Model K22/17/18's etc...If you use a reamer....do you have to re-blue?

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I've been reading about reaming the cylinder charge holes on these .22 lr models. I've been having the same sticking on ejection troubles and am thinking about getting a reamer. Do you have to re-blue the charge holes to avoid rusting after reaming?
 
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I can't say I've paid 100% attention to the cylinder bores of revolvers, but I don't think they are blued from the factory?
 
I have done many of mine, GREAT results, I have checked my Colts which were all fine, my Dan Wesson 22LR, fine, last but not least, my Taurus, an older one that looked much like an S&W Model 17, fine.
I guess I don't understand why S&W 22 revolvers are like they are, but it sure is easy to fix them. I had some guns that were difficult to even get a cartridge in the cylinder.
I wonder why it was so easy to buy them on GB so reasonably??
As far as bluing afterward, I doubt it matters, but I used a Q-tip and some OXPHO Blue from Brownells, which always works well for me.
Very glad I read about this process on this forum and I have enjoyed shooting my revolvers much more now.
For those that worry, nothing is loose now, just not crazy tight, Dave Manson makes great products, the manufacturer of the reamers I use.
Amazing what came out of some, others just a bit, but all are better for it.
 
The barrel bore is not blued (plugs are inserted in each end). You run a lightly oiled rag down the barrel to keep it from rusting. You should do the same for the cylinder chambers. And you do not ream the chambers, you hone them to smooth out microscopic high spots.
 
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Wow! Have you ever looked in a cylinder from the factory? I hate to be this way, but... I'm pretty dang sure they don't blue the inside of a barrel, either. No blue. Shoot, clean, repeat.
 
If the cylinder (or bbl) is HotSalt blued,,then chambers and the bore are also blued.
The parts go right into the bluing salts and everything inside and out get blued. No bore plugs used.

If the parts are Rust Blued (Express or Slow Rust), the bores and chambers are NOT blued. No rusting soln is applied to the chambers or the bore.
They come out of the bluing process 'in the white'
Some do plug the bores and chambers during this process, others do not.
The parts only go thru plain boiling water so there is no chance of rusting but you do have to keep a watch on the bore and chambers and wipe them out after each cycle to be sure. They usually respond to a post bluing polishing/brushing as well and clean up nicely to a bright steel finish they started with.

If the parts are orig older Charcoal Blued (pre 1913) or Carbona Blued (1913 and forward (Some companys used it up to just before WW2,,Win, Savage,ect. S&W supposedly later)...
This is a dry process involving heat at approx 850F.
Cylinders and bbls were never plugged. So the interior surfaces get blued just the same as the exterior.
Some mfg'rs may have polished the cylinder chambers out after bluing for a nice color contrast.
Similar to how many Rust blued firearms had interior surfaces of the action polished and left in the white after the bluing process.

Long gun bbl's were usually rust blued when the Charcoal blue and Carbona blue systems were in use. I can only think of the Henry rifle that had it's bbl being Charcoal blued. There may have been others.
 
I blue them, especially when only one or two chambers needed work. Just to have all chambers match and to have a factory look. It's too easy to blue them, to not do it.

But is it needed? No.
 
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FYI: Although 22 revolver cylinders have charge holes because .22s use heeled bullets (same diameter as the cartridge case and the last modern cartridge to do so), all charge holes are not created equal.

Charge holes are usually bored thru in one diameter; think cap and ball and the heeled bullet era of the late 1800s.

As you all know, chambers have a shoulder where the case neck ends and a slightly smaller diameter where the bullet throat is located at the front of the chamber, as do all center fire cartridge chambers.

However S&W .22 chamber throats can be the cause of difficulty to chamber rounds due to the bullet plating, color coating, wax, or even crud a bit too thick to enter the throats w/o a little muscle and frustration. Why? Because S&W chamber throat areas have a slight taper, kind of a modified charge hole design.

S&W chambers are seldom truly under sized, they're tapered for accuracy.

Stick your .22s into the front of the cyl chambers backwards to test your ammunition's bullet fit in the throats. You'll also find that some manufacturer's .22 ammunition will chamber completely case and all from the front end but with others the case will not enter the throat!

When you use a reamer, is it a straight or tapered reamer like S&W uses?
 
Thank you. I looked it up and it doesn't indicate that it's other than a straight reamer.

I have never had to resort to a finish reamer in any of my S&W rimfires to correct tight chambers so I be interested in the finish diameter of the throats where the Manson has been used. My Smith cyl throats are .224"-.025"; .003" to .005" smaller than the rear moth of the hole.

I'd be interested to know what they measure after passing a finishing reamer thru them. Hard to measure such a small hole acurately with calipers, I know, unless the caliper measuring tips have had the edges modified to knife edges. But we can add .002" to your measurement and be in the ball park.
 
Jim, looks like the cutting flutes are .2215", but it's done 36 holes....the blank pilot at the bottom measures .223", so it's probablly .223" new, and cuts aprox. halfway down the cyl,from the ejector. star... the rest of the cyl. looks to be untouched, only the pilot touching that part...
 
Yes, correct, my 34-1 here has a cyl. length of 1.450 roughly, and the reamer cut .780 deep from the recess created by the ejector star, including the star....sitting here looking at a federal cheapo round, looks like brass is aprox. .540 long, so it sits well within the reamer cut....the rest of the cyl is untouched....please keep in mind I'm not a machinist, but a retired mechanic!
 
My blued revolvers, several from Colt and S&W and one Taurus and one Dan Wesson, have blued chambers and the barrel bores also appear to have been blued. Do you have to reblue after honing or reaming chambers? No, but it might mask the fact that the chambers have been altered and may provide a small amount of corrosion protection.
 
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