Tried out My New-to-Me 22LR SP101 Today...

W

Waspinator

New member
And ran into some troubles....

Now, this in my first rimfire, so I'm not sure if this is normal or not, but after only a few cylinders full I started having trouble getting the rounds to chamber. First cylinder they all dropped in fine. Second cylinder a few were a bit tight. By the third cylinder I couldn't chamber one of them at all. By the end of 50 rounds, I was only able to chamber 2 rounds.

I did not bring a brush or any cleaning materials with me because I never ran into this problem with my center-fire revolver (Sp101 .357).

Do you think this is a problem with the gun or a problem with the ammunition? The gun was thoroughly cleaned before going to the range.

The ammunition used was Armscor .22 LR HV 36 grain JHP.



Here is what the cylinder looked like at the end of 50 rounds.




The good news.

The gun is probably more accurate then me. I think I did fairly well for the first time out with the gun and considering I just got into shooting this past July. These were fired at 7 yards double action.



And just because this thread needs a picture of the gun itself..




What are your thoughts???
 
Some .RF ammo is So DIRTY that it kruds your gun up in 25 rounds! I have had this problem with Federal, Remington and any foreign "Sale" ammo My best is CCI and Winchester Wildcat and Super-X
My Single Six has one tight chamber ans it always tightenes up first on extraction.
I only shoot LR inthe LR cylinder no shorts. Seems with the ammo problems. manufacturers are loading with any crap Powder.
BPDave
 
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That's some kind of crappy powder, to leave that much crud in only a few cylindersful.

Be glad the chambers in your SP-101 are a bit looser than the ones in my BearCat - which are so tight that the gun'll only accept one or two brands of ammo, at all.



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Does it have a full lug barrel? I thought the sp101 22 had a half lug
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Yes, it does. This is an early 1991 model that has full lug and a 6-shot cylinder. They stopped making this version years ago and then stopped making 22lr sp101 for a while. They only just bruoght them back in the last few years, but they are all now half lug 8-shots.

I found this one in my LGS for a good price. Had the original box and paperwork. Couldn't pass it up, especially as I like the full lug barrel over the half lug.
 
Waspinator said:
Yes, it does. This is an early 1991 model that has full lug and a 6-shot cylinder. They stopped making this version years ago and then stopped making 22lr sp101 for a while. They only just bruoght them back in the last few years, but they are all now half lug 8-shots.





I found this one in my LGS for a good price. Had the original box and paperwork. Couldn't pass it up, especially as I like the full lug barrel over the half lug.
Click to expand...





Nice. Hard to beat a Ruger that they don't make anymore. Always a marker for them
 
See if you can bell out a shell a little bit and scrape the crude out after a few cylinders.
Click to expand...

Thing is, the empty shells fall right in, the crud is right at the line where the bullet leaves the casing. So, the empty falls in, the intact ammo does not want to go in at all.

I thought of that at the range and tried to come from the other side of the cylinder, but the empty wont even go in. I read, when I got home, that they used to make .22lr cylinders tapered in the past but they stopped doing that? Don't know if that's true or not, but looks like my cylinder is tapered. So, coming in from the backside with the empty is a no-go.

I'll have to see if we have any ball hones/flex hones at work. Maybe if I run it though a bit with some compound, I can get it a bit smoother in the chambers. Perhaps that will polish it enough that the crude doesn't stick so hard.
 
I have one of the newer 8 shot ones. The only time I have trouble chambering live rounds is when I shoot about 100 of the Colibri primer only quiet loads. It takes some effort to get the regular ones in but after 2 or 3 cylinders the effort eases up.
 
I used to have one of those,,,

I used to have one of those,,,
My ex-wife got it in the divorce.

Dang but I miss that pistol.

I would buy another like it in a heartbeat,,,
But everyone I've seen is priced way over it's blue book estimate

Aarond

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I've got the exact same sp101 and just love that gun. Just run a small barrel brush through the chambers and try some different ammo.

You did good.
 
That looks like the ammo is at fault. I run about 50-100 rds of 22lr every time i take my .22 revolver to the range and never had an issue with the federal ammo I've been using that I hear is on the dirty side. Dirty yes but it doesn't clog it up that bad. The worst it does is make me pull a shell or two out myself while ejecting
 
I have 2 of the Ruger SP101's in .22lr , both are 1st gen full lug like in the pic above , as others have said said the CCI is a little better than cheap bulk .22 lr .
I also have a few of S&W 617 in 6 and 10 shot and also get leaded up , just the nature of the round .
Ruger has brought back production of the SP101 in .22lr but its not a full lug barrel , the gun is a tank why not give it a full barrel , Ruger would have sold a lot more than they are right now .
A few years back they were bringing more money that the S&W 617 just due to the rarity of the gun .
 
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That one photo makes it look like the chambers have sharp shoulders, almost like a 9mm. .22 LR uses a heel type bullet and the chambers should have no shoulder or chamber in front of the case.

Regardless, that ammo looks pretty dirty to me, also.

Jim
 
I would pull the cylinder off the gun and soak the cylinder (maybe even overnite) in solvent and then hit those charge holes with a brass brush. You have a buildup of crud in there and I bet a good cleaning will take care of the issue. If not you can lightly polish the charge holes.
 
It must be the powder, but I find that hard to believe. I must have several thousand rounds of whatever is cheapest at walmart through my single six and have no such problems(bought after the 2008 panic, I saw CCI at my local walmart last week and that was the first 22s since last January).

I dould try to polish the chambers a little bit. Removing even a few tenths along with smoothing the finish might help you out.
 
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