Hi all, I'm new here and I wanted to join because I wanted to know what your experiences have been with the 22 Compact.

I bought the gun new and the first 100 or so rounds through the gun went well enough. I don't shoot it nearly as well as some of my centerfire guns but I seriously doubt that is the guns fault...

Then after the gun got pretty dirty, I had a few failures to chamber and pulled the trigger on an empty chamber, which caused a little burr to form (after only about 6-7 times) which caused a lot of failures to extract and feed. So I took it to a smith who just ironed the burr back and things were good again. Then after around 150 rounds, I suddenly started impacting about 9" to the right. I thought I was losing my mind, I even rested the gun on the bench to see if I was just flinching badly or something. Then I realized the holes in the paper were a little goofy looking and after a lot more testing on various target materials, I think the rounds were tumbling. So I disassembled and checked in the barrel and I had so much leading that there was a streak of silver running out of the crown. Never had that happen before...

Anybody ever had a leading issue with theirs? Do you think that is what was causing the accuracy degredation? Is there any types of ammo I need to stay away from? I've never experienced anything like this and am pretty new to rimfires in general.

Hi OP. I have 1200 rounds thru my compact, a mix of Fed automatch and Cci mini mags. Never had any ammo issues and clean it after every range trip with a boresnake. Same as I do in my Buckmark and that has over 5k rounds in it. I will say i have been using just mini mags lately as that is now all i buy (those work best in the BM).
What ammo have you been using, in case that could affect the leading you mentioned?
You didn't mention what distances you shot at. That wont affect the barrel of course but could explain possible accuracy issues vs other guns. The compact is easy to shoot and can be accurate enough but with its short barrel it wont be as good as others with longer barrels and sight lines. I shoot my full size MP 9 better than my compact 22 as an example.

I think Ranger 17 is on the track. I have only shot CCI Mini Mag (RN and HP) and CCI Velocitor with my compact. Over 2000 rounds as of yesterday in the 6 months since I bought it. While gun will shoot almost any ammo it is likely to shoot better with quality ammo.

I think an under powered round is more likely to tumble when shot from a dirty gun. Tumbling is usually caused by lack of momentum. An underpowered round could cause that in a barrel that is restricting its velocity.

I would clean the gun including some heavy duty wire brushing of the barrel and then very lightly oil it. Then out some CCI Mini Mags through it. If that fails to correct, then I would send it to S&W to be checked our.

Welcome A Board . Clean and inspect. Would say its more round issuses good luck keep us up dated

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Spin The Wheel

I had a leading problem one day running Remington Thunderbolt in my SW22 Victory. It took about 200 rounds to seriously foul the barrel. What type of ammo are you using?

Remington Thunderbolt gums up both my SW22 and 22 Compact badly. I have stopped using Thunderbolt in my pistols and the problem has stopped as well.

It is worse when I rapid fire and run through mags quickly.

Thunderbolt aftermath

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

So here's what I was using for the ammo, the Mini Mags I only had a hundred of and they seemed to do fine. Once I switched to these, I think that's when I started having trouble. They're lead round nose bullets, so I could see how leading could occur, I've just never had an issue with it before on other 22 RIFLES I've owned so it never had occurred to me that could be what was happening.

And I was only shooting from about 10 yards away. I shoot quite a bit and it wasn't like it was grouping 9" to the right, it was all over the place with clear sideways bullets in the paper. I'm not trying to bash the pistol, just figure out what I can do to get it to shoot well. Thank you all by the way!

I've got a 22Compact and I had a similar leading problem using the Federal Automatch when it was new. I cleaned the bore very well with a brush, must have scrubbed on it for an hour. I switched to Remington golden bullets and have not had any further leading. There have been some posts on the forum about 22Compacts with rough bores that leaded badly. My bore was a little rough in one spot and once I got that smoothed out it was fine. Do a search for" 22Compact or rough bore" and you may be able to find some more info. The 22Compact is a fun gun to shoot and you will enjoy yours once you get it broken in, just hang in there and clean the barrel until it shines.

