Ruger Single Six Cylinder Question

[Sharpie1]

I have recently acquired a Ruger Single Six revolver. It has a 22 Magnum cylinder. I need to make sure I can shoot both 22 Magnum, and 22 Long Rifle ammo in this cylinder. Will this damage the gun? Any comments and suggestions will be appreciated.

--tadyson

 

[JohnBT]

Just to be clear on this - Do you have one cylinder or two?

To shoot LR and Magnum in a Single-Six you need 2 cylinders - one for each kind of ammo.

Don't try shooting .22LR in the Magnum cylinder.

John

 

[WonderNine]

And the .22 magnum rounds won't fit in the LR cylinder.

 

[Sharpie1]

clarification

Sorry about the confusing post. I have a 22 Magnum cylinder. The question was, could I shoot both 22LR and 22 Mag in the 22 Mag cylinder? One poster has said no. If not, why not? I know someone who has a High Standard 22 Magnum revolver, and this person shoots both 22 LR ammo and 22 Mag ammo out of it without a problem. Thanks again for the advice.

--tadyson

 

[JohnBT]

The short answer is the cartridges are different sizes. If I was at home I'd give you the measurements.

I'm sure people have shot, or tried to shoot, LR in Mag cylinders, but the fit of the case in the chamber is loose and it's just generally a dangerous idea. The LR bullet is also a thousandth smaller and would rattle around a little in the larger diameter Mag chamber before making the jump to the barrel.

Think about it for a minute...would Ruger bother providing two cylinders if you didn't need them? Would people pay extra for 2 once the word got out that it wasn't necessary?

John

P.S. - I just did a Google search and came up with this quote from another forum:

"Mag case diameter (brass) is larger by 15 thousands"

 

[Master Blaster]

The accuracy will stink, and the brass will split when you shoot 22lr. you will have a hard time extracting the 22lr cases, Dont do it call ruger and dorder the 22lr cylinder.

 

[YodaVader]

"Think about it for a minute...would Ruger bother providing two cylinders if you didn't need them? Would people pay extra for 2 once the word got out that it wasn't necessary?"

John

That truly makes sense to me! I have a Single Six with both cylinders. Would never shoot 22lr out of my mag cylinder. A check using calipers reveals these measurements:

.228" - CCI Maxi-Mag 22WMR case diameter
.223" - CCI Mini-Mag 22lr case diameter

So , I am getting .005" difference.

 

[J Miller]

Besides the bulged and possibly split cases, bad accuracy you may have a problem with miss fires. The magnum rim is also thicker than the LR rim. Therefore the LR case in a MAG cylinder will be farther from the firing pin.

Don't shoot LR's from a MAG cylinder.
Either call Ruger and have a new LR cylinder fitted to it, or watch eBay and snag a LR cylinder there. There always seems to be several Ruger .22 LR cylinder up for sale there.

 

[Quantrill]

I have a .22mag. o/u deringer. It was stolen and recovered later. When I finally actually got it back, there were 2 empty .22 short cases in it. They were both split length wise for the entire length. Quantrill

 

[bad_dad_brad]

Shoot only .22 magnums in the cylinder designed for it. Why would you do anything else? The .22 mag's cartridge case is just a smidgen wider than the .22.

I have a book somewhere with the exact dimensions, but danged if I can find it.

If you take the two rounds and eyeball them, you can see the difference.

 

[WonderNine]

The LR bullet is also a thousandth smaller and would rattle around a little in the larger diameter Mag chamber before making the jump to the barrel.

I just have a counterpoint to ad. Yes, the bullets of the .22lr are smaller as well, but they both shoot out of the same barrel of your revolver. The .357 to 9mm (.355 diameter) conversions are common. I believe the cartridge fitting loosely in the chamber is the biggest issue over the larger diameter of the .22 magnum bullet. However I don't see how the .22lr cartridges fitting more loosing into the .22 magnum chamber would be extraordinarily "dangerous".

I believe I've shot some .22lr's out of a .22 magnum cylinder in the past.

 

[Sharpie1]

Thanks

Thanks to everyone for all the helpful comments.

