Late yesterday, after my range visit to shoot the Browning PRO 22LR ammo, I reviewed my prior day's events with the Smith and Wesson 15-22 rifle. The rifle had been field stripped, the bolt completely cleaned and spot lubed, The bore was cleaned with a snake and the chamber was cleaned with a bronze brush and chamber mop dampened with Clenzoil.

At the range that first day, I began firing the Browning ammo from a 10 round magazine, The first three rounds at 25 yards grouped to a dime and the rifle functioned normally. My first reaction GREAT! Then, the porcupine walked into the balloon shop and the next seven rounds went South. Failures to fire (FTF) and light strikes (LS). Several times after FTF, I checked the bolt and it appeared closed but the trigger would not release the hammer. I recycled the bolt, the unfired round ejected and new round loaded. That round would fire but the next round would not. Again, I checked the bolt and it appeared closed but the trigger would not release the hammer.

Today, I looked closely at one round of CCI-Standard Velocity and one round of the Browning. The clear coating on the lead bullet of CCI-Standard Velocity was highly visible. The lead bullet and cartridge of the Browning seemed to be dry, have no or, very little lubrication coating.

My assessment: The first three Browning rounds at 25 yards grouped to a dime and the rifle functioned normally due to the light coat of Clensoil initially in the chamber that facilitated the chambering and full seating of the Browning round in the chamber. When the light coat of Clensoil burned off, the porcupine walked into the balloon shop. I suspected an issue of lack of lubrication coating on the Browning cartridges. Again, with the rifle disassembled, I checked the bolt and trigger, it appeared the trigger would not release the hammer without the bolt completely closed (The round fully seated in the chamber).

Last year I encountered a similar issue with Aguila 22lr lead round nose ammo. My fix for that was to take about 50 rounds of that ammo, put them in a small container and spray a good dose of WD-40 Dry Lube with PTFE.(Polytetrafluoroethylene) is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene.Being hydrophobic, non-wetting, high density and resistant to high temperatures, PTFE is an incredibly versatile material with a wide variety of applications.So, I dumped 100 rounds on Browning in a small container and liberally sprayed the WD-40 Dry Lube with PTFE on them. Then I gently stirred them to coat all rounds and let them set for 15 minuted to dry. I loaded two 10 round magazines with the coated Browning ammo and the rest of the magazines with CCI-SV.

At the range today, I again started with a clean rifle. My first 20 rounds were CCI-SV. Perfect operation and great accuracy. My next 20 rounds were the Browning rounds coated with WD-40 Dry Lube. Perfect cycling, no FTF or LS. Accuracy was sub par the CCI-SV. My last 25 rounds of CCI-SV followed. Again, perfect operation and great accuracy.

Good reason to spend a little more and stick with the CCI-SV. To have to oil ammo and put up with rounds that don't fire on the first strike (if they fire at all), or deal with sub-standard accuracy isn't worth the monetary savings no matter how cheap the bargain ammo is.

Probably Winchester ammo boxed as Browning.

There is nothing “Pro” about Browning .22 ammo. As much as I like Browning firearms, it’s a travesty that the Browning name is on repackaged Winchester .22 ammo…the absolute worst, bottom of the barrel garbage!

I thought some flavor of Remington ruled that roost?

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Release the Kraken

Agree. Internet search identifies that.

I will bet cold weather also had something to do with your malfunctions.

Blowback weapons require case lubrication to function. Bottom line, if the case is gripping the chamber, breech friction will cause a blowback weapon to malfunction. It is particularly noticeable in high pressure blowback (such as the 5.7 X 28mm) and safety critical in retarded or delayed blowback centerfire weapons. If the case adheres to the chamber in those things, the case can rupture. It is as Chinn says:



The 22lr is an extremely old round, one what was originally externally lubricated, and greasy rounds are great.



My Gunclub has a combined rifle and pistol match in December and keeping a 22lr semi auto pistol running in freezing weather is difficult. When the breech opens, due to the residual pressure still inside, melted wax lube and unburnt gunpowder are puffed out of the chamber and condense in the action. My Ruger MkII would gum up in a couple of magazines, and there were always lots of alibi's. I asked Eley what the difference was between their rifle and pistol match, and the primary difference was the lube for rifle match was a wax, and lube for pistol match was a vegetable coating. I believe Eley pistol lube has a lower freezing point.

I found a 1993 brick of Winchester Target 22lr and have been shooting it in my M41/M46's. I believe the wax lube on these old rounds has dried up and I have had a number of alibi's due to sticky extraction even in hot weather. Around Nov I started putting a drop of oil on the first round in the five round stack, and had zero malfunctions. Last indoor pistol match I copied Clark's advice and ran an oily patch over each and every round, and no alibi's. A very light oil is a good thing to apply on old, dry, 22lr cases. I want to increase bolt thrust, I want the case to extract without drag, I want perfect function. What's not to like?

