.22LR Chamber Damage From Dry Firing

[Regolith]

Picture of the Chamber



View from straight behind.



Red box shows the damaged area.



This is a blow up of the area highlighted by the red box in previous picture. The color has been inverted and the contrast increased to show extent of damage.

My question is, what is the best way to fix this? The rifle is a Stevens Model 66-B chambered for .22 short, long, and long rifle. My father bought it used about ten or so years ago, and it has had problems with extraction since then. The chamber seems to have been slightly damaged by the firing pin, probably due to dry firing. It appears that the firing pin has made a dent in the chamber wall, which in turn forced a small amount of metal into the chamber opening.

I can only speculate that the extraction problems are caused by the fired cartridge casing hanging up on the damaged part of the chamber. I asked someone at a gun store what the best way to fix this was and they said to take a file to it and remove the portion that is sticking out into the chamber. Is this the recommended method? And if so what type of file should I use?

 

[brentn]

I wouldn't remove any metal if I were you. If you file that down so that the barrel is flush there, the bolt will not mate up with it properly. You'll get FTF's and most likely a partially unsupported brass case, as the breech as been shortened. Basically you could get a small exploding round resulting in a squib load or something, or worse something flying into your eye.
Basically don't do it.

The only thing I can suggest is a new barrel, if thats even possible for that gun. Other than that, bring it to a smith and he may be able to re-adjust where the barrel locks into the reciever, after shortening the barrel face on the inside. He'll also have to deepen the breech so that the round fits in there..
Basically its a ****load of work, and I think the best thing here is to source another barrel and no more dry fires.
I should check my ruger and see if the firing pin can make contact with the barrel like yours... I might be in for a surprise as well.

 

[Owen]

you don't need a new barrel. A decent gunsmith will have the tools to fix that.

 

[Regolith]

brentn - I wasn't considering filing the dent out, just the part that has deformed into the chamber opening, which is snagging fired cases. In essence, would just be making the chamber opening truly round again. The amount of metal that would need to be removed is very minuscule.

 

[HammerBite]

It looks like you need one of these. I can't tell exactly how to use it by looking at the picture. You might give Brownells a call.

 

[Regolith]

hammer....that looks like it could work. Does anyone have experience using one of those? Also, anyone know how much it would cost to have a gunsmith do it?

 

[Joe Demko]

I used the Brownell's tool on a Squires-Bingham .22 that the owner had dry fired the crap out of. It had damage similar to what is shown in your picture. The tool works.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

I have an AR7 that I bought used that had similar
damage. I used an improvised tool, similar in principle
to the Brownell's tool, to rectify the situation. (As a
matter of principle I will not detail what I did: do as
I say, not as I do.)

Unless the manufacturer says the gun can be dry fired,
DON'T!!

 

[Jim K]

If the damage is not too extensive, you can remove the burr with a small half round file. That is not as good as swaging, but it will allow the rifle to be used IF there is enough metal left on the chamber edge to support the case against the firing pin. Just be careful that you don't file into untouched parts of the chamber and make things worse. You could have a gunsmith look at that rifle to see if the firing pin can be fixed so as not to strike the barrel.

Whatever you do, don't dry fire that gun without a snap cap!

Jim

 

[Tinker2]

I have used the Brownell's tool a lot over the years.
They work well. As to price, if it was a regular customer
of mine I did not charge them at all. If not, then if I
charged them, it would be my minimum charge.

What I can see by your pictures, that may fix it.
If not then I would have the chamber relined or maybe
the whole barrel relined.
I am reasonably sure that the Brownell's tool will fix it.


Good luck
Tinker2

 

[jaybar]

Don't file - don't file - don't file !!

You don't want to remove any of that barrel metal, you want to push it back where it came from so that the rear of the rim will be supported . I've repaired a bunch of 22 High Standard pistol barrels with firing pin dings using a long tapered punch - like a center punch maybe.
Here's how:
Get a long tapered punch, insert it into the chamber, and with the muzzle on a well padded surface - gently smack the punch, wiggle it loose - rotate it about 120 degrees and do it again, wiggle, rotate and do it again. We are not trying to rechamber here, we are only trying to swage the rear of the chamber back to a round, slightly larger, size so go gently with the hammer. Give it a try - you won't hurt anything so long as you keep the punch aligned concentrically with the bore.

 

[Jim K]

Hi, Jaybar and guys,

"Push it back where it came from" sounds good, and sometimes works. But often the only thing that will do is leave the firing pin indent and force some metal into part of it, so you have what amounts to a crater with one side a bit filled in. The result is often that the little lip you created (or moved) breaks off, leaving things as they were before if not worse. Without seeing a given case, I can't say what I would do, but simply saying to never remove metal is not very realistic. BTW, another way to remove the peened in area is with a .22 LR chambering reamer, but with those running around $60, a file is easier to get and less expensive.

In theory, if one were a very good welder, the dent could be filled in, the chamber recut and the breech reworked. But that can also be a recipe for complete disaster if the welder is less than expert.

Talk of replacing barrels is also not very realistic if you mean somehow finding original barrels for those old guns. They just aren't available, and modern barrels that can be fitted are scarce. Barrel lining is an option, but is also expensive and usually costs more than those older guns are worth. Not to mention that most gunsmiths shy away from the work since it is a PITA and is seldom profitable.

Jim

 

[Regolith]

Thanks for the info guys. I think I'm going to have a gunsmith look at it. There seems to be a few too many factors here for me to consider doing it myself. That, and the tool is fairly expensive. Might be cheaper for the gunsmith to do it.

