Polishing .22 LR Chamber

Jebus35745 · Apr 29, 2024

Bought this gun and it’s a piece of art. Made in the early 1900’s and possibly restored at some time. Tried 22 Std Vel and the empty case stuck in the chamber fairly tight. It’s a very tight European chamber, most USA made ammo wouldn’t fit. Used SK Standard in it.

Started to shoot 22 CB Long and the empty cases got harder to extract, the 5th one stayed in the rifle till I got home to use a cleaning rod to push out.

Before I ruin anything, figured I would ask here first. I glued an empty 22 cases at the end of a flexible plastic rod to insert from the chamber. This way nothing will rub against the action and scratch it and I am polishing the chamber only. Was going to buy some Flitz to put on the case and slowly turn with a drill to polish the chamber. The gun is roughly 120 years old.

Safe?? I want to shoot the gun even if I have to buy 22 Long CB’s. Thanks, Larry

Tom S. · Apr 29, 2024

I would think it would take a LONG time to get the chamber polished using only Flitz. Maybe something more aggressive like JB Bore Paste or valve lapping compound if you can find some.

BE Mike · Apr 29, 2024

I'd clean the chamber only with a good cleaner, followed by a brass/ bronze brush and clean patches before I'd start polishing. There could be a lot of old, hard carbon deposits there.

Green Frog · Apr 29, 2024

BE Mike said:
I'd clean the chamber only with a good cleaner, followed by a brass/ bronze brush and clean patches before I'd start polishing. There could be a lot of old, hard carbon deposits there.

What BE Mike said. The less it is altered the better. Have you tried a chamber cast?
Froggie

AJ · Apr 29, 2024

Larry,

Sent you an email.

AJ

Jebus35745 · Apr 29, 2024

I used a cleaning rod from the muzzle with a brass brush by hand. It helped but needs more cleaning and a drill would work great. I honestly don’t think it’s been fired much over the years. Couple good ideas so far, will use some bore cleaner first.

Used valve grinding compound to crown a muzzle, way tooo abrasive. Need some more ideas, will start with what was said so far. It’s a .22 long rifle, no chamber cast. Thanks, Larry

6string · Apr 29, 2024

Hi Larry,

I would stop and consider a few things first.
Personally, I'd do a chamber cast first, then compare the results with the dimensions in the attached table. (see my caveat towards the end of this post!)
Look at the Freeland Match dimensions! Very tight! That was the spec chamber for BSA Martini Internationals built under collaboration with Al Freeland. That guy knew his stuff!!

I'd be careful of any alterations until then.

The brass case looks to have some inconsistent rub marks, but that is most likely due to the firing in the previous chamber.
If you still have your Hämmerli 100 free pistol, I would use a fired case from that gun as your reference.

Regarding your ammo, I have found both the CCI Standard Velocity and the SK to run a bit large. When I had my Hämmerli 152 electronic trigger free pistol, I was afraid of damaging the extractor lever trying to use CCI ammo. After two rounds, I said, "Forget this stuff!" Rim dimensions on the SK have given me trouble in a couple free pistols, too.
You can bet money that your rifle is chambered to similar tight match dimensions.
Have you tried ejecting an unfired live round? Many tight match grade single shots built to engrave the leading band of the bullet into the rifling. You can easily see the engraving on the bullet if you extract it without firing.
Be aware, though, that some chambers are so tight that an unfired cartridge can be very difficult to remove!

One more often ignored caveat! Sometimes the problem isn't the case body but instead is the rim! I have found this to be the case in certain guns with both SK and RWS, even their match grade stuff. As useful as the attached chart is, it presumes a rim thickness of .043", and says nothing about rim diameter.
Believe me when I tell you, this is important!

My advice?
Use Eley! It works best for me in tight match chambers!
These are very special guns, built by hand by fastidious experts who left no detail to chance. We will never see that level of workmanship ever again in this world. (CNC might ensure a specification, but it does not ensure an outcome....think about it!)

We are only the caretakers. Our job is to preserve (and enjoy!) their work!

6string · Apr 29, 2024

Hi Larry,

One more thought.
If you want to splurge a bit, and learn something about your rifle in the process, consider contacting one of the Lapua Test Laboratories.
There is a new one in Ohio, probably an hour drive from where you are!

They will test your rifle, create a results file, and make ammo recommendations for you.
If there are any issues, you'll likely find out.

Rimfire Test Shooting | .22 LR Performance Centers '-' Lapua

Here's a video of what they do:
Lapua Rimfire Performance Center 2023 - Lot Testing for Best Accuracy - YouTube

Jim

Lapua Rimfire Performance Center East in Marengo, Ohio, USA

Shane Barnhart
Phone: 480-695-0744
[email protected]

Lapua Rimfire Performance Center - Capstone Precision Group

Lapua Rimfire Performance Center
616 State Route 61, Units 3-9
Marengo, OH 43334

steelslaver · May 4, 2024

I would remove the barrel before I did much in the way of trying to polish the chamber. Even if you rod flexes you going to have more pressure on the top rear and front bottom of chamber.

