OT: H&R "Sportsman" .22 Revolver

[junkbug]

Hello all;

I recently aquired a H&R .22 "Sportsman" revolver. It is a 9 shot, break open revolver with a rear sight adjustble for winage and a front sight adjustable for elevation.

I fired a few boxes out of it so far. Accuracy is decent for the size and age of it, however, it has some functining problems. It loads and extracts hard, although I gave it a good cleaning before shooting it. Also, it misfires one or two shots per cylinder, and I don't think its always the same chamber. The misfired cartridges fire almost always on the second go around.

I intend to take it a little further apart and really clean it with a can of break-clean, then immediately re-oil it. And really scrub the cylinder chambers. Other than that, anyone have some helpful hints?

Thanks.

Sean

[jeepnik]

One of my favorite .22's. A natural for us southpaws. As to loading and extraction, I assume you mean putting the rounds into and extracting them from the cylinder. If you mean that it is difficult to open and close the action, it may need to be disassembled to throughly clean the pivot joint. You're probably on the right track with regard to cleaning. With regard to the misfires, it's probably a week main spring. Can't remember which, but Brownells, Midway or Numrich has parts. They're fairly simple, but if you aren't familiar with working on revolvers, leave it to a smith. By the way, 4" or 6"?

[3t-]

Ah yes!

Dad bought it new way back, before I was born. One that I'll not part with. When I have the occasional misfire it is usually crud or a dud round. Doesn't happen often but on occasion. These do need a pretty good scrubbing now and then. Keep cleaning and I think you will solve the problem. Check to see if the misfires have a strong firing pin mark on them. If not, crud, if so, dud.

[Pisgah]

I think jeepnik's got you covered. A really thorough cleaning -- and include scrubbing those chambers, if need be chucking a cleaning brush into a drill and whirring away -- should cure all ills.

I was recently given -- FREE! -- a nice old Spanish 12 ga. SxS shotgun by a fellow who said that the chambers were severely pitted and that fired shells would extract only with great difficulty. I wore out two brushes in the process, but using the drill method cut through an incredible, hard build-up of crud resulting in pristine chambers. Now, when I open the gun, the shells extract effortlessly and a flip of the gun spills them out.

[junkbug]

Thanks guys. I do mean that the cartridges are hard to insert, and extract after firing. Also, it is stiff to open, but that is better than being loose and floppy. I'll try cleaning under the star also.

Sean

[bsaride]

I am working on a 1946 Iver Johnson Supershot Sealed Eight.
Very similar to yours. Mine was unfired and using target ammo
the rounds would not just drop into the chambers. There were
burrs on the extractor star and mating surface of the cylinder.
I deburred these a couple times (keeping all edge breaks minimal)
and used a 22 bronze brush wrapped in a polishing cloth to polish
the chambers and extractor together. Right now things are a little
tight but the rounds drop in about 3/4 of the way and only require
a light push to seat. As this is a target gun I will be shooting it more
before I decide to take the polishing any further. Always err on the
side of caution, but otherwise it's not too hard to do. Stop and check
your progress often.

BTW I found an original holster on ebay that was supposed to be black,
when it got here it was dark brown. I asked my leather friends if I
needed to condition it before dying, they said no, I then ruined a $50
original holster as the solvent in the dye made the holster dry and crack
at the bends (flap and belt loop). This was a full flap holster. I then made
my own holster, a quarter flap, and it came out pretty good for my first
holster. Don't remember If I posted it here, think I did, search and if you
can't find pics and want pics send a pm.

[GANJIRO]

That's the very same gun the Gun Totin' Granny used to hold the teenage punk at bay and force him to call 911. Go Granny Go!
http://mefeedia.com/entry/stop-grannys- ... /11049819/

[Pete44ru]

If there were a lot of .22 Shorts fired in it, then the front of the chambers could either have crud or some pitting/wear - both of which would give hard chambering/extraction with longer shells.

Another thing to check is for firing pin burrs (from dry snapping) at the chamber edges - which can be swedged back into place with a chamber ironing tool from Brownell's ($22).



.

[Hagler]

Pete,

Is that a Tyler T-grip in your gun box? Which # is it, or does it just happen to fit the Sportsman?

Shawn

[Pete44ru]

Please check your mail, Shawn.

[junkbug]

Bsaride;

Thats a great suggestion. I kind of thought the chammer and extractor edges looked "sharp", but didn't really know what to do about them.