Clark Guns offering advice on oiling 22lr ammunition



WD-40 is an combination of a light, evaporative oil and silicone. When the oil evaporates, you are left with silicone, which will get gummy in time. I think what works better in a spray can, is Walmart spray lubricant found in the automotive section. That stuff is a very light oil, and I think that is better than a thick oil.

If your 22lr automatic is malfunctioning, oil the ammunition, load the magazine, and shoot it. You get enough oil in the mechanism it will dissolve the waxes and gunpowder (to a point) and oil will keep your semi auto running longer. Eventually you will have to clean your mechanism to get the wax and powder out.

They are in an intense battle for last place!

Remington was the king of **** ammo for a number of years, numerous reports of malfunctions, leading and lousy accuracy. We would get occasional complaints in the shop but the internet was full of people who weren't happy with it. It still sold though because it was cheap. They actually seemed to get better in the last couple years before the bankruptcy and some I've tried since Federal has been in charge worked fine. Accurate enough for casual plinking and small game and much more reliable than it used to be.

Winchester on the other hand seems to have been in a downward spiral for the last few years. Quality control seems to be severely lacking, lots of misfires in particular. Accuracy with some of their stuff is questionable at best. Sad to see, both companies were known for good, accurate ammo when I was young. Possibly a reflection of the decline in overall quality of so many American products over the years. too many bean counters and cost cutting measures can come back to bite you.

Match ammunition seems to have fewer failures to fire in pistols than over the counter, but I have had problems with SK STD Plus in my M41's. Never had a misfire of that SK STD Plus in an Anschutz. In fact, my CCI SV, never had a misfire in about 100 rounds fired through my Anschutz, but the stuff is iffy in my match pistols.

All Bullseye shooters have misfires with over the counter ammunition to include the most popular: CCI SV. You will be very lucky not to have a misfire, squib, failure to eject (due to weak combustion caused by weak ignition) in a 90 round match. At this range, where 2700 Bullseye matches have been shot for years, if a shooter raises his hand for an alibi, a Range Safety Officer comes by, ensures the gun is safely cleared, and takes the defective round and gives it to the Match Director. Who drops it in this chopped plastic bottle. As it can be seen, 22lr ammunition is over represented. There might be some pillaging of centerfire rounds by brass hungry reloaders, hard to say what happens when no one is around, but at least by the number of defective rounds, I would say, 22lr regularly no goes bang.





I really don't know if these misfires were due to incomplete distribution of primer cake in the rim, or due to weak mainsprings. I later replaced the mainsprings in my M41 and M46. But it seems, once hit, these 22lr lose the primer cake in the rim, for the Ruger MKII has a more powerful mainspring. That Ruger MK2 had fewer misfires than the M41/M46. Even so, replacing the mainspring housing on the MK2 improved function reliability. Something I learned, that I want as much energy on the primer/rim as the firearm system can give me. And that requires replacing old mainsprings.

Another one to Avoid is Cabela’s Herter 22.
Their house 9mm is made by Winchester, so the 22 may be too.
I shoot a fair amount of their 9mm in several Guns, never had a problem.
But when I tried their 22, had nothing but problems!

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

I've been buying CCI SV by the case for years. In that time, I have had one round that did not fire on the first trigger pull. One cartridge out of many thousands.

I had a M41 for many years and fired mostly CCI SV in it without problem. Same for a couple of Ruger .22 pistols, one I bought new about fifty years ago and the other I've had less than forty years. None of these pistols were modified in any way and functioning has been fine. Unmodified guns seem to be more reliable.

There are always exceptions. CCI probably puts out bad ammo occasionally, but probably not nearly as often as some. If there is a problem that is ammo-related, I'll bet CCI would make good on it.

Not wild about Lubing 22 Ammo.
But - I might try some WD-40 in my Problem Child Beretta 21a.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

Discard the shackles of fear and lube them!

Twenty two rounds are greased/waxed to eliminate case to chamber friction, however that case lubrication is often insufficient when the grease dries, or the wax dries, or maybe from rough chambers. Shiny, smooth chambers reduce case to chamber friction, but not all chambers are shiny and smooth. And it does not take much oil to work. Any oily patch rub leaves very little oil, but does improve feed and ejection.

Do remember that a 22lr filled with waxy/gunpowder grunge will gum up the mechanism. A clean firearm is a happy firearm.

Browning ammo is cheap Winchester ammo rebranded.

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S&W Accumulator