Rung barrel!

[Rick Mulhern]

Sometime back an individual brought me a Remington M552 Speedmaster which is .22 rimfire and asked me to check it out and clean it!! Absolutely just like a 'pig sty' it was! Tore it all to pieces, cleaned out the barrel...which had rusted up and lo and behold when I cast both my eyeballs down the bore....I was thinking "hey...there's part of a case which separated stuck within the bore"! No so! It's RUNG! Apparently someone had a 'squid round' and fired another behind it. The barrel is not swelled or oversize and upon close inspection I think it's a pure case of a rung barrel!

[Creeker]

Or maybe an insect nest.

[Rick Mulhern]

Or maybe an insect nest.

No 'dirt-dobber'! Some foks need firearms like I need a hernia!!

[Creeker]

HEE HEE, the ole dobber probably wouldn't have caused a ring away.

[Rick Mulhern]

HEE HEE, the ole dobber probably wouldn't have caused a ring away.

Don't know about that! Around here....I have to keep a plastic bag over the motor on my weed whacker because the damn things will build nest in the exhaust ports and the whacker just won't fire up!!

[Ward Olson]

Where is the ring? Does it still shoot reasonably?

[Rick Mulhern]

Where is the ring? Does it still shoot reasonably?

Ward

The 'ring' is about 10" aft of the muzzle! I have never fired this rifle and whomever owned it treated it like onto a stepchild; apparently didn't own any cleaning materials at all. The bore was filled stem to stern with rust but once I started using some Hoppe's with a bronze brush it cleaned up pretty well. I've got to clean the entire rifle tomorrow; been busy with other things last two days but when I get it cleaned I'll reassemble and see what goes with it!

[Ward Olson]

Sometime back, I was active in the fireamrs trade and you might see a ringed 22 now and again. Much of the time it did not affect typical 22 field accuracy (meaning you could still dispatch vermin at typical farm yardage.) Remington 552's can be nice rifles - too bad if it has been abused.

ward

[Caverun]

Sometime back an individual brought me a Remington M552 Speedmaster which is .22 rimfire and asked me to check it out and clean it!! Absolutely just like a 'pig sty' it was! Tore it all to pieces, cleaned out the barrel...which had rusted up and lo and behold when I cast both my eyeballs down the bore....I was thinking "hey...there's part of a case which separated stuck within the bore"! No so! It's RUNG! Apparently someone had a 'squid round' and fired another behind it. The barrel is not swelled or oversize and upon close inspection I think it's a pure case of a rung barrel!

Many years ago I had a Model 54 Anschutz with a rung barrel. The ring was about four inches from the chamber and if it effected accuracy, I sure could not tell it. I actually shot the rifle for a couple of years without knowing the barrel ring. Back then the word was to clean the chamber if loading became difficult but leave the barrel alone unless accuracy deteriorated.

[Steve Anderson]

Years ago I put a Shilen barrel on a 10-22. That thing would shoot .250" at 50 yards with Eley ammo. A cheap little gun like that just shouldn't shoot that well. For one reason or another it was put aside for a few years and I decided to clean it one day. Low and behold, when pushing a patch thru, there was an easy spot then back to normal. Eventually I figured it out. By now you're ahead of me and know that I too have a rung barrel. By running my fingers along the outside I can actually feel the bulge, and in the right light even see the spot on the outside. After a lot of stewing and cussing I took the rifle out and shot it. It isn't as good as before, but still shoots in the 1/2" range at 50 yards. So it shoots well enough, just not as good as it once did. When, or how it happened escapes me, but it's there. Sadly, it's there. Steve