Are older K-22's the tightest chambers in the world?

L

Lavan

New member
I have had more than my share of rimfire problems lately and will NOT ever use another Federal.
But I got a brick of the blue label std. velocity Remingtons and putting them in my K22 (1950's vintage) was awful. The gun is CLEAN. But those shells would stop about a quarter inch sticking out. I could easily force them in and did, but what a pain.
Gonna go back to Win T22 that seems to work in everything.
Also the Remingtons didn't want to go off every time in my Hi Standard Trophy.

Aaaargh:mad:
 
Are you SHURE the chambers are clean ?
The symptoms sound like previous owner shot a lot of target shorts in it and a little crud is hangin up the longer cartridges.

Or, could be tight. I have had quite a few K-22s from all eras tho and never run into your problem.

Sam
 
Had to get a 63's chambers reamed for it to work right. All ammo was tight and hard to extract (well every type of ammo sold at Wally World anyway). Have heard of this problem with older Smiths before as well.
 
CR Sam

Yep. have had gun since new. You could EAT off the chamber surfaces....or at least drink.

Except the straw would probably stick.

Ever since new, it has ALLOWED Winchesters in it and ALMOST nothing else.....EASY. It will shoot all of them, but Win just seems to fit.

They dont just hang up at the 1/4" mark. That's just where they get REALLY tight. Course that speaks to a chamber ring, too.

Maybe will REALLY scrub the thing out. It LOOKS clean.
 
I have a similar situation with a late '60s Model 18. Remington ammo is tight and has to be seated with a push. Other ammo seems to slip in a lot easier. I miked a bunch of ammo and the Remingtons bullets were measurably bigger in diameter. I don't remember how much, but it was. Remington ammo also shoots the best in that gun.
My Model 617 seems to be able to handle the Remingtons better but it sure doesn't shoot as good as the M-18.
 
I've got an early-70's production Model 17 that evinces the same problem...a 'smith of my aquaintance said he could "Fix" it by polishing the chambers...doesn't bother me enough to have it done, at least yet....mikey357
 
My Model 17 is from the mid 60s and I don't have that problem with mine with any brand of ammo. I have a stainless Rossi that sometimes is hard to extract the fired case from but a light rap on the ejector rod easily does the trick.

7th
 
Have noticed that same thing w/mine (purchased in the mid-seventies), needing to push the cartridge home with the tip of my thumb, with certain lots of ammo. Since the ejection was OK I never thought anything of it.
 
I had the same problem with this weekend. I had a brick of Remington ammo that would not work at all in my 10/22. Some would not feed. Some would not fire and when they didn't fire they were too tight to extract. This ammo had to be the worst crap I have ever seen. You could audibly hear the differences in every shot. What ever happened to Quality Control?
 
Lavan, that's what happens when your gun got the last gasp out of the reamer. You can always have a gunsmith run a .22 reamer in the chambers and you should have no further problems.

Jim
 
Older K22's actually have a tapered chamber, which is why you are running into problems with the last 1/4". If you slug the barrel you will also find that the barrel is undersized, some go as little as .217" S&W wanted to insure that they controlled the bullet for accuracy, and since 22's use a very soft lead bullet it works well. Just keep pushing those cartridges into the chambers all the way so you don't get mis-fires and enjoy the accuracy of a good K22.
 
:D

I bought my K-22 for a song at a gunshop. Its previous owner had reliability issues with it. I'm imaging that it is due to the fact that the K-22 is notoriously tight and the guy apparently didn't own a cleaning kit.

It still gets a little sticky every now and then (exactly as Lavan describes it, just not as bad), but if I clean it regularly it works fine. His must be machined even tighter than mine.

Mike
 
K-22 Ejection Problems

I'm having a hell of a time ejecting spent .22LR rounds from my K-22 Masterpiece. I gather this is a chronic issue? Anyone with suggestions?

Phil, Victoria, BC, Canada
 
There has always been a fairly large range in dimensional tolerances for the 22lr. Target gun chambers ,revolver or auto, have smaller chambers and may not function with all ammo.To open up the chambers of a K-22 to fit all ammo defeats the purpose -it will be less accurate !
 
I don't have any problems in my K-22 or M-63 using Winchester Powerpoints of Wildcats. CCI Velocitors work ok but I will not using anything Remington in them
 
Mate- they are all tight. And it's a pain in the arse.The only thing to do is ream them out - won't make any difference to how they shoot. If you are a purist then just clean them hard after every 50 rounds. I hated mine so much that I sold it - and it was a fun gun too.
 
The only thing to do is ream them out - won't make any difference to how they shoot.

If that is the case then why did Smith produce these revolvers with such tight chambers to begin with?
 
I don't know why. As far as I'm aware it's only the Smith .22 revolvers that are like this. Perhaps, if one could be bothered, try every make of ammo and you might find one that's OK. A bit of a nuisance for a plinking gun. As I mentioned, I sold mine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top