Advice needed. Spent brass hangs up in cylinder.

[Kelly Green]

I bought my third Model 34 last week, a nickel-plated gun. The gun functions well and shoots accurately. The problem is ejecting the spent brass. The rounds load into the cylinder tight. I have to push all six in the last 1/32 of an inch using the tip of my finger in order to seat properly. After about a dozen rounds the brass becomes harder to extract, all six chambers, until I have to rap the end of the ejector rod with a plastic hammer to dislodge them. Once I nudge them about a third of the way, they drop out on their own. I've tried .22 LR rounds from five different manufactures and it happens with each.

The fella I bought the gun from said that it has done this since new. He stated that he shot less than 200 rounds through it and then put it away. From the appearance of the gun, I don't think he's fibbing.

I've cleaned the chambers spotless and used Flitz to polish. Still the problem persists. In your opinion should I try to enlarge the chambers a bit or is there another solution? I would like to fix the problem myself. I spoke with S&W Service and the gun is not covered by warranty.

 

[Alk8944]

This is so common with S&W rimfire revolvers as to be considered normal. Simply carry a cleaning rod with you with a 6mm bronze brush. When extraction starts getting sticky simply make one or two passes through each charge hole and get back to shooting.

 

[britbike1]

Good morning, I had a similar problem with my M63. Somewhere on this forum someone mentioned Militec 1. I tried it, swabbing the chambers with a drop on a q-tip and heating the cylinder with my wifes hairdryer until I couldn't hold it in my bare hand. I did that 3 times. Of course I had taken the cylinder off the gun when I did this. The next time I went to the range I shot 9 cylinder fulls and the empties popped right out with out a problem. Might give it a try. A bottle only cost $8-9.

 

[chief38]

Yes this is typical with most S&W .22 Revolvers, and some are worse than others. Some brands of ammo do stick less than others. I find the Winchester Wildcats will extract easier than the Federals for some reason, but you can, as others have mentioned - polish the chambers, or constantly use a lube. I have a dozen or so S&W .22 wheel guns, and for the most part they aren't too bad so I just live with it. I did have one M18-2 that I had to polish out. That did seem to work quite well, but if you do this just polish, don't remove metal!

Why Smith makes their chambers so tight I truly do not know. I have many Colts as well, and none of them have this problem. Go figure!

Chief38

 

[TSQUARED]

I have not expereinced any difficulty using either Aquilla SV, Wolf Match Target, old (1960's stock) Remington SV ammo. My S&W 22 revolvers also function well with the Federal bulk pack copper washed/plated HV HP ammo. Plain lead HV ammo has a tendency to lead up the guns.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

I have had this problem with more than one S&W .22 revolver. Clearly, Alk8944's recommendation is the best first step. If that doesn't take care of it, try different ammo. I have had good luck with CCI in all cases, but the best ammo for your gun may be something else.

 

[Shooting Padre]

I have a model 18 that gave me the same problem. I found that Federal bulk 550 coated rounds do not give me any sticking for about 100 rounds. Then they begin to hang up a little. I'm going to take Alk8944's advice a keep a small range brush with me.

 

[TSQUARED]

In my K-22's icna shoot ca 200 rounds of SV ammo without encountering any problem - never attempter to shoot more than about 200 rounds.
With my S&W 617 I routinely shoot 300 rounds at the steel challenge matches using HV copper washed ammo - no ejection issues but is does require quite a bit of cleaning especially the ejectioin star and under the ejection star. The Federal bulk ammo is cleanere than the Remington Golden. Above all I avoid the plain lead HV ammo which has tendency to lead the barrel.

 

[USBP SW]

Kelly,

I wrote this a few days ago, perhaps you could benefit from the advice. You can check out the whole thread in 1961-1980 (yet another 34-1 with a problem, or something like that) The last post was on the 10th.

Clean chambers help in some cases but is not the solution in others. I am not a proponent of polishing chambers, it may ultimately fix the problem but only by accident. I have had a couple of .22's and a couple of pinned and recessed n-frames that suffered from hard extraction, I speculate that a burr was left behind after machining the recess for the case head. I really don't feel that the polish in the chambers has anything to do with extraction, anyone who has looked in the chambers of an older Ruger (they look like they have traction grooves) would have to admit that the polish doesn't amount to much, since the Rugers extracted empties flawlessly. What I did to fix the problem, was to touch up the edge of the chambers, very slightly (I didn't even have to touch up the blue), where the recess met the chamber, with I believe it was called a pointed hard Arkansas stone. I got it at a jeweler's supply, it was round and was 1/4" at the largest diameter, tapering down to a point. The stone removed the burr on the chambers and not one of the revolvers ever gave me any trouble since the procedure, which took maybe ten minutes. Anyway, I hope you get your revolver up and running properly, it really shouldn't be difficult to extract empties and it isn't something I would be satisfied living with because it simply isn't necessary.

Good luck,
Steve