22LR Revolver Splashback

[cynergyou]

Hi All - I have a 22 LR Ruger Bearcat that I love to shoot at the range.  The thread "Ruger Bearcat for everything afield" got me thinking about packing my little Bearcat when I go hiking, fishing, bow hunting, camping, etc..  The gun is accurate and fun to shoot and I like its lightweight, yet durable construction.

However, sometimes when I am shooting it at the range, I can field some "splashback" on my cheeks from what I am guessing is hot gases/powder residue being blown back towards the shooter from the cylinder gap of the revolver.  I always wear safety glasses when shooting at the range so it's not an issue while plinking at the range.  However, I don't wear Rx glasses and if I was concerned that if I happen to shoot it afield without glasses I might get some debris in my eyes.

Is this kind of revolver blast common?  Is there a way that I can mitigate this problem?  It only happens very occasionally.  I used a .22 dia cleaning rod as sort of a range rod to check the alignment of the cylinder's chambers with the barrel and the alignment seems to be very good (the rod slips into each chamber without any resistance).  Also, the cylinder gap doesn't look too big, although I just eye-balled it as I do not have feeler gauges.

I haven't really noticed this problem with my Ruger Single Six or my other revolvers - just a few times with the Bearcat.  I thought about trying some CCI pistol match .22LR ammo to see if that might help with the blast.  I figured that the match ammo wouldn't be as peppy as some of the other factory loadings and would have less excess powder to burn.

Any ideas, comments/suggestions?

Thanks!

[PA-Joe]

Check the gap between the barrel and the cylinder.

[Ken ONeill]

It's neither normal nor satisfactory. Possible culprits could be barrel/ cylinder gap, timing (cylinder alignment), a very rough forcing cone or the particular brand of ammo, throwing unburned powder back in your face. The last 2 are the least likely. My bet is imperfect timing, but that's a WAG.

[Lloyd Smale]

ill go with the type of ammo answer. Ive noticed some 22s tend to spit more then ohters.

[Steve P]

Two fold answer.  Dirty forcing cone and ammo with lots of lube on the outside of the bullet.  Clean up the cylinder and forcing cone and switch to a copper jacketed bullet without any lube on the outside.  I bet the debris goes away.

I have a custom Ruger Mark I with match chamber.  I get about 40 shots with match/target ammo before I have to clean it due to lube fouling up chamber and recoil spring.    Jacketed bullets like CCI mini mags, Remington, etc all shoot fine as long as I keep pulling the trigger.  Get ammo with lead bullet and lots of lube, and 40 shots later it will not close all the way and I have to clean it.

Steve

[cynergyou]

Thanks for the tips.  I will try these suggestions and see if it helps.

This morning I took the gun out to inspect the cylinder/barrel gap.  It wasn't too large, similar to my Ruger Single Six.  However, I did notice that the gap between the barrel and cylinder does not look like it's even.  If I hold the gun up to a bright light and look sideways at the cylinder gap, the gap appears to be slightly bigger towards the bottom of the gun, and thinner towards the top strap of the gun.

I wonder if the barrel face isn't square.  If this is the case, would this contribute to debris splashback?

I originally sent this gun back to Ruger because the timing was off and it was shaving lead.  However, the factory fixed it and the timing seems to be good.  Also, the gun is accurate and it shoots point of aim.

I'll try and do some testing in the next week or so and see if I can eliminate this splashback issue.

Thanks again for your replies.

[cynergyou]

UPDATE - I took my Bearcat to the range and I think I figured out why I was occasionally getting some debris splashback when I shoot my Bearcat.  I realized today that the splashback only occurred if I was taking carefully aimed shots, with my arms lying across the bench and the revolver close to the bench.  I believe what is happening is that the normal debris and gas that exits from the muzzle or maybe cylinder gap bounces off of objects on the bench (primarily my range bag or something similar) and then some of the debris hits my cheeks.  

I confirmed this by moving a heavy duty Ziploc bag into the area where I thought the debris was hitting on the bench.  I thought the debris would melt holes or make marks on the Ziploc bag after I took a shot.  HOwever, instead, the particles must have bounced off the bag because I would consistently get more splashback when the bag was in this location.

Anyway, I am happy because if I keep the gun sufficiently away from any objects that might bounce debris back, I do not experience any splashback, even if I use hyper velocity rounds.

The gun shoots great and is accurate and a blast to shoot.  I love this little gun!