"Opening up" a .22 LR bore

[Eric B.]

I have a Green River octagonal barrel for a Ruger 10/22 in .22 LR that I want to put on my Ruger 96/22 lever gun which is a .22 mag.

The standard Green River barrel in .22 mag is too long (esthetically and practically) sooo...

I'm rolling .22 LR bullets in NECO Fire Lapping grit (coarse, med., fine) and firing the octagonal berrel in my 10/22 to open it up a few thousands of an inch in preparation for re-chambering in .22 WRM. I'll have my gunsmith measure it to determine actual inside land diameter.

.22 mag barrels are a bit bigger inside than .22 LR barrels and this seems the way to get the barrel length and contour I want (short of custom barrel making).

Anybody see a problem here?

 

[zuke]

Re: "Opening up" a .22 LR bore

Where did you hear about the barrel's having a different bore dia?
A link would be great

 

[armorpl8chikn]

Re: "Opening up" a .22 LR bore

Can someone please put this in the epic threads section.
Congrats you have ruined what may have been a good barrel because you wanted your gun to look cool.
Rather than get a smith to shorten the barrel for a nominal fee you have wasted even more money. You have a smith...you said so, why WOULD you do something this stupid?
Nah...I see no problem.

 

[gszeto99]

Re: "Opening up" a .22 LR bore

Cutting a new longer chamber is not the problem. The problem is the 22WMR uses .224 barrels while the 22LR uses .222 barrels. DO you plan on fire lapping 2 thousand's off of the full length of the barrel? Also the twist rate for the 22WMR is usually 1 in 14" to allow shooting heavier bullets. You could try what you are doing but if it were me I would just start out with a octagon blank made for the 22WMR. Also did you mean Green Mountain or is there a Green River barrel I have not heard of before?

Gene

 

[TravisM1]

Re: "Opening up" a .22 LR bore

Yeah, I was gonna mention the different twist rates.

And fire-lapping two thousandths out of a bore? I dunno, man. I think they're more for polishing, not removing that much material.

 

[Eric B.]

Re: "Opening up" a .22 LR bore

1. OOPS! I did mean Green River barrel, not "Green Mountain".

2. I'll check twist rate difference for .22 WMR and .22 LR

3. @"armorpl..." Really? REALLY?

4. I do think I can take off 2 thousandths of an inch with NECO Fire Lapping. The throat will be the most worn and the muzzle area the least BUT a bore tapered toward the muzzle in .22 caliber has proven to be more accurate in sub-zero weather. (Ask any good biathalete, like the owner of Eberlestock.)

** I may have to account for the softness of a gilded .22 LR bullet absorbing the grit by swabbing the barrel with grit brfore firing every other round.

5. For everyone else but "armorpl...", thanks for the input. I'll do more homework.

 

[rcmigpilot]

Re: "Opening up" a .22 LR bore

Save yourself a lot if headaches and by the Green Mountain and either ask them to cut it for you or send it to ADCO and get it cut down, the charge $30 to just cut and recrown

ADCO shop services

 

[Eric B.]

Re: "Opening up" a .22 LR bore

Thanks RCMI,

That sounds like the best way to go if they will make the Green River octagonal barrel to my measurements - AND keep the octagonal shape.

I bookmarked their site and will call tehm.

 

[Badshot308]

Re: "Opening up" a .22 LR bore

Here's an article on modifying the 96/22 rifles with different barrels http://www.varminter.com/forums/topic/8788-upgrading-a-9622/ , and heres one that may work for you http://www.gmriflebarrel.com/rugertarget...magnum-for-7722

 

[Eric B.]

Re: "Opening up" a .22 LR bore

"Badshot",

That Green River .22 mag barrel is the one that's just way too long. IF I can truly get it shortened and slimmed down but retaining the octagonal shape for somewhere around $50. I will.

 

[HPLLC]

Re: "Opening up" a .22 LR bore

.002" seems like a lot, but how tight are these "tightbore" custom barrels on the market? Maybe it would shoot as is?

or maybe you could fire lap .0005" off and have a shootable barrel.

My brother has an APA 18" .308 (obviously not a rimfire) but that barrel must be tight, because it gets ~2630 FPS with M118LR where my 16" MWS does only 2490. So he's getting velocity like a 24" barrel M24. Accuracy is stellar. .18MOA is pretty normal for the gun.

 

[HPLLC]

Re: "Opening up" a .22 LR bore

I totally forgot- Melonite adds .0008-.0013" of thickness per side, and plenty of people are getting barrels melonited.

This would suggest you could 22WMR chamber and should be fine unless something was wrong with the barrel to begin with (cracks/voids/metalurgical issues etc).

 

[seanh]

Re: "Opening up" a .22 LR bore

You could always buy a round 22mag blank then have someone cut it as you need it.

If you want it cheap, probably not going to happen. Remember when you go custom you need to pay the "WANT" factor when it's non standard.

I wouldn't worry about thinning the green mountain...just cut it, crown it.

 

[bohem]

Re: "Opening up" a .22 LR bore

The difference in bore size is 1 thousandth, 0.001"

Just rechamber and shoot it. The bullets are all lead or plated lead, it won't hurt anything.

Another option is to send the Green Mountain off to a gunsmith for chop and recrown. Which will probably be cheaper than rechambering, as well as what might happen from shoving gritty ammo into the blow-back operated gun.