Ruger 1022 and Winchester ammo

[pgavey]

Hi there. My son has a bull bbl 1022 that wont fire Winchester ammo. He has replaced the firing pin and spring etc with no luck. I was at his place yesterday and took a look at the gun. I removed the bbl and tried to insert a round into the bbl chamber. The Winchester bullets will only go in about half way and becomes tight. All other brands we tried drops in all the way without any effort.
Sure enough it shoots all other brands without a hitch. I now see why the miss fires, as the bolt is trying to push the bullet all the way forward.
I tried the same bullet in my 1022 and it slides all the way in with no effort.
It appears the chamber is tapered and too tight. Just wondering if it can be reamed out to the proper size? Looking with a bore light it appears to have a ring about half the way around the chamber. I cleaned it out with a copper brush, but the ring is metal not carbon. I used a felt marker to paint up the bullet and after inserting , and removing it leaves a mark on the top side of the bullet. Winchester bullets must be slightly larger, as they are the only ones that stick. We tried many different Winchester ammo from the case of 500 with the same results. Would a gun smith have a reamer like this to remove the ring in the chamber? Thanks Phil.

[brewster29]

If you do have a ring in the chamber I would be returning the barrel to the manufacturer. Most aftermarket barrels will have a tighter chamber than the factory but definitely should not have a ring…

[elkhunter11]

Match chambers won't allow some ammunition to chamber, that being said, if there is a ring part way around the chamber, that would likely be a manufacturer defect. You can ream out a match chamber to shoot the larger diameter loads, but it could reduce the accuracy with other loads.

[Pioneer2]

The Barrel tolerances it's the ammo.Is the ammo Winchester Wildcat?It's junk.

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by Pioneer2

The Barrel tolerances it's the ammo.Is the ammo Winchester Wildcat?It's junk.

I wouldn't ream out a match chamber to shoot that garbage.

[Dean2]

I have lots of match chambered guns, they all shoot Winchester Wildcat, Expert etc just fine. Winchester High Velocity Hollow point Xpert ammo is my favourite gopher load. Cheap, pretty clean, and that big hollow point lays a real good wack on gophers. I have more accurate ammo, but not more accurate ammo that kills as good.

Winchester does have a slightly larger, lead waxed bullet, it is why they tend to be pretty accurate for cheap ammo. If your barrel has a metal ring it is a manufacturing defect. Talk to whoever you bought the barrel from. If it is a Ruger factory Heavy barrel get them to fix the gun properly. I would not be messing with the barrel as any warranty is toast at that stage.

[Jayhad]

Is it a Grey Birch carbon barrel?

[dfarms11]

I quit buying Winchester wildcat 22 shells long ago. Every pack was guaranteed to have 2 to 3 misfires. Didn't like that at all

[pgavey]

Thanks everyone, Just talked to my son, it's a used gun he got from his father in law, and has a aftermarket bbl. Not sure what make it is. He just bought a 1022 take down, so my GR kids will just shoot it with anything but Winchester.
Again thanks for the info. Phil.

[marlin1]

winchester ammo does not feed well in my 10/22 either

[58thecat]

All about owning a 22 is to shoot various brands and figure what it likes, you found one that is crap time to try others.

I would not modify the rifle until the basis are covered which is way cheaper and ya get to get out shooting

[pgavey]

I don't need any more 22's I have a 9422, 9422mag, bl22, 9622, mod 74, marlin semi, even a old cooey auto. I was asking for my son. thanks Phil.