Remington 12CS Chambering Question

[Mike P-61]

I have a 12CS, which I greatly admire for its design aesthetics--crescent-shaped butt plate, octagon barrel and gently convex-curved straight stock. Unfortunately, it's chambered in .22 Rem Special, which is longer than .22 LR but shorter than .22 WMR. The gun's got a really steep entry angle into the forcing cone area and the blunt tip of this modern factory .22 Rem Special ammo makes chambering by cycling the slide almost impossible. Can anything be done about this? I would welcome any suggestion. Can alternative ammo be used? Also, right above the s/n (223439) on the bottom of the receiver are the stamped letters RW. Anyone know what that means?

Thanks!

[remington600]

RW stands for remington works. As for the cocking problem it sounds like something just maybe worn or broke. Try oiling it up. If it still does not work have a gunsmith check it out.

[John Gyde]

Your rifle was made in 1913.

Besides a really thorough cleaning, I'm not much help...

[Mike P-61]

Am new here, so I hope this reply is getting posted in the right place. Thanks for 1913 mfg date and other comments. Will try oiling that puppy better. Can you run .22 LR or .22 WMR through a .22 Rem Special chambered gun? We don't have many smiths left in this town--the country's 6th largest city--most left town for lack of business. Seems most people here in town are squishy tree-hugger types. But that's another story, and I don't want to get myself started.....

Thanks for input to all who replied.

[rem141]

Mike, I don't understand the forcing cone and the steep angle entry that you mention. When the cartridge is transferred from the action bar by the carrier to the breech block (bolt), It should be in line with the axis of the bore. It should feed straight forward into the chamber. I would expect that it is not raised high enough into the bolt during transfer, or else it droops due to a poor extractor or extractor spring which holds in it place on the face of the bolt.

[John Gyde]

Don't try to chamber a LR or WRF in the CS.

[Mike P-61]

Thanks for replies re: this issue. Will not try to chamber other ammo! I think the issue may be solved by just a good oiling and cleaning. When chambering a round just now, the action does seem to work properly, but roughly. Slowly and deliberately cycling the slide seems to do the trick. The last couple of times I have taken it to the range it has jammed consistently. Thanks again for comments, I'll know what else to look for if the problem persists.

[Rickster]

Dont know if you are still monitoring this thread but thought I would mention that I recently worked on a Mo 25 that had what sounds like the same problem. (Mo 25 and Mo 12 have same basic action). Took several disassemblies and reassemblies to figure it out. It is due to wear. The fix is cheap (if the same problem), but not easy to describe. It requires removal of the slide and then removal of a small amount of metal at just the right location to compensate for wear in another location. Be careful about having any ol gunsmith work on it. This is a tricky one.

[Mike P-61]

Rickster, thanks for input. Will carefully check out that wearing issue. An earlier poster said not to try to chamber WRF, but that is the type of ammo that is specified for this gun in lieu of .22 Rem Special. In fact, you can find a few recent articles on WRF which appears to be making a comeback, due to being more powerful than .22 LR for varmints but less destructive on small edible game than .22 WMR. Winchester and somebody else will prodcue a run of it from time to time. It's good to know that .22 WRF is still around, because the 12CS is a fun shooter.

[John Gyde]

Woops. You asked about WMR & I said WRF. WRF or Rem Spec are OK. Sorry about the typo or lack of paying attention.

[Mike P-61]

No problem, John. I appreciate your expertise and taking the time to reply. Happy shooting!
By the way, this thread reminds me of a great cookbook that my neighbor gave me when she was moving away a few years back. It's a 1952 Arthur C. Storz Brewery (Omaha, NB) cookbook with even some recipes on how to prepare squirrel, possum and other small game that the Remington 12CS would be good at taking down. Seems to me I remember that parboiling was a major early step...lol

Mike