[McLovin]

just started posting, though ive read a lot, so i hope i got this right, trying to make my .22 more accurate. any advise?

[Drail]

Try different brands of ammo first. Chances are you'll find one it likes. There's not much to do with the gun with the possible exception of installing a Belt Mountain oversized base pin, if they even make one for the Single Six guns. Check the crown on the muzzle for any nicks or damage. Do you have the Single Six or the Super model with two cylinders for .22 LR/22 Mag? The convertible model has the bore sized correctly for the 22 Mag bullets which are larger in diameter and when used with .22 LR bullets does not engage them as tightly. I had one of these guns and it was a tackdriver with .22 Mag but not very accurate with .22 LR ammo.

[McLovin]

found the favorite ammo, cci hollow point shorts. i recut the muzzle chamfer to 45 degrees, did a little forcing cone work, recut to 11 degrees, and still get 2 out of six flying wide. i also have both cylinders, seems pretty much even with 22 mag or lr, as far as accuracy.

[BCRider]

Time to mark the chambers with a felt marker or whatever and keep track of which fly wide for some number of cylinders worth of ammo. If it turns out that it's the same chambers all the time then it's time to check to see if the chambers are "timing" correctly and lining up with the barrel to a very good degree. The best way I know of for checking this is to use a snug slip fitting brass or aluminium rod slid down the barrel and to see if it easily enters the mouth of the chambers in the cylinder. If you see the cylinder try to kick to one side or the other then the cylinder isn't accurately timed for those two chambers.

From what I know of revolver smithing none of the things you have done would correct any of this if the gun is slightly out of timing. And from all I've read about the Single Six and from my own shooting with my early 3 screw version you really didn't need to do any of this stuff to it anyway.

[McLovin]

bcrider, you might be right, i probably didnt have to do those reworks, in retrospect. it was fun though, and i had a reason to buy a new tool, which proved helpful in a few projects with my oldman. about the possible timing issue, can i fix that? have you done it before, and if so, please explain.

[sixgunner455]

Timing can be fixed, but ... iirc, it's akin to setting up a watch. Not something I'm ready to try, anyway. Good luck!

[BCRider]

Well if it can be tested and shown that only a couple of chambers are out of time then you need to work on the parts that solely affect those chambers. You also need to figure out if they are leading or lagging. from that you then need to see if the cylinder stop is the issue or if the hand isn't pushing the cylinder far enough to correctly lock up.

In the end the two places that would require touching up to correct for only two chambers would be the matching rachet teeth on the rear of the cylinder and the stop notches on the outside of the cylinder. How this could be done without creating other problems is a sticky situation. Especially if the stop notches are not cut correctly. If that's the case it becomes a situation of getting an extra thick cylinder stop and then opening up the notch in the frame on one side or the other and then re-cutting the notches in the cylinder to very slightly wider on a notch by notch basis to ensure correctly center all the chambers. And then fitting a new hand and lightly altering the rear face notches if needed to ensure that each chamber advances only just far enough and no more. So you can see that it's not something to be take on lightly. The cost of having this done on a Single Six would most likely far outweigh the original cost of the gun if done by a gunsmith.

One thing for sure though, if this were done along with chamber checking to ensure extremely accurate chamber shapes and axial alignment there would be no Single Six like it. It would be an Olympic class Bullseye gun in the right hands with steady eye and nerves that let the gun be the limiting factor.

[McLovin]

wow, sounds like too much to tackle right now, little boy will be born any day now. i thought i read someplace that opening the forcing cone to 11 degrees instead of the factory 5 degrees would compensate for a little timing/lock up issues. was i mistaken, or are you suggesting the issue might not be slight enough??? also, i can see major machine marks in the center hole, where the cylinder spins on the pin? not sure of the names here, anything to worry about? thanks, again!

[MrBorland]

Time to mark the chambers with a felt marker or whatever and keep track of which fly wide for some number of cylinders worth of ammo. If it turns out that it's the same chambers all the time then it's time to check to see if the chambers are "timing" correctly and lining up with the barrel to a very good degree.

Timing could be an issue, but any or all the throats could be out of spec as well. Too big, and the bullet isn't stabilized as it hits the forcing cone. Too small, and it's swaged down to it rattles on down the barrel. You should be able to push a bullet through the throat will a little push. If it seems you need to hammer it through, it's too small.

Checking throat specs is often overlooked, but I always have them checked and corrected when having any action/accurizing work done. It's not uncommon for one or more to be in need of attention.

Here are a few good reads:
http://www.grantcunningham.com/blog_files/Measuring_chamber_throats.html
http://www.alphaprecisioninc.com/revolver/default.htm


You'll note that Jim Stroh is a big advocate of Taylor throating, but not everyone is, so IMO, the jury's still out.

http://www.grantcunningham.com/blog_files/c5f2ab48855cf4d62d3f8c67333d27b7-412.html

[McLovin]

thanks mrborland. any way to fix cylinder throats that are too big? {shooting a .22 here, so hand loading wont work, and not really too keen on these bullet reformers ive seen for rimfire. not sure of the name, but the idea is to smoosh them a little to expand them before you shoot.}

[McLovin]

Think i finished fire lapping, seems to shoot a little better, but i also changed my grip, and have shot much more this year already than the last two years combined.

[Remllez]

Try having someone else shoot it...or shoot off bags,that may help eliminate you as a cause,not knocking your skills mind you. Recutting the cone might make a difference but it may be negligible. Single Sixes aren't known to be tack drivers mainly because of the barrel bore being larger to accommodate the magnums.

Mine shoots 4 to 5 inch groups benched at 25 yards and I'm okay with that,I consider it a plinker. You may very well be trying to fix a non problem. It's gonna be expensive recutting cylinder stops and if you mess with the hand you could end up with six I'll timed cylinders.

[Ratshooter]

First off a 22 lr is bored straight through and doesn't have a throat. Second the 22lr and the 22mag are one one thousanths of an inch different in size and I doubt the barrel is larger for the 22 mag round. If nothing else since most people shoot 22s far more than 22 mags I would bet the barrel is bored for the smaller bullet. Plus 22lr bullets vary that much from one maker to the next.

The advice to let another "known good shot" shoot your gun is a good idea. I did the test shooting every type of 22 round I owned several years ago and believe me 22s are picky about what they like. They may shoot a cheap bullet into a tiny group and take a match bullet and throw it all over the paper.

Its very hard to hold a handgun steady without a rest. Try holding a scoped handgun off hand you will be amazed how much wiggle you have. A good rest is the only way to really test your gun and loads.

[RugerNut9]

if you want to give a quick check on it check out the sticky post about inspecting a revolver without firing it. lots of good information in there.