Project Appleseed

Greetings fellow shooters!

Upon cleaning our 10/22 after the last Appleseed, there were many metal shavings in the action.  I also noticed slivers on the mat. I'm not sure what to make of this, but I'm pretty sure it is a new issue.  The shavings seem to be jacket shavings/slivers from the Federal rounds.  The barrel is tight (its not a factory-Green Mtn bull barrel). Accuracy doesn't appear to be affected either.  When you hand feed the bolt into the chamber, it sure looks like the bottom of the bullet is dragging into the chamber. 

Any suggestions from the gallery?  Thanks much. 

You can chamfer the bottom corner of the chamber mouth a few thousands to remove the sharp corner. You only cut from 5:00 to 7:00 o'clock.

It also sounds like you may have a case of barrel droop and may need to the shim the barrel.

You can either make or get one of these or start cutting aluminum cans to make shims.
https://www.rimfiretechnologies.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=AVB001

The allen screw on the bottom of the V-Block pushes the barrel back up.

Quote from: Ashes on June 03, 2010, 09:28:38 AM
It also sounds like you may have a case of barrel droop and may need to the shim the barrel.

Almost every Ruger I have worked on with a wood stock has a built in 'pad' at the front of the fore stock to compensate for any barrel droop. Barrel droop effects the setting of scopes. I have never seen barrel droop cause shaving of the bullet. There is just not enough angle involved in barrel droop to cause this type of failure to feed.

Unless your scope has run out of adjustment there is no need for any special barrel block. Someone will always make a product to solve a problem that does not exist.  

If you have a tight chamber (as is often the case with a match-type barrel), the federal (and other) bulk pack ammo can be a problem. If you were to measure a number of different round you would find different dimensions.  These combined with a tight chamber may be the cause of your problems.

I don't have a match chamber on a Ruger, but bulk pack ammo is often sticky in my rifles that do have one.

Aonther thing to check for is any burrs in the chamber where the rounds are getting scratched.

I've never seen a chamber with a burr but have heard from some people I know and trust that it can happen. One in particular told me it was scraping off a little bit of brass as it chambered the round.

  I guess I would chamfer the bottom of the chamber as said , from the 5 to 7 o'clock position. OR buy different ammo.

Quote from: douglas34474 on June 03, 2010, 11:56:36 AM

Quote from: Ashes on June 03, 2010, 09:28:38 AM
It also sounds like you may have a case of barrel droop and may need to the shim the barrel.

Almost every Ruger I have worked on with a wood stock has a built in 'pad' at the front of the fore stock to compensate for any barrel droop. Barrel droop effects the setting of scopes. I have never seen barrel droop cause shaving of the bullet. There is just not enough angle involved in barrel droop to cause this type of failure to feed.

Unless your scope has run out of adjustment there is no need for any special barrel block. Someone will always make a product to solve a problem that does not exist.  

Changing the angle relationship of the barrel to the reciever can affect the feed angle of the cartridge to the barrel. Some 10/22s don't have this issue at all, some do. Some people have also used sliced up pieces of a mouse pad to help the built in pad on the stock with good affect so you don't have to purchase anything. Others have used cut up pieces of beer cans as shims. Personally, I had issues with the bullet tip getting caught at the chamber edge on my 10/22. A light chamfer and the use of the adjustable v-block shim actually helped improve reliability in feeding greatly. I use this 10/22 with Tech Sights as my loaner LTR. No issues with feeding and a few people have shot some amazing groups with it.

Thank you all for the excellent insight.  When I get back home I'll have to check whether it was brass or jacket shavings, as I may have called that one wrong.  I'll do a followup once I have it figured out.  thanks again!