Pete;

The inside of the chambers look bright and unpitted. I made sure those were as clean as I could get them before the first firing. That seems to be a universal problem with .22 rf revolvers, but this one extracts much harder than usual, even on the first firing, after cleaning. Maybe they are on the shy side of the tolerance. I will look for dry firing burrs, though. Thanks.

Sean

ps:

Ganjiro, I didn't know I was in such noble company.

[Old No7]

Ah yes, one of my favorites from my long-ago youth... The H & R 999 Sportsman was the very first handgun I ever bought, and then later turned out to be the first handgun I ever sold too. Such is life... Just got a used one a couple of years back and brought it back to shootable condition, "just because"...

Mine had burrs on the cylinder where a prior user had dry-fired it, and that caused difficulty in loading & extracting. I would agree the Brownell's tool to reshape the metal would have been the correct tool to use, but a few careful strokes with a Swiss Needle File did the trick for me. (Hey, at least I didn't use my Dremel! )

Mine had misfires on 3 or 4 out of 9 shots -- and always on different chambers -- but I fixed that by 99% by adding a couple of washers on the strut of the hammer spring, to make it tighter or give it more "oomph" (boost the compression, I guess). That was AFTER I had replaced the spring with a new one from Numrich/Gun Parts too. Worked OK for me, and now she's fun to shoot. But before...

Good luck on getting yours shooting. Here's a pix of my 'ol Sportsman before I recut the checkering on the grips, but had reblued the finish with Brownell's Oxpho-Blue cream formula, and added gold fill (crayon) to the lettering.



Tight groups!

Old No7

[Old No7]

I forgot to add...

These aren't the easiest guns to take apart -- or more importantly -- to get back together right...

A concern is if you punch out the pins too much, they won't be as snug any more. Plus, don't punch them out the wrong way, or try to put them in backwards. You may know already, but if you don't, one end of the pin is grooved or scored (not sure of the exact term) to grip the side plates. Always make sure each pin goes back into the right hole, the right way, from the right side. (That is "right" as in CORRECT -- but NOT "right" as in right/left!!! You will have to examine the ends of each pin closely, to see which end is scored, then punch it out from the other side.)

You may also need "slave pins" to help reassemble this revolver, especially if you removed anything more than just the hammer. Those are key to getting all the small parts aligned correctly, which can be a challenge. (Ask me how I know.......................)

Folks may suggest you seek a gunsmith's help, but the ones I had talked with said their time spent on these old guns -- at today's labor rates -- would far exceed the value of the piece. I did OK working on mine, but luckily I got some good advice about the pins and slave pins.

Plus, I have a "rich and varied vocabulary"... That helped too!!!

Good luck.

Old No7

[Old No7]

So why do we always think of "something else" just a few seconds after we hit submit???

Anyway, if you need parts, don't forget to check eBay -- or FleaBay as some gunowners call it due to their stance on some gun parts -- but if you need the parts, just search on "H&R 999" and you'll see there are some available.

Old No7

[AJMD429]

Sounds like it is really messed up. You'd better send it to me right away! If I can't fix it, I'll send you an old .22 revolver of some sort to make it 'even'

THAT is a gun someone should re-issue, as I think it was one of the fun plinkers for a couple of generations of shooters.

It's the "poor man's Schofield" in my book . . .

[J35]

I bought two of the 4 in. 999's in 1980, sort of a his and hers.

Her got her car stolen at the Mall one day along with her 999, they both ended up in Mexico.

I trapped 10 weeks every winter for 12 years and mine was my constant companion during that time. I averaged a box of shell's every day between dispatching my catch, bait ,targets of opportunity and tomorrows breakfast, she held up well other than the finish never a problem, she still shoots good today.

I never clicked mine shut, always held the latch up closed her gently and released the latch, she is still tight.

good luck

[junkbug]

Mine is a six inch barrel. The stampings on the barrel are rather light, but still legible. I don't think it was refinished, but even if it was, no big deal.

I plan on taking a needle file to the edge of each chamber where the firing pin may have hit it. It appears that it may be slightly dinged from dry firing. The same with the extractor star. I will go very light, just breaking the edge.

The serial # is N69xx. Any idea when it was made.

Sooner or later, I'll try to put a spacer on the mainspring strut to slightly increace the mainspring pressure. Take-down does look intimitating, especially with driving pins out. It may be awhile before I get to that.

Sean