They don't make it like they used to (.22 LR)

[taylorkh]

For years (decades) I shot MANY thousands of rounds of Federal Load 790 - 36 gr Cu plated bulk pack ammo which they made I believe primarily or exclusively for Wally World. It used to be $7.77 per box of 550 then $8.88. Currently it is $19.94. It was not match ammo but for plinking it was just the ticket. Reasonably accurate and very reliable.

In 2011, 2012 I stocked up on the stuff. Perhaps I had a premonition of the coming shortage or I just decided that Walmart had too much on the shelf Long story short I recently finished my last box from 2012 and opened a box I purchased in 2018. First up was a Beretta 21A Tomcat. I purchased it last spring as a curiosity. It turned out to be a lot of fun to shoot and remarkably accurate for something so tiny. It is a little picky on ammo but it loved the cheap bulk pack Federal - at least the old stuff.

The first box from 2018 produced about a 50% failure to cycle rate. Sometimes the case would stay in the chamber and sometimes it would eject but it would not cycle the slide enough to pick up the next round. The second box (different lot #) produced a 100% failure rate over 4 magazines (32 rounds). A magazine of Mini-MAGs functioned just fine. So did 3 mags of Winchester Super-X from 1990 and some Winchester Wildcat from 1992. The Beretta seems to be OK.

This morning I fired 50 rounds of the second lot through my M&P 22 Compact. In the few weeks I have owned it I have fired in the neighborhood of 1500 rounds with NO failures. One of the Federals failed to eject completely. The new round fed but the old case caught between the slide face and the breach. Sort of a horizontal stove pipe. This pistol functions with EVERY ammo I have tried including CCI 21 grain 22-COPPER ultra high velocity.

What a bummer. I have over 12k rounds of this Federal stuff - restocking for the next shortage. I have a call in to Federal and am waiting to hear back. Not sure what they will have to offer, if anything. I will purchase a case or two of Mini-MAGs so I have something in my stockpile which I have confidence in (in addition to a case of Winchester Super-X 40 gr round nose from 1990).

I understand the point of lot testing high grade match ammo to a particular high end target firearm to find the last few percent of accuracy. I am dealing with cheap blasting ammo not $20+/box Lapua, SK or RWS. I am concerned with the stuff working, not Olympic accuracy. I should not have to lot test ammo of this class. What a fiasco.

Ken

 

[bigggbbruce]

Tough luck.. I shoot several 22lr handguns. No matter the brand I get about 1-2% fail rate.. usually no pop.

 

[hoc9sw]

I was a long time user of Federal AutoMatch. Bought 6 new cartons to refill, and the same issue. None worked. None. Back to an older batch, all was fine.

Contacted Federal. The took all the info, and admitted there was a difference in production. They replaced all 6, but the new stuff is no better. It is piled away in an ammo can somewhere.

 

[357-RevolverGuy]

I have had good experiences with current Federal Auto Match and the Value Pack. I go through a few boxes of it a year. Mostly fed through a Ruger Single Six revolver, and 10/22 rifle. I get a bad one every now and then but usually it's after 400+ rounds and guns need a cleaning.

 

[AJ]

I shoot Federal AutoMach quite a bit. While the new batches are not as wonderful as the older stuff, it is still usable in my four autopistols. Once in a while I will get a FTF, usually I will recycle the round so the firing pin strikes a different spot on the rim and it goes bang.

Hope Federal helps you out.

 

[TX-Dennis]

The only cheapo .22 I'll buy these days is CCI Blazer. It always works. I gave up on Federal and Winchester completely. I will buy Golden Bullets if that's all I can find, but no other Remington.

CCI standard velocity and mini mags are always good for a bit higher price.

 

[Backlighting]

I've run about 500 rounds so far of the inexpensive bulk Golden Bullets thru my Ruger MarklV 22/45 target model.
No malfunctions of any kind.
I also clean it after each session.

 

[Drm50]

Did extensive testing of Win, Fed, Rem & CCI ammo from premium to bulk in 90s. Used a selection of common 22 rifles and handguns. The purpose of the test was to show that for run of the mill 22s there was no benifit in buying match ammo. The gun rags were premoting target ammo for small game hunting and plinking. As usual the individual guns preferred certain ammo for best results. 5 shot groups were fired with each gun and ammo.
The results fill several pages but the punch line is no ammo had problems going off. We did have an odd misfire which we didn't bother to note because it was looked at as a one cartridge fluke. One ammo that was both dirty and inacurate were Win Wild Cats ( brick ). You could hear the difference, and it showed up on paper. The only other glitch was Federal Lightning ( bulk ) that had over diameter bullets at the belt against the case. When you chambered them the chamber would shear off excess that ended up captured by rim. It made a thin lead washer that retarded the cartridge from seating in chamber. The other American made 22 ammo functioned fine and was accurate. Some of the ammo now that has gained a reputation of junk was decent ammo before the panic. Now the only ammo that seems to be trust worthy are CCI products. From Blazer to top shelf. I have a good stash of pre panic 22s which shoot fine. The only ammo I have bought has been CCI standard vel. for plinking ammo for m41 S&W.

