Fouled Chamber Causing Ejection Problems?

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greener

Fouled Chamber Causing Ejection Problems?

Post by greener » Fri Sep 19, 2008 9:37 pm

I've been having ejection problems (stove pipes) with my Buck Mark Standard for a while. I'd take it to the range, have the problems, bring it home and give it a thorough cleaning and light lube. The barrel was cleaned, if I cleaned it, by several passes with a bore snake. The problem didn't go away and got progressively worse. I posted the problem on the Browning forum on Rimfirecentral and Chim suggested cleaning the chamber. I did another thorough cleaning and cleaned the chamber with a bore brush and some JB bore cleaner. The problem seems to have gone away.

I don't think I clean any of my rimfire pistols any differently and the Buck Mark was the only one that developed the problem. I shoot more Xpert22 in the BM than I do the others (Ruger MK's, P22, 22A) but it was the only one having that problem and with all types of ammo.

Although this worked and may be an answer to failures like this in other pistols I can't decide if this was something specific to the Buck Mark and ammo or I cleaned something else better than I thought I was doing.

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Post by Bullseye » Sat Sep 20, 2008 6:56 am

This situation can happen to any pistol chamber, and isn't a Buckmark specific problem. Lead residue (build up) can slowly constrict a chamber's dimensions over time. It doesn't take much extra friction to mess up a semiautomatic pistol's ejection timing sequence. Just routinely running a bore brush or bore snake through the barrel and chamber isn't always enough to really keep a chamber clean. Sometimes the chamber needs a really deep cleaning. I usually use a bronze bore brush with a solvent soaked patch wrapped around it. I only insert the bore brush into the chamber, from the breech end, and vigorously rotate it clockwise for about a minute. Follow it up all again with a new clean solvent soaked patch on the bore brush. That usually is enough to deep clean chamber walls. You can usually see these tiny bits of lead particles on the patch when you take it off the brush. Take care to not insert the brush into the barrel or you will be unable to rotate the cleaning rod and have to push the brush all the way through the barrel.

In extreme cases, I have lightly applied a chamber reamer. But only after thoroughly inspecting the chamber and using a go/no-go head space gauge.

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greener

Post by greener » Sat Sep 20, 2008 8:20 am

Sounds like that was the cause. I didn't think I'd seen the problem in other .22's that have had considerably more lead rounds than the Buck Mark. Or, perhaps, the ejection problems I attributed to gummy residues on the bolts/slides of other semi-autos were in part caused by the chamber, which got cleaned in the process.

Seems to have worked. Glad to know that I can still be dragged kicking and screaming into learning something new.

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