F2F issues with Model 22A.

andyo5 · Sep 10, 2012

Yesterday I was at a Steel Challenge match, and noticed that a friend was having frequent feeding problems with his 22A. What he has observed is that a bullet's nose will catch on the two slot openings in the front of the magazine that are used for the magazine catch. When this happens, there is no spring pressure on the rounds above the one that got caught, and so they will not feed. He showed me that all of the bullets become deformed after passing over these slots, whether they got stuck or not. He was shooting Federal 550 pack (36 grain) and CCI Standard. Both types of ammo had this problem.
He has three of these guns, and although they all functioned well for the first few years that he owned them, they all exhibit the same issue now (actually, it seems more of a magazine issue than a gun issue).
Has anybody else heard of this problem and the cause?

Thanks.

625smith · Sep 10, 2012

I have had similar problems with hollow points. The mags in the picture the one in the front doesn't have the problem. The mag in the back of the picture hangs up with hollow points. Note the square cuts in the mags. The front mag has a small fold between the square cuts. The rear mag doesn't and is the mag that hangs up. I fixed all the mags that I had by using a small screw driver and a small hammer adding the folds myself. Easy does it see the 2nd photo the fold only needs to be as deep as the square notches as viewed from the side of the mag.

andyo5 · Sep 11, 2012

625smith, Is this feature on newer factory magazines, or something that you devised yourself?
It is still a mystery regarding why the problem did not appear when the guns were new, but developed after a few years.
Great response, by the way. Thanks for making the effort to take all the photos.

Andy

UPDATE: I was at a local gunshop this afternoon, and found that all the 22A magazines they had there had the dimple. This is now a feature on factory magazines.
Earlier today, I had called S&W customer service to ask about this. The CS rep told me that the magazine design had not changed since it was originally released. Obviously, he did not know what he was talking about.
Thanks again!

RMB · Dec 12, 2013

I checked the two magazines that snapped off their bottom retainer caps. Both mags have the dimple. Shame that I sold a 40 year old Ruger MK1 that never jammed, no matter what ammo you shot. I didn't like that the action didn't open after the last cartridge. If you lost count, you could still have a round in the chamber and not know. Bought the 22A to solve that issue- big mistake. RMB

625smith said:
I have had similar problems with hollow points. The mags in the picture the one in the front doesn't have the problem. The mag in the back of the picture hangs up with hollow points. Note the square cuts in the mags. The front mag has a small fold between the square cuts. The rear mag doesn't and is the mag that hangs up. I fixed all the mags that I had by using a small screw driver and a small hammer adding the folds myself. Easy does it see the 2nd photo the fold only needs to be as deep as the square notches as viewed from the side of the mag.

F2F issues with Model 22A.

andyo5

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625smith

andyo5

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RMB

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