"Worn out" .22 rifle

[Multigunner]

Worst .22 barrels I've run across were one that's the owner had cleared mud dauber nests from on several occasions by just firing a round through it leaving half a dozen rings in the bore. Another was a very old rifle with very soft steel barrel that had a jugged chamber from firing modern high speed shorts. Some of the Hamilton rifles had brass bore liners to avoid excessive rust from corrosive or BP loaded cartridges, these can also jug the chamber when using modern ammo.

One old Winchester model used a non ferrous alloy barrel that was advertised as rustless. It wasn't stainless steel but looked like it. These are also soft compared with modern steel barrels.

Over use of a cleaning rod will trash an old .22 RF barrel. I normally use a cord pull through.
When I do use a cleaning rod on my Marlin 99 M1 I insert a pistol sized bronze brush at the ejector port ease the rod down the bore and thread it on then pull the brush up the bore, followed by patches on a cord pull though.
I make the pull through using some thin nylon cord I found in a salvage store long ago. I crimped split lead shot on one end and rolled them till they could slide down the bore easily when inserted into the chamber. When the weighted end slides out the muzzle I insert fresh patches in the looped end and pull it through being careful to not touch the crown.

[dverna]

Another simple fix is to check the muzzle. If it will not shoot after a good cleaning, re-crowning may help.

It it is really rare to wear out a .22 barrel from shooting it

Don Verna

[higgins]

When I hear of someone who claims to have worn out a .22, I think of the 513T Remingtons we shot as ROTC cadets in the late sixties back when every able-bodied male freshman and sophomore (hundreds) was required to take ROTC at the college I attended. Those rifles were shot no telling how many rounds every quarter for no telling how many years. I don't know how often they got cleaned, but they were still plenty accurate using GI standard velocity .22 LR.

[Traffer]

My brother and I had a Remington 514 when we were kids. It shot well. Long story short, he gave it to me last year when I took up shooting again. It sat in his garage for 30 years and shot nothing but bird shot during that time. We both thought it was pretty much gone. Lot of patina rust on the outside and the barrel looked like there was only a faint trace of rifling left. With a "nothing to lose" attitude, I attacked the cleaning of the bore with one of those course copper plated pot scrubbers. Not the core boy that is copper but the hard steel one with just a copper wash on top. I tore off about 10 strands of that stuff, doubled it over and ran it through the eye of a patch holder. I could feel it "cut" as it went through. Ran it through about 10 to 20 times and the bore looked better but really could not tell if it was cutting the steel of the bore or taking out lead. After using it all summer and cleaning it like that about 6 to 10 times, I was amazed to see a bore LIKE FREAKING NEW. I kid you not. This thing has a bore like a new gun. I also ran the serial number and found it to be a first year of issue model from about 1945. I did not realize that the pot scrubber was steel for the first few cleanings. Thought I was using copper. But I used a magnet on it to see if the "filings" that were coming off were magnetic indicating whether it was barrel or lead I was scrubbing off, I found the scrub pad itself was magnetic. I have also found since then that the stock was causing the barrel to be fulcrumed causing it to not be too accurate. I shaved it down so It no longer does that. I just bought a new Savage Mark II and it seems at this point that the old Remington is at least as accurate as the Savage. I think I am going to slug the barrel of the Remington to see what kind of diameters I have there.

[Blackwater]

There used to be a school of thought that with a .22 RF, you should "never" clean them if you wanted them to stay accurate. Apparently, they'd never heard that old saw about "never say never?" Any mechanism, and that includes guns, needs occasional maintenance.

Also, there's often a difference in accuracy when changing back and forth between plated bullets and lubed lead ammo. It's almost always subtle, but if you shoot sharp, you'll sometimes notice this. Best to clean the barrel before changing ammo. And then, it may take a few rds. before your expected accuracy returns. I've hard all sorts of stories from competitive BR RF shooters about bore maintenance, and apparently, each gun must have its own personality and requirements. That's all I've figured out about it, if that's "figuring out" anything at all?

