Firing high velocity ammunition in a .22/32 HFT revolver without recessed cylinders

[glowe]

I bought a Flobert Parlor pistol several decades ago when just starting to collect guns. Of course I kenw little about guns back then and had some boxes of 22LR around that chambered in the gun, so grabbed a target to shoot. I shot the first round and it would not extract due to a bulged rim. Ramrod took care of the stuck case, so I loaded again and shot. Opened the chamber to find no rim left. I finally ended up finding CB Shorts and CB Caps worked perfectly. Of course an 1870s parlor pistol had no caliber stamping, as well as many other handguns of the late 1800s.

I had no concern about my safety since I felt the rim could not go back towards me, but lucky that no one was next to me. Moral of the story is that it can happen, so I always look at the stamping in any post-1900 gun I shoot before grabbing ammo. Those caliber stampings are there for a purpose, so my suggestion is to pay attention to them.

Here is a picture of the pistol, long gone from my collection.

 

[ol777gunnerz]

info

I have never had or seen a .22 LR case head separation in almost 50 years of shooting, but cannot recall if I ever shot one in a gun without a fully enclosed breech or recessed cylinder.

So, I see this as an ammunition quality control more than a design issue. I would see no problem with using high quality .22 ammunition of any kind.

I had it happen with S&W single shot target pistols, using plinker 22 ammo, even Harry Pope the gunsmith remarked his dislike for the S&W "gapped" handguns.