Locking Up on 2 Chambers?

[steelslaver]

I think the rent on the reamer itself is only $34 and shipping back and forth. In a revolver no real need for the go no go gauges. Sounds to me like 2 of your chambers are a bit short. It wouldn't take much hand turning to make them a bit deeper.


I have a Jet and a 22 Harvey Kay Chuck. The Harvey uses Hornet case that is trimmed .10 and then blown out to have a regular shoulder. Both of them only use 35-45 gr bullets to. luckily for me I bout a whole bunch of 40gr .223 Seer bullets many years ago during a discontinued sale for like $2.50 a 100. You could trim the tips off some bullets and I have thought of making a die that would flatten and press the bullet tips back to make them shorter. The rifling is rather slow on all S&W barrels and a long thin bullet wouldn't work well anyway. I also have a 55 gr 22 bullet mold in my pile of stuff. Got it with the idea of milling the base off enough for those to work. They are fun guns to shoot. No recoil, re-loadable etc.

 

[delta-419]

Range Time For The 22Hornet

I could not resist the urge to get this old shooter out to the range and see how she performs. I loaded up 25 rounds of 22 Hornet using 3gr of Unique and a Speer 33 grain jacketed HP for a velocity of 1600 fps. I fired the rounds at 50 yards with a respectable sounding blast, but very light recoil. Only issue was a very sticky ejector rod that required a bump on the shooting platform for release. I ordered the finisher reamer and it is on its way. The shot spread is a bit wide to say the least. Performance plus will be my goal as I will try bullets that she likes. I noticed that some of the shots looked like a keyhole effect? The large holes are from my 1911, please ignore. Your comments please!

 

[armorer951]

I would suspect barrel/cyl alignment, possible forcing cone issues, and/or overall barrel condition are at the root of the key-holing. The barrel crown could also be suspect. Good luck

 

[delta-419]

Chamber Reamer Finisher Update

I was able to acquire a Clymer Finisher Reamer and took to slowly and with great purpose finish some sticky chambers (2) that have been my center of attention for the past couple of weeks. Each chamber took about 4 revolutions of the reamer with a generous amount of cutting oil. A fair amount of metal shavings required that the reamer be wiped clean several times. I watched several videos on how to hand finish a revolver chamber. That did not make me an expert by any means! However, the sticky chambers were corrected. It seems that with this old shooter, as you empty one can of worms, life presents another full can to digest. My first attempt to fire this gun was with a mix of lead and FMJHP bullets at 10% below starter level powder data. I decided to see if .224 Speer 22 Hornet HPFMJ rounds would work OK with a richer elevated powder charge in the chambers, having made up a batch last weekend. No problem with chamber fit and no ejection issues with finished rounds. The new problem, if it is one, is seen in the photo. The Speer bullet sticks in one chamber, in all (5) other chambers they drop through. I assume a high chamber pressure is the end result. Did not take the new batch of reloads to the range! How best to proceed. Your advice is requested.

 

[BC38]

Isn't it pretty normal for the chamber throats to be about .001" undersized?
I think I'd be more concerned with the other 5 being slightly oversized and the effect that would have on accuracy.
Or maybe that only applies to larger calibers?
Seems like this one is a case of someone having tried to make their own M53 in 22 Hornet instead of 22 Jet.

 

[Enigma]

Chamber throats should be at least the same as groove diameter. Otherwise the bullets are swaged down to clear, and then rattle on down the bore. Cast bullets will sustain gas cutting and lead the bore. You need to either ream or hone all chamber throats to a uniform diameter, or pay to have it done.