 

[Univibe]

Why would anybody bother with anything other than CCI 40 grain standard velocity? Or CCI blazer?

 

[taylorkh]

Thanks for all the replies. This is depressing I have a bunch of AutoMatch in my ammo dump. I wonder now if it is any good?

I first shot AutoMatch several years ago in my ArmaHeavy semi-space gun. It is an upper built for me by Compass Lake Engineering with a 20" heavy Douglas match barrel, a carry handle match rear sight and a space gun/high power type globe site at the muzzle. This sits on a Barnes Precision lower with a Jard trigger set to 1 1/2#. The buttstock pocket is filled with lead shot for balance. Super accurate but at 14 pounds not a fun plinker Anyhow, I was helping a friend sight in a newly built Volquartsen rifle with a high end Zeiss scope. The AutoMatch proved very accurate (mine with iron sights put the Volquartses with scope to shame) and reliable.

The Beretta sometimes likes AutoMatch and sometimes not - from the same box. Of course it is of Italian design. It has no ejector, no extractor and the way the cartridges sit in the magazine they can not possibly feed. But somehow it generally does work Sort of like the engineering in a British sports car.

I think the quality issues with ammo these days extends beyond rimfire. At least for entry level practice/blasting ammo. Early this year I purchased a box of Federal .45 ACP 230 grain "FMJ" ammo from Wally World. I have handloaded my own .45 ACP since 1976 but I was working on an issue with a new Performance Center 625 which did not work and wanted to test it with some factory ammo. The box said not to use it with suppressors or ported barrels. I asked Federal support why and they told me that it was plated and could shed copper. FMJ has meant Full Metal JACKET for more than 100 years. CCI Blazer brass case is the same thing. FMJ no longer means jacket.

And then I purchased a box of Remington .45 ACP 230 grain JHP. It was jacketed but the jackets were corroded. It looked like something that someone found in the basement where it had been for 20 years. Remington replaced that.

My case of CCI Mini-Mags should arrive in the next few days. If they shoot as well as the couple of boxed I have from Cabelas (and FedEx has managed to deliver them without pulverizing the plastic cases) perhaps I should just order another 3 or 4 cases and be stocked up for a long time.

Ken

p.s. I am still playing telephone tag with Federal support

 

[Engineer1911]

MidwayUSA just sent me an email that Remington 22 LR Thunderbolt are on sale for $14.99 per 500 ct/brick. I have found Federal HP 22 LR problematic, also. My stock pile of 22 LR dates from early 2005 plus 2018 Aguila purchases from MidwayUSA and Midsouth Shooters Supply.

All of my 22 LR ammo functions in my revolvers and blot action rifles. Semi-automatics are problematic. Much of my 22 LR ammo that does not fire, has a powder charge but no priming compound in/on the case rim. Inquiring minds want to know. I have about 5 # of pulled 22 LR bullets that will become 38 Spl wadcutters.

CCI Blazer 22 LR is the best ammo I have found for reliability and accuracy in all my 22 LR guns. I have a Sig 1911-22LR that doesn't shoot anything accurately regardless of who is shooting it or the brand of ammo.

EDIT: I receive "range pickup ammo" that I pull down and recycle. Each batch of ammo includes about 50 rounds of 22 LR. Cases with dented rims that did not fire include all brands, but CCI has the 1 or 2 rounds compared to other brands with 8 to 12 rounds.

 

[taylorkh]

What brand or brands are lacking priming compound?

I have never fired Blazer .22. I will have to get some and give it a try. I use Blazer aluminum case .32 ACP in my KelTec P32. It is my summer dog chaser. It is so light that I can carry it in the waistband of my track shorts. The aluminum cases save 1/2 ounce over brass Fortunately I have never had to shoot an aggressive dog but I have fired a shot into the ground on more than one occasion to run one off. The last one, several years ago, was coming over the top of my English Setter trying to get at me. The shot went off about 6" from its ear hole. Probably busted its ear drum as it went spiraling away running in circles. That said, the Blazer ammo has ALWAYS worked. I empty out the magazine every so often.

