M17 cylinder hard to eject shells

[bigi]

I have a nice 1959 M17 no dash. I cleaned the cylinder repeatedly with a bronze brush, even used choire boy copper pad and a drill on slow. The problem is that once fired the cartridges are very hard to eject. They go in fine unfired. I tried to feed the fired ones and they go back in but the last 1/8". I read else where of people having similar problem. Is there a fix? Otherwise the gun is very accurate.

 

[murphydog]

Perhaps try different brands of ammo. If they all extract the same it may just be the way your gun works. I've read instances where the .22 chambers were tight (hard to seat loaded rounds), but if it is not a brass issue it sounds that your chambers may be too big, which is a different issue.

 

[fyimo]

Perhaps try different brands of ammo. If they all extract the same it may just be the way your gun works. I've read instances where the .22 chambers were tight (hard to seat loaded rounds), but if it is not a brass issue it sounds that your chambers may be too big, which is a different issue.

I agree with him that the first thing to try is different brands of ammo because it sounds like you have your chambers as clean as they can be.

 

[bigi]

The only ammo I used was CCI std velocity 40gr. Works great in all my other .22 like M41, 617, Browning medalist, mp15-22 etc. Will try something else.

 

[longaction]

My 1968 K22 did the same thing. I used to carry a wood mallet to knock out the empties. The chambers were oversized but the revolver was safe and accurate. I never bought another Smith 22 revolver again.

 

[bigi]

Why wood oversize chambers cause this? You would think this should make them easier to come out.

 

[fyimo]

Why wood oversize chambers cause this? You would think this should make them easier to come out.

Actually I always thought it was tight cjambers that caused this and the reason is larger chambers would have more room when the case expanded thus being more forgiving. I would still try a couple of other brands as different manufactuers brass does vary in size.

There have also been people up here who reported this problem and they honed out their chambers slightly and said it solved the problem.

 

[H Richard]

When the round fires it expands into the oversize chamber and if the chamber walls are not completely parallel, makes it difficult to extract.

 

[Iggy]

I have heard that the CCI stuff is slightly overlength for some reason.
Lighter bullet and longer cases.
This might be the problem.

 

[PMRet]

Oversized chambers would allow the cases to overexpand when fired, making them hard to extract.

 

[Florida Guy]

I don't have much of a problem ejecting from my 1964 17-2, but my sister uses a folded towel on the ejector rod of her 63- to remove the empties.
It's a lot easier on her hand that way.
Agree with others - try a variety of bullets and see if that makes a difference.

 

[bigi]

I will try different ammo. Just for info I tried inserting the fired brass back in and without exception they all would not go in the last 1/8-3/16 " . Unfired no problem to insert. One thing I did not try is to make sure I test it with ALL chambers but will next time.

 

[Mike McLellan]

I had the same problem with my pre-17. In my case, though, I was using high velocity ammo. Somebody on this forum recommended using slower ammo. I switched to target rounds and the problem no longer exists. It sounds as though you already tried that. Maybe slow it down even more?

 

[pharmer]

HV .22 lr are around 24,000 CUP, .38spl +p around 18,500. Since the .22 brass is soft enough to be "rim fired", you expect the cases to be a little "sticky". My 17, 18, 63 are all in the same boat. I usually carry a bore brush in my range bag. Joe

 

[M3Stuart]

My 1968 K22 did the same thing. I used to carry a wood mallet to knock out the empties. The chambers were oversized but the revolver was safe and accurate. I never bought another Smith 22 revolver again.

AAaaarrrgggghhhhh

On another thread I, apparently, was the only person who had ever, in the history of forever, had a problem extracting .22 cases. Ditto on the need for a mallet and ramrod of some type. Ditto on the inherent satisfaction with my Ruger MkII(s).

On a lighter note:
Can you imagine having to beat the cases out of a little alloy or polymer revolver like a 317 or a LCR?!? You'd end up knocking the thing apart trying to get the cases out.

Edit: Technical note - somebody said the CCI cases were longer than std: that is true for the Stingers but not the CCI mini-mags. So, it ain't that.

 

[dpsix]

My son's 62 vintage Model 17 about needs a smack on the bench with the ejector rod to dump cases. While the chambers are bright and clean, the foward half of each chamber looks like it never saw a finish reamer. A good deal on a 95% plus gun sometimes is not such a good deal.

 

[JoeHatley]

Is there a fix?

Check your headspace. I'll bet it is probably too large. Allows the case to back out of the chamber a bit when fired. Then the unsupported section of case wall expands and makes extraction difficult.

If you have the barrel to cylinder gap to spare, adding a shim or two the move the cylinder back is a quick (and reversable) fix to try.

Worked perfectly on my 17-4.

Good Luck...

Joe

 

[bigi]

Ok I tried several different types of ammo and found Federal Champion 525/brick copper plated solved the problem. Also less fouling. Yiepeee

 

[pmhayden]

Ok I tried several different types of ammo and found Federal Champion 525/brick copper plated solved the problem. Also less fouling. Yiepeee

I found that waxy or varnished shells tend to stick in my 17-3. Stingers and minimags stick. But I have not had that problem with American Eagle, Federal, or high end target ammo. I don't think it is the pistol if changing ammo solves the problem.

 

[islandguy]

Your solution worked for me too...

Ok I tried several different types of ammo and found Federal Champion 525/brick copper plated solved the problem. Also less fouling. Yiepeee

I shoot a 17-6 and my wife shoots a Model of 1953 22/32 Target. Any CCI is very sticky in both, but the Fed 525 bulk copper-plated drops into both with the HKS speedloaders we use. No problems with extraction either. The chambers of the Model of 1953 22/32 Target are slightly tighter than those of the 17-6, so the rounds often need a gentle "push" to get them to seat, but they extract fine.