Newest project... Bisley Single Six in 22 Cooper Centerfire

[magnumwheelman]

So... this picture is my starting point... a new Blued unfired Ruger Single Six centerfire with adjustable sights in 32 H&R Magnum...

been back & forth with John Powers about performing some of his magic & turning this 6 shot 32 H&R Magnum, into an 8 shot Cooper Centerfire Magnum... the 22 Cooper Centerfire Magnum runs about 9-10% faster than 22 Rimfire Magnum & lets me choose a bullet, from my custom lead flat nose bullets, to 22 Hornet bullets... going to be a nice squirrel banger... this project is interesting to me, as my retired buddy & I developed a round based on the old 22 Velo-dog cartridge & put it in an 8 shot Stainless Taurus Tracker 22 Rimfire Magnum, that we converted to centerfire... little did we know, 4-5 22LR shortages ago, that our cartridge development mirrored the Cooper Centerfire Magnum close enough, that I recently bought a box of loaded CCM ammo from Reeds Ammo, just to look them over, & the cartridges shoot very nicely in my Taurus... so it's time for a single action...

reamer & barrel blank are on the way... reamer is a custom, that that ships directly to John in about 8 weeks... picked up a 2 Dogs front sight during his sale, just for this project... already have my custom set of dies, for the cartridge we developed, & ordered a custom set of 22 CCM dies a while back... the combination of the 2, offers me good flexibility for loading this cartridge...

thinking a 5.5" barrel, also will be talking to LSCG & see if Zane can get me a spot late summer or fall for some custom grips on this Bisley, & thinking a new base pin is in order... ( Belt Mountain make a Single Six pin??? )

anyway, this is my starting point... Thoughts???





3 die set with a file trim die, & shell holder added...

[wheelguns]

Sounds like a worthy project. I have the same gun and it is my favorite .32. Mine shot high with the factory sight, but the 2 dogs fixed that.

[45MAN]

HAVE OFTEN WONDERED WHY THERE WERE NO 22 CCM REVOLVERS AROUND. WOULD A SIX SHOT 22LR OR 22MAG SINGLE SIX CYLINDER, AND A 22 SINGLE SIX BARREL, WORK IN THE 32 SINGLE SIX FOR A 6 SHOT 22 CCM CONVERSION? IF IT WOULD THAT WOULD SEEM TO BE A SIMPLE CONVERSION. PLEASE KEEP US POSTED AS THE PROJECT PROGRESSES.

[Encore64]

It's hard for me to see a down side to the project. The inexpensive bullets for the 22 TCM should be terrific too.

Hope you will keep us informed...

[magnumwheelman]

45MAN... that was my original thoughts, however in the "Single" examples I have ( 2 older polished Stainless fixed sight 32 Centerfires, the new Blued version centerfire pictured above, a Single 10 Conversion, & a couple older Single Six cylinders that I have ) the offset is different between the Rimfire & Centerfire guns ( there may be some that might change over, but nothing on mine interchanges ) that said, it takes very little cleanup on the 22 Rimfire Magnum chamber to fit a CCM cartridge, so converting a 22 Mag Single Six to centerfire may be the easiest way...

[magnumwheelman]

Encore... you know I'm not shy about posting bad pictures

as long as the project doesn't take too long, I plan on kind of posting progress on this thread...

[45MAN]

MAGNUMWHEELMAN: WHO OUT THERE CONVERTS RF SS's TO CENTERFIRE?

[magnumwheelman]

unfortunately my buddy used to, but has gotten old enough, that he gets too tired running the basement stairs any more... back in the days of the Forums 22 bottle neck conversion, there was lots of talk, even I think a few tutorials on converting a rimfire to centerfire, on this forum... a search might turn up both shops & tutorials???

now that my buddy has really retired, I've had to shop around if I want to continue customizing... I generally in the past, have done the thinking, the paying, & the finish work, but I don't have any of the Machining equipment...

[magnumwheelman]

BTW... only issues with the CCM ( you can find loaded ammo if you don't reload ) but ammo & cases are really expensive ( cases about a dollar a piece as I bought them slowly deciding if I was going to make the leap ) ( Reeds is out right now, but claim to have more coming ) they are Fiochi cases ( at least mine are ) ( I doubt it's coincidental that I have some of the last ever, run of 22 Velo-dog ammo, & that was from Fiochi... so I'm betting the CCM cases are Fiochi Velo-dog cases ) I chose plain brass as I wet tumble, & the brass cases work out better for me... but see Reeds has had nickel plated ( my 2nd picture shows nickel plated cases ) & they are super thin... if you found Hornet reloading challenging, this is much more so... part of why I ended up with buying another die set, was so that I could seat & crimp in 2 steps... the cases crumple very easily...

[cas]

Jan 3, 2019 16:27:31 GMT -5 45MAN said:

MAGNUMWHEELMAN: WHO OUT THERE CONVERTS RF SS's TO CENTERFIRE?

Dave Clements does... or did. Don't know about now.

[jayhawker]

The late John Phillips, who specialized in Fast Draw Rugers, converted at leat one 3 screw SS to 9 mm CF.

[tinkerpearce]

Trust Magnumwheelman to come up with another cool idea! Looking forward to progress reports.

[princeout]

45MAN,
Alan Harton used to do them as well.

OM Ruger Single Six in 41 Special, built by Alan Harton for Bushog, grips are Desert Big Horn ram by Larry Caudill.

Don't think he's doing any Ruger work now though.

Tim

[2 Dogs]

Jan 3, 2019 16:10:59 GMT -5 45MAN said:

HAVE OFTEN WONDERED WHY THERE WERE NO 22 CCM REVOLVERS AROUND. WOULD A SIX SHOT 22LR OR 22MAG SINGLE SIX CYLINDER, AND A 22 SINGLE SIX BARREL, WORK IN THE 32 SINGLE SIX FOR A 6 SHOT 22 CCM CONVERSION? IF IT WOULD THAT WOULD SEEM TO BE A SIMPLE CONVERSION. PLEASE KEEP US POSTED AS THE PROJECT PROGRESSES.

I got to visit with the OP and his base gun for this project is already a centerfire as well as in Bisley configuration to start with. This saves a good deal of time and money

As to converting Ruger 22’s to center fire please keep in mind my last Single Six that became my .257 Jackrabbit did NOT have a firing pin bushing so it had to be drilled out and a new one had to be made and fitted.

[magnumwheelman]

And these particular guns ( the adjustable sight Bisley centerfire Single Sixes ) are quite reasonably priced

So I'm thinking they'll make great project guns