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  #1  
Old 04-21-2014, 02:22 PM
johnc847 johnc847 is offline
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Default Issues with Federal Champion?

Anyone else have issues with this ammo? I have about 3-4 FTEs on each magazine.



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Old 04-21-2014, 02:26 PM
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I've run 2 50s 3 25s and 3 10s one after another as fast as I could change them out and had zero problems with the federal. It's my go to ammo.
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Old 04-21-2014, 03:37 PM
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My M&P 15 doesn't like that stuff either. Totally inaccurate. When I changed to the CCI AR Tactical my groups shrunk in half! I'll have to see how it does in my Buckmark. But for the most part I'm not impressed in the least. No FTE's though.
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Old 04-21-2014, 03:48 PM
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Virtually no problems in 15k of it.
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Old 04-21-2014, 03:52 PM
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None. My rifle loves it.
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Old 04-21-2014, 05:50 PM
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No problems here. How new is your rifle and magazines?
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Old 04-21-2014, 06:01 PM
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Yep. That's the stuff. I've never had a misfire in 60 years of shooting .22s, until recently. I think quality control in general has gone south, except for CCI.
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Old 04-21-2014, 06:33 PM
johnc847 johnc847 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AR-Getsome View Post
No problems here. How new is your rifle and magazines?

Had issues the first time shooting with this stuff right after buying it. My grandfather has 2 mags that I also tried in mine and same issue. I shoot 100 rounds of blazer and no issues. Do you think that's safe to say it's the ammo and not the gun?
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Old 04-21-2014, 07:00 PM
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A few weeks ago I got sick and tired of going to the range and shooting just 100 rds. of .22 ammunition and then putting my pistol back in the bag till next time. I took a brick of Federal Champion (500 rds.) and headed for the range. Over the next two days I shot the Champion in my Marvel 1911 .22 LR conversion. Function was 100% perfect. Accuracy was superlative, almost equal to what I can do with my 18-3 using good ammunition.

The following week I took a 525 Value Pak of the Federal Champions and made two trips to the range. I fired 100 rds. in the 18-3 with function and on target results identical to what I expect firing CCI Mini-Mags. I fired the remainder of the box in the Marvel at the same distances at which I fired the 18-3. Results were almost equal to the 18-3.

If I can find any more of the Federal Champion I am going to buy it. It works perfectly in both my 18-3 and Marvel conversion. It produces very consistent results on target fired from both handguns. JMHO. Sincerely. brucev.
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Old 04-21-2014, 07:28 PM
tomcatt51 tomcatt51 is offline
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I've found the Federal 525 & 550 bulk packs ok for practice but definitely not match ammo just based on percentage of misfires.

Winchester M-22 is worse, even more misfires. Remington isn't worth buying. The Winchester 555/333/222 is better, Blazer better still and CCI Tactical has become my Rimfire Challenge match ammo.

CCI Tactical seems to be a blunter nosed slightly downloaded Mini-Mag. Mini-Mags are also at the top of my list.

For Steel Challenge or Bowling Pins with my 617(s) I use Federal 719. Consistently goes bang and is the cleanest burning 22 rimfire ammo I've ever shot. Would use it more if I could get more but it's also in a different price bracket.

Norma Tac-22 also seems to be very good (but dirtier as most std velocity seems to be) but again is pricier. It's oily/greasiness seems to be a non-issue unless you don't have a couple paper towels in your range bag... But, std velocity in a rifle gets iffy as to the shot timer recording and doesn't have the gas volume for my Ruger 22/45 Lites' compensators to work.

Just my 2 cents.
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Old 04-21-2014, 07:38 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by johnc847 View Post
Had issues the first time shooting with this stuff right after buying it. My grandfather has 2 mags that I also tried in mine and same issue. I shoot 100 rounds of blazer and no issues. Do you think that's safe to say it's the ammo and not the gun?
Depends. I just used 2 brand new magazine this weekend. I had a few FTE and stovepipes, It got better after going through 500 rounds. My rifle has well over 5000+ rounds through it. Never had a problem. I have 10 magazines plus the 10 my wife has and they all function flawlessly. The 2 Brand new magazines are(was) the issue until they broke in. I was using Federal bulk, and cci tactical. Did you fire this ammo through your grandpas rifle? Some rifles are finicky to certain ammo. Maybe yours is one of these rifles.