Guns can be as individual as people, and very few of us try "everything" on a really good bench, so most smaller differences escape us. Sure makes things more interesting than any horse race I've ever seen!

[jsn]

Blow back semi autos will get powder/dust accumulations in many places in the bolt area, including both the bolt and the breech end of the barrel.

Much like the dreaded carbon ring that sometimes plagues centerfire rifles, years of it will be difficult to remove, but it can be done.

It's also possible that the barrel has some rust depending on how and where it was stored.

[JMax]

When people tell me that the 22 rifle is not accurate or work anymore I immediately make them an offer. More times than not I walk off with a rifle that only needs TLC. Usually the original owner gets first right of refusal to buy it back, most do.

[reivertom]

With $5.00 per 50 rounds for .22s these days, I doubt if any average young shooter will ever wear out a .22 rimfire ever again!

[kungfustyle]

another Trump benefit, maybe 22lr will be great again? or at least less than $50 for a box of 500.

[tdoyka]

With $5.00 per 50 rounds for .22s these days, I doubt if any average young shooter will ever wear out a .22 rimfire ever again!

i hear that!!! its just too expensive to shoot anymore.

[tdoyka]

There used to be a school of thought that with a .22 RF, you should "never" clean them if you wanted them to stay accurate. Apparently, they'd never heard that old saw about "never say never?" Any mechanism, and that includes guns, needs occasional maintenance.

i don't clean my barrel(except when i have too, 'bout 5000rnds +/- a thousand), but i do clean everything else. now my marlin 25n is a cheap gun but i luv it. my old man got it for me during christmas(1983 i believe) and it cost him around $100(may have gotten a discount) with a cheap scope. but the 25n is mine and i luv it.

i may have an oversized bore(at least i think i do) because it takes roughly 100-150 rounds to get it accurate at 50 yards. it can go from about 2" to 1/2 - 3/4" using federal ammo. or remmy's or winny's or... i don't know why or how it goes to 2" group to a 1/2" group(using the same ammo). but the 25n does get accurate after 100-150 rnds, so i don't mind.

[Traffer]

I am hoping that Trump does away with the nonsense regulations of the EPA, FCC, and all the other restrictive communist **** that the liberals have passed. I think that there is a good chance that we could be buying primed rimfire cases again under Trump. We should get a lawyer here to draw up a petition to change some of the stifling regulations so the Trump administration knows which regulations are causing the turmoil. I may start a new post about just that!

another Trump benefit, maybe 22lr will be great again? or at least less than $50 for a box of 500.

[Multigunner]

I can't remember exactly what .22 RF ammo was selling for when I was a youngster but I think it was around 35 cents for fifty shorts or 45-50 cents for LR. 35cents was harder to come by back then than $5 is today. My allowance was 25 cents a weeks. I usually blew the whole wad on a kid's 10 cent matinee movie , usually Buck Rodgers or Flash Gordon serials and the like, a 5 cent coca cola and a ten cent hamburger from the newsstand next door. I had to smuggle the burger in my pocket because they'd throw you out if they caught you eating food you didn't buy at the refreshment stand.

I learned to shoot well, taking my time, because I could not afford to miss. My rifle was a Remington 514 boy's model, the perfect gun for me. I gave it to a nephew as his first gun.

[Traffer]

I have several boxes of 22lr from the late 80's and early 90's (50 round) that have $.99 price tags on them. I don't6 remember what it was when I started shooting ...(around 1958)

I can't remember exactly what .22 RF ammo was selling for when I was a youngster but I think it was around 35 cents for fifty shorts or 45-50 cents for LR. 35cents was harder to come by back then than $5 is today. My allowance was 25 cents a weeks. I usually blew the whole wad on a kid's 10 cent matinee movie , usually Buck Rodgers or Flash Gordon serials and the like, a 5 cent coca cola and a ten cent hamburger from the newsstand next door. I had to smuggle the burger in my pocket because they'd throw you out if they caught you eating food you didn't buy at the refreshment stand.

