Reader Forum

T/C Contender I have been working on a Thompson Center Contender. When a barrel for a straight wall cartridge such as 44 Magnum is installed on either of my two frames there are no issues, however, when a barrel for a necked cartridge such as 222 Remington or 30 Herrett is installed I’ll experience one or two misfires for every eight to ten shots. This only happens with bottlenecked cartridges and when they fail to fire the primer strike appears no different than those that do fire.

Any guidance on a potential solution is greatly appreciated. Author Lowell Kenney (Eagle View Arms) replies. Straight walled cartridges headspace off the rim as do 30-30 WCF and other older cartridges. Necked cartridges headspace off a datum on the shoulder of the case. If you chamber the rimless cases flush with the rear of the barrel, you have not accounted for the space between the frame and iron sight options, the Reflex Sight Module mounts Vortex, Leupold, C-More, Trijicon, and other red dot sights.

These can include back up iron sights. The SLOT Sight at the slide’s front provides the same option for front sights. The Multi- Sight and SLOT Sight can also be used a variety of full-length rail options. This includes Picatinny the barrel, thus you have too much headspace for dependable functioning. When I barrel a Contender or an Encore action, I do my best to have that space at 0.003" or less. Many factory barrels gap in this area at between 0.010 and 0.020".

You can check this gap with a feeler gauge, starting with a stack of blades that will easily pass between the barrel and the frame. Keep adding blades until the stack won’t pass through, add up the total units of the blades, and simplify the stack to have the same thickness with fewer blades. Fiddle with this type of measure until you can get the same measurement in several ways. That is your headspace for that barrel and frame. This must be done for each frame and barrel combo as they all will be different.

Frank Masick Albia, IA On the cartridges that did fire, neck size those cases when reloading them without pushing the neck back. I usually only neck size 3/4 of the neck, just enough to hold the bullet firmly. This is also great for having along life on your brass. Check the length of your brass and Rail Modules available in 2, 5, and 6-inch lengths and micro Rail modules designed to mount Aimpoint Micro and similar sized sights.

What started as competitiononly, unrealistic, "rooney guns" only suitable for range use have now become real, practical, durable, issued equipment. Ain’t progress grand? AG trim when needed and move your should back a bit. This works for safe and standard loads, however, if you insist on loading "slappin' shoulder blades, false teeth ejection" loads, then please follow other directions.

Tuning Ruger Single Actions I read "Tuning Ruger Single Actions" (September 2022) by Dan Croghan and Gary Yee and found it to be very good coverage on tuning these revolvers. The disassembly coverage also works for .22 rimfire single action revolvers as well, although these revolvers are not an exact copy of the Blackhawk or the Vaquero. The part list for the 22 revolvers does list an extra part called a spacer. The spacer installs onto the trigger pivot pin between the trigger and the outside wall of the frame.

Upon removing the trigger pivot pin, the spacer will likely drop down into the frame. It’s easy to drop the spacer out of the frame and possible to lose it. Use a magnetic screwdriver to hold the spacer in place upon assembly and

install the trigger pivot pin onto the frame. The spacer just hangs down on the trigger pivot pin into the frame. The frame is upside down for this operation of assembly. I think Ruger has a winner with this 22 single action revolver. It appears to be a durable and reliable with a very reasonable price point but isn’t a fancy target shooter.

I understand Ruger has set up the machinery making it out of raw steel which goes into one end with fully machined parts coming out the other with almost no hand fitting done during assembly. I’ve found they shoot well right out of the box but some TLC is needed here and there, the sort of thing to get any firearm to become a nice shooter. I was not happy with mine until I worked on it.

I have included shooting live ammunition out of all 22s as part of my standard inspection, however, because I’m not tuning match guns I normally don’t bother with a bore alignment check provided the group size is reasonable. I have found the chambers in the cylinder as being tight with some cartridges not dropping in fully. I think it useful to test a variety of different kinds of ammunition to find out which your particular firearm likes best.

Following instructions in the article on polishing the chambers concerning large caliber cylinders, I found a shop-made tool made of a hardwood dowel to polish chambers works well. While I’ve polished and checked chambers in different revolvers, I typically find that it is not necessary to do this. Out of the box I’ve found many revolvers tend to shoot low at around 25 feet and I understand this is fairly common, especially with 22 rimfire single action revolvers.

A careful filing on the top of the front sight will help get a better point of impact and the key is to go slow and check often. I’ve found no adjustment is typically needed for windage. These revolver sights are simple and cheap which helps keep the price point low but you do need to understand the basics of how they work to adjust them. As with everything there is a learning curve, especially when doing trigger and sear work.

It is easy to mess these parts up; standard disclaimer here, only proceed if you have experience working on triggers. To stone or polish the trigger and hammer sear surfaces use about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch long strokes on the surfaces. This will help the sear surfaces stay flat and level and square with the world. As you make a stroke your arm tends to move your hand in an arch along the sear surface.

Of course, this is a no-no so you need to go slow and careful and ensure that the sear’s surfaces remain absolutely square. If you do get an arch or rounded surface this will reduce sear contact and will create an unsafe trigger. Go too far and you’ll have a too-light and unsafe trigger and end up having to replace it with new parts. I do like to finish up one sear’s surface with wet or dry sandpaper at 320 grit with a solid backing and finish up the other surface with 400 grit.

If trying for a very light trigger pull I use 400 grit and 600 grit instead. I also recommend using Gun Slick grease from Brownells on the sear surfaces. This helps give a smoother trigger pull as the surface is finished with a heavier grit better holds the lube in place for a smoother contact between surfaces. My 22 Ruger revolver did not get a trigger overtravel adjustment.

On a revolver with a half cock notch a trigger overtravel will likely mess with the trigger engagement into that half cock notch on the hammer. My revolver has a trigger pull of about 3 lb. 2 oz. which is very nice as far as I’m concerned. One last note, I have had to replace the safety transfer bar on a couple of other Ruger revolvers in order to get a smooth trigger pull done. Daniel P. Horn Wolsey, SD Authors Dan Croghan and Gary Yee reply. Thanks for adding this, Mr. Horn!

We’re glad you found our article good and appreciate you sharing this useful additional information. AG