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Ruger Single Six Cylinder Question

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6K views 18 replies 10 participants last post by  ozo 
#1 ·
I have a new model Ruger Single Six that is very ammo picky. The Federal .22LR and CCI Stingers load freely into the cylinder and can be dumped out just as freely. However the Winchester rounds are extremely tight to load and some of the cylinders will NOT accept the rounds, they just will not load.
I think it is due to the ridges on the base of Winchester bullets being more pronounced than the Federal. Is there something I can do such as polish the cylinders and if so, how, to allow them to accept the Winchester rounds? Right now the cylinders are shiny bright and clean just a tad bit to small to accommodate the Winchester rounds. I would really like the cylinder to accept any .22 round and not have to rely on certain brands.
 
#3 ·
Trust me...it is squeaky clean. The federal ammo will just drop in the cylinder where as the Winchester is tight in a couple of the chambers and won't even load in other chambers. I have used a good solvent and cleaning brush multiple times, it hasn't helped.
 
#4 ·
I have a Heritage single six and had trouble with the Winchester 22mag rounds in the cylinder. They went in easy but didn't seat well and it was hard to turn the cylinder to load. After firing they were hard to eject even. I wasn't sure if it was from dirt from firing 22lr before hand. I gave it a good cleaning hopefully it will work ok next time I fire it.
 
#5 ·
I just finished opening and randomly trying bullets from 10 different boxes of the 100 round Winchester 40 grain solids 1300 FPS. These are the bullets that I am having trouble with. What I found was that some were extremely hard to load as I previously described while other loaded much easier. There were some that just dropped into the cylinder like the federal rounds. Another thing that I discovered was that once loaded and then ejected they loaded much, much easier the second time. It has just got to be the ridges located at the base of the bullet just ahead of the brass being to pronounced. The ridges seemed to be much smoother after they were loaded into the cylinder once and ejected. I failed to mention earlier that when I was able to load them and shoot them, they were not hardtop eject, they ejected normally.
 
#6 ·
I am not a gunsmith but I don't think anything is wrong with your gun. I have ruger blackhawk 22 and it takes anything with no problem. I have had this gun since 1976 and never had any ammo do what you have. I would think they have a problem with these Winchester rounds.
 
#8 ·
These are definitely 22LR. I will try other brands to see how they fit. I have another few boxes of the Winchesters that I bought much earlier than the ones I am having trouble with and will try them tomorrow probably. I really think I just got a bad bunch of bullets. I bought them all about the same time, they are probably all from the same run.
 
#9 ·
I had that problem with my new model single six and finally returned it after two trips back to Ruger. Not so with my old model which has slightly larger bored holes in the cylinder. My feeling is the single six is very finicky, and after a few cylinders of firing, the free travel of the cylinder is gone. I needed to clean the cylinder and its well after about 5 batches of rounds. Very disturbing for me.
 
#10 ·
A couple of years ago I'd bought a box of Winchester .22lr in the 333 round pack and had the same problem in my Ruger Single Ten as well as the Single Six.
I've never bought any more since then and still have "several" of the 333 rounds left.
At the time, I figured I'd just gotten a bad "batch" but wont buy any more to find out.
 
#11 ·
22 long rifle bullets are a healed type. That is the bullet is about the same size as the case. The part that is inside the case is smaller than the part outside. If the part outside is too much larger than the outside of the case you will have a problem. It is most likely not the case but the bullet itself that is causing the problem. A build up of residue (crud) in the cylinder can and will give problems.
 
#13 ·
Thanks to all for any input on this matter. I am not overly concerned since there are several brands that do work flawlessly. When the Mini Mags are a little more available I intend to see how they fit. Until then I will just keep shooting the Federal brand ammo.
 
#16 ·
I tried some of those Winchester .22 hard to load rounds in a Charter Arms Pathfinder today and they were hard to load in it as well. Got to be the batch of bullets I got.
I got to thinking about this ammo "issue" last night and got to digging in my ammo supply.
I'd found some left overs that a friend had brought down to shoot. I remember he too was having issues with the Winchester ammo and he left them here.
Anyhow, I found the left over box of Winchester's out of another 333 box and wrote a note and put in with them. I wrote on the note, "use as a last resort", as in if there is no .22lr's left.

I remember asking where he's got the ammo and when he'd bought them and it was way after I'd had issues.

I agree with what oldfartrr said.
 
#17 ·
I tried some Mini Mags today in my Single Six and they fit properly. I tried shooting the Winchester .22 ammo in my Remington 514 and they were hard to load in it as well. I was able to push them up when I closed the bolt. Just as everyone has already stated...bad batch of Winchester ammo. Thanks everyone.
 
#18 ·
I have a Heritage single six and had trouble with the Winchester 22mag rounds in the cylinder. They went in easy but didn't seat well and it was hard to turn the cylinder to load. After firing they were hard to eject even. I wasn't sure if it was from dirt from firing 22lr before hand. I gave it a good cleaning hopefully it will work ok next time I fire it.
Please say you used separate cylinders......:confused::confused::confused:
 
#19 ·
I have had the same on occasion with the Remington 'gold'.

You can polish your cylinder chambers and give them a bit more ease.
I have used a bronze brush on a cordless drill, just go easy.
Cotton swab tips and a little Flintz metal polish[ works well, I use them on a drill also. Just go easy.
 
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