Ruger American Rimfire - extraction problems

[23 Blast]

Hello All,

I have the Ruger American Rimfire - standard model with the 22" barrel.

Took it to the range recently and it was an exercise in frustration because I was getting FTExtract on practically every round. I was using CCI Mini Mags, since my last range trip with this rifle was with CCI Blazers and I was getting FTExtract also, but only intermittently. I figured the pricier ammo would help solve that issue.

Gun was clean (but maybe not clean enough?) And I've previously tuned the ejector. When the cases *do* extract, they're flung out of the action with authority, as intended. So it's not the ejector. The extractor appears to have plenty of spring tension, so I'm not really sure what the problem is.

When I chamber a round, then pull back the bolt without firing it, the round comes right out. All I can figure is that when the rounds are fired, the firing pin somehow, in addition to detonating the round, also pushes the rim of the round past the extractor claw.

I've inspected the extractor claw, and it isn't damaged or rounded off, so I'm a bit stumped. Any advice or experience would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[ojisan]

Have you shot the gun before and it worked and is now developing a problem or is this a new gun being fired for its first rounds?

It's not likely that the firing pin impact is pushing the bolt back so the extractor slips off.
Could be a tight chamber or residue in the chamber.
When the round is fired the case expands.
The expanding case may be getting a grip on a burr or fouling.
First I would scrub the chamber.
Next I would try the old plunk test, will a round drop all the way into the chamber and hit bottom easily?
Next, will the plunked round fall back out of the chamber when you point the muzzle up?

[Peahi2]

If the gun is brand new, it might benefit from some breaking in. In either case, you should call up Ruger and send it back to the mothership to troubleshoot. Tomorrow is Monday..make the call.

[k1dude]

Could be a tight chamber or residue in the chamber.
When the round is fired the case expands.
The expanding case may be getting a grip on a burr or fouling.
First I would scrub the chamber.

^This^

Check your extracted shells for little dimples.

A little more break in time would also probably help.

['ol shooter]

I second scrub the chamber, use a .243 bore brush, the .22 brush won't get it done. If that doesn't help, a call to Ruger is in order. I have one in .22 mag with no issues, just FYI. Also keep oil out of the chamber and bore, dry chambers extract the best.

[stormvet]

Agree with it being a chamber issue, if in fact the extractor is indeed functioning as it should. Once fired the casing will expand, with a tight/short chamber it can cause the casing to become stuck in the chamber. A trip back to Ruger may be necessary.

[23 Blast]

This isn't a brand new gun, I've had it for about 5 years, and perhaps as many as 500-600 rounds through. I've only ever used the magazine that came with the gun. Despite it supposedly sharing mags with the 10/22, the ones I use for my 10/22 (the clear plastic ones) are ever so slightly too wide for the RAR.

I suppose a really good bore scrubbing (I've seen the technique using a drill and a 6mm bore brush to de-burr the chamber) is in order.

As far as developing the problem over time - it had always been an intermittent problem with this gun, but the last range session was ridiculously frustrating. I didn't look too closely into the issue at thr time because I had several other guns I wanted to shoot and so simply put the Ruger away to investigate it later.

[SharedShots]

Never use a drill and bore brush.

A drill turns. You are trying to extract rearward.

All the drill is going to do is create nice very shallow wearing in the chamber and while you think it will be smoother, it's smooth in the wrong direction.

Think about how it works.

If you want to polish the chamber a bit you can do that with a 20 caliber round jag, double up thin patches and toothpaste or jewelers rouge or ultra fine lapping compound if you have it. You can even use those blue paper shop towels. Bore paste will work too. The whole idea is to polish in an in/out fashion and not circular. Bon Ami or Barkeeps cleaner also works.

If there roughness is so bad that polishing as above doesn't work, don't risk damaging the chamber, call Ruger and let them take care of it. When a gunsmith or the factory does it, they are using people that do it all the time and usually they aren't just chucking up a bore brush and going at it. If they screw it up they have to fix it too. While they will polish in a circular motion it's not using a hand drill, a brush and just going at it.

Bore and chamber brushes attached to drills are one of the fastest way to ruin a barrel. All it take is going slightly too deep and your bore is toast. Don't use any type of compound that does more than polish. Anything remotely coarse or that cuts is a sure way to goof things up. The damage will happen so fast and without you noticing, blink of an eye.

Using a drill and brush might seem to work and then that chamber gets dirty real quick and then you might as well rebarrel the thing.





.

[sofbak]

Had the same problem with a Savage MKII.
Took a .22 bore mop, wrapped a piece of tape around it as a visual "depth gauge" just shorter than a .22 case.

Chucked it into a drill, dabbed on some Mother's Aluminum polish, and gave it about 60 seconds of polishing, adding a little more compound in 15 second intervals. No more FTExtract.

[readysetgo]

Drill it!

[readysetgo]

What does "tuned the ejector" consist of?

Gotta get in there and look, look at the extractor, chamber, fired casing etc etc. Pics!

[23 Blast]

What does "tuned the ejector" consist of?

Gotta get in there and look, look at the extractor, chamber, fired casing etc etc. Pics!

Tuned the ejector means:

When I first got the gun, cases extracted would get hung up in the action, and/or just dribble out. I thought maybe I needed to stroke the bolt rapidly to facilitate ejection, but that didn't actually help matters. Turns out the ejector spring (the little black thingy that wraps around the bolt) was not snugged up against the case when a round was cambered and so didn't push the case outward to the right when the bolt was drawn backwards.

Disassembled the bolt, adjusted the ejector spring so that it was snug on cases, and now spent casings get flung out nicely --- when they do extract.

[23 Blast]

So, I will have to actually shoot it to determine if what I did worked, but using dummy rounds, the action cycles and ejects the rounds with aplomb.

I decided against getting aggressive with the drill and brush (can always resort to harsher means if the gentle ones don't work first) and instead just did a very thorough cleaning of the bore and chamber, paying special attention to the chamber. It's dark in there and it isn't easy to get bright light in there, but I tried to ensure no roughness at all remained.

Using dummies and even live rounds, the chamber easily passes the "plunk" test. Rounds easily fall into the chamber, then easily fall out when I tip the gun upwards.

What I did also when cleaning was pay special attention ton to the two recesses on either side of the chamber (where the extractor and the ejector rest when the bolt is in battery). I admit I had neglected those areas in previous cleanings (never had proper tools for getting in such nooks and crannies short of toothpicks) so I went and bought some of those cleaning tools that are basically plastic versions of those dental picks that dentists use to scrape tartar off your teeth.

Well, quite a bit of gunk came out of those recesses. They looked like those youtube videos of when some guy gets his earwax cleaned out. However, I am not sure that amount of gunk would make the extractor stop working.

Will report back once I shoot it again.

[ojisan]

Gunk in the extractor slot will keep the extractor from getting a good bite.
Sounds like you got it all cleaned up really nice, should work good.
Looking forward to the next update.

[23 Blast]

Gunk in the extractor slot will keep the extractor from getting a good bite.
Sounds like you got it all cleaned up really nice, should work good.
Looking forward to the next update.

Well folks, I am happy to report that the RAR rimfire passed its most recent range trip with nary a FTF, FTExtract, or FTEject. It worked flawlessly, and this was using the cheap Remington golden bullets that come in the white plastic bucket.

I even experimented by cycling the bolt fast, slow, and even drawing it out slowly. All rounds fired, extracted, and ejected perfectly.

Yes, I'm properly embarrassed that poor cleaning processes resulted in an unreliable firearm, but at least I know where to clean, now, lol.