Malfunctions with new rifles?

[Norm66]

Are 15-22s known to have reliability issues when new? We've had probably 12-ish FTF/FTEs in about 450 rounds in two sessions. Ammo was 350 40 gr Aguila super extra and 100 40 gr Remington hollow points.

The rifle was cleaned prior to shooting the first time and after the first range trip.

Not being a home defense gun I'm not horrified but I'm still interested in hearing if thus is common. Thoughts?

 

[GhostMutt]

I've had 4 FTF and 1FTE my last time at the range in 400 rounds fired...I put them down to the ammo which was aguila, it happens so infrequently that I doubt it is the gun and more likely inconsistencies in the ammo. My bolt face was very dirty and that I think was the reason for the FTE...aguila is dirty dirty ammo, even by .22lr standards. I always try to get my mags 'staggered' when I put the rounds in so as to minimise hardware errors, which I have also read on this forum. Being as cheap as it is, I can accept the odd bad primer.I have heard of light strikes from the hammer and springs used but I have JP yellows and if they were causing light strikes I would expect many more FTF than what I've experienced. Using Aguila with a bolt action 'club' rifle I've seen bad primer issues...so I'm 100% convinced its the ammo. To remove all doubt for your concerns by some proper match grade ammo....in the UK that would be Eley Match about £8 ($16) for 50 rounds, cycle a few boxes of them and see if the malfunctions continue then maybe you can work out if its your particular rifle or your choice of ammo I'm sure there are more knowledgeable responses forthcoming but that's my two cents worth

 

[jagular]

Likely ammo related. I will never use Remington ammo after I had a rim explode. The Smith manual actually says to specifically not use that ammo. It's hard to be picky nowadays but I'm guessing most of those FTEs were from the Remington. Try different brands, if able, to see what it likes.

 

[Skyhighatrist]

I was gonna say the same. The manual says to avoid rem ammo. I had one stovepipe out of 150rds last time as my only issue with a new out the box rifle!

Does sound like an ammo issue. I used up a few odd rem that we had left over from our last shoot and they seemed to run ok. Other than that I was using purely Winchester white box bulk.

Try the Winchester bulk if you can find it. Everyone's rifle seems to be different but mine loves it, and it's a hell of a lot cheaper than match grade stuff. Alternatively if you want to be sure, CCIs should have no issues whatsoever so if it won't run CCIs then it's the rifle.

If it's not ammo related it could be you have an older model that's been sitting around for a while and has not been modified with the new recoil spring. Is the spring on the top of your bolt blue? If so it's a new one and it's most likely ammo related. Some people have issues with their extractors too but that shouldn't be an issue out the box assuming it was brand new.

 

[Norm66]

Thanks for the input. Just bought some CCI to try tomorrow. I still have 150 rounds of the Aguila to burn through but that's ok.

Other than the few issues we live this gun. I put a red dot on it and my wife never misses with it now. I'd forgotten how fun .22 was.

 

[Norm66]

It's a new one. I'm sure it's the ammo. I'll try and find the Winchester bug hopefully the CCI will work. We're shooting tomorrow so I'll give it a good cleaning today and see how it goes.

 

[Skyhighatrist]

Ha, I just saw your picture in the pic thread. You talking about the purple rifle? (She's a beauty!) If so it's definitely brand new and upgraded as it should be. Some rifles are just picky about ammo. Nothing to worry about. I hold onto my CCIs and plink with Winchester bulk, so I know that I have the good stuff stored just in case!

 

[Fire75]

I found out about the Remington ammo yesterday. Tooks kids and a box of golden bullets. The girl had lots of ftfeed! The loose bullets would end up bent! Oh well 2 more boxes to use up. Funny thing the boy had no problems with the ammo?

 

[Skyhighatrist]

Could be a loading issue. You're supposed to stagger the rounds in the mag so they look like a ladder with every other bullet to the side. It's hard to describe, and to get it right can be even harder! There's a separate thread about it though. As I said in there, I don't stagger the rounds and had no issues, but maybe some ammunition requires it more?! (It may also be because I use 10rd mags cos I'm in Cali!?). Also some people rifles seem to need to have the rounds staggered. So far mine is fine running the bulk rounds I throw in any old how! Fingers crossed it'll keep it up!

 

[johncal]

I've had 4 FTF and 1FTE my last time at the range in 400 rounds fired...I put them down to the ammo which was aguila, it happens so infrequently that I doubt it is the gun and more likely inconsistencies in the ammo. My bolt face was very dirty and that I think was the reason for the FTE...aguila is dirty dirty ammo, even by .22lr standards. I always try to get my mags 'staggered' when I put the rounds in so as to minimise hardware errors, which I have also read on this forum. Being as cheap as it is, I can accept the odd bad primer.I have heard of light strikes from the hammer and springs used but I have JP yellows and if they were causing light strikes I would expect many more FTF than what I've experienced. Using Aguila with a bolt action 'club' rifle I've seen bad primer issues...so I'm 100% convinced its the ammo. To remove all doubt for your concerns by some proper match grade ammo....in the UK that would be Eley Match about £8 ($16) for 50 rounds, cycle a few boxes of them and see if the malfunctions continue then maybe you can work out if its your particular rifle or your choice of ammo I'm sure there are more knowledgeable responses forthcoming but that's my two cents worth

I've put 650 rounds through the 15-22 so far and have had 3 FTF's and no FTE's, stovepipes or jams. Also, all of my FTF's were using American Eagle. I've had zero problems in 200 rounds of the NORMA, I know that's not a huge sampling by any means but it does seem like the Eagle is not as reliable. I also fully clean the gun after every trip to the range which is every 100-200 rounds. I know that's anal, but I like to keep it spotless.... and it's kind of fun to clean it up anyways.

