M63- tight chambers?

[j2k22]

a friend gave me his M63 to work on; he was having trouble pushing a 22 round all the way into the chambers.
I measured each chamber with a small hole gauge; .220 at the front, .222 in the middle, .225 at the back end.
the plan is to enlarge the front end to .222 using 400 grit silicon carbide paper wrapped around a slit brass tube.
has anyone else had a similar problem, and how did you deal with it?

 

[ronnie gore]

63

you should try scrubing the chambers out with a brush and solvent first, my 63 will get sticky after i shoot some, after cleaning the cylinder chambers rounds fine.

 

[Tom C]

I don't recommend using any abrasives beyond some type of polish, like JB Bore Brite. I just clean mine with Shooter's Choice and a bronze brush mounted in a cordless electric drill. Not only does it clean the chambers, it helps to burnish the chambers. The chambers, particularly the chamber throats, are tight to permote accuracy. Roughness from new slightly rough chambers, or fouling, makes for difficult extraction. Take care of both with the drill.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Uh.....PLEASE don't do that. My 63 is "tight" keep it clean and you'll have no problems. If I don't clean the crud off the cylinder face every so often, it will bind-very little BC gap. With the shells-a little thumb pressure-more as it get's dirtier-works. Don't forget to clean under the star-those .22's are notoriously dirty and will gum up a gun with fine tolerances like the 63.

 

[Pisgah]

DON'T DO ANYTHING DRASTIC. Instead, clean the ever-lovin' daylights out of it, and I'll bet the problem goes away. My rimfires are the only revolvers I clean after EVERY shooting session, particularly the chambers, because they will gunk up right quick, and the longer you let it go the worse it gets.

 

[GF]

I'm gonna' suggest something a little different. Try cleaning the cylinder first.
One of those little 22 cal wire brushes and some powder solvent. Clean and repeat as needed.

GF

 

[Camster]

Good advice given.Some ammo just fits more snug than other brands-I've encountered a similar problem with a few of my 22 revolvers-some brands work perfectly fine.Clean the gun well and try some other brands.

 

[HEADKNOCKER]

I too would suggest trying cleaning & other ammo..
The revolver could have had lots of Long & Shorts shot threw it too..
Nothing wrong with spinning a .270" bronze brush with some Hoppes#9 in a cordless drill in the chambers to get them spotless & use lots of patches.. The .270" brush fits the chambers much better than a 22cal brush..
Good Luck!
Gary/Hk

 

[j2k22]

I appreciate the comments, but I guess that I thought it wasn't neccessary to mention that the tight fit is with a perfectly clean chamber.
The rounds need to be pushed with light pressure for the final third of a case length when the chambers are clean. I can see how it became harder as the firing sessions progressed and some residue accumulated.
This became a source of frustration and irritation to my friend, and he is willing to accept some potential loss of theoretical accuracy by having the chambers opened up enough that a round will drop in freely under its' own weight.
I measured the chambers on my Sauer 22 revolver, which is very accurate, and they are .222 at the front and .225 at the rear. The 63 is .220 at the front and .225 at the rear. I think that those 2 thousandths need to go.

 

[Pisgah]

Your friend can do as he chooses with his revolver, but what is being described sounds nothing but normal for a rimfire revolver. If the ammo is not going in effortlessly with a truly clean cylinder, then try other ammo.

 

[Tom C]

I would feel much better about polishing the chambers or reaming them slightly if necessary, but doing things freehand with an abrasive has a high likelihood of ruining things. A new cylinder is something like $100.

 

[HAM]

I have a similar problem with my Model 34-1 that j2k22 has. Except in my case the .22 cartridges slip in easily, but after firing 40 or 50 rounds, the spent cases are very difficult to remove even from a clean cylinder. Will give it the brush and drill fix and see what happens. Thanks for the tips guys.

This is my first S&W and am very impressed with the precision with which this revolver was built.

HAM

 

[rockquarry]

tight .22 chambers

Not so sure about the accuracy / tight chamber rumors. I have had several S&W .22 revolvers in the past thirty years; still have three. All of them have had very close fitting cylinder chambers and all ammo has been tight. I cannot recall cleaning ever making a difference, but I suppose firing several hundred rounds without cleaning might increase the force required to insert a cartridge. Nevertheless, S&W revolvers generally are quite accurate and about the equal of a Colt double-action .22 revolver. Strangely, Colts don't have the tight chambers.

 

[RichCapeCod]

I have a 63 that had the same problem as described by the OP. Bought new by me around 1980(?). Back in those days S&W quality control was a bit rough. I had an NYPD gunsmith polish the chambers and that solved the issue. Love the little handgun.

 

[Stainz]

Don't forget - solvents take time to work - and they evaporate quickly. Appy and re-apply before brushing - it seems even more important on the smaller bores. Oddly, more .22's are damaged by improper cleaning than anything else - including not cleaning!

My 5" 63 and 4" 617 are fine for hundreds of rounds before insertion needs any help other than gravity. Again - solvent and time!

Stainz

 

[PattonTime]

22 LR

Several years ago I bought a NIB Model 34 on Gun Broker.
I took it to the range and guess what ? Could not get 22LR to chamber at all.
Sent back to Smith came back a week later , perfect!
Not tight , not loose, I believe there might have been a final honing forgotten back in the 70's when it was made , never discovered until 2008
when I purchased, I believe Smith did something like what the OP said as it was easy to see the work done in cylinders.
Too tight is pain in butt in my opinion!

 

[RichCapeCod]

Now that I'm thinking about it, I could chamber the .22s but extraction was very difficult. Polishing the chambers solved the problem.

 

[mkk41]

Yep , I too have some tight chambering issues with some brands/lots of .22LR ammo and my Mod.63. Even when clean as a hound's tooth.

 

[Larry from Bend]

In my 34, the biggest problem was using Rem ammo. It was hard to chamber and hard to extract. This was a while back - I haven't used it in years. Never have had ANY problem with Federal.

 

[noshow]

Clean ammo, verticle ejection, polish

The J Frame SS 22 Revolvers seem to experience hard extraction. I used to carry a small block of wood to the range in order to save the palm of my hand. I found that Remington GBs would give trouble after as few as 24 rounds(very dirty ammo) from a clean gun. On the other hand, I could shoot 60 or more using CCI MiniMags(very clean ammo). You can minimize the crud factor by ejecting with the muzzle pointing straight up. This helps keep the unburned residue in the empty cases and not under the star or in the chambers. This will prolong your shooting session without that annoying binding. Finally, I polish the chambers with Flitz on a 22cal wool mop. I don't rotate it as when chucked in a drill, but rather use in & out, back & forth strokes the same path the ammo takes when loading/ejecting. This has worked very well for me over the years and I now enjoy range sessions with my J Frame 22s