the scene at the range ... 22's reliable ?

[rock n roll kid]

retired so i am going to shoot a bit more than in the past . i am not short ammo , got a good stash . yes ! i am enjoying it .

couple of things . went this past friday to local range . 60 % & nearly a perfect day to be out . i unlocked the gate to the range ... nobody there . spent 45 min. shooting & picking up . left to head home , still not a soul in site ! wow , i am begining to believe that people are not shooting nearly as often , possibly because they do not want to burn much of their ammunition. thinking they can not afford the highly inflated prices ! curious .... has anyone else seen evidence of this ?

2nd have a variety of firearms like most everyone else on this forum. had my ruger standard 22 semi auto with me. out of 10-12 magazines fired . i had maybe 3 that made it thru 100% without a screw up ! this gun is in great condition for an older model. has the mag release in the butt position . i have got a target model 22/45 . runs little better but still has that occasional feed ramp hang-up. usually shoot 3 kinds of ammo when i go out .
i read on u tube , i believe , that a guy said that if you have never had a 22 jam , you just haven't shot very many 22's ! i believe that . that comment was made after one individual claimed he had several 100's of 22's without any problems . what do you folks say ?

i will tell you that i would not load a 22 in a semi auto form for self defense . will stick to glock, & sig as my primary edc .

ok hope all is well with all here . thank god we live where choices are abundant !!

 

[gonerydin]

Can't shoot without ammo! Definitely fewer folks at the local ranges this year. I have throttled back some myself even though I have a good supply. Shooting .22 a bit more. My middle daughter will have her carry permit soon so I am supplying her with practice 9mm for now.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[UncleEd]

Read that for good, very good
quality .22s made for Olympics,
etc. the manufacturer runs the
loading machines at a very slow
rate and quality control is No. 1.

But for bulk .22s, which account
for probably 98 percent of the
over the counter stuff in the U.S.,
the loading machines are run at
a terrific rate and quality always
suffers.

For one thing getting the detonation
compound into the entire rim area is
very iffy, hence the number of misfires
on first try. Usually turning the .22 so
firing pin strikes it in another area works.

 

[desi2358]

In my experience 22 ammo can be quite variable in dependability. Some brands have also had some periods when production quality seems a little off. For a number of years Remington seemed to be having issues, as a dealer I was often getting complaints about misfires, jams, wide differences in power (usually reported as sounding different, rounds dropping way off from previous shots, etc.). I sometimes tore down misfired rounds that customers brought in, found rounds with no powder, no primer or just primer visible in one side of the rim. More recently Winchester seemed to be the one with issues. Very similar to the earlier Remington complaints, misfires, jams, etc.

By the nature of their design and priming system rimfires do seem more vulnerable to misfires if the priming compound doesn't fill the rim completely. I have had the fewest issues myself with CCI and Federal over the years but even there the occasional misfire is possible. Premium grade ammo (such as Eley) has been the most reliable (if expensive!) and is mostly available in standard velocity loadings. Some modern semi autos, especially handguns, seem to be set up for high speed only and won't reliably cycle standard velocity stuff.

I wouldn't choose a 22 as my first choice for a defensive gun, just too much experience with ammo issues. If it was all I had or could handle (some people have heath issues making it difficult or even impossible to safely operate larger, more effective guns) then it would be best to stick to brands with few reported issues and practice regularly. A revolver is a good choice in such a case. Anyone using a semi auto should be prepared to clear jams or misfires.

 

[NYlakesider]

For the most part my experience with .22 tells me that most rifles if maintained normally have no problems in the reliability department.

Just the opposite in the handguns, I see plenty of all kinds of jams with a ,22 auto. OBTW I'm talking about good quality well maintained guns. Talking here about regular range work and Bullseye shooting. Do not know if its the ammo (many different kinds) or the gun itself.

I have a semi auto.22 Browning rifle bought new in the early 60s with a serious amount of rounds put through it and just about never jammed.

 

[Rpg]

I haven't had the difficulties some of you describe.

My main 22 autos are an old High Standard and an older Colt Woodsman. I can't remember ever having feed or ammo problems with either.

My Ruger (circa 1971) bull barrel pistol is very nearly as reliable as the Woodsman and the High Standard: initially a problem or two, but nothing in the past 25+ years.

I've been using Remington sv ammo (mostly surplus cases of the stuff) for years.

 

[Kurusu]

Lapua and Eley have always worked well so far.

 

[Grayfox]

I have noticed that ever since the great .22 drought a few years ago that I've been getting more miss-fires per box of .22s than I used to. I believe that in the rush to get caught back up that with most makers QC suffered and has never been the same since.

 

[s&wchad]

I think most would agree that centerfire ammo is more reliable than rimfire ammo. It goes with the territory when you can normally get .22 LR's for about 4 cents per round.