A rifle barrel is long enough to allow a completed power burn before the bullet exits the barrel. That Apia not the case with a short barrel handgun. Those unjacketed lead bullets were almost certainly the problem. The leading slows the round down and it already not going as fast as a shot from m a rifle. The result is a tumbling bullet. Do yourself a favor and shoot only jacketed rounds in your 22 compact. I pay more for CCI than othe ammo because it is reliable.

Okay I'll give it a try just sticking to copper plated rounds and see how that goes. Thank you all for the help.

By the way, what are you guys as far as solvents for lead? I've been using Hoppes so far, but it seems to take a lot of elbow grease.

Hoppes is fine. I found wrapping some copper thread in my bronze brush really helps. See my earlier post for a photo.

Let the Hoppes sit in the barrel for a while.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

My 22c shoots everything else, but chokes on Federal Automatch. CCI, S&B, Aguila, Geco, Remington Golden Bullets, Fiocchi and just about anything else are ok, but I can't get through a magazine of Automatch without several failures. It works ok in my mp 15-22.

I love my M&P 22 Compact! I purchased it mainly to use as a training pistol. IMHO, it's simply the best 22 semi-auto out there (made by S&W by the way, not by Umarex). As a rule, I never, repeat never shoot lead round nose ammo, but copper plated only. I typically clean it after 2 outings. I have never had a single malfunction of any type.

My thoughts for you, copper plated ammo only (plentifully available now), and regular cleaning!!

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NRA Certified Pistol Inst.

Take a look at Slip 2000 cleaning products. The best out there imho!

I use the Otis bore snake on the barrel.

https://www.slip2000.com/slip2000_lubricants.php

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NRA Certified Pistol Inst.

Got one to use as a range gun when they first came out. Worst trigger I ever felt. Gave it to my armorer here on the range and it is slick as hog snot.
We have kept an exact round count and it is now on it's second bizzilion. Nothing but CCI MiniMags. I am sure it has failed somewhere in somebodies' hand, but I have never seen it fail.

I am up at or near 10k rounds through mine.

Federal Auto Match used to be my go-to ammo, but since about 2014 I feel like quality has declined. I no longer use it, American Eagle, or Thunderbolt.

CCI Standard Velocity runs great, but it will lead up as well.

Appx. 2500 downrange

Mine eats through anything except sub-velocity rounds (of course)

Have not noticed any "leading" problems. (hope Im being observant when I clean)

Fantastic gun and the whole family loves it.

+1 on Slip2000

OP, I've experienced the same exact issue that you describe. Severe lead fouling after a couple hundred rounds of lead round nose ammo.

My Kimber .22 conversation has tried just about everything out there and chocked most of the time. I tried a box of Federal target grade and it runs flawlessly.

Slip 2000 is great stuff but for cleaning specifcally lead fouling for whatever reason the M-pro7 cleaner seems to work the best for me. And it's non toxic, and supposedly helps to keep down future fouling. Can't speak to that claim though at this point but it cleans well.

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Equal opportunity shooter

HEY SARGE, I'M CERTAIN THAT A MAN WITH YOUR MILITARY EXPERIENCE KNOWS THAT .22 LR AMMO IS NOT "JACKETED / UNJACKETED"......(NOT A COURT MARTIAL OFFENSE--JUST A MISNOMER..lol) AND WHILE I'M AT IT---THANK YOU FOR YOUR YEARS OF SERVICE TO OUR NATION.....

I BELIEVE THAT YOU MEANT TO SUGGEST THAT THE OP STICK TO SHOOTING COPPER PLATED OR COPPER WASHED .22LR AMMO. IMHO, THE BEST OF THAT TYPE IS THE MUCH REVERED, CCI MINI-MAG. I AGREE WITH YOU, THAT IT IS WORTH THE EXTRA COST---WHEN YOU CAN FIND IT ! ! !

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'Nam 1968-69.DAV,VFW,NRA Inst.