S&W M17 puzzle

[spook]

My wife informed me she would like to learn to shoot. She wants to use a revolver and not having a suitabe .22 I found a like new M17-6 for her. In testing ammo for the gun I tried Federal Target, Federal Gold Medal, PMC Scoremaster and Wolf Match Target. I could not manually eject any of the fired cases and resorted to pushing the ejector rod againts the bench to eject. I finally came up with Eley Practice which ejects properly and is quite accurate. The problem is basically solved with Eley, but it bothers me that none of the others work properly. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[JoeHatley]

Had the exact same stiff ejection problem with mine.



My problem specifically (and I've see this a LOT with other .22 revolvers) was a bit too much headspace. Too much headspace allows the brass to back out of the chamber upon firing. The soft rimfire brass then expands, especially on the extractor side, which is why it "sticks" so bad.

My solution was to install a couple .002 Ron Power Endshake Bearings to move the cylinder back just a bit. www.powercustom.com/parts_bearings.htm#Endshake

Worked like a charm...

Joe

 

[spook]

Thanks for the advice Joe. This looks like a good solution and as my barrel- cylinder gap is .002 I can do this and still maintain a good gap. Thanks again. Spook

 

[Malamute]

I have a model 17 and an 18. The 17 will eject for a LONG time, seemingly no matter how many rounds have been shot since cleaning. The 18 needs very clean chambers to eject. The chambers in the 18 are tight compared to the 17. Smooth but tight. about 500 rounds of average 22 and it gets very sticky to extract. I just run a 22 bronze brush in the chambers and clean them real good and it's fine for another 500 or so. Very clean ammo helps too, as opposed to the economy stuff like Wildacts. Dont forget to keep UNDER the extractor star clean.

 

[thatguy]

My first reaction to sticky extraction is a thorough cleaning. Chambers may be sticky even though they look clean. I would suggest a good scrubbing before modifying the gun. You might solve the problem.

 

[PinnedAndRecessed]

I had the same problem with a model 48 (22 magnum). I solved the problem. I sold the gun.

 

[Trebor]

I agree that you should try a good cleaning first. My Model 18 gets very fussy about operation, extraction and loading when it gets dirty. A good cleaning gets it up and running again for the next couple shooting sessions.

 

[RON in PA]

I have a model 17 and a model 18. The 18 doesn't stick on extraction while the 17 does. Cleaning the chambers helps, but I've found, like you, that this problem is very ammunition dependent. High velocity ammo seems to be easier to extract while standard velocity and expensive target ammo needs a whack on the extractor with a small plastic hammer.

 

[spook]

Appreciate all the advice. Dirty chambers is not the problem. I removed the cylinder, soaked it in Carbon Cutter and brushed the chambers. I'm rather fanatic about clean guns. I had the same problem, though not as severe, with a .22 Combat Masterpiece I owned years ago.