Ruger single six in .22lr accuracy

SCOUT5

Years ago for my son's 21st birthday I gave him a new Ruger Single Six with .22lr and .22mag cylinders.  Nice looking pistol stainless, redwood grips 6" barrel.   He had it with him yesterday when we went shooting.  He told me it's never been accurate to which I replied BS, 

I had a box of plinking ammo in my bag, Remington .22 golden HP.   I fired it from a rest at 50' and was not impressed with the grouping.   Not having good cleaning equipment with me I removed the cylinder and ran a .22 bore snake through the cylinders and barrel a couple of time.   Then fired it with some CCI HP ammo I had with me.  Boom, accurate pistol.  Adjusted the sights and it was good to go.

I've seen ammo make a difference in a lot of guns but I've never seen ammo make that much difference in a ,22, some yes, but not like this.   In the mean time we ran the same Remington ammo through a couple of .22 rifles without issue.

Ricci.Wright

Ammo can sometimes make a big difference in a handgun. I had a Glock 23 that would shoot nothing well except the lighter .40 bullets. It would spread 180 grain bullets all over a 25 yard target but it loved 155 grain Hornady TAP ammo and that was fine with me.

SCOUT5

Well Ken  I had the .22 Colt single action out this morning and thought of your recent thread about the Rough Rider,   and how much fun they are.  I hope this helps.     

Rocky Raab

Not a rare story. Many guns - and .22s especially - have a notable preference for ammo. All kinds of things play in and such a seemingly simple round is amazingly complex. Over and above priming and powder factors, bullet diameter, alloy, bearing surface, lube, and crimp pull have major influences. In fact, making accurate .22LR ammo is arguably the toughest task for an ammo maker.

I once did a brief study of various .22LR fodder and found an eyebrow-raising spread of bullet diameters in .22LR ammo - the bottom line being that the largest diameter bullets produced the smallest groups. Some .22 accuracy nuts place great stock on rim thickness/headspace but my opinion is that bullet diameter outweighs that.

Then there's the issue of bullet lube. Barrels seem to get "seasoned" like cast iron pans, and it takes perhaps 50 rounds or so of a different kind of ammo before traces of the previous lube get blown out and a layer of the new lube is established. After that, the gun settles in and accuracy stabilizes. Switching ammo willy-nilly makes for lousy groups.

Geri

Had one, shot the best with 22 wrf, or 22 remington special. This in the magnum clyiinder.

BobJudy

I had one of the early ones (before transfer bar) and it was quite accurate with mini mags and hated Winchester Wildcats. It also liked Stingers but the group was 4 inches lower at 25 yards. Never did find a 22 mag load that it liked as well as 22lr. The best 22 mag groups were twice the size of the lr groups. Bob

ruger41

My Ruger Wrangler loves, loves, loves Aguila .22 Shorts. Does well with CCI Mini Mag and Federal too

bustedknee

If I remember correctly (too lazy to research it again) the diameter of a .22rf and a .22 magnum are different.

So if a revolver has both cylinders the bore of the barrel should be between the 2 bullet sizes making both rounds minutely less accurate than a gun chambered exclusively for either cartridge.

However, if the bore is closer in size to one bullet than the other, that particular caliber should be slightly more accurate.

I have heard people say, "The magnum (or non-magnum) cylinder is more accurate than the other."

pulsarnc

Ken, only problem I would foresee would be the same as 38 in a 357 . Chamber might get crude build up that would need cleaning before going back to the longer cartridge . Otherwise I can’t see any downside

nmyers

I would think that a greater concern would be the rifling.  Is the twist optimal for .38 spec or .357?  .22 LR or .22 WMR?  I don't even know any maker who tells you the rifling.

Neal

TRAP55

Ruger made their convertible with a 1-16 twist originally, the newer ones may be 1-14 for the magnum, like some others are doing now. I got my Single Six Convertible new for Xmas in 1968, my first handgun. It's had bricks of ammo put through it, and still one of the most accurate .22 handguns I ever owned, even the target pistols. The one my two boys learned to shoot with, and still their favorite.

truthful

I have owned a Ruger Single-Six, 22LR / 22Mag convertible for a long, long time. It is one of the first ones made and still is in it's original form, ie, no transfer bar. As a general rule, it is much more accurate in 22Mag than in 22LR BUT the accuracy of either can be greatly improved by careful selection and testing of various brands and types of ammunition. Even different lots of the same ammo can have different accuracy. As with most of my other 22s, Federal ammo is usually the best, Remington and Winchester bulk ammo is usually the worst.

As far as the effect of the gun, both cylinders are the same length so the 22LR ammo has a lot more distance to travel to reach the rifling. I also recall that at least with the early convertibles like mine, Ruger used to say that the bore was slightly larger than in a similar gun that was 22LR only.

mjrfd99

KenK/84Bravo said:

Your killing me.

I am chomping at the bit for my Heritage Rough Rider in .22 to come in, so I can plink with it.

We've been super impressed with our RR.  
Glad I sprung for the adjustable sights.
Cheepo tack driver.  Take it almost every time we go to the range. 
Out shoots the S&W .22 by a mile.

ruger41

So much fun to shoot. The only thing I need is a holster and getting either the New Galco Ruger Wrangler holster or the one by El Paso Saddlery Territorian off Amazon (like $27)