--tadyson

 

[Tim Schlosser]

I had the exact same situation when I got my old model single six. It had the magnum cylinder in it but it is unmarked so I ASSumed that it was a LR cylinder and went ahead and shot. The sound was wrong so I new something was up. When I extracted the empties the cases were all split up the side and the target didn't show one hole so lord only knows where those bullets went.

I sent the whole thing to Ruger to be refinished as well as fit me up a long rifle cylinder. Eighty bucks later the Single-Six looks brand new and I have both cylinders. Get the new cylinder, it's ther only way to go.

 

[johnrgernert]

Is it true that some "new" model ruger single six .22LR CANNOT be fitted with a magnum cylinder? Mine is an '86 (#261-29247) and Ruger in NH says..."NO". What say you?

 

[Old Fuff]

If this was sold as a single-cylinder model it may have a barrel that's bored and rifled for .22 rimfire (not .22 Magnum). if you fired .22 Magnum rounds through a tight bore it would increase the pressure to the point where you might blow off case heads.

If the company says "no" there must be a reason.

 

[BCRider]

Since Ruger looked up the serial number and didn't like what they saw and said "NO" to your question what makes you think that we know any better? And how many of us saying "yes" would it take to nullify Ruger's response?

As Ol' Fuff said the barrel is likely sized to be right for .22LR since by Ruger's answer it would appear that your SS is for .22LR only. By rights this should make YOUR gun even more accurate than the convertable models with the slightly "loose" bore size done to accomadate the slightly bigger magnum bullet. Enjoy it for what it is.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

.22 LR cases will rupture and split if fired in the Magnum cylinder. Don't ask me how I know this.

 

[Old Fuff]

Is it true that some "new" model ruger single six .22LR CANNOT be fitted with a magnum cylinder? Mine is an '86 (#261-29247) and Ruger in NH says..."NO". What say you?

It is a matter of record that Ruger made some Single Six revolvers that were shipped with one cylinder. Apparently most, if not all had 5 1/2" barrels. I presume these were in .22 LR, and had .22 (not .22 Magnum) barrels. Unfortunately I have no additional details, but I suspect that this would be the reason they refused to sell you a Magnum cylinder. In any case they wouldn't sell you a cylinder unless you sent in the revolver to have it fitted and the revolver test fired. Cylinders are not supposed to be interchangeable between guns. They are individually selected and then serial numbered to the gun.

 

[gdesloge]

There should be a "star" imprinted on the frame in front of the trigger guard, I believe, if it is a ".22 LR ONLY" revolver.

The below information is from a relevant website, but I cannot vouch for its accuracy:

For the star marked guns, the sn range is 62-92978 to 64-07315 and for the arrow marked guns (also called a house), it is 261-10223 to 261-31359.

Info from the "Reference of Ruger Firearms".

Also, the "pre" convertible guns in the s/n 1 through 162,XXX range.


Also, only ammunition for which the gun/barrel/cylinder is marked should be fired in that gun/barrel/cylinder.

From the NRA Safety Rules:

"Use only the correct ammunition for your gun.
Only BBs, pellets, cartridges or shells designed for a particular gun can be fired safely in that gun. Most guns have the ammunition type stamped on the barrel. Ammunition can be identified by information printed on the box and sometimes stamped on the cartridge. Do not shoot the gun unless you know you have the proper ammunition."

http://www.nrahq.org/education/guide.asp

gd

 

[Confederate]

The bullet in a .22 WMR is slightly larger, so the Ruger will not shoot the .22LR quite as accurately, even with its own cylinder because the barrel is made to accommodate the larger bullet. But...most people won't notice and it's still accurate enough to nail squirrels, rabbits, etc. If you want maximum accuracy, buy Paco Kelly's Acu'rzr. It gives you the chance, with just a few very light taps, to not only put hollow points in standard ammo, but enlarge the bullets ever so slightly. (Just tell Paco what kind of gun, or guns, you'll be using.) He'll send the right Acu'rzr and your Ruger will spit out bullets the proper diameter.

Do a search for reviews. If you become a member of Paco's forum, he'll send you his tool/s with FREE SHIPPING.

Again, many people don't see any real accuracy difference, so unless you're competing, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[JohnBT]

Lapua Midas L ammo uses a .224" bullet. It's also very expensive.

 

[harvester]

When the case splits much of the the gas does not go out the barrel, where does it go? Some could come back toward shooter. It increases danger.