Ruger single 6 convertible

[rick49]

The lr cylinder will not take cartridges in 4 of 6 chambers. They will only accept the lead and won't let the brass Insert home. Ruger wants me to send it in. I'm thinking Flitz first. Your thoughts.

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[Just Jim]

Someone probably shot shorts in it, wire brush will take out the fouling.

 

[Velzey]

Get yourself a stainless steel brush! Soak the cyl in some kind of solvent or oil to loosen it up. Then scrub away the gunk.

If that doesn't get it out, we can run a chamber reamer in there and break it all loose!

 

[rick49]

Looks bright when I put a light to it. So build up is not apparent that I can see but not to say it isn't there.

 

[Velzey]

Are there dings around the edges of the chamber? Seen this allot from folks fanning them. Hammer drops and firing pin nicks the edge of the chamber.
Post up a pic if you can

 

[rick49]

Best I can do

 

[Rick4070]

Well, that's weird... This might seem like a stupid question, so please forgive me, but are you trying to insert .22 Mag. into the Long Rifle cylinder by any chance???

 

[Velzey]

Not seeing any dings there!

 

[rick49]

Here is what I am facing.

 

[MountainBear]

From the one photo, it looks like it has a well established carbon ring in about the right place as if someone had shot shorts. A thorough cleaning of all the cylinder holes would be where I'd start and then start checking for more severe problems. If it were a Taurus, I tell you to make sure they remembered to cut all the chambers, but I haven't run across that issue in Rugers, just Taurus.

 

[rick49]

I'll get on it here is a better pic taken with better light.

 

[Rick4070]

Well, forgive my previous stupid question....
As has been mentioned, someone could have shot shorts in it, or even blanks, and created a ring.
If I had it, I'd use a small hole gauge and a micrometer to find out where the ring was to begin with, and go from there.
I guess I'd try the bronze/stainless brush first, if that didn't do it, I'd wrap some oooo steel wool around the brush and give it a spin with a drill.
If that didn't work, I'd find a gunsmith with a .22 rimfire chambering reamer and have him give it a go.
Interesting problem, hope you figure it out, and I'd like to hear what the problem was.

 

[rick49]

Thanks for all the help guys. I scrubbed and cleaned, brushed and scrubbed some more. Brought in a hazmat suit and all the smelly concoctions that promised the sun and stars.

No luck...went out for a cup of joe and a smoke and had one of those oh $hit moments. I tried one last thing before resorting to power tools and well you get the idea. Now I can turn the cylinder up side down and all the rounds slide out slick as you please.

Changed from bulk Federal to CCI and problem solved. Should have done that before I embarrassed myself.

Well the positive side along with a little bit of egg on my mug I have the cleanest single 6 lr cylinder in all of hell and half of Georgia.

 

[Rick4070]

Great!
Glad to hear you figured it out, and have solved the mystery!!!

 

[rick49]

The odd part is I used that same ammo, same box to put about 20 rounds down range before they started to stick real bad and I put the Ruger up for the day.

 

[Rick4070]

Sounds like you did the right thing, and stopped before trying to force anything.
Probably the buildup of fouling, combined with maybe bullets just a little oversize, or maybe even damaged a little would make things sticky.
It would be interesting to measure the chambers, and then measure the sticky bullets along with others out of the same box.

 

[rick49]

Got a friend who has the tool. Next time we go to the range we will take some measurements. A revolver being picky an auto yes.

 

[BrentN]

Hmmm.. just that I had a similar experience with my single ten. Zero problems with anything I put in it except a really old brick of Remingtons, at least 40 years old (pay n pak price sticker on it, but darn, the actual price has worn off), passed down, probably not stored in the best of conditions. I didn't want to run them thru my semi's, so I was going to use them up in the revolver. On many, the bullet itself would prevent insertion of the cartridge, kinda what I think I'm seeing in post #9. Some even look to have a white fuzz or something on the lead. Maybe a well known phenomenon, but unknown to me.
Not much help here, but interested in the discussion. Glad you got it working.