 

[jaybar]

Free advice

"Push it back where it came from" sounds good, and sometimes works. But often the only thing that will do is leave the firing pin indent and force some metal into part of it, so you have what amounts to a crater with one side a bit filled in.

Yep, that's exactly what you'll have and there's nothing wrong with that. All you had before was a crater with one side not filled in and the gun fired.

The result is often that the little lip you created (or moved) breaks off, leaving things as they were before if not worse.

I respectfully disagree Jim - Typical 22 barrels are really soft and very malleable .I've never seen the little lip break. It always gets swaged back.

There seems to be a few too many factors here for me to consider doing it myself. That, and the tool is fairly expensive. Might be cheaper for the gunsmith to do it.

A tapered punch will cost about $3. Properly applied, you won't hurt a thing. If it doesn't work, then take it to a gunsmith.

Remember "free advice is worth exactly what you paid for it"

 

[Gunfixr]

I second Jaybar's opinion. While barrels are heat treated, they are tempered down to a rather soft state. Every time a gun is fired, a small bulge ripples down the barrel behind the bullet as it travels. If it were hard, it would develop stress cracks quickly. Swaging is the best option, often these older barrels are of an unknown alloy and welding them produces hard spots that cannot be filed or cut without carbide tooling.

 

[SDC]

The Brownell's tool is simply a chamber-sized "rounded-off triangle", that you push into the chamber and rotate, and as that hardened "triangle" rotates, it irons out any obstructions or dimples. They DO work, and they're a lot better than trying to file or fill in any metal.

 

[Jim K]

The barrel in question has a fairly large round "dimple" from repeated blows by a round firing pin. If you folks can fill in that dimple with a swager, have fun and I would appreciate your posting a picture of the results.

Jim

 

[wxl]

I have the tool and have used it. Yes it works although none of mine were that bad

 

[HammerBite]

The barrel in question has a fairly large round "dimple" from repeated blows by a round firing pin. If you folks can fill in that dimple with a swager, have fun and I would appreciate your posting a picture of the results.

As long as the gun still fired reliably I wouldn't be concerned about the dimple. All I would want is to swage out the peened burr that is hampering extraction, and that is all that Brownells claims for the tool.

SDC . . .

Thank you for your description of the Brownells tool. I couldn't tell exactly what it is from the picture on their website.

 

[Big Az Al]

do not use a cutting tool here!!!

I have used swaging tools on chambers for all the time My dad was teaching me, and ever sense.

I have a several revovler cylinders (it would be a drawer full if people looking for project stock weren't around) that someone filed down the damage from a firing pin, and as easy as this looks, if not all or most, to many chambers are ruined doing that!

The swage may not completely fill all the damage that the firing pin did, it will push metal back to where it will support the front of the rim when being struck, and allow the firing pin to do it's job. For me the swage is no mess no fuss and done it's job as soon as you give it a good turn, no metal to remove or clean up!

 

[DWARREN123]

Good gunsmith!

 

[wolf_from_wv]

Dunlap, Roy. Gunsmithing. Stackpole Books. Copyright 1950, 1963. Standard Book Number 8177-0770-9.

Disregarding the very old barrels, which are pitted and worn to the point where no repair work will amount to much, most barrel complaints center in the chambers, as the soft steel commonly used for .22 rimfire barrels is easily scratched, torn or burred. Not many modern .22s are subject to damage by snapping, or dry-firing, but older rifles will come in with the rim cut and the chamber proper battered from snapping. Metal is pushed over into the chamber recess which forms a burr to obstruct passage of either cartridge or fired case. You do not use a chambering reamer to clear it, for the displaced metal may be work hardened sufficiently to resist the reamer enough to cause it to cut the opposite chamber wall, thus enlarging the chamber. In fact, a .22 chambering reamer does more harm than good in the general gun shop and its uses are extremely limited.

The very best possible method of correcting such burred chambers is use of a special ironing punch with the tip shaped to fit the chamber closely, and the shoulder to exactly fit the rim cut, should the barrel be of the type with countersunk rim. A small flat is filed or ground on the punch. This principle of coarse means that the metal will be pushed back into its original rounded edge location, with no loss of chamber surface. The punch is not driven forcibly into the chamber but is slid into it - the flat permitting it to pass the burred or peened in area - then turned back and forth to force the metal into position. Because of the variations in .22 chamber diameters, the special punch or tool will prabably have to be made to fit several different rifles. After accumulating three or four thusly, you will probably be able to take care of most any such job coming in. The tool of coarse should be hardened, highly polished.

The preceeding system is the hard way - the easy way is to just carefully fule the burr away so that the chamber is clear.

 

[Jim K]

Hmmm. I first said, "If the damage is not too extensive, you can remove the burr with a small half round file. That is not as good as swaging, but it will allow the rifle to be used IF there is enough metal left on the chamber edge to support the case against the firing pin."

Now, after everyone has jumped on me with both feet, and demanded that I drop the file and back away, we are really back to what I said at first. I don't (and never did) claim that a file should be used in all cases or that it can't be misused. I did say that in many cases it is easier and quicker than buying a specialized tool that will be (or should be) only used once.

Jim

 

[wolf_from_wv]

I left off the next sentence of the last paragraph. It suggested using a low speed grinding wheel...

 

[Grndpndr]

I have a 40 odd year old remington 514s whose chamber has seen better days i believe from the friction of extraction and the tens of thousands of rounds; literally, over 40+ years the extractor has worn enough of the thin extractor area to leave a portion largely unsupported giving difficultys extracting.And when the cartridge is extracted the casing has a definite bulge exactly at the pont of the extractor.Ive never seen the likes but I doubt few .22s have seen the kind of use this one did.