Last edited by AR-Getsome; 04-21-2014 at 07:45 PM.
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  #12  
Old 04-21-2014, 08:02 PM
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It's the only 22lr ammo I've shot for the past handful of bricks, my last brick had 5 duds, 3 of which fired the second time around.
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Old 04-21-2014, 10:48 PM
JessicaB JessicaB is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tomcatt51 View Post
I've found the Federal 525 & 550 bulk packs ok for practice but definitely not match ammo just based on percentage of misfires.

Winchester M-22 is worse, even more misfires. Remington isn't worth buying. The Winchester 555/333/222 is better, Blazer better still and CCI Tactical has become my Rimfire Challenge match ammo.

CCI Tactical seems to be a blunter nosed slightly downloaded Mini-Mag. Mini-Mags are also at the top of my list.

For Steel Challenge or Bowling Pins with my 617(s) I use Federal 719. Consistently goes bang and is the cleanest burning 22 rimfire ammo I've ever shot. Would use it more if I could get more but it's also in a different price bracket.

Norma Tac-22 also seems to be very good (but dirtier as most std velocity seems to be) but again is pricier. It's oily/greasiness seems to be a non-issue unless you don't have a couple paper towels in your range bag... But, std velocity in a rifle gets iffy as to the shot timer recording and doesn't have the gas volume for my Ruger 22/45 Lites' compensators to work.

Just my 2 cents.
I had an interesting incident happen with your Winchester 333. I went to the range to shoot 50 rounds of the stuff. A few FTF's but I'm not sure to expect that with bulk or not. One of the FTF's was a bullet that literally bent in half. Didn't expect that to happen at all but with the way that Winchesters are as far as being loose and being able to wiggle those things so easily I should have expected that. Fortunately no damage to the rifle or magazines. No more Winchesters for me.
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Old 04-22-2014, 07:32 AM
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I had issues with Federal Champion in my PC model. Turns out they have a slightly longer OAL than Fed bulk and it ended up causing a misfeed and the extractor assembly popped off when we finally managed to get the bolt to move back to be able to clear it. No problem with them in my regular 15-22.
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Old 04-22-2014, 05:54 PM
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like it alot.

miss the days when you could get 5,250 rounds from Dunn's for $175 shipped.
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Old 04-22-2014, 07:14 PM
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I have very few, if any, problems with these. True, I do get better accuracy and reliability with Mini-Mags over the bulk Federals. But I also get better accuracy and reliability with some old half-bricks of PMC Zappers over the Mini-Mags. Like someone else said, some rifles are ammo sensitive and mine seems to love those PMCs.

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Old 04-22-2014, 07:38 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Straightshooter2 View Post
I have very few, if any, problems with these. True, I do get better accuracy and reliability with Mini-Mags over the bulk Federals. But I also get better accuracy and reliability with some old half-bricks of PMC Zappers over the Mini-Mags. Like someone else said, some rifles are ammo sensitive and mine seems to love those PMCs.

CW
I'm down to my last 700 rounds of Zapper. I should have bought a pallet.
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Old 04-25-2014, 06:39 PM
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No problems at all with this ammunition.
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Old 04-26-2014, 02:40 AM
Krylancelo Krylancelo is offline
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It's my go-to ammo also. I've shot thousands and thousands of rounds of it out of my 15-22 without any notable problems.

It definitely isn't accurate though. At least, not in my gun.

I'm also still shooting stuff I bought "pre-panic," so the more current stuff may be lower quality.
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Old 04-26-2014, 02:48 AM
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that's the stuff I mostly shoot, its seams like if a you are going to get a dude in a box, there will be more than one. The last couple of boxes have been dud free for me. I only shoot them out of my K22's since they allow for easy extraction and are plenty accurate.
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Old 04-26-2014, 07:22 AM
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It is my "Go To" ammo for shooting in my .22 revolvers.It seems to have the least problems in regards to extraction from the cylinder.
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Old 05-12-2014, 02:33 PM
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I have been using that Federal Champion ammo since last summet in my M&P 15-22. It has proven 100% reliable for some time now, using it for steel challenge and a couple 3 gun matches.