I shoot a fair amount of .22 in the winter when I work our clubs indoor pistol range. I probably go through about a brick per month, but I can burn through a brick in a 3 hour range session when I break out an M&P 15-22P. Everybody there want to dump a 25 round magazine!

Some guns are more reliable than others and not all .22 rimfire ammo is created equal. Revolvers and bolt/lever/pump actions rifles seem to have the fewest feeding problems. Semi-auto pistols and rifles can offer excellent performance, but they need to be kept clean and properly lubed. A lot of feeeding issues can be attributed to the magazines. It's a good idea to number them, so you can isolate the cause of problems.

Defective ammo is an issue and is typically caused by incomplete priming. We keep a quart ziplock bag at our range desk just for duds. We don't want them in the garbage and we don't want them in the brass recycling bins, so we stick them in the bag and hide it in the desk. I'm not sure what happens to the full bags!

I've had good luck with CCI (Std Vel, Mini Mags, Blazer) and older Remington ammo. Match ammo is probably the most reliable, but I don't like spending that much money when plinking or doing informal target shooting. There are also variations from lot ot lot. I've gone through bricks with a single hick-up and have seen other that had 15 or more duds. You can sometimes get the duds to fire by rotating them in the chamber so the firing pin strikes a different spot, but others won't go off no matter what you do.

 

[scattershot]

.22 ammo in general is not as reliable as it used to be. I don't remember any failures to fire until the shortages in recent years caused the manufacturers to speed up production, load bulk packs, and loosen quality control standards. Just my opinion, of course, but I'm 74 and have never seen such poor .22 ammo. I have had good luck with CCI,though, and look for it when I buy ammo.

 

[wetdog1911]

Lapua and Eley have always worked well so far.

No experience with Eley, but many years with the SK standard+, rebranded Wolf MT and made in Germany.

I got it mainly to run in my 1990 M41 and later, a Colt Series 70 SM ACE. It ran both flawlessly. Still does and is all I use in all my .22s.

Impressed me enough that I got 2 cases off a decent offer in the old Shotgun News and have been shooting that ever since. It was near the end of the printed SGN, so I'm guessing early/mid Oughts? It's been stored in .50cal ammo cans ever since, on a pallet, in a temp controlled environment.

I did get a pleasant surprise earlier this year at a friend's backyard range. Loaded up 5 mags for both the ACE and the M41 and ran them through each as fast as I could pull the trigger and change mags without dumping them on the ground. No hiccups from either pistol and the ammo seemed to have lost nothing over the years. I'm still impressed with this Wolf MT!

Rob

 

[swsig]

To the OP:
I also have an old (1974) Ruger Standard in excellent condition. It does not like ammo rated below 1200 fps. I shoot CCI ammo almost exclusively. Mini-Mags, Velocitors, and Stingers all work great in my Standard. One other thing you should check is your ejector. Mine became slightly loose, and while it didn't seem too bad, I sent it back to Ruger anyway for repair (free, of course). I have not had a failure of any kind since.

 

[Golphin]

My experience with older semi auto 22 rifles is many like some ammo more than others. All of them need to be kept clean. Some of the older Marlins run better with the never feed ramps. Never had a lot of problem with 22 rounds not firing but have had many semi auto rifle jams over the years.

 

[CB3]

I suppose much of the machinery used to make .22 LR Rimfire is many decades old. It gets run long and hard. I visited the Federal plant in Anoka, MN about 10 years ago. Considering the volume and components, the minuscule number of failures in .22 LR for the cost is still a great bargain.

An empty case has a small amount of liquid primer dropped into it as it is spinning. Centrifugal force pushes the liquid primer into the rim where it quickly dries, supposedly in sufficient quantity and evenly for reliable ignition. I believe the only way to control this quality would be through measuring a minuscule weight difference, but that doesn't guarantee even distribution of primer. Any small variation in the process, such as a clogged nozzle, slightly different primer viscosity, a variation in internal rim dimension, etc., could cause a dud round.

In the early days of .22 use, guns were not predominately semi-auto. The need to produce enough blowback to cycle an action wasn't a high priority. Modern semi-autos need consistent, sufficiently powerful ammo to cycle reliably. Rimfire Central and other similar websites have found that 40 grain bullets at 1250+ FPS are sufficiently reliable. That is classified by manufacturers as high rather than standard velocity.

.22 is a plinking, target and training round for me. Some misfires and jams are instructional and expected for the cost.

I would not hesitate to give someone a .22 for self defense with high quality ammo and known gun functionality—if that was all the individual could handle.

 

[shocker]

Glock 44 runs like a top with Armscor and Federal 36 gr HP. Even fed with the 18 round Promags. Like all Glocks, the less you clean and lube it the better it runs.
Shotshells are available with prices modestly higher than pre panic. I've started skeet shooting. Shells + birds totals $9 for a round.