Interesting about the SIG .22 1911. My neighbor, a frequent shooting partner, and I are both long time 1911 fans. It seems that every time we buy something new we evaluate it as "pretty good but I would rather be shooting a 1911." Not sure why we buy anything else That said, I am sort of in the market for a 1911 .22 conversion. I have two Colt Ace pistols. With the prices on gunbroker for a Series 70 ace running in excess of $3 grand I sort of hate to take it out and shoot it. As to my 1931 original Ace with a 2 digit serial number... I would hate to venture a guess at value. Time to get something which I will shoot Provided I can get some compatible ammo

Ken

 

[Grayfox]

I firmly believe that back during the shortage many ammo makers instituted shortcuts in their .22 manufacturing process in an effort to catch up. Once they did get caught up, I believe they left those shortcuts in place. As a result .22 ammo is not as good as it used to be pretty much across the board.
For many years my go to .22 ammo was Winchester Super-X. Now a days this stuff and many others just plane suck.

 

[mmb617]

I'd been shooting the CCI mini-mags at $9/100 in my 15-22 with virtually no failures but because it was less than half the price I bought some Federals at $18/525. I'm just plinking so it was worth a try. The rifle did have about a 1% failure rate with the Federal ammo, which considering the price difference was acceptable to me.

I also have an M&P 22c and the Federals run just about the same as the CCI's in it. Both have more failures (usually failures to feed) than I'd like at probably 3% or so. If anything I think the Federals might run a little better in it than the CCI's.

I'm not advocating one ammo over another, just relating my experience.

 

[Imissedagain]

Tomcat or Bobcat?
21a Bobcats like a fairly clean chamber, 40-50 rounds or so then extraction may become an issue.
A quick swab of the chamber and they run.
If a round is dropped into the tipped up barrel and will not fall out when inverted... swab it!!!

Maybe a case dimension issue?

 

[taylorkh]

Thanks Imissedagain. My error. It is a Bobcat. The Tomcat being .32 ACP might be expected to malfunction with .22 LR As to the chamber and cleanliness... I have tried the offending ammo right after cleaning and with the chamber dirty. No statistically significant difference - at least the suspect ammo did not work with a clean chamber either. The first time I tried the Mini-Mags the whole thing was nasty and in need of a good clean. Fired and cycled 100%.

As to Federal - I finally made contact. The rep is sending UPS out Friday to collect a couple of the suspect boxes of ammo to evaluate. Not sure where we will go from there. I will not be real happy to have to open and test 3 more lots from 2018 and an untold number of lots from 2019 (I have not dug out all the 2019 inventory for examination.)

While I was on a tear I filed a customer service request with Winchester. I tested a box of Super-X 40 grain solids - one of my top 2 favorites along with the Mini-Mag. I purchased two bricks in 2015 from Cabelas. I experienced 2 or 3 failures to cycle out of each 8 rounds. Some Super-X from 1990 cycled 100%.

On the bright side my case of Mini-Mags is due Friday

Ken

 

[.38SuperMan]

I tested about ten different ammo’s in seven or eight pistols and rifles. Included in the ammo was the dreaded Winchester Super-X. None of the ammo in any of my firearms had any function problems. All fired first time but accuracy varied somewhat. In the tweed ammo was the Walmart bulk pack 550 Federal which was cleaner than most and about as accurate as any. The Federal was certainly good enough for planking.

I have less than 1 failure to fire out of 550 rounds and virtually no failures to eject or chamber.

 

[scattershot]

About the only ammo fit to shoot any more Is CCI. I have shot Browning, Federal, Winchester, and a few others lately, and it was all junk. Now about all I ise is CCI Mini Mag.

 

[shocker]

Have shot a lot of recently made Federal 36 gr and I would put it in the "good and reliable" category.
Guns shot: 63-5, Browning Nomad semiauto, Henry.

 

[AJ]

Like I posted previously I shoot Federal AutoMatch quite a bit as it functions in my autopistols very well. Yes, do get a FTF once in a while. Failure To Extract or Failure To Eject are usually my bad as the guns are not as clean as they should be. I do have some Remington Golden Bullets and the odd offering from Winchester laying around for the kids to shoot up.

That said when I shoot my target rifles and target pistols( not plinking with the pistols) I step up the level of ammo to at least SK Standard Plus. If more serious I go to SK Rifle Match. And if real serious the Winchester 52D & E and the Remington 40X's get Eley Black Box. Usually never any problems with any of these.

I guess what I am saying is that if you shoot cheaper ammo expect a few problems now and then. If the ammo is giving you a lot of problems then go to the manufacturer. I will not shoot Aguila as I feel it is to dirty.