I learned to shoot well, taking my time, because I could not afford to miss. My rifle was a Remington 514 boy's model, the perfect gun for me. I gave it to a nephew as his first gun.

[Bullwolf]

Got it a taken apart and the only thing wrong with it was someone had used WD40 to clean the action. Had a thick varnish in it that made it jam constantly.
Had a fun time getting all of that gunk out but once it was cleaned up she shoots perfect and is one fine .22.
.22's can be shot out but you would be surpised how many can make fine weapons after they get something they havent seen for decades, a good cleaning.

This quote reminded me of a 22 rifle experience.

I came by a 22 rimfire single shot rifle that had been in a house fire. The wood was still in good shape, but the whole rifle really smelled like smoke. Apparently the gun had been stored in a bedroom closet, and the house fire hadn't made it into the bedroom.

This 22 rifle surprisingly showed no water or burn damage, but it looked like someone had intentionally varnished the entire bolt. I had a heck of a time cleaning off the oil that turned to varnish from the heat of the fire. After a good deep cleaning of the whole rifle, that single shot 22LR turned out to be quite the shooter.


- Bullwolf

[1Hawkeye]

In addition to a good cleaning check the nylon bolt buffer in the back of the receiver it might need to be replaced. 60's that have had a lot of rounds through them the buffers tend to crack or even crumble and this can cause the bolt / recoil spring to bind up.

[shooterg]

Hard to wear any 22 out. The OP's Mod. 60 will probably run fine after disassembly and cleaning of the receiver parts. Worst case, the accumulated crud acts like rough sandpaper on the alloy receiver's insides. Even then, most run fine after the gunk is gone. Someone else mentioned it, but muzzle nicks do require recrowning - a brass ball and some valve compound have been used for that. And there's always the possibility that the owner's memory of past groups may be a bit off...
fwiw- I love my 10/22's but you gotta do a lot to one before it'll keep up with the much cheaper marlins !
I have about 20 old US Property trainers of different makes that still group better than most can hold - and I'm sure they've had 10's of thousands run through 'em before I got 'em and many since.
I've bought a few of those "worn out" ones from friends and ended up selling some back to the original owner - for $1 more than I paid ! Gotta make a buck...

[Multigunner]

To dress a dented crown I first use a small grinding ball from a Demel set turned slowly with a hand cranked drill, then use the ball shaped tip of my glass cutter handle with a patch of 1000 grit silicon carbide paper pulled down tight and turn this by hand with light pressure. No need to remove more than required to see the ends of the lands clearly. It seems to work better than the more commonly recommended methods.
With other methods if the crown isn't perpendicular to begin with it will stay that way.
Takes a good eye and steady hand to do it right regardless.

[zubrato]

something i've always wondered, will aguila colibris wear out a barrel faster than other 22's?
the barrel is always filthy with priming compound which doesnt really get blown out of the barrel, maybe all that extra abrasive priming compound has an effect?

havent seen any negative effect on accuracy, but i've never really benched that mossberg 46M(b) with a scope.

[mac1911]

Growing up out plinker 22s didn't get a "cleaning" until the end if the season dead of winter with stormy weather lasting for days..
Was not until heard of to put 2k rounds weekend down one of the several 22s we owned.
My 1942 513t I bought from a man who shot it from 1967-1976 has a log of the 100,000 plus rounds he put through it.
The bore is ugly but I can on a good day with mid range ammo... sk standard plus, wolf match extra can still shoot sub 2" groups at 100 yards with target sights.
I have bought many shot out *** 22s over the years and 98% of them where just excessively dirty or reassembled wrong.
22s don't need cleaning often or a lot of lube.
Basically all you need is just enough to prevent rust. Over lube just gives more 22 dust to stick to.