I liberally lube the bolt, chamber, the magazines through the windows the follower travels in, and the nose of the bullets by spraying with RemOil.

I used Winchester 333/555's prior to that, and had a jam, FTE, FTF, stove pipe or double feed about once per stage with stuff.

Remington Golden bullets don't feed well for me either.
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Old 05-12-2014, 03:03 PM
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Quote:
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I have been using that Federal Champion ammo since last summet in my M&P 15-22. It has proven 100% reliable for some time now, using it for steel challenge and a couple 3 gun matches.

I liberally lube the bolt, chamber, the magazines through the windows the follower travels in, and the nose of the bullets by spraying with RemOil.

I used Winchester 333/555's prior to that, and had a jam, FTE, FTF, stove pipe or double feed about once per stage with stuff.

Remington Golden bullets don't feed well for me either.
Very bad move. All you are doing is attracting dust and powder debris to build up in the action. Polymer parts in the magazines need no lubrication. As long as the inside of the upper is kept clean, there is no need for "liberally" lubing the bolt body, either. As for oil on the bullet nose ... well, that is just plain dumb, IMHO. The 15-22 is not an AR and does not need to be run wet. Just the opposite is the norm.
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Old 05-12-2014, 04:19 PM
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I like the stuff. There's been one dud in several hundred rounds, and the cases are stronger than CCI which can get dented when loading some mags to capacity.
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Old 05-13-2014, 03:48 PM
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Quote:
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Very bad move. All you are doing is attracting dust and powder debris to build up in the action. Polymer parts in the magazines need no lubrication. As long as the inside of the upper is kept clean, there is no need for "liberally" lubing the bolt body, either. As for oil on the bullet nose ... well, that is just plain dumb, IMHO. The 15-22 is not an AR and does not need to be run wet. Just the opposite is the norm.
I've heard that time and time again from folks who aren't getting their .22's to run.
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Old 05-13-2014, 07:30 PM
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I've heard that time and time again from folks who aren't getting their .22's to run.
And now you're hearing it time and time again from folks who do get their .22 to run by NOT lubing everything in the 15-22.
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Old 05-13-2014, 08:04 PM
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I've heard that time and time again from folks who aren't getting their .22's to run.
Well, considering I've shot more than a few hundred thousand rounds of .22 LR over the years, I think I might be on to something.
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Old 05-15-2014, 02:09 AM
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Quote:
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I've heard that time and time again from folks who aren't getting their .22's to run.
I am a competition shooter and I have 10's of thousands of rounds thru both my 15-22s in the last 4 years. One thing any serious competition shooter will tell you about a .22 is lube it as little as possible it runs a lot better the drier you can run it. I don't even clean my guns before at least 2k rounds and the only part of my 15-22s and Browning Buckmarks that get lube is the bolt/slide rails. All I do with the barrels is pass a dry boresnake thru them. The bullet lube takes care of the barrels.
When I started as a match shooter I did lube them more. I found I had to run 50-100 rounds thru them after cleaning to get them to run the way I wanted (mostly the pistols). A few pros convinced me to shoot them drier and I found that I no longer had to pre shoot them before a match to keep them reliable. The pro shooter's axiom is "if you see oil on the gun it has too much". I do oil my centerfire raceguns and ARs more but hardly more often.
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Old 05-28-2014, 09:47 AM
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Try some Hornady Dry Lube/cleaner, it should solve your problem....Plum
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Old 05-28-2014, 10:13 AM
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Re: OP. This past Friday I saw some Champions at a local range. They kindly traded it to me in return for Remington Golden Bullets and Winchester 333's. The Champion ammo had been dropped, the plastic cases of the 100's were broken, the cans of the bulk packed was bent. Fine. I fired 50 rounds in my 18-3... shot a 248/250 on a B-27. Chambers easily in the 18-3, very little fouling or firing residue. Shot 150 rounds in a Marvel .22 LR 1911 conversion. Shot 245/250 with some shooting using my left-hand. Function was outstanding. Perfect ammunition in every way. Would and will buy all of it that I can find. It is wonderful stuff!
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Old 05-28-2014, 10:28 AM
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My 15-22 shoots fine with those I have fired over 1000 rounds of those through it


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