.22 Magnum ammo pics y'all be asking for

For what its worth, they did all fire.

trackskippy said:

For what its worth, they did all fire.

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It's like there's zero rifling in that little fella. My ol' NAA Guardian had pretty shallow rifling.

TTv2 said:

These are of the NAA MiniMaster

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Magnum only
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Those MiniMaster .22 WMR pics are interesting in that many of the hammer strikes don't align radially from the center of the cylinder. (Assuming the photos are right after firing and the empties didn't rotate while removing the cylinder from the gun.) If those cases are as is when the gun is fired, the hammer is hitting at the edge of the strike recess.

But if that's the case, I figure that gun would have some other serious issues trying to get the bullet to go down the bore. So, those empties must have rotated.

I've only fired my ol' shooting buddy's pair of NAA minis. Both with dual cylinders. They both worked well in my hands. I've thought of getting a Black Widow or a Pug many times. Really just want a "flash bang" Pug in .22 WMR for the heck of it.

Knowing my "gun-mechanic" self, if I got one that was giving light strikes I'd probably take the thing apart and polish up what could be polished to make sure that little hammer isn't dragging. Since that little hammer doesn't have a lot of mass to it, I'd probably also reshape the hammer spring a bit to increase the preload, hoping to make it hit harder. I did a similar thing to my C.A. Undercoverette by stretching the coil mainspring out a bit and polishing the sides of the hammer.

I have zero experience with Heritage revolvers. Those round firing pin hits look well located for averaging the distance between the two rim diameters.

The only way I can give reasonable feed back on seeing those photos is to take one of my Single Sixes out and come back with pics of the firing pin hits.

chicharrones said:

It's like there's zero rifling in that little fella. My ol' NAA Guardian had pretty shallow rifling.

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Actually, it was the ammo. The gun has shot everything else Ive shot out of it fine.

When I miked some of the bullets left in the box, they were all 0.20 or slightly less. A couple of the case necks were actually 0.20. All the bullets in the other 22mags I checked, Speer, CCI, and Hornady, all measured 0.223, and shoot fine.

trackskippy said:

Actually, it was the ammo. The gun has shot everything else Ive shot out of it fine.

When I miked some of the bullets left in the box, they were all 0.20 or slightly less. A couple of the case necks were actually 0.20. All the bullets in the other 22mags I checked, Speer, CCI, and Hornady, all measured 0.223, and shoot fine.

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Good to know.

My first gut response to myself was to fire 40 or 45 grain ammo in those little guns.

This thread makes me remember the guns I've had with light strikes that I serviced myself.

Marlin 39AS .22 LR (bought new) - The suggestions over at RFC and elsewhere were to reduce the length of the rebound leg of the hammer strut or cut it off entirely. I tried shortening first, ultimately cutting the leg off. I put up with light strikes in that gun for something like 20 years before I "cured" it. The internet helped me learn the way.

Taurus TCP732 .32 ACP (bought new) - The gun had light strike problems with Euro S&B ammo. I stretched a shorter Ruger LCP hammer spring into it, which increased preload (and trigger pull) substantially. It fires S&B well, with the downside that weaker American ammo won't cycle the slide properly. A Euro ammo gun it is.

Charter Arms Undercoverette .32 H&R (bought new) - Charter puts in either lighter "blue" hammer springs or heavier "green" hammer springs. With reports of light strikes with the blue spring here at THR, I stretched the spring a bit and polished off the rough burrs from the sides of the hammer that were scraping the cylinder frame. A preemptive move on my part.

What's on my need to fix list is my Springfield Armory Range Officer Target in 9mm (bought used). It had a "dud" that did fire after re-cocking the hammer and giving it a restrike. The hammer hits very lightly compared to any other gun I own. It's possible that the previous owner replaced the hammer spring. Considering that it was upgraded with an ambi-safety before I got it, someone had their hands in it.

Circling back to rimfire, my other rimfire guns haven't had light strikes that I can remember except for my Beretta Bobcat .22 LR (bought used). When it ran decently, it would often give a light strike with the first shot attempt in double action. It fired consistently in single action with the longer hammer swing. I never did come up with a good fix for that Beretta before it simply wore out.

With the DA .22 revolvers Ive had, the light strike issue seems to be more of a "dirty gun" problem, than an ammo problem.

With anything .22, if I take a brick along, I usually end up shooting the whole thing while Im there, and as the guns get dirty, the chambers usually start loading up, and if Im not diligent about making sure the rounds are fully seated in the chambers, Ill get what appears to be light stikes or dud primers. All those rounds normally fire on the second stike too.

The problem isnt really obvious either, as the cylinders will usually close, even if they arent fully seated. If you dont consciously push on the rounds as you chamber them, its easy to miss. When the guns are clean, they drop right in, like you would expect.

I dont seem to have that issue with the couple of autos I have these days (Glock and Beretta), but the slides tend to be more positive at seating the rounds when they cycle, as long as they dont get sluggish. But that really hasnt been an issue with these guns, like it has been with some others Ive had in the past.

The interesting thing about my three Ruger single action rimfires (2 Single Sixes and 1 Bearcat) is that you can't turn the cylinder if the cartridge doesn't seat all the way. The frame area around the firing pin hole is so close to the cylinder that it becomes a friction stop to a cartridge that won't seat in the chamber the final few thousandths of an inch.

Due to that, I've had to polish the rough chambers in my 2010s era Single Six and Bearcat to prolong my shooting sessions. My minty 1982 Single Six doesn't seem to have as much of the same issue.

Anyway, I figure that's probably why I've never seen a light strike in my rimfire Rugers. The clearance to the firing pin opening is very tight on loaded ammo, whether .22 WMR or .22 LR in the Single Sixes and just .22 LR in the Bearcat.

My DA/SA H&R 999 and Charter Arms Pocket Target revolvers are more forgiving than those Rugers when it comes to loading into dirty chambers. Yet, I've had no light strikes in those guns that I can remember.

Interesting suggested fixes for Heritage rimfire revolvers below. Could make the hammer hit hard enough to light off the .22 WMR reliably, considering the round tip firing pin isn't in the optimum position for .22 WMR in a changeable cylinder rimfire revolver.

The shim idea works like a S&W revolver hammer spring tension screw.

Shim video only.


More in depth with other things to check.

Finally @TTv2 , I got a fresh photo of primer strikes from my Ruger Single Six 4.6" barrel today.

.22 LR on the left and .22 WMR on the right.



Closer view of .22 LR


Closer view of .22 WMR