I have recently had a desire for a Ruger Bearcat Shopkeeper.

Surfing and reading up on them I came across the following picture.



The claim is that Rugers .22 chambers are reamed with a 22LR reamer.

If the 22LR go all the way into the rim from the front of the cylinder the chamber is drilled out (from the factory) and will not seal the bullet in chamber.

My question for you guys is do your recently produced rimfire Rugers allow the rounds to bottom out as pictured above, and do they suffer from the accuracy and fouling mentioned in the article below?

Reason NOT to buy a Bearcat Shopkeeper?

I have a Ruger SIngle TEn. I can hit pie plates at 50yards, it goes bang each pull and puts rounds where I need them. I havent checked to see if rounds fit in the front.

Ok, curiosity got the better of me. I broke out the Ruger.

Can you help me understand the point trying to be made here.
I honestly don't understand revolvers.

From the thread I linked above in red:

"If the 22LR go all the way into the rim the chamber is drilled out and will not seal the bullet in chamber . That is 1 reason for the barrel to lead . I shot a S&W K22 for 10 yrs in IHSMA silhouette and NEVER ran a brush down the bore only the chamber and forcing cone and the same thing with the Cimarron in the pic I post earlier . Only a wet patch with Hoppe goes down my bore at the end of a match . The last 4 Single-six's I owned I spent more time unleading the bore then shooting . A leaded bore has flyers and most people shine it off as they jerked trigger or bad sight pic . I know when it is the gun or it is me I can call 95% of my shots on paper."


So if the shell goes all the way into the cylinder from the front, ie the opposite way it is supposed to be loaded, the bullet will not seal in the chamber causing poor accuracy and excessive leading.

In theory anyways.

Ok, I checked my 5 1/2" Single Six and a round will go all the way in from the front.   Which is not a surprise as if you look through the chamber there is no step or throat in the chamber.

Something to consider here is that the .22 LR uses a heel based bullet where the bullet diameter and case diameter are virtually the same (a .226" chamber diameter for a .224" case diameter and a .224"  bullet diameter), unlike straight wall centerfire rounds, or even the .22 WMR where the case diameter is larger than the bore and bullet diameter (.242 versus .224).

In my Single Six the .22 WMR cylinder has the expected step.

In terms of accuracy, I've noted it is a tack driver in .22 WMR, easily shooting 1" 6 shot groups at 25 yards.   With .22 LR the groups depend a lot on the ammunition.   WIth standard velocity ammo, the accuracy is not as good as it is with high velocity ammo, and I attribute that to the larger .22 WMR bore dimensions and the need for the .22LR bullet to have more pressure to properly obturate into the bore.  With high velocity ammo, the accuracy is good - on the order of 1.5" at 25 yards.

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Here is where I think the straight through .226" cylinder in the Single Six makes a great deal of sense.  The bullet has a fair amount of travel before it leaves the cylinder and enters the forcing cone, and it makes sense for the bullet to start obturating in the cylinder to a larger diameter than would be the case in a .22 LR bore.  If it used a standard .22 LR dimensioned cylinder, the bullet would first obturate to the diameter needed for a .223 bore, then it would have to obturate further for the .224 bore once it gets to the forcing cone.  It makes more sense just to let it bump up all the way to .226" and then enter the forcing cone slightly over size, as you try to do with a cast lead bullet in a centerfire bore.   An undersized bullet entering the forcing cone and rifling is a sure fire way to have leading issues, while allowing the bullet to expand in the cylinder will prevent that issue.

I have personally never had leading issues with my Single Six and mine has well over 1000 rounds of .22LR through it.  I have not shot significant amounts of SV ammo in it because it isn't all that accurate with SV ammo, and it's possible that the lower pressure rounds, not obturating enough in the cylinder may create the potential for some leading in the forcing cone and initial portion of the barrel as the undersized bullet skids into it.

Even though the .22 LR is a healed bullet cartridge, some manufacturers choose to use slightly larger chamber diameters than throat diameters. I have measured every revo I have with an inside mic and believe I have reasonably accurate numbers. As an example my S&W Model 17 (with a new cylinder) is probably the most accurate .22 revo I have. The chambers measure .2278” and the throats measure .2242” and it isn’t the tightest. My SP101 in .22 is .228” chamber, .226” throats. I took the 101 out today and it shot very well, much better than my 3” S&W Model 63 with .2288” chambers and .2241” throats.

I like tight chambers and throats as much as the next guy, but I think there is more to .22 revo accuracy than that. Other factors like smoothness of the barrel finish, the forcing cone finish and the chamber alignment I think are probably as important or more important than chamber size (within limits.) My Single Six got to the point that it was keyholing shots at 7 yds. I sent it back for a new barrel and cylinders. The new .22LR cylinder is .2305” and .2286”, larger than I would like, but it now shoots well. Go figure.

I have heard it said that every revo is an individual and I believe it, and .22 revos are even more individualistic than centerfire revos, IME.

Stay away from Ruger.  Get a quality 22lr revolver.  Old S&W, Colt.