K-22 Cylinder binding-Any ideas?

Hello folks,
I wonder if anyone has had the problem of their .22LR revolver cylinder hanging up after shooting a box of ammo through it? During a Rimfire silhouette match with my K-22,  I will use a brush and clean under the extractor star, so that doesn't seem to be the problem tying up the gun. Unfortunately, if I drop 6 rounds in the cylinder, several will stand up and not drop down into their holes. Even though I push them in to make the caseheads flush, one particular chamber seems to lock up the cylinder. This occurs even after I run a brass brush through each chamber after a half box of ammo is used. I have wondered if maybe the chambers are cut too close to minimum dimensions, and need to be reamed out to keep this from happening? Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated. Thank you!

Happened to me. My crane was tweeked and cylinder was very close for a couple of rounds. Hold it up to a light and see if clearance is the same all the way thru 6 cylinders. Just a thought. I'm talking about gap in front of cylinder to test.

Len

Len,
Great idea. I cleaned the face of the cylinder and the forcing cone with a lead-away cloth, and rolled each chamber with a light shining through the opposite side. Two cylinders appear to be closer to the top of the forcing cone than the others. I will check using feeler gauges tomorrow. It appears that a light touchup of the forcing cone with a diamond stone would get me enough clearance to eliminate any problems. The apparent contact with the forcing cone is much more visible when the chamber mouths are dirty. I'll let the feeler gauges determine the need. The barrel/cylinder gap is tight all the way around, regardless.
Thanks for your idea.
amanda

If the crane is tweaked you might want to have a good gunsmith deal with that before you you stone the forcing cone.

I had a K38 that would bind on part of the cylinder rotation as I cycled through it.  The crane alignment was off.  After I straightened it all was perfect.  It was a 4" Combat Masterpiece.  It also had end shake.  I reamed and shimmed that too

I wouldn't stone the forcing cone yet, is this a newer production revolver?  Possibly send it to S&W for them to check it out?  If not, check the cylinder for squareness first before going near the forcing cone.  If you hit up the forcing cone now, the chambers that clear now will have a larger Gap which will possibly give you accuracy problems.

My K22 had the cylinder face dirt  rubbing the barrel on a few chambers on firing.

Gun smith turned the cylinder face on a lathe, removing the high spots. 

Now the gap is the same on all chambers, when measuring between barrel and cylinder.

I do not know if K22 had at a time the cylinder shaft grooves like k38 had at a time where the lead splatter could foul the cylinder pivot.  The K36 had grooves cup sideways just in front of the cylinder rather than a hood there.  Dirt and lead got in the pivot.  Actually the bad one was a model 19.

This is a 17-4. I don't have a catalog, but the Serial number is 26K5317, which I suspect means it was built in the mid to late 70's after comparing to other Serial #'s and dates on the various forums. The barrel-cylinder gap is .006 for 4 chambers, and .003 for the remaining two. It appears to have end-shake issues, since I can get the .006 feeler gauge into the gap with all chambers if I pull back on the cylinder. I have owned it for about 3 years. It was bought NIB and I never shot it much, since I favor my Colt Officer's Model Match Targets. Decided it was time to compare the two brands, and it looks like I will follow the advice given by ScO above, and just ask S&W to send me one of their free packing slips, and let them straighten it out. They have always given great service, and this way I won't do something that I'll regret later. Thanks!
Amanda

Try tightening the ejector, counter clockwise, delicately and use a towel or something on the end to avoid tool marks.

I have the tool that allows you to tighten or remove the ejector rod. It is snug enough that you can't get it loose by hand. S&W sent me a mailing label, so off to Fedex it goes.

There you go the best bet, have them do a trigger job too if you need one.

My model 17

I had the same problem as Amanda 4461 with one of my K22s. If you have cylinder endshake - different gap with cylinder pushed forward and back - the simplest solution might be a Power Custom endshake bearing. Brownells carries them - $15.99 for a pack of ten. They come in .002 and .004" thickness. I installed one .002" bearing in my gun. Problm solved.

S&W fixed my K-22 for $130. They sent it back after sitting on it for their summer vacation, and it works as it should. The repair sheet doesn't say what they did to it, but the results are perfect.This is probably the fourth time I have paid for the "Life-Time Warranty" work. I don't know what the warranty will actually do, maybe give me some paper for the Outhouse wallpaper?

Just FYI, if you don't already know, cylinder end shake is measured after cocking and dropping the hammer with the trigger held back.
this allows the hand to apply all it's pressure.