Even with the barrel off I would seriously think about running a match grade finishing reamer in it, over polishing. 4Dreamer will rent you a match reamer with a floating pilot for $45 plus shipping.

One of the guys I shoot with has several Martinis from 22lr on up

Protocall_Design · May 4, 2024

You guys are going way overboard with the polishing thing. The reamer won't take out any more than it's supposed to. Just run the reamer and be done with it. The chambers will then be the size and shape they were originally supposed to be from the beginning. Tighter chambers don't necessarily equate to better accuracy. You don't have to tiptoe around taking off microns at a time. Get a reamer and do it right.

steelslaver · May 4, 2024

As shown by the list posted by 6string there are a multitude of 22lr chambers all with small variations. The latest greatest gun sport around here is long range 22lr shooting. They are shooting out to 400 yards and the one thing I don't hear mentioned much is the chamber. Barrels scopes, triggers ammo

2152hq · May 5, 2024

There used to be available/sold a .22LR chamber reamer that was for only removing built up fouling/carbon/wax & bullet plating deposits on the chamber walls & in the chamber throat/lead.

It did not or was not supposed to remove any metal. Just scrape the walls clean of any build-up.
Match shooters used to use them, but they were commony used on most any elderly or heavily used 22LR firearm that exhibited a 'Tight Chamber'.

If it didn't fix the problem, then the next step was to either polish the chamber or ream it carefully. The latter the better choice to avoid out of round chamber or damaging the throat and lead.

Now, I believe the plan is to use very stiff brass brushes along with bore solvents to loosen and scrape that build-up out of there.

.22rf ammo is anything but 'clean' shooting when it gets right down to it.
Even the priming compound leaves a thin coating of hard to remove mat'l in the throat of the chamber and into the bore.

If the revolver in question 'Use to be OK and chambered fine' and has now become a problem later on, I'd suspect a build up of fouling/carbon on the chamber walls or at the mouth of the chamber. Start with the religious cleaning of the chambers.

If it has ALWAYS exhibited the difficulty to chamber factory ammo, then I would carefully reeam the chambers with a standard .22LR Cylinder chamber reamer..

I will admit that I have used a Rifle Chamber reamer to do the above and have had no issues with it.
The effort removes so little metal that the reamer remains self centered for the job. It will drop into the chamber about half way before meeting resistance and at that point is centered and cuts very little going forward.
Use a cutting oil, don't reverse the reamer in use and clean the flutes of the 'swarf' w/a toothbrush, and you'll be fine.

I don't like to polish chambers with a split rod and grit cloth in attempts to enlarge the chamber no matter how little it needs to go.
The flapping grit cloth will never leave you with an absolute round chamber.
It's fine for a quick burnishing type polish with very fine grit (1500+) and just a quick shine. No metal removal done.

AJ · May 5, 2024

When it comes to revolver chambers, I clean them first with a solvent and a good brass brush. If that does not do the job, I use a mop of the proper caliber and jeweler's rouge. This has worked for me in the past.

Protocall_Design · May 5, 2024

If you ream the chambers, the same reamer is the perfect size for cleaning them after that.

Jebus35745 · May 6, 2024

The rifle is on the back burner right now with the baseball and soccer season that started. Grandkids. Too many small gun projects in between also.

I will probably spin a brass brush from the muzzle with some scrubbing alternating with bore cleaner. The fired cases didn’t have to be pounded out just pushed with a rod inserted from the muzzle. Couldn’t pry them out with a finger nail as they got progressively harder to extract.

The use of a reamer would definitely cure the problem but removing the barrel won’t happen. I knew bidding on this rifle it was a custom gun nicely done. With the rifle in my hands I could see the quality of workmanship. It’s a piece of art. I don’t want to let anyone remove the barrel afraid of damaging it somewhere.

I want to shoot the gun and enjoy it. If this was my 12/15 Martini I wouldn’t hesitate having the barrel removed. There was a thread on this rifle in the other brand gun section, “Custom Martini Rifle of My Dreams Gun is coming-shots fired” . Thanks for ideas to solve the problem, Larry

max503 · May 6, 2024

Jebus35745 said:
I will probably spin a brass brush from the muzzle with some scrubbing alternating with bore cleaner.

Spin a rod in the bore?

The only thing I'd run down that bore would be weed eater line.

You sure it's not chambered for shorts?

I'd definitely do a chamber cast before doing anything else. (I'd be very careful knocking it out).

Nouvelle page 0

"When you find yourself in a hole, first thing to do is stop digging" - Will Rogers.

Jebus35745 · May 6, 2024

Max, a 22 long rifle was the first round shot by me in the rifle, it fit nicely but got stuck pretty good. Gonna end up using 22 CB longs from now on. They slide in easily. If it is a .22 short chamber, wouldn’t it be hard to push in all the way after engaging the rifling?

Not gonna spin the cleaning rod at 10,000 rpms for an hour, just at a “slow” speed for maybe 15 seconds at a time. Larry

steelslaver · May 9, 2024

With a Martini action you might be able to use a piloted reamer and a ratcheting wrench to clean up the chamber

Polishing .22 LR Chamber

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