In all FTF's there was a good dent from the firing pin so I am blaming the ammo. I don't try loading them again because I do not think it's a good safety practice and for the dime it costs, why take a chance.

 

[Majorlk]

Likely ammo related. I will never use Remington ammo after I had a rim explode. The Smith manual actually says to specifically not use that ammo. It's hard to be picky nowadays but I'm guessing most of those FTEs were from the Remington. Try different brands, if able, to see what it likes.

No, the manual doesn't say that. The manual says it's not recommended. Big difference. That said, the manual has not been updated in several years and the recommended/not recommended lists are essentially useless these days. 75 percent of the ammo brands in existence today are not mentioned, one way or another.

FWIW, my 15-22 shoots Remingtons just fine, as does my 10-year old grandson's. We went through a 500-round box of them yesterday with no problems.

 

[jagular]

I'm glad it works for you major. The fact that Smith DOES NOT RECOMMEND (yes they put it in caps in the manual) indicates you may or will have issues. The one time I tried Remington I had a rim case explode it blew out my ejector. Luckily I found all the pieces and reassembled it to where it functions fine. To the OP, you're obviously having issues with Remington ammo. Some owners attest it works fine. You have to decide and from what you've stated thus far, you should avoid it.

 

[Norm66]

I only used 100 rounds of Remington and we don't think it was any better or worse than the Aguila. Tomorrow will see if the CCI does any better.

 

[harrym]

Sky: How can you NOT stagger the cartridges? They go in that way automatically in my magazines -- both 10- and 25-rounds. I had my first FTF today, Winchester M22 ammo, after shooting the gun over a year.

 

[johncal]

Sky: How can you NOT stagger the cartridges? They go in that way automatically in my magazines -- both 10- and 25-rounds. I had my first FTF today, Winchester M22 ammo, after shooting the gun over a year.

I find that "generally" they do, but not always. I watch them go in on the back side and pull down on the load assist button a little bit and jiggle them around if they're not staggered correctly. Then they fall into place. I purposely just jammed them in there the last time not being careful just to see what would happen and I was able to get them to go in incorrectly, so it can happen.

 

[Pew-Pew]

I've got a newish 15-22 as well and I've had a bunch of stovepipes with the winchester hollow points, but they grouped nicely for bulk ammo. Today I finally found some federal bulk solids and hundreds of rounds cycled perfectly, but they were far more inconsistent and not grouping very well. Just my 2 cents...

 

[Skyhighatrist]

Yea like I said in he other thread about it. I have the 10rd long mag with no load assist. I use a tool to pull down the follower and load up. I don't bother jiggling and such as again as stated in the other thread, I only have one mag so far, and loading 10rds at a time is time consuming as it is. My rounds don't seem to go in staggered naturally though either.

Another thing is that my shooting spot is just out in the woods, so no bench or anything like that so I'm standing, in 90degree sun, loading 10 at a time with a stupid tool as a load assist! I'm sure if I was at a range with a bench, some shade and more mags I could be bothered with it, but that's not how I usually roll! Haha

More mags are definitely on my list though. I have found people selling altered 25rnders which is genius as they have the load assist button!

Again though, my rifle just eats the rounds without staggering so it's not really a high priority for me!

 

[Decipher]

I have a brand-new 15-22 I took out for the first time yesterday. I was shooting the controversial Winchester M-22s. My weapon cycled fine for the first 100 rounds or so, then I began getting FTEs. They picked up in frequency as the day went on, and eventually started getting FTEs every 5th round. I haven't been able to conclude if it's the ammo or the rifle. RedNeckJim suggested it was the rifle and I looked more into the matter.

There is a thread here that states an issue may be present with the extractor. The remedy is to take a screwdriver and gently bend the extractor in 1/16" of an inch. I did that today and am hopeful I can get back out to test this modification. While I'm not shooting the best of ammo out there, these failures are either due to excessive buildup or a rifle issue. I went back to CCIs after I began having the failures, but the CCIs did it too. Look into that mod if you are still encountering issues.

 

[Majorlk]

Decipher:

Did you thoroughly clean and lightly lubricate the firearm before taking it to the range? Many feeding problems on new rifles can be traced to a lack of initial cleaning and proper lubrication

FYI, there is no need to put any lubrication on the outside of the bolt, and only a single drop of CLP or similar on the bolt rails.

FWIW, I have purchased three 15-22s and none of them needed any monkeying with the ejector.

 

[johncal]

I'm up to at least 1200 rounds through mine now and haven't had any ?FTF's in over 700 rounds. I have had 1 misfeed but my future son in law loaded that mag so I'm not really counting that one, he had a bit of an issue. So if you added that all up it would average out to 1 issue per 300 rounds which I find totally acceptable For using the cheap stuff.

Also I still keep my rifle spotless and believe that is why it has worked so well with no issues over the last 700 or so. I also found that like Majorik said, no lube is best except for a tiny amount on the rails. I doubt if I even use a full drop on them. just enough to make them shine.