench rest high powered rifle chambers. If I wanted to make a .223 chamber into a 22-250 chamber I would use a reamer and so would every other gun smith from hack to guys of P O Ackely ability. Plus, every machinist I know has a bunch of reamers for making small precision holes.
The cylinders in my 408 Ford were not done with a reamer, they were done with a boring bar. Be a pretty flimsy boring bar to turn a hole with a .223 ID.

jimmyj said:

Non-expert here, but is it possible to reline the chambers ?
In the past I have had a gunsmith to reline a worn out .22 rifle bore.

Click to expand...

I believe that would be possible, but if you paid to do it far more than the cost of a new cylinder. I have picked up a couple of top break 32s. I am going to try lining the cylinders, bores and reworking extractor for 22 lr rims and redoing the firing pin and bushing to make a top break 22lr, just for entertainment.

If reaming the current cylinder does not work, maybe he could remove the cylinder, sent it into S&W and have a new cylinder installed. If he could then he could make current cylinder into a 22 mag. A .224 bullet down a .22 barrel is a absolute non issue.

ruger 22 said:

This is not an unusual thing. My son has a 63, and I have a 17-1 and after some shooting the empties get very sticky. I just run a brush and dry cloth through them after each 25-30 shots and the problem is much improved. I found that keeping the chambers dry makes a big difference.

Click to expand...

Yup. Nature of the beast. My 34 came with a brush and a cleaning rod - and a demand that they be used!
Try different ammo. WW 100 pack ammo in the red plastic box works fine in mine. Everything else seems to require brushing as much as every other cylinder full.
To me, brushing has become part of the firing sequence.

I don't know if the tight cylinders contribute to accuracy, but that little J frame 22 can hold its own with just about any other 22 handgun I've ever shot.

Thanks to all who contributed to this thread. I have learned a lot.

S&W 22s are or were known for tight Min spec chambers. My M34 is like that but it hasn't been a problem.
Is the cylinder really clean? They tend to lead up quickly. A trick I learned years ago... is to wipe the entire gun, barrel, chambers with BreakFree CLP on a patch before firing. Leave just a film. The fouling will be on top of the film & clean off easily.
Many peole have used a standard chamber reamer to clean up the chambers which reportedly improves extraction. I'd certainly try this first.
Plated ammo may prove to be less troublesome.