Problems with new to me 2206

[Kirk]

The 2206 arrived. It has a 6" barrel and also has a Leupold 2x scope on a B Square mount. I disassembled the pistol & found it was very clean and bone dry. I lubed it with CLP. The tension screw for the rear sight was so loose, I'm surprised it had not fallen off. All of the screws on the B Square mount were loose so I tightened those. The screws on the scope mount were metric so I could not check them (later, at home, they proved to be fairly tight; the could be tightened less than 1/4 turn.)

I fired the pistol to test function and accuracy. I fired 110 rounds of Federal Value Pack (plated HS HP) ammo. & got 100% feeding & extraction. I had 4 failures to fire which at first I attributed to bad ammo even though I'd never had that many failures out of that few rounds before. I followed up with 50 rounds of CCI Standard Velocity (RN, unplated). Feeding & extraction were also 100% but there were two failures to fire. All the FtFs fired on the second strike. I pulled one Federal round and there was both powder & priming compound inside. (There was about 5x more priming compound present than inside Remington Golden Bullet FtFs that I have checked.) About half way through this test, I noticed the slide occasionally failed to close by about .08". I could nudge it shut with light finger tip pressure. I cycled the pistol about 30 times without the mag & the slide failed to close completely 5 times. I noticed some roughness when manually closing the slide, especially the last .25". I think the cause of the FtF is the roughness in the pistol rather than bad ammo.

The pistol gave poor accuracy, averaging 3-4" at 25 yds; the best group (CCI ammo) was 2". I hope this is the scope; I could not test the iron sights as the screw rapidly loosened to the point I had to take the slide back off just to tighten the screw. In function testing the pistol, I watched the scre turn out as much as 1/4 turn per shot.

After about 20 rounds, I found the barrel nut could be tightened 1/4 turn with just a quarter.

The close ups show some fired cases & one FtF plus the front & rear of the slide in its stand off mode. The merest touch would cause the slide to close.

Are there any secrets about smoothing the action? Improving accuracy by tightening the barrel? Any advice is appreciated.

 

[OKFC05]

I have a stock 2206. It has a very tight chamber and will not feed many types of bulk ammo. I've found Federal Auto Match to be 100% in function and accurate.

It sounds like you bought a gun that has been "improved" too much. I'd start with new springs, a tube of "soft" locktite, and carefully return the gun to specifications. If you don't feel comfortable doing this yourself, a good smith is in order.

It's a pain buying a gun you then have to fix, but there are poor specimens for sale. I bought a "very good +" model 66 that I then had to spend nearly $200 replacing parts "improved" by a kitchen table gun butcher.

 

[Kirk]

It sounds like you bought a gun that has been "improved" too much. I'd start with new springs, a tube of "soft" locktite, and carefully return the gun to specifications. If you don't feel comfortable doing this yourself, a good smith is in order.

It's a pain buying a gun you then have to fix, but there are poor specimens for sale. I bought a "very good +" model 66 that I then had to spend nearly $200 replacing parts "improved" by a kitchen table gun butcher.

I'm sure I can replace springs. Do you mean I should replace the barrel? That would be a major repair if one is available.

 

[Docdc]

Ughh...I wish I had a camera around here! The slide not closing all the way is probably from dirt. Open the slide and at the face with the firing pin. Notice the extractor. Now look at the barrel and see where the extractor goes into when the slide closes. Get a tooth brush and some oil or cleaner and clean that little pocket out. Make sure the extractor itself isn't gunked up. That should take care of the slide not fully closing. If not you are probably into a set of springs.

 

[Kirk]

I inspected the slide before firing it the first time; it was very clean with almost no debris built up in the extractor seat.

I took the slide off & blackened all the bearing surfaces with a marker, reassembled the slide (without the recoil spring) and pushed it back & forth. The surface at the left rear of the slide appears to be binding on the side plate. Just a coupe of passes wore through the marker. Seen from the rear when assembled, there is no clearance visible between the slide & side plate.

I used an India stone on the area to remove some metal & polish the area. I reassembled the pistol & racked the slide 100 time dry; there was 1 failure to return to battery. I lubed the slide & did another 100, this time with no failures to close. Perhaps this will cure the problem. I should be able to retest the pistol next week.

One picture here shows the rear sight laying on its side. The base of the rear sight is arched. Is that normal?

The recoil spring is bent & looks like it would bind in use. I will replace it.

 

[novalty]

First want to say, that is a nice looking 2206, and you are lucky to have gotten one with a B-Square scope mount, as those are OOP and hard to find. Second, sorry to hear about your problems with the 2206. I picked up one last year, and have been having failure-to-feed and -eject issues, which I believe are due to a warn recoil spring. Regarding the rear sight that loosens, from what I have read on them, the best cure is lock-tite. I've never heard of the barrel-nut loosening. I know someone over at RimFireCentral has come up with a barrel-nut removal tool for these S&W 22's, (pricey if I remember correctly). Although maybe not recommended, removing the barrel nut and applying a sparse amount of lock-tight, might be a way to help keep it from backing out on you. I am having accuracy issues with the 2206 I have as well, but mine is a 4.5" barrel model, and I guess I am not very used to it with FTFeed and FTE issues, it becomes annoying trying to put through several rounds. I find mine hits to the left 3-4" or so, and have had to adjust rear sight accordingly.

 

[chriskm1968]

hello,i have 2 of these, the barrel nut issue is a problem and cannot be properly tightened without a tool such as rimfire central user makes. his user name is ewk, he also has firing pins for these. i had a recoil spring go bad quickly from old age and bought a wolff spring standard weight.
the rear sight can be fixed by red loctite, yes red. anything else would not hold mine long.
these guns are highly accurate, when you get it right you will be pleased.
btw is that the one that was on gb? seems like i remember that scope and mount.

 

[bad_man_ one]

I haven't had mine that long, but I can tell you it's a real tack driver.
Even with an inexpensive Red-Dot.
No problems to date, it digests everything I feed it.
Regards,
BM1

 

[Kirk]

Yes, I bought the pistol on Gun Broker.

I'll check rimfire central for the barrel nut tool.

The pictures tell the accuracy story. The two groups are typical of what the 2006 & a Ruger 22/45 can do with the same scope & ammo. I used CCI Blazer ammo but results are virtually the same with Federal plated bulk pack & other kinds of .22 ammo.

Thanks,

Kirk